While the press preview days buzzed across New York at the Javits Center, Ford invited automotive journalists across town to Chelsea Piers to unveil their plans to transform how drivers interact with driving — regardless of whether they’re in a Ford.
The FordPass app will arrive next month, and the automaker behind it wants the technology to lead the way in its transformation into more than a car builder. Ford wants to be known as a technology firm and modern mobility company.
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Free for any user (and not just Ford owners or drivers), FordPass Benefits will include Marketplace offering mobility services, including FordGuides to enable better moving, Appreciation to manage customer loyalty membership and FordHubs to highlight experience company’s latest additions and how they’ll interact with users.
For example, one advantage of FordPass would be easier parking in a metropolitan area. Ford partnered with ParkWhiz to help drivers find and pay for advance parking remotely and easily. FlightCar should help consumers share and borrow rides and services. Finally, FordPay makes it easy to pay for mobility expenses such as gas and tolls.
On the loyalty card side, Ford will partner with McDonald’s and 7-Eleven to reward FordPass members with merchandise, discounts and unique experiences available only to app users.
The FordHubs community venues are set to open in New York, London, Shanghai and San Francisco initially. The first will open later this year at New York’s Westfield World Trade Center – making NYIAS a perfect symbolic place to march out this FordPass news.
The app will be another step in Ford’s futurist-centered efforts to analyze the growing modern metropolis and predict what unique needs its residents will face The automaker wants to be in the middle of how city dwellers move around their town as more people leave rural areas and merge into America’s more populated areas.
