When you first experience the Ford EVOS, you will have a very obvious feeling: this car not only has the leading smart cockpit, the large space loved by Chinese consumers and comfortable seats, but also maintains Ford's long-standing control genes and driving pleasure. This feeling is just in line with the core of "Ford China 2.0" - "more Ford, more China".
At the R&D level, under the "Ford China 2.0" program, the Nanjing Engineering R&D Center, together with the Nanjing Test Center, was upgraded to the Ford China Product Center. The first task of setting up a product center in China is to improve product research and development and technological innovation capabilities, and strive to create models that can truly meet the needs of Chinese consumers.
Under this goal, the first model of the "Ford China 2.0" strategy, EVOS, was born, and what are the untold R&D stories behind this "More Ford, More China" model led by The Ford China Product Center?
The first time you see a Friend of Ford EVOS, you will definitely feel that this Ford is particularly different, because the design of this car is not only very different from the previous Ford models, but even in the eyes of many people, there will be a question - is this not an electric car? This undoubtedly indirectly affirms the AVOS pioneer sense of intelligence.
EVOS is the first work created by Ford's new "potential energy aesthetics" design language, which not only shows the three dimensions of "movement", "creation" and "force" in the overall momentum, but also has many commendable places in the design details, such as the design of the breathing 3D parametric scale armor grille, the hidden door handle, the spoiler above the rear row, the split headlights and the design of the through taillights.
The function should be around the scene, when the user approaches with the key or mobile phone, the suspended scales on the intake grille will begin to swing, while the headlights are on, the hidden door handle is slowly extended, officially called "Wolong Awakening", as if the car is alive, full of ritual, let people and the car better connection. EvOS's powerful aura and rich details are enough to attract people to sit in and look at it again, which will definitely be attracted by the large 1.1 meter screen in the car... This big screen is undoubtedly a good footnote to Ford's "more China".
Why put such a big screen in the car?
China's strength in the Internet of Vehicles and intelligent cockpits is already at the international leading level, so it is reasonable for the Ford China Product Center to be responsible for the research and development of evos' intelligent cockpits, which is also a microcosm of Ford's China 2.0 strategy since its implementation - to make good use of China's advantages. EVOS is equipped with an overall large screen of more than 1.1 meters composed of a 12.3-inch high-definition instrument and a 27-inch 4K central control large screen. In particular, this largest 27-inch giant screen of the same level has a 4032*756 HD resolution, reaching the 4K level.
In the early stage of research and development, including now, there are already many triple-screen products on the market, if you do the same type of products, the significance is not great, the innovation is not enough, so in the planning time to consider the challenge of the central control and co-driver screen into a continuous screen, to know that it is not easy to do a large screen in the car, not only at the hardware level to achieve the car level but also to ensure safety, in the experience of how to make this large screen full play is also very difficult.
First of all, in the basic human-computer interaction design, the engineers of The Ford China Product Center give priority to ensuring "visible" and "controllable", that is, visible and tangible, for example, in the single-player mode, the priority of information display is decreased from left to right, and when navigating with the map, the navigation starting point is located on the left side instead of the center of the screen, which is convenient for the driver to "see". In terms of operation, one finger swipes from the top of the screen to enter the shortcut panel; three fingers below the screen slide up to enter the recently visited application, which introduces the operation mode of the smartphone, reduces the user's learning cost, and adapts to it very easily.
In addition to touch, Ford EVOS is also equipped with voice control and gesture recognition, voice control integrates Baidu artificial intelligence technology to integrate natural semantic recognition functions, support 70+ semantic vertical classes, including Chinese and English mix-and-match instructions, etc., can control including air conditioning, seats, sunroofs, steering wheels, mood lights, etc.
Of course, if this big screen is only these, it is obviously not enough to walk, Ford China product center engineers in the early stage of research and development priority is the user's use of the scene, and then think about what this big screen can do, so there is the industry's first "joint driving fun" function, after the central control of the large screen split screen, in the co-driver screen synchronous display such as speed, navigation information, road signs and so on. We often encounter the co-driver to help navigate, with the "joint driving fun" can let the co-driver set the navigation and then assign to the main driver, very convenient.
In addition to this large screen that looks very advanced and high-tech, what can also be perceived is the large space and sense of space of Ford EVOS, which also has the figure of Ford's China Product Center.
A driving space for Chinese consumers
Ford EVOS itself is a car with a large physique, with a length, width and height of 4920 * 1920 * 1600mm, and the wheelbase is nearly 3m of 2945mm, so the space should have been large, but for the Ford China Product Center team who is well versed in Chinese consumer preferences, such space is not enough. As a global model, the European team originally preferred a small rear row and a large trunk, but the Ford China Product Center team believed that the rear space should be large and comfortable according to the survey of local users, and since it was a Chinese debut, it must give priority to the preferences of Chinese consumers.
The final design moves the rear seats backwards as a whole, the entire central control area of the front row is moved forward, and the longitudinal space of the crew compartment is expanded again on the already very long longitudinal space, especially the rear seat space is even larger to the exaggeration, the rear knee space reaches 165mm, Ford China's seat designer team also adopts a new front seat structure, lighter and more sturdy materials further increase the rear knee space.
Speaking of seats, this is also a different place in China and abroad, Europe and the United States for the rear seat comfort requirements are not as high as in China, and generally speaking, the seat is harder, because the rear seat is rare. But Chinese consumers are concerned about the comfort of the rear seats, even if they rarely sit in the back seats. In order to meet the needs of Chinese consumers, first of all, in terms of seat size, EVOS's China seat team has summarized the average data of Chinese customers in years of research, and dominated the seat size in the Chinese market according to the height standards of the Chinese people.
Secondly, from material selection to color matching to material thickness control, the Ford China Product Center team constantly uses test data to find the most comfortable design solution. Even the deceptively simple function of adjusting the seat angle has been tested extensively to achieve the most comfortable rail response speed for passengers, the linkage angle between the seat cushion and the backrest. Finally, the seat design team confirmed the optimal softness scheme through a static and dynamic comprehensive driving evaluation, so that the seat of The Ford EVOS allows customers to feel soft as soon as they get on the car, and can maintain good support for a long time.
If the smart cockpit and large space and the comfort of the driving and riding, the Ford China Product Center team has played a huge role in making EVOS "more Chinese", do not forget the next sentence "more Ford", and continue Ford's excellent driving control gene on EVOS.
More suitable for the Ford driving control of the Chinese people
Ford EVOS this set of power is very familiar to everyone, equipped with Ford's iconic EcoBoost 2.0T engine, the maximum power of 175kW (238 horsepower), peak torque 376N·m, as a 1.6 tons or more a little SUV, such a performance heart with such a large but not heavy body, Ford EVOS 0-100kph acceleration time is only 6.6s! In view of the road conditions that are often blocked by traffic in China, in the face of such a strong power, everyone's first reaction is - will it be very channeling?
The answer is no, in the initial and middle stages of EVOS acceleration, Ford China Product Center engineers took into account the driving habits of Chinese consumers to carry out corresponding adjustments, especially in the stage of improving the start, carried out nearly a hundred calibration adjustments, in order to make the throttle more linear, easier to precisely control, so that the START of EVOS will not be very channeling, in the braking will not be particularly rushed nor particularly soft.
Especially for the situation that urban traffic congestion is often open and stop, Ford China Product Center engineers have undergone a lot of calibration tests and adjustments according to China's road conditions, so that EVOS in the congestion slow down, the driver can control the speed through the accelerator, without the need to let the foot switch back and forth frequently between the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal, thereby reducing fatigue.
There is also a very careful detail in the driving control, Ford China Product Center engineers also specially consider the needs of female users in the speed is relatively low or reverse, EVOS steering will not make them feel very heavy, but also will not be light fluttering, for high-speed driving, on the basis of the torque standard, after tuning the EVOS steering wheel will have a certain damping, to prevent the return to the center too fast.
In addition to the above three major points, Ford EVOS in intelligence, space, power has also done a lot of optimization, in the intelligent driving in addition to the BlueCruise driving assistance function, but also the first introduction of Ford vehicle road coordination system, etc., behind which you can see the figure of The Ford China team, so that this car is particularly "not Ford" and very "Ford", which is due to the "Ford China 2.0" plan to bring changes to Ford China.
From 2017 to 2019, Ford has set up a Nanjing engineering R&D center and a testing center in China, increasing investment in China's local R&D, combining China's and global R&D advantages, and creating products around the needs of Chinese consumers, not only retaining Ford's inherent advantages but also integrating more Chinese elements to meet Chinese consumers. Judging from the final EVOS, this car reflects Ford's transformation in the research and development process, and also fully demonstrates the strength of China's research and development team.