Ford Is Thinking About Taking On Uber In The World Of Ridesharing Apps

When it comes to ridesharing apps, Uber is the king of the castle. The app isn't without controversy, as cabbies across the globe haverevolted against the ideaof private citizens turning their vehicles into unlicensed taxis. Despite the controversy Uber has a ton of cash and a current valuation of around $50 billion. Ford seems to want a piece of that pie and may roll out its own ridesharing technology. This bombshell was dropped by Ken Washington, Ford's vice president of research, in an interview with Automotive News (AN).

Washington spoke to AN during a media event to promote a new program that will allow workers at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan, campus to get rides from one building to another using their smartphones. Currently the only cars participating in the program are specially built Ford Transit vans. Still, the automaker is eyeing a wider roll out sometime in the future. "Our vision is to be a mobility service provider, beyond building a vehicle that would be in somebody else's fleet. We see this as a business we want to be in," Washington told Automotive News. Competing with the likes of Uber and Lyft will be tough to do, but Ford (and all other automakers) has an advantage in that the company manufactures automobiles.