Future vehicles need to be better connected and available to everyone
Henry Ford's idea was to make personal mobility available to the masses, and he achieved this in the early part of the last century with the introduction of the Model T – regarded by many as the world's first affordable automobile.
Mobility – the free flow of information, people and goods – enables modern society. Many of the important trends of our time, including the information revolution, urbanisation and globalisation reflect changing patterns of mobility. For more than 100 years, Ford's fundamental business has been one aspect of mobility – providing the vehicles that move people and things from one place to another.
We have improved our vehicles in all areas through the decades, reducing emissions and improving fuel economy massively. Engineering and technological breakthroughs have enabled us to create cars that are better connected as well as better for the environment. 
Firstly, current in-car connectivity systems of the here and now will form the basis of our connected cars of the future – those that will talk to each other and the environment around them, helping to potentially reduce accidents and keep traffic moving. Secondly, downsized engines as well as new powertrain options such as electric and hybrid vehicles will help reduce emissions of our vehicles (both commercial and passenger) without compromising on power and ride. In turn, this development work enables us to reach our goal of achieving a 30% reduction in fleet-average CO² emissions by 2020. As we move forward, we find that mobility has new meanings, challenges and opportunities. Today, with increasing migration to urban areas and growing numbers of vehicles on the road, the freedom of mobility is now threatened by an increasing congestion problem, especially in metropolitan areas around the world.
What we need are new technologies, as well as new ways of looking at the world. We are taking a collaborative and integrated approach to help address the mobility issues of the future. Ford is partnering with multiple organisations to ensure a holistic approach in identifying and working towards a future vision of transportation.
Experts from the Ford European Research and Advanced Engineering Centre in Aachen, Germany, are leading and contributing to a number of high-profile collaborative research projects that look at delivering car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communications capability, improved traffic integration and intelligent driver assistance features – all of which are key enablers for easing traffic congestion and improving safety and fuel efficiency.
In summary, and to paraphrase Bill Ford from his keynote speech at TED and Mobile World Congress in 2012:  "[It will be critical to create] an inter-connected transportation system where cars are intelligent and can talk to one another as well as the infrastructure around them. No one company or industry will be able to solve the mobility issue alone, and the speed at which solutions take hold will be determined largely by customer acceptance of new technologies."  
Barb Samardzich is vice president, product development, Ford of Europe
Barb will be part of the panel for a debate on the future of mobility on 14 November. Guardian Sustainable Business will be live streaming the discussion. To register for a reminder, or to submit a question to the panel, please complete the form below.
Allow Spotify content?
This article includes content provided by Spotify. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'.
Allow and continue
This content is brought to you by Guardian Sustainable Business in association with Ford. Produced by Guardian Professional to a brief agreed with Ford. Paid for by Ford. All editorial controlled and overseen by the Guardian.