The survey was carried out between July and August 2012. 6,028 people were questioned across six European countries; Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

The survey shows that we need a public dialogue and pull in all the stakeholders to address the issues of mobility and environmental responsibility. As the world becomes more crowded and more urbanized, we don’t want to lose the freedom of mobility, and that’s why we need to take a collaborative and integrated approach.

—Barb Samardzich, vice president, Product Development, Ford of Europe

Other key findings of the survey:

• 74% identify car ownership with independence

• 52% use public transport less than once a month or never

• 53% say climate change is the world’s biggest problem

• 77% would not cut car usage to help tackle environmental issues

• 72% say fuel efficiency is one of the areas they consider most when buying a car

• 50% would use a more environmental driving style if they better understood the financial benefit

• 57% say elected bodies bear most responsibility for reducing transport impact on the environment

Of those surveyed, 28% say they would consider buying a vehicle with an electrified powertrain; though few have first-hand experience of such vehicles (8% have owned or driven a hybrid electric vehicle and 6% have owned or driven a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle or pure battery electric vehicle). By comparison, 66% of those polled have owned a gasoline engine vehicle and 38% have owned a diesel engine vehicle.

Future mobility solutions. The number of cars on the world’s roads is projected to rise from about 1 billion today between 2 billion and 4 billion by 2050. The European Commission foresees that congestion costs in Europe will rise by 50 per cent to €200 billion per year in the same time frame.

Earlier this year in Barcelona, Bill Ford outlined the company’s “Blueprint for Mobility,” a vision for how mobility issues can be addressed through collaboration among all stakeholders and the application of new technology. (Earlier post.)

Ford is collaborating with multiple partners to develop an holistic approach in identifying and working towards a future vision of transportation. For example, researchers from the Ford European Research and Advanced Engineering Europe Centre in Aachen, Germany, are leading and contributing to a number of high-profile collaborative research projects that look at delivering car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communications capability, improved traffic integration and intelligent driver assistance features; all of which are key enablers in easing traffic congestion and improving safety and fuel efficiency.

These include:

• simTD (Safe Intelligent Mobility – Testfield Germany)—a joint research project supported by the German government that began in 2008. It is testing car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication systems under real-world conditions in a large scale test environment. Such systems could deliver road safety and efficiency improvements from existing traffic infrastructures, potentially improving traffic flow and reducing CO2 emissions. 120 vehicles, including 20 Ford S-MAX cars began daily field operational tests in Frankfurt in July 2012. (Earlier post.)

• DRIVE C2X (DRIVing implementation and Evaluation of C2X communication technology in Europe)—a joint research project supported by the European Commission that began in 2011. It is testing the compatibility and scalability of cooperative car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication systems under real-world conditions. The DRIVE C2X reference system is used to demonstrate cooperative vehicles in real-world traffic in cooperation with the Car2Car Communication Consortium and Testfeld Telematik.

• eCoMove (Cooperative Mobility Systems and Services for Energy Efficiency)—a joint consortium of automotive industry, fleet operators and traffic management providers supported by the European Commission that began in 2010. It is targeting improved traffic flow and reductions in CO2 emissions through cooperative systems.

• interactIVe (Accident Avoidance by Active Intervention of Intelligent Vehicles)—a consortium of 29 partners led by Ford and supported by the European Commission that began in 2010. It is testing the performance of implemented driver assistance systems through active intervention. These include autonomous braking and steering in critical situations and aims to avoid collisions and mitigate impact severity

In 2011, Ford Motor Company spent €4.1 billion (US$5.2 billion) on research and development globally, in areas including car-to-car communication, driver assistance features, materials development and manufacturing.