Ford Exploring Ride-Sharing White Space
Ride-sharing is at a peak time in 2015, and Ford—a reputable capitalizer upon all things trendy—is looking to do what it does best: make a vehicle that will make them some money.
According to the Washington Post, not only is Ford investigating the feasibility of building up its own ride-sharing program a la Uber or Lyft, but it’s also looking into building a dedicated ride-sharing vehicle.
“There is a white space for a new product,” says John Abernethy, project lead for the Advanced Product Group at Ford Motor Company in the UK. “Between a taxi and a bus is a space for something else.”
This “something else” is part of what Ford calls a “dynamic social shuttle,” which could very well involve a dedicated Ford vehicle and an app. It would not be a stretch to say that any vehicle built up for this program would likely build upon the formula set forth by the Transit/Transit Connect, but Ford could always go in an entirely different direction and build something new to accommodate its vision of a “premium mini-bus.”
Whether Ford ultimately pulls the trigger on this idea, and whether it ultimately results in a complete ride-share program or simply a vehicle that would be ideal for use by Uber drivers, remains to be seen.
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