Ford tries to catch up to Uber, Lyft with medical appointment rides

Ford apparently wants to be much more than a carmaker. The company also wants to provide on-demand rides for people, whether it's for work commutes or a drive to the doctor.

Launched Wednesday, Ford's GoRide service works with a Michigan healthcare network to provide patients with rides to medical appointments. For non-emergency trips, the on-demand Transit vans can drop off patients at 200 facilities within the Beaumont Health network.

So far, 15 Transit vehicles outfitted to accommodate different types of passengers, like those in wheelchairs, are available. Ten more will be added in coming months and a total of 60 will serve patients throughout the Midwest state by the end of the year.

Plans for expanding the program beyond Michigan are in the works, but the company didn't have information on when that'll happen.

A pilot program launched at the end of last year with Beaumont Health ordering the service — it saw a 92 percent on-time rate. Trips can be booked up to 30 days in advance to make sure patients can lock in their appointments.

In a blog post about the service, Ford's Minyang Jiang said everyone on the mobility team spends a day in a wheelchair "so they can learn to relate in even the smallest way possible to what these patients we are taking to and from appointments experience." She listed examples to show how these rides aren't just a matter of dropping off and picking someone up.

"What’s hot or cold for you or me may feel completely different to someone who has lost circulation in her legs. A small bump in the road can cause pain to someone who just had hip surgery. What may smell like a delicious homemade sandwich can trigger nausea in someone going through chemotherapy," she wrote.

Ford's medical appointment service follows Uber and Lyft's foray into healthcare. The ride-hailing apps both offer services for patients in what's a huge and growing industry — and the population is getting older. Just look at the U.S. census data.

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A SCI Solutions report found missed medical appointments cost the U.S. healthcare system $150 billion a year. Healthcare spending in the U.S. reached $3.3 trillion in 2016.

Rachel Allen, director of product for shared mobility solutions for Arity, an Allstate startup, told Mashable that Ford is trying to design "the perfect vehicle to respond to consumer needs." GoRide is Ford's answer to medical patient needs. Through this service, Ford is trying to "meet the case-base needs of consumers."

The carmaker is "getting into the hardest problems first, with the hardest risk first," Allen said.

Transporting frail or sick passengers is a challenge (and risky, as Allen noted), but if Ford can succeed in this, it could lead to the development of a bevy of services that people need and can reliably use.

The battle between traditional carmakers and ride services like Lyft and Uber to get to those patients is on.