Ford wants you to keep on trucking!
- TAGS:Chicago Auto Show, F-150, Ford
- IT TOPICS:Emerging Technology
With U.S. pickup sales down 6% in 2007, Ford wants to maintain their status as leader in the market. I just heard that Ford will soon be offering vans and F-150 pickup trucks equipped with in-dash computers and even ink jet printers. Talk about multi-tasking. Ford will exhibit the new features - aka Ford's Work Solutions package - at the Chicago Auto Show this week, although they don't yet have prices and the 2009 vehicles won't be available until this summer at the earliest. Other new features that'll be offered are a radio-controlled tracking device so that workmen can keep tabs on the whereabouts of their tools and also a computerized system that will allow workers to keep an eye on the location of vehicles in their fleet. You can read more details in this USA Today article.
I know workers already lug laptops into and out of their vehicles, and I suppose having them built-in can be a plus. Work sites teem with parked pickup trucks and in many of them you can see workers busy at their laptops. For some reason I can't help but wonder if built-in computers will tempt drivers who are idling in traffic - not only when they're safely parked on the side of the road.
Free Insider Guide