A doctor in your dashboard - Ford cars that monitor your vitals

Ford wants your next car to monitor your vital signs as you drive and even interact by closing up your windows if the pollen count is too high.

The technology exists to build a car that will act as your own private nurse. The car will notice if you have low blood sugar and prompt you to eat a snack. The car will also check local pollen counts and roll up your windows when the pollen gets too high. At lunch time, the car is going to give you directions to the nearest restaurant that serves you a healthy lunch. This and much more is what Ford has in store for its consumers in the future, some of these applications of technology may be available in a year or two.

Using a suite of new apps Ford announced Wednesday, starting up your car will supply you with your own personalized medical evaluation, according to the website PopSci.

Three medical technology firms are working with Ford to build web-connected apps for it Sync on board communications interface. Ford’s Chief Technology Officer, Paul Mascarenas, said today that the technology to monitor these vitals won’t be available for another year. The Ford Company wants to focus on the consumers health in the up and coming cars of the future.

People are spending more and more time behind the wheel of a car. This is not only due to the distance they need to travel, but the traffic and congestion that can tie a person up for hours on any given day. Innovation and connectivity is the platform that the Ford Company is developing. The focus is on chronic disease and general wellness monitoring.

While apps to monitor blood alcohol would be a tremendous safety tool, Ford executives have no plan on offering these apps in the cars, they are going in a more keeping healthy way instead of monitoring the laws apparently.

The crashes reported by hypoglycemic patients because of their sugar levels going awry, may be a thing of the past with the new blood sugar monitoring system. Of course alcohol indulgence also causes crashes, but this again is apparently not health related enough to add in with the other apps.

Chances are if a car offers a blood alcohol test of some type, it is going to sit on the car lot. Although offering the alcohol testing in a car would be a great tool for public safety, chances of it being a big seller are not very good. It could also work the other way and detour people from purchasing the car. Most likely, if consumers ever see alcohol detectors in cars, it will be at a time in history where it is mandated by the government.

Another health initiative from an automaker came from Nissan last year, which plans to offer cabin air purifiers and spritz motorists with vitamin C. Other automakers have developed technology that allows the cars to detect pedestrians. Ford's vision is to turn cars into tools that work for the consumer as life coaches and personal assistants. They liken this to the way Smartphone apps have transformed the cell phone.

Ford does not have a target population in mind when developing this technology to use in their cars. They want to offer it to their frugal Fiesta drivers all the way through to the high end cars, such as the pricey Lincolns.

Reference: PopSci

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