"If you want to have a smart city, let's just get the transportation right first." - Jim Hackett, Ford president and CEO

Cities have a lot going for them in terms of opportunities. They provide people with jobs, places to live and visit, spaces for businesses to operate, and more. But cities cause plenty of challenges, too, from congestion to pollution to sheer overcrowding.

As a single company, Ford doesn't think it has the solutions to all of these problems, but it is interested in bringing together individuals that are committed to tackling these challenges. That's why it recently convened the City of Tomorrow Symposium in San Francisco.

3Birds Template has more details on the Symposium for you here.

More than autonomous automobiles

Although autonomous vehicles are certainly on the horizon, they aren't a silver bullet solution to congested city streets. After all, self-driving vehicles can still cause traffic, still need places to park, and still cause pollution (so long as they're not all-electric, of course). And a handful of autonomous vehicles in an environment not designed for them won't function nearly as efficiently as they could.

But a city designed to operate in conjunction with self-driving vehicles, that's a horse of a different color altogether. Speaking of horses, fun fact: the city of New York, one of the world's largest and most complicated civil structures, transitioned from horses to cars in just four short years back in the early 1900s. Just think of what we could do with modern resources in cities all over the world!

Cities will have to change

Imagine what cities designed to work with the cars of the future will look like. It's something city planners and civil engineers will need to do in the near future. Improved infrastructure will not only improve safety (allowing for Car-to-X communication) but also reduce congestion, minimize pollution, and more. Of course, modifications will need to be made in those cities for this future to unfold, with special attention paid to the consequences of widespread change.

Take electric and hybrid vehicles, for example. A large number of electric vehicles in one place will all need to be charged regularly, a change that will affect city power systems. And the list goes on. Luckily, Ford is helping people get together who are passionate about these issues and about solving them. The City of Tomorrow Symposium was one step on a journey to the future, and we can't wait to see what it has in store for us all.

The City of Tomorrow may be out there in the future, but Ford has plenty of exciting, technologically advanced models available today. To learn more about them or to schedule a test drive, call, contact us online, or visit us in person at 505 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, NC 27516. And be sure to keep scrolling to see more pictures from the Symposium!

Image Credits: Ford