Companies
28/09/2017

To Deploy Self-Driving Car, To Partner Each Other




By 2021, the ride services company - Lyft’s network, will have a large number of self-driving vehicles that would be manufactured by Ford Motor Co said as the auto-marker collaborates with the ride services company.
 
In order to allow Ford vehicles to communicate with Lyft’s smartphone apps, Ford and Lyft teams will begin working together to design software.
 
Sherif Marakby, Ford’s vice president for autonomous vehicles and electrification, said in an interview that customers will not be able to use Ford self-driving cars at first as the car maker will first test vehicles that will be connected to Lyft’s network. human-driven vehicles on Lyft’s network will be put by Ford.
 
When Ford and Lyft expect to offer the first rides in self-driving cars. Was not disclosed by him.
 
“We’re not building prototypes for the sake of building prototypes,” Marakby said, adding Ford intends to ultimately put thousands of self-driving vehicles in use.
 
In order to outline the Dearborn, Mich. automaker’s strategy for boosting profitability, Ford’s new Chief Executive Jim Hackett is scheduled to meet with investors on Tuesday. While Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV shares are up 71 percent and Detroit rival General Motors Co’s shares have risen 15.6 percent, Ford shares are down 1.65 percent so far this year.
 
One area of focus for investors will be mobility services, which include car sharing and ride-hailing, and Hackett’s plans to compete for revenue from mobility services. The Lyft partnership fills in a piece of the puzzle.
 
Self-driving vehicles and a van shuttle service are also being used by Ford to test delivery services. Software developed by Argo AI, a company in which Ford is investing $1 billion over the next five years, will be used for the self-driving vehicles that Ford will deploy through Lyft.
 
In order to make it capable of building electric and self driving vehicles, the company has said it will invest $700 million in a factory in Flat Rock, Michigan.
 
Lyft has partnerships with self driving vehicle technology startup Drive.ai and Alphabet Inc’s Waymo self driving car unit and the company has said it will offer an open platform for companies to deploy self-driving vehicles on its network.
 
Acquired for a value of $500 million in January 2016, GM has a 9 percent stake in Lyft. “Our relationship with GM has always been a non-exclusive relationship,” Raj Kapoor, Lyft’s chief strategy officer, said.
 
Building its Maven car-sharing unit and preparing to launch mass production of autonomous Chevrolet Bolt electric cars at a factory in suburban Detroit, GM is also assembling the assets necessary to launch its own ride services using self-driving cars.
 
(Source:www.reuters.com) 

Christopher J. Mitchell
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