Ford to test mobility solutions with six cities

Automobile-manufacturer Ford is expanding its data visualisation city insights platform to Austin, Indianapolis, Detroit, Miami, Grand Rapids and Pittsburgh.

The platform uses advanced software tools and data analytics to build models that help cities understand mobility issues such as traffic congestion and pedestrian safety.

Ford has just completed an 18-month trial in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which used safety, parking and transit data to create an interactive model of the city to test potential mobility solutions before implementing them.

Data from connected vehicles also helped provide a real-time look at congestion and traffic flow.

The pilot has been extended for another six months, with responsibility for its operation now solely in the hands of city authorities.

Angela Ayers, Mobility Strategist at Ford Smart Mobility told Cities Today: “Our trial in Ann Arbor helped us to create this platform, and as we move to other cities it will be refined and adapted.

“We’re just at the beginning stages. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach; we’re working with different stakeholders and communities in each city to adapt to their needs.”

Ford has expanded into the micro-mobility sphere, most notably with its acquisition of e-scooter/bike-sharing company Spin last year.

It has also been involved in researching autonomous vehicles with Argo AI, and has made a push to prioritise data analysis.

Karina Ricks, Director at the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, City of Pittsburgh said that the city is experimenting with ways to figure out how they can use different types of services to fill mobility gaps.

“We’re hoping this analytics platform will help us as we noodle through this experiment to see what we can do to better serve parts of the community and neighbourhoods that experience lower levels of access to mobility,” she said.

In July the city launched the Pittsburgh Mobility Collective–a mobility consortium led by Spin which also includes Zipcar, Waze, Swiftmile, Ford Mobility and Transit–to provide services including an expanded car-share programme, new carpool and ride-sharing services, a multimodal trip planning app and up to 50 public curbside electric charging stations.

The city will also introduce an e-scooter service once the mobility mode is legalised–a process which is currently underway at state level.

In late September Pittsburgh hosted an “ambition workshop”, which brought together the companies in the consortium to establish how they can work together to improve mobility in the city.

“It was exciting, a lot of great ideas were floated and now we’re moving forward to formalise these into tangible results” add Ricks.

The initial roll-out of services is expected by late December.