Ford Motor buys into commuter shuttle business
SAN FRANCISCO – Ford Motor Co. is buying into the commuter shuttle business, part of an on-going pivot designed to preserve profitability in a world with reduced car ownership.
Flanked by the mayors of three Bay Area cities, Ford CEO Mark Fields announced Friday that the Detroit automaker was acquiring startup Chariot for an undisclosed sum.
Riders summon Chariot’s Ford Transit vans via an app, which helps drivers prioritize busy routes and avoid less traveled ones. The so-called dynamic shuttle service aims to be more efficient than public transportation and less expensive than ride-hailing.
“We’re changing our mindset as the world changes from an (automobile) ownership mentality to a shared mentality,” Fields told USA TODAY on the eve of the City Hall announcement. “Within 18 months, we’d like to bring our dynamic shuttle to five more global cities.”
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Fields said that for the moment the Chariot brand would remain. However, “that could evolve and change to Ford.”
The acquisition comes just weeks after Ford committed to building fully autonomous vehicles for ride-hailing applications by 2021, joining a race that includes Uber (which begins picking up passengers in self-driving cars this month), Google (which recently partnered with Fiat Chrysler to build self-driving test cars) and a range of automakers such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo.
Ford also recently joined Chinese search giant Baidu in making a $150 million investment in Silicon Valley tech company Velodyne, makers of laser-radar components that are critical to the manufacturing of self-driving automobiles.
Baidu also has promised a self-driving car by 2021, and will be testing its vehicles in the U.S. Meanwhile, Singapore software startup nuTonomy has already rolled out a half-dozen self-driving taxis to a particularly congested business and residential district of the Asian capital.
Fields noted that densely populated San Francisco was “an ideal place to test out alternative mobility solutions." It is a place where mass transit is embraced despite its inevitable headaches, and bikers on city streets are common sights.
To that end, the CEO also announced that Ford would be partnering with urban bike-sharing company Motivate to increase the number of bike rental stations across the Bay Area to 7,000 by the end of 2018. Commuters would pay for bikes and shuttles using Ford Pass, an app linked to a credit card.
By offering consumers various modes of transportation beyond car ownership, Ford hopes to make its century-old brand synonymous with more than just car and truck sales, which have been slowing.
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Ford also announced Friday that it had tapped John Kwant, formerly of Ford’s government affairs team, to lead Ford City Solutions, a new division within its Ford Smart Mobility initiative. Kwant’s job will be to sell global capitals with transportation challenges on the merits of working with Ford on solutions.
Fields says that Ford has been "doing research on dynamic shuttles for some time," but Chariot caught the company's eye due to its success in a market that had seen rivals Leap Transit and Nightschool fail. Cofounded by Ali Vahabzadeh, Chariot has had only one round of funding at $3 million but in the past few years has built up a business that includes 100 Ford vans plying 28 routes in and around San Francisco.
"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," Vahabzadeh said in a statement.
Follow USA TODAY tech reporter Marco della Cava @marcodellacava