Ford embraces mobility services

Ford Motor Company has declared its intention to move into the mobility services market, driven by the growing trend for consumers to favour flexible vehicle usage options over outright vehicle ownership.

The company has announced the next phase of its Ford Smart Mobility plan which will see the iconic US car manufacturer move from research to the start of implementation, including new strategic areas of focus, new pilot programs and new mobility product experiments.

Ford Smart Mobility

Ford Smart Mobility is the company’s plan to deliver the next level in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and big data. Ford introduced the plan in January, along with 25 experiments aimed at better understanding consumers’ mobility needs around the globe.

“My great-grandfather helped put the world on wheels so everyone could enjoy the benefits of mobility,” said Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford (pictured above). “Our vision today is to expand that same thinking using advanced technology and new business models, and addressing the mobility challenges people face around the world.”

Following six months of gathering data and consumer insights, Ford is honing in on two strategic areas – flexible use and ownership of vehicles, and multimodal urban travel solutions.

“We now are moving from experimentation to implementation,” said Mark Fields, Ford president and CEO, speaking today at the annual Further with Ford trends conference in Palo Alto. “We have learned a lot in the past six months, and now are ready to put insights into action. Our goal is to make people’s lives better by helping them more easily navigate through their day, address societal issues and, over time, change the way the world moves – just as Henry Ford did more than 100 years ago.”

Peer-2-Peer Car Sharing

As part of its new commitment to a flexible use and ownership model, Ford has unveiled Peer-2-Peer Car Sharing – a pilot program for select customers in six US cities, where 14,000 people will be invited to sign up, and in London, where 12,000 places are on offer in the program.

Under the scheme, pre-screened drivers are able to rent out Ford Credit-financed vehicles for short-term use, as a way of offsetting their monthly vehicle ownership costs. US customers participate through the web-based, mobile-friendly software of ride-share company Getaround, while London drivers connect through a similar rental system operated by easyCar Club.

“Consumers tell us they are interested in sharing the costs of vehicle ownership, and this program will help us understand how much that extends to customers who are financing a Ford vehicle,” said David McClelland, Ford Credit vice president of marketing. “As most vehicles are parked and out of use much of the time, this can help us gauge our customers’ desires to pick up extra cash and keep their vehicles in use.”

Ford owners in the US will register their vehicle with Getaround. Then they will determine when they want to make their vehicles available to renters and how much they want to charge, McClelland said.

Owners will receive monthly income based on their rentals, with Getaround absorbing 40% of income to cover insurance and administration costs.

“I get the learnings, the owner gets the income, and the renter gets the mobility,” McClelland said. He added that if the scheme proves popular, one bonus will be a new line of customers who have rented Fords and will look favourably on the manufacturer when they go to the dealer to buy a car themselves.

The pilot is being offered to select Ford Credit customers in California – including Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco; as well as in Portland, Oregon; Chicago and Washington, DC. It runs through November and covers all late-model Ford-brand vehicles beginning with the 2005 model year that have fewer than 125,000 miles.

Public car sharing

Ford has also recently announced GoDrive, an on-demand, public car-sharing pilot.. The service offers customers flexible, practical and affordable access to a fleet of cars for one-way journeys with easy parking throughout London.

The new pilot – which grew from one of the more than 25 mobility experiments Ford announced in January – offers Londoners a choice of 50 cars positioned in 20 locations which can be used for one-way trips with guaranteed parking. The service operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, with per-minute pricing which covers all fees

Multimodal mobility solutions

Urban congestion and sky-high parking and other charges mean that in many cities, driving a vehicle from home to work is not feasible. Ford is looking for solutions here, too, and has launched a new electric bike and a prototype smartphone app that makes using the eBike easier for urban commutes.

MoDe:Flex is Ford’s third, most versatile eBike yet and is reconfigurable for different customer needs. The bike’s center frame assembly includes the motor and battery, while the front and rear assemblies and wheels can be configured for road, mountain or city riding. The bike folds and stores inside any Ford vehicle – where it can be charged while stowed.

Like the previous models, MoDe:Me and ModDe:Pro, which were introduced in March, , MoDe:Flex connects seamlessly with a rider’s smartphone via the MoDe:Link app. The app harnesses real-time information regarding weather, congestion, parking costs, time, traffic and public transportation. It includes eyes-free navigation, route planning, and health and fitness information. It also helps to identify the most efficient and cost-effective mode of transport for a journey.

A new extension of MoDe:Link for the smartwatch brings all of the real-time data and functionality to the eBike rider’s wrist. This includes the “no sweat” mode, which increases electric pedal assist based on heart rate – ensuring riders gets to their destinations without breaking a sweat. The wearable device also provides safety notifications. Hazards, such as potholes ahead, are signaled through vibrating handlebars, plus the smartwatch alerts the rider and beeps.

Ford says both consumers and cities can use data like this gathered from bike sensors, which provides information about traffic patterns, pedestrians and road conditions that is difficult to obtain from vehicle sensors. The company says that in the future, this data may be combined with vehicle data to analyze road quality, characterize micro-climates, or identify traffic patterns throughout the day. For example, city planners could use this information to create bike lanes. Bike riders could get insights on best routes or real-time information on areas to avoid

Learning by doing

Ford said its battery of over 25 mobility experiments had provided some useful insights. For example, Dynamic Shuttle, the on-demand ride-sharing service in New York and London studied how Ford vehicles – in this case, a Transit van – should be modified to make it most accommodating to consumers.

People told Ford they wanted transparent fares and travel times; enough personal space to feel comfortable; amenities such as Wi-Fi; space for small bags; and a less-than-five-minute walk to or from their pick-up and drop-off points.

The company reported that work on other projects had shown that people like receiving a score, showing them how they are performing at driving, as it allows them to track their progress and improve.

The system works better if drivers see benefits of improving driving habits and are rewarded for changing behaviour, and driver scores and associated driving data have a broader range of application to mobility services. For example, the data can be used to create driver profiles based on behavior behind the wheel, then shared with insurance providers and rental car companies for more personalized, potentially discounted rates.

Sharing economy

Ford’s decisions are informed in part by findings from surveys such as those conducted by Penn Schoen Berland, an independent research company. This found that one third of millennials in the US are interested in renting out their own belongings as a way to supplement their income

Young Americans rank car rides second only to book lending as things they are most open to sharing, while more than half of millennials (that is, those born between the late 1980s and 2000s) report being open to sharing rides with others

Half of millennial and Generation Z consumers (the generation after millennials) point to money savings as the top advantage to sharing goods and services. For 40%, the opportunity to try new products scores highly, while a third (33%) like having access to more options.