The American motor manufacturer was one of the historic leaders of technology and now is exploring how Quantum Computers might help customers with congestion.
Balanced routing suggestions resulted in a 73 percent improvement in total congestion when compared to “selfish” routing. The average commuting time, meanwhile, was also reduced by 8 percent — an annual reduction of more than 55,000 hours saved in congestion across the simulated fleet.
Dr. Ken Washington, Vice President, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, and Chief Technology Officer
Ford and Microsoft scientists have simulated vehicles and their impact on congestion by leveraging quantum-inspired technology. The project with Microsoft tested several different possibilities, including a scenario involving up to 5,000 vehicles simultaneously requesting routes across the test region of Seattle. Working with Microsoft they aim to use their Quantum experience to build quantum inspired algorithms that can make customer journey’s better and also do something for the environment.
Quantum Computers that can readily solve these problems easily are still some-way off but we are seeing the likes of VW also explore Quantum Computing with D-Wave for navigation.
Prior to working with Microsoft Ford were exploring Quantum technologies with NASA in 2018 in a aim to better understand how to frame their problems in such a way that Quantum Computing can be applied. Their past aim with NASA is to use their Quantum annealer (Similar to D-Wave technology) to solve optimisation problems.
Right now with the virus, there journey’s probably don’t need to happen let alone be optimised, but as world emerges from the Covid-19 virus, customers might think twice about using public transport and we might see even more congestion and that congestion could be helped by learning from the Quantum field.
