Ford looks beyond cars with purchase of shuttle service Chariot

Ford isn't just a car company anymore.

The automaker on Friday announced it was buying Chariot, the crowd-sourced shuttle service based in San Francisco.

“We’re expanding our business to be both an auto and a mobility company, and partnering with cities on current and future transportation needs is the next major step,” Ford CEO Mark Fields said in a statement. “For more than 100 years, Ford has been part of the community and the trusted source for automotive transportation. Now, we want to work with communities to offer even more transportation choices and solutions for people.”

The companies didn't disclose how much Ford paid for Chariot.

Chariot will join Ford's Smart Mobility program, a subsidiary launched in March that invests in transportation startups. Chariot is that division's first acquisition.

Chariot was founded in 2014 and raised $3 million in seed funding, according to Crunchbase. That round was led by SoftTech VC, and investors also included Winklevoss Capital.

The startup aims to "solve the commute" through a crowd-sourced shuttle system. Chariot offers 28 routes throughout San Francisco.

Chariot said in an announcement that it would continue operating in much the same way throughout San Francisco after this acquisition and that it hopes to expand to other cities soon. The company noted it has always used Ford vans for its shuttles.

Ford said Chariot would "serve as the cornerstone for its new global shuttle services business," which it plans to bring to five additional markets within 18 months.

"We’re excited to share that we’ve joined Ford Smart Mobility as their first acquisition, which will allow us to expand our service offerings, build out our dynamic routing technology, and bring this new form of transit to cities across the world," Chariot CEO Ali Vahabzadeh wrote in a blog post. "We couldn’t be more excited to leverage Ford’s leadership in transportation to fulfill our goals worldwide, and look forward to sharing this journey with our amazing community of drivers and riders."

Ford announced the acquisition along with other initiatives in mobility, including a bike-sharing program.

Other automakers have also moved toward "mobility" rather than just manufacturing cars in recent years. General Motors has partnered with Lyft and Chrysler Automobiles with Google.