Today's News by Jack Nerad for Driving Today

Ford Enlisting Bright Minds

Friday, September 3, 2010

Ford Motor Company doesn’t believe it has all the good automotive ideas, so it’s teaming with universities around the world to examine a wide variety of new ideas. Among the investigations: testing the properties of thermoplastics modified with nano materials, developing an in-vehicle safety-alert system for diabetic drivers and studying the environmental and economic impact of batteries for electric vehicles. The newest research projects add to an active list of 30 studies with 26 different universities globally.

In recent years, Ford has fine-tuned the objective of the initiatives, moving away from more exploratory and long-term university research toward projects with more near- and midterm implementation potential. This move has made competition for the grants much tougher, according to Ed Krause, external alliances manager for Ford Research and Advanced Engineering. For the recently announced program, Ford reviewed more than 70 high-quality project proposals, yet approved only 13.

“As our scientists and engineers have become increasingly adept at innovating with their university counterparts, the quality of proposals has risen, and the interest in awards has become more intense,” said Krause.

Among the universities that have teamed with Ford are Wayne State in Detroit, Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The research can have major benefits. For example, in the late ’90’s, Ford awarded the University of Illinois a University Research Program grant to study how to reduce diesel emissions – specifically, NOx levels. That joint research was critical to the development of the after-treatment system now featured on the 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 turbocharged diesel that powers the 2011 Super Duty pickup truck. The engine complies with new 2010 federal regulations to reduce NOx levels by more than 80 percent.

Over the past two decades, the Ford-sponsored projects have produced fruitful results in a wide range of disciplines, including:

• Alternative power systems
• Automotive engineering and safety
• Environmental issues
• Infotronics
• Electrical and electronics and controls
• Materials and structures
• Manufacturing and quality
• Powertrain

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