The next Ford you buy could come outfitted with a set of biometric sensors, if company chief executive Mark Fields has his way.
According to Fortune, Fields has been in contact with Flex, the makers of wearable fitness trackers including Fitbit, to research ways that biometric sensors could be installed into cars. Having previously worked together to make semi-autonomous driving sensors, Ford and Flex are looking at possible medical applications of new sensors.
Speaking at Fortune’s Brainstorm Health conference in San Diego, Flex chief marketing officer Michael Mendenhall said biometric sensors could determine if a person is falling asleep, among other things.
“The reason he was interested in medical is because he recognizes that there’s biometric sensors that can actually go into a car, and those sensors can read a person’s biological makeup and understand whether the person is falling sleep at the wheel or not and the car would actually respond,” Mendenhall said.
Beyond the possible implementation of biometric sensors in its future models, Ford could fit CO2 sensors capable of detecting if a child or animal has been left in a locked car and alert the driver.
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