Ford will pilot a share-car project in Bengaluru. The project aims to create a model for easy vehicle sharing among small communities such as office workers, apartment dwellers and families to share a vehicle among multiple drivers.
“This approach will help consumers who can’t afford a car but want the benefits of owning one. Researchers plan to develop a model for vehicle scheduling and managing ownership,” Ford said in a statement.
Ford is working with two-year old start-up Zoomcar on the project. Zoomcar is a self-drive car rental service that allows users to rent cars by the hour, day, week or month. “Basically, we save you the cost and hassle of owning a car while giving you all the good parts: convenience, mobility, and independence,” Zoomcar’s website says.
Greg Moran, Co-Founder and CEO of Zoomcar, refused to disclose more on the project, but said the market for car sharing in India was estimated to be $4-5 billion.
Ford’s car sharing project in India is among the 25 global mobility experiments the firm unveiled in the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas. “These mobility experiments will test new ideas and address growing or increasing transportation challenges; insights gained will shape Ford’s future investments,” it said.
