Ford, through their Smart Mobility subsidiary, have bought their partners Autonomic and TransLoc to help Ford’s new mobility business take shape.
TransLoc build technology to support microtransit services, including real-time tracking, demand modelling, and response analysis, as well as consumer-facing mobile apps and services.
Autonomic are building the first open cloud-based platform to connect and empower tomorrow’s mobility systems: AVs and ride hailing/sharing services need access as easy as a smart phone app tap, so Ford and their partners will collaborate toward solutions based on a modern connectivity platform like the Autonomic TMC (Transportation Mobility Cloud).
Ford’s buy of these two companies as well as others like scooter-sharing service Spin, to strengthen their Mobility group and help “Ford X”, an internal experimental department, where new ideas can incubate before the company decide whether to develop them toward commercialisation.
