Ford Launches Car Sharing Service

on May 26, 2015 at 10:05 am

Ford has proven lately that it can keep up with the times and invent new ways to stay relevant and ahead in the industry. Ford is taking that thought process just a step further by announcing it’s car sharing service GoDrive.

The service is a one way car rental— which yes, means you don’t have to return it to the same location, that charges by the minute. They even promise guaranteed parking at the destination and registration is free. The service currently in London is open to 2,000 people spread across the city using Fiestas and Focuses. Charges are displayed on the companion app and the first five minutes of your rental is free, that way you and the car can get familiar with each other.

“As cities become more and more congested, people are becoming increasingly open to new means of mobility, and car sharing is proving to be an appealing model,” said Ken Washington as recorded by the Ford GoDrive blog, who is vice president in Ford Research and Advanced Engineering.

“A crucial part of delivering effective car-sharing services is to learn alongside these drivers what best meets their needs and expectations, and complements their location and existing transportation infrastructure.”

The company considers it’s GoDrive experiment in Beta, but it’s obvious that they plan on expanding to other areas, with eyes already set on Germany, India and the U.S. What really makes this service stand out is that it’s intent is to compliment existing transportation services by being the only car sharing service that provides one way trips as opposed to conventional car rentals. Hopefully we’ll be seeing this in other cities soon.

Source: The Verge

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Angel Damion Robles

Angel started writing at a young age keeping a journal since he was 12 years old. By the time he was 15 he had a binder overflowing with ideas. His senior year of high school he received a scholarship for his writing in English and an award for writing and directing a full length movie for his film club. At 19 he went to film school in LA with a focus on screenwriting where he wrote a series of shorts. He is a futurist and keeps up to date about current tech, especially automation. He is currently studying Computer Science in Berkeley and interested in writing code and working with hardware. Some interesting facts: He knows too much about Google, loves cats, and has one white cat named Nasa.