“Cities, nationally and globally, are facing extraordinary new challenges; and gridlock is not only affecting economic growth but pollution is affecting our health and also the environment and it’s very clear the that transportation environment that we’ve developed during the last 100 years is not going to work for the next 100 years.”
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Both investments showcase Ford’s bold intentions: dominate as many parts of the transportation ecosystem as possible in order to evolve from an automaker into an “auto and mobility company”.
Part of that vision includes shuttles, today Ford also announced the purchase of chariot – a San Francisco based startup. Ford CEO Mark Fields told The Verge the plan is to expand Chariot to five more unspecified cities within the next 18 months, including one worldwide city.
A Chariot ride-sharing van in San Francisco.
And since they “crowdsourced” most of their 26 current routes based on user data, they operate efficiently, serving only the neighborhoods that truly need them.
“We started our Chariot service with Ford’s 15-passenger vehicles and continue to use Ford Transit shuttles to this day”, Ali Vahabzadeh, Chariot cofounder and CEO, said in a statement. “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”. Motivate, the world leader in bike share, is collaborating with Ford and city officials to bring the number of bikes in San Francisco Bay up to 7,000 by the end of 2018.
It took nearly three years for officials to secure a corporate sponsor to fund the expansion of the Bay Area’s bike-share system. Motivate would make use of the Ford GoBike, which will be available to reserve through the FordPass platform.
Politicians and advocates from San Jose, Berkeley and San Francisco showed up to ballyhoo the bike share expansion and the idea that mobility and transportation should be provided by not just public agencies but large, private sector partners.
Not only can Ford owners use it to schedule maintenance, but even those that don’t have a Ford vehicle can use it to find parking, plan the best route to dinner… and starting soon, locate the nearest bike pick-up. This could include real-time data, such as weather conditions, usage patterns and bike availability, to optimize commutes. John Kwant – who has worked with several global cities during his Ford career as part of the company’s government affairs and global strategy teams – has been tapped to lead the effort as vice president, Ford City Solutions.
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At a news conference in San Francisco, Ford announced its new City Solutions team as part of its Ford Smart Mobility LLC. Through a joint discovery process, Ford City Solutions will work with municipalities to propose, pilot and develop mobility solutions tailored to the community.
