Ford will be working with several big cities globally to solve congestion issues and to help people travel easily. The first city will be San Francisco.
The company announced that they will acquire Chariot, a San Francisco-based shuttle service. They will collaborate with bike-sharing provider Motivate to expand its transportation solutions in city centres. In addition to that, Ford will also set up a new City Solutions team to work with various cities worldwide on their transportation requirements.
“We’re expanding our business to be both an auto and a mobility company, and partnering with cities on current and future transportation needs is the next major step,” said Mark Fields, Ford president and CEO. “For more than 100 years, Ford has been part of the community and the trusted source for automotive transportation. Now, we want to work with communities to offer even more transportation choices and solutions for people – for decades to come.”
Currently, 50 percent of the world’s population live in cities. Come 2030, that figure is expected to reach 60 percent. As the population in cities grow, it comes a challenge to move people and good around town. Ford is committed to be part of the solution.
“Cities globally are dealing with increased congestion, a growing middle class and environmental issues – all of which can be alleviated by developing mobility solutions fine-tuned to the unique challenges of each location,” said Jim Hackett, chairman, Ford Smart Mobility LLC, the company’s subsidiary created to design, build, grow and invest in emerging mobility services. “At the same time, by expanding our business model to include new forms of transportation – from bikes to dynamic shuttles and more – we are introducing new customers to Ford and creating new revenue and profit opportunities for the future.”
The acquisition of Chariot by Ford will be the foundation of Ford’s new global shuttle service business. The new shuttle service is expected to be available beyond San Francisco to at least another 5 additional markets in the next 18 months.
Shuttle started in 2014, operating almost 100 Ford Transit shuttles along 28 routes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, their routes are crowd-sourced based on rider demand. In the future, Chariot will operate dynamically to best serve the real-time mobility needs of communities, thanks to efficient map routes using data algorithms.
“Chariot’s mission from day one has been to solve the commute by providing a mass transit solution that is fast, reliable and affordable for people living in today’s cities,” said Ali Vahabzadeh, Chariot cofounder and CEO. “We started our Chariot service with Ford’s 15-passenger vehicles and continue to use Ford Transit shuttles to this day. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be Ford Smart Mobility’s first acquisition and leverage its leadership in transportation to fulfill Chariot’s goals worldwide.”
In addition to Chartioy, Ford is working with Motivate, a global leader in bike sharing, to add new stations and increase the number of bikes to 7,000 in the Bay Area by end-2018. Ford GoBike is expected to launch next year, and users can access the service using the FordPass platform.
“A transportation revolution is coming to the Bay Area,” said Jay Walder, CEO of Motivate. “This unique partnership with Ford shows that bike share is no longer alternative transportation; it is central to creating smart, on-demand mobility that represents our values for equity and sustainability. Thanks to the partnership of Metropolitan Transportation Commission, San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville, bike share will soon be available for all in the Bay Area.”
Using the data collected from bikes, Ford plans to develop technologies to build an interconnected mobility network, which could include real-time data such as weather conditions, usage patterns and bike availability to properly optimize commutes.
Furthermore, Ford is also establishing its new City Solutions team to work with various cities on expanding mobility services as part of Ford Smart Mobility LLC. The team will address the reality that each city’s transportation ecosystem has evolved over time and poses a unique set of transportation challenges. Through a joint discovery process, Ford City Solutions will work with municipalities to propose, pilot and develop mobility solutions tailored to the community. Discussions are already under way with several global cities.
