Ford to Triple Mobility, Autonomous Tech Funding

Burney Simpson

Ford will triple its investment in driver-assist and autonomous-vehicle technology, Ford CEO Mark Fields pledged at the massive Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona yesterday.

The technology includes hands-free parking assist, and traffic jam assist, which Ford will roll-out within three years.

Fields stressed in a keynote address that Ford is “an auto and mobility company” and not just an auto company, according to the Associated Press.

“(P)eople want mobility solutions, they want options, whether it’s car-sharing, ride-sharing, what we call multi-modal modes of transportation where you are taking a car for a portion of a journey or a train and then maybe a bike,” said Fields.

He called the mobility programs “a big revenue opportunity.”

Ford’s European car-sharing programs include GoDrive in London, and Ford Carsharing in Germany. The German project has 170 stations in small and medium-sized cities, and its bookings rose more than 75 percent last year, according to Ford.

At Mobile World Ford was promoting its in-vehicle Sync connectivity system that is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It is to be launched in Europe this year. The driver can use voice commands to Sync to control navigation, audio, and vehicle climate, Ford said.

Ford’s aggressive announcement at the Mobile show follow the $500 million investment that rival GM made in the ridesharing firm Lyft in January (See “GM Invests Half a Billion in Lyft for Autonomous Car Network”). Lyft is estimated to be worth between $4 billion and $5 billion.

The Mobile World Congress last year drew 94,000 attendees from 200 countries. It runs through Thursday, February 25.

Traffic Jam Assist is a push-button system for use in crowded, slow-moving traffic. It keeps the vehicle in its lane, and accelerates and brakes in accord with the vehicle ahead.

Ford announced last month at the CES 2016 it would expand the number of its Fusion Hybrid autonomous research vehicles. That meant Ford was testing 30 of the vehicles in Arizona, California, and Michigan.