Ford Reorganizes Mobility Unit, Buys Tech Startups

Ford Motor Co. is realigning its two-year-old Smart Mobility subsidiary into four groups and has acquired startups Autonomic Inc. and TransLoc Inc.

Ford says the moves will help it accelerate the rollout of several new ventures related to ride-sharing, connectivity, fleet data services, on-demand micro-transit shuttles and the “transportation mobility cloud” system it announced earlier this month.

Autonomic is a Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup that Ford first invested in last year. The companies began testing a micro-transit shuttle service for non-emergency medical appointments in Detroit last October. Autonomic will be part of the Ford X team, which will serve as an incubator for emerging technologies and services. The group will be led by former Autonomic CEO Sunny Madra.

Durham, N.C.-based TransLoc, which develops micro-transit software platforms, will be part of Mobility Marketing. The new global sales group will be headed by Brett Wheatley, who currently is Ford’s director of marketing, sales and service fitness transformation.

Ford’s new Mobility Business Group will oversee existing initiatives, such as FordPass and Chariot, the on-demand shuttle fleets. The group will be led by Ford Credit CFO Marion Harris.

Mobility Platforms and Products will lead the design and development of new technology for the mobility businesses. Rich Strader, vice president of mobility product solutions, will oversee the group.