A rise in car numbers from 1bn to a projected 4bn by 2050 threatens “global gridlock”, Bill Ford, Ford chairman and head of the US carmaker’s founding family, will warn today.

Mr Ford will use a speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to outline the company’s proposal for connected cars and intelligent transport systems, which he will argue is essential to avoid a future marred by crippling congestion.

As record numbers buy cars – especially in developing countries such as China and India – the concept of mobility pioneered by industry founders such as his great-grandfather Henry is at risk, he will argue. Ford’s “blueprint for mobility” will call for greater co-operation between rival carmakers, governments and mobile phone companies to create a transport network in which pedestrians, bicycles, cars and commercial and public transport are part of an interconnected system.