Futuristic Ford Building Trucks Made from Leftover Food
Blue Oval Is Using Some Seriously Cool Innovations, then Hiding them with High-Tech Camo
If you couldn’t tell by Ford’s recent Super Bowl commercial, the automaker is serious about the future. And this new, futuristic Ford has a lot more than alternative transportation up its sleeve. As Fortune discovered during a recent trip to Michigan, the Blue Oval is using some seriously cool tech to build its popular cars and trucks.
The first, and perhaps most interesting initiative is the scope of bio-materials research. Ford tests numerous substances with the intention of replacing petroleum-based products currently used to make plastic. These materials include such things as tomatoes, wheat, rice hulls, bamboo, coconut skins and even shredded money.
The research has already paid off, as Ford now uses a soy-based foam in all of its seat cushions and headrests. The automaker has partnered with companies like Coca-Cola, Nike and Proctor and Gamble on the initiative.
Virtual Reality is another great example of how Ford intends to take a big step forward in tech. The automaker already uses VR to build things like engines and seats. And engineers even paint cars using VR headsets.
And when Ford finishes building a new mule to test, they’re even using high-tech camo to make the jobs of spy photographers harder. Black dots on a white background make it more difficult to photograph their future product, which is bad news for us, obviously. But Ford’s desire to protect its intellectual property justifies such extreme measures.
All in all, some pretty amazing stuff from Ford. While it may seem like not a whole lot has changed in the auto industry over the last decade or so, at least one automaker has its eyes toward the future. Check out Fortune‘s Ford video below.
