Ford Focus a Med Device

I read with amusement Ford's push into the health care space by providing in-car features that aid in health care bio display (article below). I spent a fair amount of my career in developing consumer and enterprise IT solutions for the auto industry, so I'm extremely familiar with the space. But Ford's recent initiative leaves me scratching my head. Ford purports to aid diabetics with seat and air sensors that can measure a diabetics blood glucose levels. A noble idea, but I'm hoping Ford can look back into the history of in-car devices to see that better solutions already exist. As with the phone, technology that provides value out of the car is best left as a portable, mobile device. Diabetics aren't only concerned about blood glucose levels in the car, and the myriad of monitoring devices that provide 24/7 coverage should be a signal to Ford that the cost and complexity simply isn't a good value proposition. The better solution is to integrate existing monitoring devices into the Ford OS to allow relevant alerts for rest periods and food. Otherwise, as a friend and colleague in Europe designing cars said, this technology poorly developed will generate anxiety, and less safety.

I heard on NPR a Ford spokesman speak to their health care initiative, given that people are spending more and more time in their cars. But that's a symptom of a greater problem. Perhaps if people spent less time in their cars and more time walking or exploring other transportation alternatives. diabetes would be less of a problem in this country.

Wall Street Cheat Sheet article here: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/ford-makes-foray-into-healthcare-with-ground-breaking-car-feature.html/