Ford acquires transportation technology startups Autonomic, TransLoc to accelerate growth

Ford Motors today announced the acquisition of two transportation technology startups Autonomic, TransLoc to accelerate growth. The Ford Mobility team is accelerating and expanding its activities in 2018 to deliver a broad suite of mobility products and services to personal vehicle owners, fleet owners and cities globally. It’s enabling an increase in speed and scale through four newly established, integrated teams that will deliver new business innovation, business scaling and profitability, marketing and voice of customer excellence, and product development.  As part of this acceleration, the mobility unit’s subsidiary Ford Smart Mobility LLC is acquiring Autonomic, a technology company that specializes in scale, architecture and leverage for transportation solutions, and has named Autonomic CEO Sunny Madra leader of its new Ford X team. Ford also announces the acquisition of TransLoc, a provider of demand-response technology for city-owned microtransit solutions. In a message posted on its website, the company said: “Autonomic Joins Ford to Build the Future of Transportation.”

In a press release, the company said: “We believe transportation done right – as part of a systems approach – can bring life back to our cities,” said Marcy Klevorn, president, Ford Mobility. “By accelerating our delivery of mobility services through the changes we are making today, we are enabling that revival, enhancing our competitiveness and creating long-term value for Ford shareholders.”

With the acquisition of Autonomic, Ford  will accelerate the automaker’s mission to establish the Transportation Mobility Cloud platform and support its plans to scale up other key mobility initiatives, including the drive toward full connectivity, Chariot and non-emergency medical transportation. In addition to being able to fully capture the value created by this platform, Ford also will benefit from the Autonomic team’s capabilities in creating and incubating new mobility businesses, as well as relationships that will further improve Ford’s access to top technology talent.

Founded in 2016 by Amar Varma, Benjamin Black, Caleb Welton, Gavin Sherry, Nithin Rao and Sundeep Madra, Autonomic serves as a vehicle connectivity platform. The company’s transportation mobility cloud is a platform that will connect the diverse components of today’s urban mobility systems — connected vehicles, mass transit, pedestrians, city infrastructure and service providers — with the goal of orchestrating a safer, more efficient and sustainable transportation network. It is a flexible and secure platform that provides the necessary building blocks for smart mobility applications, such as routing self-driving cars, managing large-scale fleets or helping residents plan transit journeys.

Acquiring TransLoc allows Ford to leverage its operational expertise, network of city relationships, and proven track record of providing solutions to cities globally that can improve the rider experience with dynamic routing. TransLoc is a Durham, North Carolina-based provider of demand-response technology for city-owned micro transit solutions. Founded in 2014 by Dominique Bischof and Josh Whiton, TransLoc provides real-time passenger information for riders.