autonomous car | Lamarque Ford

Ford Introduces Autolivery Concept

March 13, 2017 By Matthew Hritz Leave a Comment

For Ford, it looks like the future may come sooner than we think. At the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, the motor company debuted a demo reel of a self-delivery system of vans and drones that they refer to as “Autolivery.”

Autolivery works with a combination of self-delivering vans and drones on call through an exclusive app. Through the app, a user can place an order for anything ranging from groceries to medical supplies. A van programmed by the app will drive to the location of the user while a drone will assist delivery by reaching areas up to thirty floors high. Rather than waste time or energy sitting in traffic, this new concept can provide all the necessities straight to the door at the lift of a finger.

In addition to the convenience, Ford also hopes to living standards with the use of automated services. By adding this delivery to the market, the company can contribute to less air pollution caused by excessive driving for groceries and other items. Drones will be able to deliver much needed medical supplies to hard-to-reach areas.

While the Autolivery experience is still ways away from being a reality, Ford is confident of their innovation. Ken Washington, Vice President of Research and Advanced Engineering, states, “Ford has at its heart a culture of disruption and innovation designed to come up with solutions that put people first to save them time, money and aggravation, and also to make our cities easier to navigate and better to live in.” It is safe to say that Ford plans to stay ahead of the curve in automation.

Shanghai-based Ford designers Euishik Bang, James Kuo, and Chelsia Lau designed the automation system for the goal of benefiting urban areas. Along with other developing concepts, Ford expects to have fully autonomous vehicles on the market by 2021.

If you are looking to purchase a new, used or certified pre-owned Ford vehicle, contact Lamarque Ford today!

CAR WARS: The Internet Strikes Back

August 21, 2015 By Matthew Hritz Leave a Comment

The future is here!! Well… almost. The race is on to develop the first commercially-available autonomous car. Cruise control? More like LOSE CONTROL!
Who, you might ask, is in the race to launch this person-free driving machine? Ford? Chrysler? GM? Surprisingly, NONE of the the “Big Three” manufacturers have decided to join the competition, and have decided to leave this new technology to Silicon Valley. As of now, Google and Apple are leading the charge to take the wheel away from us all.
REVENGE OF THE COMPUTER NERDS has descended upon the Auto Universe, taking the designs, functionality and features to another dimension.

Supposing ALL of Silicon Valley get’s in the race, how would their respective cars perform?

Google
-A car that, much like Google Chrome, crashes immediately upon starting up.
-They call it “Google Plus Car,” which everyone uses it for a week and then immediately go back to driving their Ford.
-It keeps mistakenly driving you to strip clubs and adult novelty stores.

Facebook
-You don’t have to steer the car, but you have to “like” and “share” everything that it does in order to keep it going.
-Every time you get in, one of your annoying relatives is already in your back seat and wants to show you some dumb meme that you already hated a month ago.
-Every time you pass another car it asks you, “do you recognize this person?”

Twitter
-Get’s you there in 140 seconds, while the facebook car takes a month to get to the same point.
-If you ever state an opinion while driving it, every other car on the road immediately tries to run you over and kill you.

Microsoft
-It takes 30 minutes to start up if you didn’t clean its Windows after it’s last drive.
-Pulls over to the side of the road every 5 minutes until you update your Anti-Virus software

Apple
-Cost twice as much as the Microsoft car and only hipsters and college kids want to drive it.
-Drives great for a while, then freezes, starts to spin, and dies.

Tinder
-Keeps veering off the road to either the left or the right.
-Pretty sure all of the places that it’s going to take you to don’t look anything like their pictures.

Instagram
-Car only comes in “Valencia,” “X Pro II,” “Mayfair” and “Lo-Fi.”
-Only aspiring models, compulsive over-eaters (food pornography is an addiction) and anyone who has ever walked around outside, are the only people who get financing. The more unemployed, the better.

Craigslist
-Trying to buy the car, but instead you just wire some money to a Nigerian prince.

Tumblr
-Just a car full of teenagers that don’t know what they are doing.

The Future Is Transportation | Lamarque Ford | New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner

May 7, 2014 By Matthew Hritz Leave a Comment

Two days ago, Nokia announced a $100 million investment in “connected and intelligent vehicles”. Nokia, which was once the world’s largest phone manufacturer, already has a big footprint on in-car technology with HERE, its map service. The phone maker’s plan consists of a fund that will “identify and invest” in companies that relate to intelligent vehicles. The announcement comes as a surprise while the company is still struggling to come out of its own financial troubles. However, Nokia’s move paints a different picture for the future of automobiles.

Self driving cars

Why are tech companies investing in auto technology?

While we don’t have a definite answer, there are several reasons that come to mind. First, let’s remember that car production and innovation have been handled only by a few companies during the last hundred years. These are the incumbents, and they’ve done a great job at setting up the current models of production, which have in turn allowed for more affordable, better quality cars for mostly everyone. The incumbents have model refresh timelines (seven years?) and technology advancements build on existing ones, which serve their current customers. Although this model has its benefits (established production network, low cost labor, highly automatized), it is not perfect and discourages disrupting innovation*.

Tech companies however, small ones in particular, operate differently. They’re used to faster changes and are more agile at implementing new technologies. Today, the ball seems to be moving towards the future of transportation, and there’s an overall sense that a big change is coming. Tech companies don’t want to be left out when manufacturers move towards autonomous cars.

Also, 2007 brought in new entrants to the phone business (Apple, then Samsung with Android), allowing the creation of new value incumbents never imagined. Many tech giants saw their fortunes evaporate because they failed to see beyond their business and customers, which has made them more concerned about the future. Now these very companies are betting their futures on automobile technology.

This is all great news for the future of transportation, as there seems to be a new wave of interest in vehicle autonomy and other new technologies. Don’t be surprised to see more tech companies investing in automobile technology, or car companies partnering or buying tech startups.

*The word innovation is tricky and often misused. Disrupting innovation is one that creates new and additional value by creating new markets while draining resources from incumbents (e.g. The Ford production model disrupted the car industry by shifting to a streamlined one that no one foresaw, yet everyone copied. Ford created new value as it could produce affordable cars faster, and it ended up stealing the incumbents’ customers).

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Lamarque Ford is proud to be one of the premier dealerships in New Orleans, LA. Located in Kenner, LA, Lamarque Ford is committed to providing you the best customer service and vehicle service for the life of your vehicle. Whether you’re on the market to purchase, finance, or service a new or used Ford vehicle, you’ve come to the right place.

The Case Against Self Driving Cars | Lamarque Ford | New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner

April 29, 2014 By Matthew Hritz Leave a Comment

Last week we reviewed the prospective benefits of a driverless car future, where computers and other sensors take charge and all we do is sit back and enjoy the ride. But there are concerns over privacy issues and hackers hijacking overly-computerized cars. Today we will evaluate the risks and other concerns over autonomous cars.

Liability
It’s already complicated enough in today’s world to determine who’s at fault in an automobile accident. Not only are the drivers involved, but other factors such as mechanical malfunctions, inclement weather and so forth. Can you imagine a collision involving a self driving car? Who would be liable? The car company? The software maker? This is a serious questions that would have to be answered before this technology becomes mainstream.

Security
Today, our concerns over car security mainly refer to unintended individuals getting physical access to our vehicle. We all fear our beloved cars being stolen or broken in, and we have some security devices in place to minimize these situations. However, driverless cars continuously broadcast their locations and have sensors that communicate back and forth with other cars, servers and their users. Security researchers have already hacked into vehicles computers using the OBD port (the one used for car diagnostics) and using cellular networks.

Legality
As always, our laws are the last elements of society to catch up with technology. Because of the fast paced nature of computer innovations, early regulations may have unintended consequences that may benefit or affect future developments. As of today, only a few states allow us to test autonomous cars in open roads, and the ones that do, require a human to be ready to take control of the car, which kills the whole purpose of it.

These concerns are just scratching the surface of what might come in the near future. Unsurprisingly, we won’t know the real risks until we put these things on the roads in great numbers. By then, hopefully the laws will me more relaxed and allow this technology to propagate faster. Keep your local dealership in mind when the time comes to purchase your self driving car!

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Lamarque Ford is proud to be one of the premier dealerships in New Orleans, LA. Located in Kenner, LA, Lamarque Ford is committed to providing you the best customer service and vehicle service for the life of your vehicle. Whether you’re on the market to purchase, finance, or service a new or used Ford vehicle, you’ve come to the right place.

The Case For Self Driving Cars | Lamarque Ford | New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner

April 24, 2014 By Matthew Hritz Leave a Comment

Driverless cars have been the topic of science fiction editorials and movies ever since the first automobiles appeared. As with any new technology, we like to dream up the limits of it and capture our wildest fantasies through pop culture. The 1950’s and 60’s TV and cinema opened the floodgates for futuristic predictions, going as far as describing the psychological effects of rapid technological change (see Futureshock). Today, however, the new generations are used to the fast paced technology industry and can better conceive rapid changes within one’s lifetime. And let’s face it, out of the hundreds of far fetched tech ideas, the driverless car seems to be the most feasible one. Here’s why.

The technology is ready.
Most of the technology used in the development of self driving cars has been used for decades. GPS, radars, cameras, robotic inputs and other sensors have been used by other industries and it’s already been packaged into promising models that show the technical aspects of autonomous cars. Also, car manufacturers are exploring different algorithms that will better address the needs of these vehicles. Most of today challenges lay on the legality of the matter, as states across the U.S. are not ready to deal with the big changes self driving vehicles might bring.

The benefits are enormous.
Having driverless cars on the roads has many positive implications. According to the National Highway Safety Administration, most car crashes are caused by human errors, so taking the humans out of the equation should dramatically reduce the number of accidents. Also, computer controlled cars would allow for cars to drive closer to each other and at higher speeds, so traffic jams would be a thing of the past. In addition, passengers (let’s not call them drivers anymore) that would be otherwise unable to drive could hop on the car and just go. This last benefit could have a great impact in the lives of handicap individuals as it would allow better access to cars.

Social implications.
Just like automobiles changed society as a whole when they were first introduced, self driving cars will have a deep impact in our world. Cars will become more about the things you can do while commuting and about comfort

What are your thoughts on self driving cars? Stay tuned for the next Ronnielogues as we will present the potential negative implications of these wonder machines.

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