Automobile giant Ford announced its strategy and acquisitions in order to focus on mobility technology to improve customer experience and identify future revenue streams.
The US-based car maker is buying two technology companies as part of the mobility strategy to reshape the business. The company did not disclose the financial terms of the acquisitions.
Ford early this week reported that its Q4 sales grew 7 percent to $41.3 billion, while 2017 revenue rose 3 percent to $156.8 billion.
Ford will acquire Autonomic, a Palo Alto, California-based technology company, as part of the automaker’s mission to establish the Transportation Mobility Cloud platform and support its plans to scale up other key mobility initiatives.
Ford will benefit from the Autonomic team’s capabilities in creating and incubating new mobility businesses, as well as relationships that will further improve Ford’s access to top technology talent.
Ford is also announcing the acquisition of TransLoc, a Durham, North Carolina-based provider of demand-response technology for city-owned microtransit solutions. Ford will leverage its operational expertise, network of city relationships, and track record of providing solutions to cities that can improve the rider experience with dynamic routing.
“The integration of the technology and talent from Autonomic and TransLoc into Mobility team will further bolster our ability to deliver robust solutions for personal owners, fleet operators and cities, with speed and at scale,” said Marcy Klevorn, president, Ford Mobility.
Ford also announced the reorganization of the teams for developing and scaling mobility solutions.
Ford’s mobility strategy – announced at CES 2018 — is to deliver products and services that enhance all layers of the transportation system – vehicles, infrastructure, connectivity and digital services.
Ford’s mobility team will deliver on the company’s commitment of 100 percent connectivity of new vehicles in the United States by 2019 and push toward its goal of 90 percent connectivity globally by 2020.
Ford Commercial Solutions is leveraging vehicle connectivity to deliver data services and fleet optimization to the commercial segment, building on the automaker’s historical strength in serving fleet customers. Ford Commercial Solutions will expand its offerings globally this year.
