Ford is teaming up with Peer-to-peer car lending platform service, Getaround, to try out a new car-sharing platform of its own. The partnership is kicking off this week with pilot programs in six cities including Washington, D.C. and Chicago. The deal is part of Ford's larger Smart Mobility strategy, which combines its efforts in more than two dozen experimental projects including connected cars, self-driving vehicles and new kinds of transportation like electric bikes along with the car-sharing platform.
Ford isn't the first car company to jump into the car-sharing world with a startup partner. General Motors made a deal with RelayRides for a similar partnership back in 2012. Other car companies have car-sharing services although not necessarily based on P2P sharing, such as Car2Go, owned by Daimler.
“My great-grandfather helped put the world on wheels so everyone could enjoy the benefits of mobility,” said Ford CEO Bill Ford in a statement. “Our vision today is to expand that same thinking using advanced technology and new business models, and addressing the mobility challenges people face around the world.”
The pilot program will include invitations to 14,000 people in the U.S. who have used Ford Credit to buy their cars. Putting their cars in the program replaces the monthly cost of their payments for the car, making it ultimately cheaper. The relatively small amount of time they will need to have their car available for on-demand rental is a worthwhile exchange according to Ford.
“Consumers tell us they are interested in sharing the costs of vehicle ownership, and this program will help us understand how much that extends to customers who are financing a Ford vehicle,” said Ford Credit vice president of marketing David McClelland. “As most vehicles are parked and out of use much of the time, this can help us gauge our customers’ desires to pick up extra cash and keep their vehicles in use.”
The pilot program will run through November, and presuming it goes well, should start to open up to even more people in more cities after that.
