ITWire

Years before a Ford vehicle shines on stage at a car show or arrives in dealer showrooms, Ford researchers are hard at work behind the scenes, building virtual vehicles that allow the company to design, analyse and enhance the driver experience before a physical vehicle ever exists.

Known as the Powerwall (Trekers would have preferred the term Holodeck, maybe next time) the new Virtual Reality Centre houses a 6m x 3m screen used to evaluated 3D models of proposed cars.

According to Ford the result is a superior mark of craftsmanship and refined finish that characterises Ford vehicles. The virtual process also speeds up production times while helping reduce costs. Using virtual reality tools, engineers and designers can make consumer-friendly adjustments before the building of a vehicle starts.

The state-of-the-art facility is the same as that developed by Ford in Dearborn. The Ford US team even received a call from NASA asking for a tour of the facility, which has resulted in on-going collaboration.

The Ford Australia VRC is one of just three in the company’s global design centres. The other two are in Dearborn, Michigan and Cologne, Germany.

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