11 May 2011

Google helping make hybrids efficient

Ford in America is collaborating with Google to develop a software system that 'learns' how a hybrid car operated on a previous journey, and adapt how it operates the next time that journey is taken, writes Brian Byrne.

The carmaker has a prototype Escape hybrid which uses the Google Prediction API to create models of various journeys, using a wireless internet connection to Google's 'cloud'.

To make the car more energy-efficient the software directs the car's computer to juggle the electric motor and petrol engine input during a drive, according to data previously uploaded on that trip.