Ford's Head in the Clouds

What you’re looking at here is The Blue Oval’s next-generation of hot hatch.

Officially called the Evos Concept, it will star as Ford’s headline act at this September’s Frankfurt Motor Show. And while it previews the next iteration of Ford’s global design language, it’s what’s inside the Evos that is really causing tongues to wag.

As we develop digital fingerprints, it seems inevitable we’ll all be enveloped in a ‘personal cloud’ of our own making, and the Evos is ready to make use of it. Ford describes the Evos’ cabin as “More than an interior”, and backs this up with the use of ‘cloud-server technology’ to offer an even greater level of connectivity for mobile devices. Simply put, cloud-server technology – a technique recently unveiled by Apple with its iCloud device – integrates content across all your electronic devices. Download something onto your computer, and you’ll be able to access it on your phone, work computer and, Ford says, in its cars.

Yet the Evos will go further and use your ‘personal cloud’ of data to build info on your preferences including work schedule, traffic movements and weather.

Ford says that “The car gets to know you and can act as a personal assistant to handle some of the usual routines of a daily commute.” Ford’s Derrick Kuzak, group vice president of Global Product Development, says, “The intent is not to convert the vehicle into a smartphone, but rather to provide personalised and safe connection to the outside world in an enriching manner designed totally for the vehicle context.”