Meet Ford’s What’s Next Guy – Venkatesh Prasad
By Kamla Bhatt • Jan 25th, 2011Category: CES 2011, Electronic gadgets, Ideas, Planes and Automobiles, Video, YouTube Videos
Meet Venkatesh Prasad, who is known as Ford Motor Company’s “What’s Next Guy.” Prasad has one eye trained on all the new and exciting technological advances, and one eye on how new apps and electronics can be included in the vehicles. Cars have become an extension of our living room couch and office space. We want an uninterrupted experience of listening to our choice of music or continue with our phone calls or be able to get directions to our destination. “The last inch connectivity,” is how puts Prasad describes the changes taking place in vehicles that have are fast emerging as an information hubs.
Today cars are often described as software platform that come with features, apps and services. If you want to know what are the next set of innovations for your car then Prasad is the person who can answer that question. As the head of Infortronics group, a key Research and Development group within Ford they develop standards and applications for vehicles. The group oversees the vehicle system integration of electrical, electronics and embedded software technologies.
In the last few years the number of features and apps available in cars has seen an upward trend. A few years ago the latest and greatest gadget was your in-built navigation system in high-end cars. Or, you had the option of getting a 3rd party navigation device for under $300 and stick it in the dashboard of your car. That navigation system was just the start of a trend where you could communicate through a device to the outside world and receive real time directions. Today, you can use your smart phone to talk to your car to figure out all kinds of information. At this year’s Consumer Electronic Show Ford introduced MyFord Mobile, which is a smartphone app that can talk to your car.
Keep your eyes on Prasad and his team. The next few years look to be an exciting time for car makers as they bring more apps and electronics to your car to make it smart and intelligent.
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