How People Living Longer Will Impact New Product Creation

People living longer lives means companies and society must now rethink how they engineer the products they sell. Ford Motor's Futurist Sheryl Connelly who studies the impact of global trends said, 'how amazing it is right now that our seniors in today's society are accomplishing extraordinary things.' Connelly said the 'In Awe of Aging' trend has huge implications especially as people live longer and longer lives. 'The oldest woman to ever give birth is 70 years old. She gave birth to twins. The oldest man to run a marathon was 101. I think the oldest person living at this moment is 116. Scientists have declared that the first person to live to be 150 has already been born. So you or I could live to be a century and a half.' For automakers like Ford, the prospects of working toward developing autonomous vehicles could go a long way toward providing mobility for people in their 80s, 90s or even 100s who in past decades may have had to give up driving because of age.