Ford Hires Santos, a Virtual Soldier Turned Into Worker

After GM announced its R2 space robot, how long could it be before the Blue Oval had something futuristic to show off? Ford recently introduced Santos, a new virtual-reality stress-testing digital man.

Santos, derived from the Department of Defense's Virtual Soldier Research program, is Ford's next stage of virtual work assistance. He works in a simulated Ford factory and measures the effects of real-world stress by combining a "complete biomechanical muscular system" with "predictive dynamics".

Ford ergonomics technical specialist Allison Stephens thankfully explains it in layman's terms:

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New Ford Fiesta Takes on a Lamborghini Gallardo, Lives to Tell the Tale [Video]

Ford's looking to make a big statement with its upcoming Fiesta, and it seems like the new-age consumer-driven marketing has been a success. Now, the gurus behind the campaign have come up with a new one.

Recently, they put out a challenge to the public: come up with different tests to help assess the Fiesta and see how it stacks up against some major players. This one pits the upcoming Fiesta hatch against a Lambo in some real-world (and Fiesta-centric) tests.

It's a tad cheesy, but you should still be able to enjoy the show. Video after the break.

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Boston Says "Yes, Please" to Ford Transit Connect Taxis

The city of Boston, Massachusetts has become the first city in America to officially approve of Ford's Transit Connect (2010 North American Truck of the Year) as a taxi.

Mark Cohen, Boston PD Licensing Division director, says this about the Transit Connect: "It's the closest thing to a purpose-built vehicle for taxi use that I've seen in 25 years." I guess he's never been to the UK...

For many places, the issue with replacing the large, Panther-based Crown Victorias has been the regulation of vehicles that are allowed to perform taxi duties. A successor would have to meet various size/measurement/cargo/safety standards before approval, and the city of Boston has deemed the TC Taxi worthy of the job.

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VIDEO: New Ford Focus RS500 Shows off its 350HP

This here is a new video of the limited edition version of the Blue Oval's... limited edition Focus RS hot hatch, the RS500 of which only 500 units will be produced for Europe.

Developed in conjunction with Revolve Technologies, the engineering firm behind the Mountune brand that tweaks the Focus and Fiesta STs, the Focus RS500 boasts a 350-horsepower version of the standard model's 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five and some cosmetic touches, including a matte-black film (no paint here).

Ford mentions that preliminary performance figures indicate that the RS500 goes from zero to 100km/h in 5.6 seconds and 0-160km/h in 12.2 seconds. Video after the jump.

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Ford Video Teases Limited Run Focus RS500 with ~350HP

In five days from now (that's March 31), Ford will officially reveal the Focus RS500, a limited run version of the highly appraised Focus RS with a tweaked 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five rumored to pump out somewhere around 350 horsepower.

In standard form, the RS's five-pot produces 305 ponies with power transferred to the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox.

Not much else is known about the Focus RS500, but we expect to see the special edition model featuring other mechanical as well as styling changes over the 305HP version. You can get a taste of the Euro market RS500 in the teaser video after the break.

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