Ford looking for new partners to go beyond selling cars

The Dollar Business Bureau

As a move to expand the company beyond selling and manufacturing of cars and trucks, the Ford company chairman Bill Ford said that they are considering more partnerships with other companies.

After addressing a conference on entrepreneurship in Detroit, Ford said that they will witness lot more partnership in the industry which would be more than the usual amount of partnership seen in the auto industry.

However, Ford did not disclose any new deals. The company’s management is still working on its strategy on self-designed cars, connecting the vehicle to the internet and also new transportation services such as sharing the ride.

The Chairman said that more details regarding the same will be disclosed as the year goes on. At the moment the company is focused on defining a strategy that would be unique.

Notably, some of Ford's rivals are taking a very aggressive approach. The General Motors company had earlier invested $500 million in ride-hailing service Lyft. This month, the company has closed the acquisition of Cruise Automation, the self-driving vehicles technology start-up.

General Motors has also planned to develop autonomous electric vehicles for Lyft.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said that they would work with Alphabet INC, Google’s self-driving car unit in order to combine the google autopilot technology into 100 Chrysler Pacifica minivans.

Talking about Google, Ford said that they have a good relationship with Google but added as of now there is no alliance with them.

Ford is investing really heavily in self-driven technology, electric cars and many other initiatives.

Earlier this year, Ford established a new business unit Ford Smart Mobility LLC, for building a new transportation- related service and new alliances. Former Steelcase Inc. Chief Executive James Hackett leads the Ford Smart Mobility LLC.