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The global boss of Ford wants to use Formula One software to anticipate faults and failures in utes and vans before they happen.
Clever software used by Formula One teams could one day prevent Ford Ranger and Transit drivers from being stranded on the side of the road.
Ford CEO Jim Farley told Australian media it is one way the US car giant hopes to transfer technology from its Formula One return as an engine partner for Red Bull Racing into the road cars it sells.
"Racing, if you do it right ... you race, and then you backcast the racing know-how into your production vehicles, so that customer, enthusiast customers specifically, will find that technology in their everyday Ford," he said at the Australian Grand Prix.
"That may be a Raptor customer, it may be a Mustang customer, it may be a Transit customer with predictive failure software, and that will make our vehicles better, and the brand will strengthen because of it."
Farley is referencing the advanced modelling used by F1 teams to predict the lifespan of components inside their cars, which could help them determine when to replace parts before they fail during a Grand Prix.
Applying it to a Ford road car, as Farley hints, could help an owner to swap parts in need of replacement before they fail while on the road.
The Ford executive's comments appear to be a thought bubble for the time being, rather than confirmation of such software coming soon to Ford vans, and it is unclear how it would be sold and managed.
However, it is an interesting concept that would help owners who depend on their vehicles for work – or four-wheel-drive and camping enthusiasts looking to tour Australia – to remain on the road.
Ford issued 26 recalls in Australia last year, according to data published by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts.
The global Ford boss said the company has entered Formula One to improve its road cars, not for marketing benefit.
"I don't really believe marketing is the motivation for motorsports, because the companies that think about it in marketing, they come and go," said Farley.
"The companies that make motorsports a core part of their engineering, they don't leave motorsports, because they know motorsports is part of their cycle of excellence. That's how we look at motorsports, or we should look at motorsports at Ford."
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
