Ford Is Selling Local Ride Services

A friend wanted my comment on this, a notification that Ford is offering a service that offers local rides for people, not unlike Uber and Lyft.  I hate to sound cynical, but:

a) This sounds like a terrible solution versus Uber et. al. as (from its description, anyway) it will take longer to get from A to B.  Do you know anybody who wants that?

b) It’s perfectly natural for car OEMs to reposition themselves as “transportation companies” (just as oil companies are now energy companies, Xerox is a business process company, etc.).   I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that doesn’t get Ford too far.  Of course it can provide local rides, but the business model associated with that is just hideous. The company predicts a rebound in 2015 after a disappointing 2014, where it made $3.2 billion on $144 billion in sales.  Ford can do anything it wants, but its market cap ($63 billion) is based on selling cars and trucks–lots of ‘em.

Again sorry to be so harsh, but I don’t see it.