Skip to main content

Ford’s new Smart Mobility subsidiary was created to expand the carmaker’s reach

Ford’s various experiments with mobility services have coalesced in the form of a new subsidiary of the Dearborn car company. Ford Smart Mobility was created specifically to oversee these projects as Ford tries to diversify beyond just making cars. Ford says it wants to be “both an auto and a mobility company.”

The new subsidiary will operate out of Ford’s hometown of Dearborn, Michigan, as well as Palo Alto, California. Jim Hackett, until now a member of Ford’s board of directors, will lead the new venture. Hackett has served on the Ford board since 2013, and was previously vice chairman of office furniture company Steelcase.

Recommended Videos

Ford says the Smart Mobility subsidiary is “designed to compete like a startup company,” and will work with both existing divisions of its parent as well as startups and tech companies. Ford Smart Mobility’s stated goal is to “develop commercially ready mobility services and invest in promising mobility-related ventures.”

The company already has a head start in that area. Over the past few years, Ford has applied the Smart Mobility name to around 30 pilot programs, research projects, and services worldwide. These have focused on what the company considers to be key tech-related trends, including autonomous cars, ride sharing services, and Big Data.

Those include Dynamic Shuttle, a program at Ford’s Dearborn campus that allows employees and visitors to get point-to-point rides on demand, and FordPass, a service meant to streamline trips by coordinating things like parking. At CES 2016, Ford also announced that it will triple its fleet of autonomous test vehicles. The company is widely believed to be mulling a partnership with Google for self-driving cars.

All of this is meant to help Ford gain a foothold in what it believes to be a major future area of the car business. Speaking at CES in January, Ford CEO Mark Fields said transportation services are already worth $5.4 trillion, compared to $2.3 trillion for the car industry itself. Many analysts believe Ford is on the right track, predicting that the combination of ride-sharing services and autonomous vehicles will erode traditional car ownership in the coming years.

Stephen Edelstein
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
Intuit QuickBooks summer savings have us excited for bookkeeping and more
Intuit QuickBooks Online and Payroll Indepence Day deals used by business owner

Being honest, accounting, bookkeeping, and various administrative tasks aren't exactly what most people would call exciting, even if they own a business. It's something you have to do, but not that you necessarily want to do. But you absolutely have to stay on top of it; otherwise, things could get out of hand later, like when you're filing taxes or trying to calculate expenses. As a leader in small business fintech, Intuit QuickBooks is helping over 7 million customers worldwide do precisely that. From a startup to scaling up, the Intuit QuickBooks ecosystem delivers products and services that are a core component of small business growth. Accounting, payroll, payments, capital, and even marketing assistance via Mailchimp are just a few examples of what you can expect from a QuickBooks subscription. Thanks to its current Summer Sale, you can save a never-before-seen 70% off Intuit QuickBooks plans. That offer and these prices excite us for something that, typically, wouldn't be considered exciting.

 
These Intuit QuickBooks Summer Savings are unprecedented
This is the first time we've ever seen prices this low, and it may actually be the only time it happens. Time will tell, but the point is that you can save big on QuickBooks plans that you need for your business. The deal offers 70% off QuickBooks Online for your first three months. With Simple Start -- the base plan -- you get your first three months for just $9 per month instead of $30. That saves you $21 monthly for $63 across your initial three months of service. By comparison, the Essentials tier is only $18 per month instead of $60, and the Plus tier is only $27 per month instead of $90. If you want to splurge and go with Advanced, it's only $60 monthly for your first three months instead of $20h. Those are some incredible savings.

Read more
What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Read more
How to create a new team in Microsoft Teams
Example of Teams chat.

Few communication applications are as versatile as Microsoft Teams. Along with allowing you to send quick messages to teammates or launch a video chat, the software is fully integrated with Office 365 so you can optimize its performance. If you know how to use Microsoft Teams, you'll know that one of its most useful features is the ability to create a new team.

Knowing how to make a new team and how to properly organize teams makes it easy for a company to enhance productivity and streamline communication. When used effectively, Microsoft Teams is useful for both in-office and remote workers, ensuring everyone stays on the same page regardless of location.

Read more