Ford?s Dynamic Shuttle program, which was developed in-house, provides point-to-point shuttle rides for employees at the company?s Dearborn, MI, campus. Employees will soon be able to leverage an application on their phone to request a shuttle ride, which will use proprietary software to determine the fastest route with an eye toward lower the company?s carbon footprint by more efficiently moving people around. 

?Mobile technologies have clearly become a core element in helping people to manage their increasingly complex lives ? and in our view, these technologies extend out naturally toward personal mobility,? said Thomas Mikulski, research analyst, Mobility Solutions, at Ford. 

?If consumers readily use mobile technologies to ? for instance ? manage their communications, entertainment, and financial applications ? why wouldn?t they do the same for their mobility applications?? he said. 

?The market bears this notion out - and for that reason, we believe that mobility technologies are a natural fit for personal mobility.?

The existing Ford shuttle service services 129 locations, has 21 shuttles and sees 300 riders per day.

With the pilot launching, the service will soon begin processing customer ride requests on the new platform, gradually migrating from the current dispatch-based platform. 

A mobile-friendly Web portal and smartphone application will be available to riders in the first quarter of 2016. 

Once a mobile-based ride request is made, software developed by Ford determines the best shuttle for fulfilling the request without extending the travel time of riders already aboard.

The platform then sends the rider an offer detailing proposed pick-up time and maximum duration of the trip, which the requester can accept or decline. If the offer is accepted, it is dispatched to the shuttle driver?s navigation interface, along with the most efficient route to complete the requests of all riders in the timeliest manner.

The Dynamic Shuttle pilot leverages insights from an initial phase of experimentation and consumer research, including data from a number of different cities around the world to develop software to map the quickest routes.

 

?We learned a great deal about consumers? expectations regarding user experience that helped to inform our pilot,? Mr. Mikulski said. 

?Based on our research in London, New York, Atlanta, Edinburgh, India, and Brazil - our team determined that ?sharing? is an important value for commuters on a Dynamic Shuttle system; but, so is the concept of ?personal space,?? he said. ?For that reason ? we customized our transit vans to contain a nice, wide aisle (i.e., to prevent riders from climbing over each other to come aboard the vehicle); and, to offer a premium-level experience through amenities such as Wi-Fi hotspot, USB charging, fold-down display, and storage bin upon each shuttle to improve the overall quality of the ride.  

?To us ? it?s all about improving the overall user experience; and, to move in the direction that our consumers tell us that they want to go and will make this experience unique.?

The automaker also developed customized Ford Transits that feature complimentary Wi-Fi, USB charging capability and personal storage space. Ford leveraged customer research to determine the best vehicle height. 

Ford envisions the Dynamic Shuttle solution filling the gap between taxi services and public busing in cities and support emerging regions where growth is outstripping development of the public transport infrastructure.

Other possible uses include delivery services and emergency medical transportation. 

The program is expected to expand to more shuttle vehicles in Dearborn. 

Dynamic Shuttle is part of Ford?s Smart Mobility plan, which was announced in January 2015, to combine connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles and data and analytics to take customer experiences to the next level. 

?This pilot will be instrumental in helping us to gather data on user experience and traffic flow - and, to then identify novel ways to better service our customers in an efficient and enjoyable manner,? Mr. Mikulski said. ?In fact ? we will be gathering data to explicitly identify ways and apply the learnings in our business in a sustainable manner: for instance, to reduce the overall carbon footprint output; and, to reduce congestion on the global transportation infrastructure. 

?All of this data could someday lead to greater opportunities in multi-modal transport ? a core area of research at Ford ? and further, enable us to provide solutions that permit ?seamless journeys? from one location to another across multiple modes of transport. 

?We?ve found over and over that our customers especially value sustainable transport ? and, we intend to gather insights from the data to understand how Ford approaches both product and service offerings that speak to this core value in the future.?