Ford is a giant of the motor manufacturing world that only ever thinks about building cars, vans and trucks, right? Probably about 85% true.
The rest of the time it appears that at least some folk within the company are trying to figure out how the motor vehicle world will fit in with other transportation systems in the ten, 20, even 30 years, ahead of us all.
One such person is the company's executive chairman, Bill Ford. He has become a bit of a cheerleader, in some respects, for how the industry will evolve and integrate with other modes of transport - and, most interestingly, how Big Data will help that process.
In the clip from a TED talk, Ford (after the slightly whimsical stuff about his childhood) explains not only the challenges facing the car industry but how technology will push it forward, through better use of data and efficiencies around consumption.
He notes the rise of car-sharing services - an area identified as a potential new battleground in travel distribution - but also discusses how vehicles will be smarter in the future.
But where this approach gets interesting is when observed through the prism of how travel is managed in terms of combining air with rail and road.
It can't be too much of a leap into the future where a traveller will be armed with the information that allows to understand immediately what their best options are for transportation to and from airports, for example, where smart devices and vehicles (especially taxis) react accordingly to congestion, changes to schedules, etc.
Worth some time. It's a good presentation: