Ford, Life360 Team Up For Safe Driving

Ford is teaming up with a tech startup in order to promote safe driving. Life360, a company known for their family communication app has found a power partner in Ford, who is collaborating with them on a safe driving initiative. Tech Crunch reported that Ford is the first automaker to offer in-car usage of Life360 as well as its new “Drive Mode” feature.

With this “Drive Mode” in place, those connected with a driver would be discouraged from contacting them while they are driving. The two companies are betting that telling friends and family a loved one is behind the wheel will discourage them from contacting them during that potentially dangerous time.

Julius Marchwicki, Ford’s Connected Services Product Manager, spoke about what this partnership could mean. Marchwicki said in a statement, “With the integration of Life360’s Drive Mode, we are helping to keep drivers’ attention on the road by letting their loved ones know that they are behind the wheel, encouraging family members and friends to hold off on sending texts. According to 2012 data, 3,328 people were killed in distracted affected crashes. These are accidents that the U.S. Department of Transportation have linked to a distracted motorist. That 2012 data also revealed that 10 percent of all drivers under the age of 20 who died in accidents that year were reported to have been distracted.

Life360, the startup working with Ford, has 48 million users. The six-year-old family and friends communications platform has retooled itself to work with the Ford infotainment structure and “DriveTime” feature. The Life360 system is tied to the Ford SYNC infotainment system. As soon as a user connected to their Ford SYNC system, those connected to that motorists on Life360 are notified that they are potentially driving. When the device disconnects from the vehicle, those in the driver’s circle are sent a notification that that user is no longer driving.

Do you think that other automakers will team up with Life360? Would you want to know if your loved one was driving before you send them a text?