DUNTON, UK – Two weeks ago, @Ford reported that Ford Pro has stolen a march on the competition by launching a ground-breaking new technology that can help delivery drivers save valuable seconds every stop they make.
It is called Delivery Assist, and it automatically turns off the engine, closes windows, locks doors and switches on hazard lights whenever the driver leaves the vehicle. It also boosts peace of mind for drivers and fleet managers by ensuring vans remain secure.
No other CV manufacturer offers this type of technology, and now @Ford can report it took a core team of nine EU-based engineers from Product Development and Research and Advanced Engineering five years to develop, with support from another 75 colleagues and suppliers globally. It also resulted in resulted in excess of a dozen Patent submissions.
Warren Knight, together with his engineers Steve Cook and Aditya Deodhar, led the team behind the tech. He told @Ford: “The initial idea was conceived during what was called the Commercial Vehicle Beacon ideation process, and in 2019 found a home with the creation of a system engineering department here at Dunton. But, like any great idea, that was just the beginning of all the real-world challenges.
“The biggest obstacle was reconciling and orchestrating so many of the vehicle’s existing systems. The system interactions are massive and, for example, getting the locking to do what we wanted it to do was a huge challenge.”
Because no other manufacturer offers this tech, Warren and the team had no one to benchmark against. So, they performed customer clinics using a Transit running a Rapid Prototype version of the technology with commercial vehicle operators in the UK and Germany to iron out any potential system glitches and to deliver the best-possible user experience.
“What started out with just a small core Product Development (PD) and Research and Advanced Engineering (R&A) team split between Dunton and Aachen then evolved into a truly global programme,” Warren adds. “We had support from Ford colleagues in the US and Germany as well as suppliers.”
Delivery Assist has been recognised with a highly coveted Henry Ford Technology Award. And, according to Warren, there is huge scope to develop these concepts and orchestrations further for future Ford commercial vehicles.
“The new architectures we will introduce will enable us to take our joint PD/R&A vision to the next level, making journeys more comfortable and efficient, integrating vehicles into a wider eco-system and helping our customers businesses to thrive.”
Delivery Assist is currently available on van variants of 2025 E-Transit and EcoBlue diesel-powered Transit with automatic transmission. It will also be available on the all-new E Transit Custom van and automatic transmission-equipped Transit Custom vans.
In case you missed it, check out this video to see the feature in action.