Ford kicks off 'Innovative Mobility Challenge Series'

Ford announced an 'Innovative Mobility Challenge Series', wherein developers and makers are invited to develop region-specific solutions for 8 selected regions around the world. The regions include Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, India; Lisbon, Portugal; Los Angeles, United States; Johannesburg, South Africa; Shanghai, China; and Argentina.

Ford will provide all the relevant regional information to developers worldwide through its globally accessible, open source platform - OpenXC. More than 15 types of vehicle data are provided such as vehicle speed, engine speed, fuel consumption, etc.  The integration of vehicle data with other relevant data will aide participants to address the shortcomings of the given regions. These challenges are designed to encourage developers to integrate real time vehicle information into smartphone apps to solve mobility issues.

There are 8 different challenges thrown in at developers. Each challenge is specific to a region. For example, for Mumbai: the 'Monsoon App Downpour Challenge' is designed to improve mobility during the monsoon season; for Delhi: the 'SUMURR Golden Hour Challenge' is designed to reduce the time to reach healthcare facilities during the 'Golden Hour'; and for Chennai: the 'SUMURR mHealth Challenge' focuses on improving healthcare service accessibility for remote rural regions that are accessible from Chennai.

The prize for the Mumbai, Lisbon and Los Angeles challenge, will be totaling USD 30,000 for each challenge, and a grand prize of USD 15,000 for the winner of each challenge. The prize for the remaining challenges is still undisclosed. A panel of experts that include Ford executives as well as local judges from each city shall select the winner for each challenge or app.

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