Our devices are learning about our habits and adapting 3

This entry was posted in cars technology on by (updated 4235 days ago)
Back before the +Chevrolet Volt went on sale, the engineers talked about using your destination information to adapt the way the energy in the battery was used. For example based on your distance from home, it could run the engine for a while before it normally would to save the remaining battery power for the final stretch. If you were 5 miles from home and only had 2 miles of capacity it might run the engine for 3 miles and use the battery as you go through your neighborhood. Alternatively it could also run the battery into the buffer zone if your close to home where you will plug in. The goal is to get as many miles on the battery as possible, since charging costs less per mile than gas. At this point, none of that has been implemented yet on the Volt.

+Ford Motor Company has however implemented EV+ on it's new generation hybrid systems in the C-Max and Fusion. Information about your location and driving habits is aggregated using SYNC GPS, to look for patterns. As the system learns when you are approaching regular destinations, the battery gets used more aggressively to save fuel. This works on the regular hybrids, but it really comes into its own on the plug-in hybrid C-Max Energi and Fusion Energi where it will try to use up the battery power as you approach locations where you regularly plug in. Both C-Max versions and the Fusion hybrid are available now and the Fusion Energi PHEV goes on sale early in the new year.

Between this and systems like Google Now on Android phones, the cloud will soon no more about us than we do. 

Reshared post from +Green Car Reports

Would't it be nice if your electric car just knew when you were close to home?

2013 Ford C-Max Energi: New EV+ Feature ‘Learns’ Regular Routes
Every driver of a plug-in hybrid electric car eventually wants to drive more on electricity and less on gasoline. So it’s frustrating when the battery charge indicator shows a reasonable level of char…

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3 thoughts on “Our devices are learning about our habits and adapting”

  • Melina M

    I imagine Google's driverless cars would be better at this than anything, if they end up being gasoline/electric hybrids. Based on Google Now's ability to predict where I'm going and what route I'll take, they're already perfectly set up to integrate with a system like this.

  • Sam Abuelsamid

    +Melina M I seriously doubt +Google will every build cars. Instead I can see them following the Android model and building a control software platform that will be licensed to carmakers much like Microsoft does today with the Windows CE platform that underpins systems like Ford SYNC, Kia UVO, Fiat Blue&Me and others. 

    That said, it will surely incorporate capabilities like Now and Maps with traffic data. It could even utilize Android to power the V2X communications.