Ford to provide Chinese users mobility solutions with ‘FordPass’

Ford Motor is looking beyond making and selling cars and trucks into becoming a customer-oriented mobility solutions provider.

福特汽车正在不断超越，不仅是汽车和卡车制造、销售商，还将成为一个以客户为导向的移动解决方案提供商。

The US automaker is planning to introduce a platform called FordPass in China later this year, said John Lawler, president and CEO of Ford China, at a news conference in Beijing on Feb 23.

2月23日，在北京的一个新闻发布会上，福特中国区总裁兼CEO 罗礼祥说，这家美国汽车制造商计划于今年下半年在中国推出FordPass平台。

The platform will help users with the mundane, such as talking to online assistants for help on finding and paying for parking more easily as well as renting and sharing vehicles on trips, to the educational, such as exploring the company's latest innovations, learning about its mobility services and experiencing exclusive events.

该平台将帮助用户完成一些日常事项，比如请求个人移动出行助理协助更便利的停车、支付停车费、旅途租车和拼车；用于教育性事项，比如探索公司最新的创新技术，了解其移动服务，体验专属活动。

Lawler said the arrival of the platform and other technologies will help the automaker become "a serious player in mobility services".

罗表示，这项新应用以及一些其它技术的到来，将帮助福特成为移动服务方面颇具竞争力的品牌。

He said of the $2.3 trillion in revenue generated by the automotive industry each year, Ford nearly takes in a 6-percent share. But, he added, automakers including Ford make next to nothing from the $5.4 trillion in annual revenue from mobility services. "Ford is becoming an auto and a mobility company providing great products and great customer experiences," he said.

他说，汽车制造业年收入达2.3万亿美元，福特几乎占了6%的份额。但是，包括福特汽车在内的汽车制造商，即便在移动性服务方面的总营收已经高达5.4万忆美元，他们的盈利却几乎为零。他说，"福特正在成为提供优秀产品的汽车公司，和提供卓越用户体验的移动出行公司。"

Lawler's remarks came a month after Ford President and CEO Mark Fields unveiled the smart mobility plan at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. He said the plan would take the company to new levels of connectivity, mobility, autonomous driving, customer experience and big data.

就在一个月前，拉斯维加斯举办的消费者电子展上，福特汽车总裁兼CEO马克菲尔兹展示了它的智能移动计划。他说，该计划将使福特在车载连接技术、移动出行、自动驾驶、用户体验和大数据方面都上一个新台阶。

While critics have argued that Ford might be going too far as an automaker, the US automaker insists it is going in the right direction.

评论家称，福特汽车可能偏离了汽车制造的方向，但该公司却坚称自己走在完全正确的道路上。

"If not us, who?" said Ford Chairman Bill Ford at the Detroit auto show in January when he spoke of the automaker's mobility plan, adding that the plan "fundamentally means making people's lives better".

在1月份底特律的车展上，谈到福特公司的智能移动计划，董事长比尔.福特说，"不是福特，还会有谁呢？"他还说，该计划"最终目标就是让人们的生活更美好"。

Ford is forging ahead with its plan in some of its most important markets, including China. Lawler said its onboard SYNC 3 system will become available in the Chinese market this year. The system will enable drivers to control their phones through voice commands in 15 Chinese dialects, which is key in China, where 45 percent of the nation's drivers use their mobile phones and where 31 percent are likely to send messages when stuck in traffic, according to a recent Ford survey.

福特正在它的一些非常重要的市场上率先推出此计划，包括中国。罗表示，它搭载的SYNC3系统今年将在中国市场成功上线。该系统可以使驾驶员通过语音命令控制手机，它能辨识15种方言，这在中国是非常重要的。据福特公司最近的一项调查，在中国，有45%的驾驶员使用手机，31%的人会在堵车时玩手机发信息。

Another of Ford's innovations, its open-source software platform called SmartDeviceLink, is gaining in popularity. Lawler said tech giants like Alibaba have signed on to work with Ford on the platform, while Toyota announced in January that it will adopt it in its vehicles to offer its consumers an easy way to control their smartphone apps on the road. SA Peugeot Citroen, Honda, Mazda and Subaru are eyeing Smart-DeviceLink for its vehicles.

福特的另一项创新，"SmartDeviceLink"开源软件，它的知名度越来越高。罗说，像阿里巴巴这样的科技巨头都与福特签署了此平台的合作计划，而丰田公司在今年1月就宣布，将在丰田的车辆上使用SDL开源平台，为用户提供在驾驶时操控手机APP的便捷体验。标致雪铁龙、本田、马自达和斯巴鲁也在考虑采纳使用这一智能软件。

Ford is also conducting ride-sharing programs in China. It initiated a one-month pilot program late last year that saw 170,000 rides in Shanghai and Beijing, paving the way for experiments with new patterns of car ownership, said Lawler. He said Ford engineers are also offering apps that can help commuters avoid traffic jams in Shanghai.

福特还在中国推出了"城市拼车"项目。罗说，去年，仅在北京和上海试点的一个月时间里，就完成了17万次拼车服务，为新模式下的车主共享实验做好了铺垫。他说，福特的工程师们正在研发一种应用程序，可以帮助上海的上下班司机避开交通拥堵。