Forget gas; future Ford cars may run on the cloud

Ford continues to think ahead with connected cars, showing off a concept car thats as intelligent as the best smartphones. Thanks to mobile broadband, access to a drivers calendar and entertainment preferences and smart engineering, the Ford Evos is an example how the cloud can power cars of the future. In conjunction with the IFA show in Berlin, the auto-maker is showing off the Evos concept vehicle in this video, released today.

As impressive and futuristic as the Evos concept is, many of the features dont seem too far-fetched because of their connectedness. Why couldnt a car re-route you to a more scenic drive if your early work meeting was cancelled or postponed en route? If you have a favorite Internet radio station, perhaps your car should know about it and auto-tune on the drive. And Ford has already touted smart mapping apps for electric vehicles that automatically direct you to the closest recharging station.

Weve seen so many personalization options in smartphones where the devices start learning about us and act as intelligent secretaries that in my mind, these concepts are a natural progression to vehicles. Cars can easily have the sensors and silicon to make this future a reality, but having access to our digital identities in the cloud is the fuel for this future. Well talk more about this connectedness among the Internet of things at our Mobilize event later this month, where I expect to hear about many other intelligent devices.

Related: Oms interview earlier this month with Ford Motor! Company s chief technology officer Paul Mascarenas, on how connectedness will change cars.

Watch this video for free on GigaOM Tech News, Analysis and Trends