Ford smart benches to offer free mobile charging and Wi-Fi access
Pedestrians in London will be able to charge their phone and use Wi-Fi for free and even monitor air pollution with the help of new Ford ‘smart benches’.
The benches will provide free charging and WiFI along with CO2 monitoring.
The carmaker is teaming up with smart cities start-up Strawberry Energy to roll out a network of 20 smart benches in the capital, in addition to the 10 benches installed by Strawberry Energy earlier this year in partnership with Cancer Research UK.
The benches will use solar power and provide free access to Wi-Fi and charging, both wirelessly and via ports and for tablets, cameras and wearables as well as smarthones.
In addition, the benches can monitor noise, carbon dioxide, humidity, and temperature.
Users would also be able to make a donation to UK charities St Mungo’s, Rethink Mental Illness and Macmillan Cancer Support, with Ford Motor Company Fund, the company’s philanthropic arm, to match donations received from bench users, up to £10,000 for each charity.For more of the latest industry news, click here.
Natalie Middleton
Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for over 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day.
