Props to Ford for recognizing that the trends of technology and demography are slowly going to obsolete the car as we know it. Changing to a downtown focused, hip, "mobility" company is the right direction. Focusing on electric, autonomous, and shared vehicles is also probably the correct vision.
What surprises me though is how Ford can see that the future is Urban while also not stumbling into the niche of building railcars. In the decades since the streetcar conspiracy, all the US based manufactures of railcars have died. Bombardier to the North is in dire straits for airplane related reasons. The Japanese (I forget which company) have had difficulty fulfilling an AmTrack contract because a requirement that everything be American Made means they need to reinvent their entire supply line. Also they are having difficulty meeting the (overly stringent) FRA requirements. Ford has both the US logistics to pull it off and perhaps even the lobbying clout to make the FRA more reasonable. They are already in the vehicle business, how hard can it be to transition from tires to steel? I mean FFS they literally just bought a train station.
I don't think it cannibalizes their car division to do what I'm suggesting. In terms of people moved per hour, a city cannot live on personal vehicles alone. Subways, cars and bikeshares can and should all co-exist.
What surprises me though is how Ford can see that the future is Urban while also not stumbling into the niche of building railcars. In the decades since the streetcar conspiracy, all the US based manufactures of railcars have died. Bombardier to the North is in dire straits for airplane related reasons. The Japanese (I forget which company) have had difficulty fulfilling an AmTrack contract because a requirement that everything be American Made means they need to reinvent their entire supply line. Also they are having difficulty meeting the (overly stringent) FRA requirements. Ford has both the US logistics to pull it off and perhaps even the lobbying clout to make the FRA more reasonable. They are already in the vehicle business, how hard can it be to transition from tires to steel? I mean FFS they literally just bought a train station.
I don't think it cannibalizes their car division to do what I'm suggesting. In terms of people moved per hour, a city cannot live on personal vehicles alone. Subways, cars and bikeshares can and should all co-exist.