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May 18, 2016 The Skanner Page 9 News Detroit’s Automakers, Sensing a threat, Embrace Mobility Dee-Ann Durbin AP Auto Writer DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — For Detroit, the days of simply making cars are over. Automakers are facing multiple threats to their business from nimble tech firms like Apple and Uber. In response, car- makers are reinventing themselves as “mobility” companies that can ac- commodate all the dif- ferent ways people get around. Already this year, Gen- eral Motors Co. has an- nounced a long-term al- liance with ride-hailing company Lyft and start- ed a car-sharing service called Maven. Ford creat- ed a technology-focused “ plane-maker Gulfstream in the mid-1980s. In each case, the companies sold those businesses to refo- cus on car-making. There’s also the open question of whether driv- ers want automakers to do more than make cars. Ford CEO Mark Fields is confident they do. “It goes back to Henry Ford and one of his favor- ite quotes: ‘If I asked peo- ple what they wanted, they’d say they wanted a faster horse,’” Fields told The Associated Press. “We want to transform, fundamentally, the rela- tionship between an au- tomaker and a customer.” Fields adds that the fi- nancial case is too com- pelling to ignore. Global revenue at traditional of seven days,” she said. Detroit carmakers aren’t the first to offer mobility services to compete with the likes of ZipCar and Uber. Ger- man automaker Daimler AG launched Car2Go, a car-sharing service, in 2008; it now operates in 29 cities in Europe and North America. BMW started a New York-based mobility venture capital firm in 2011. Toyota has 70 tiny electric cars zip- ping around Grenoble, France, as part of its own car-sharing service. But after surviving the recession, Detroit is en- joying record U.S. sales and plowing the profits into mobility experi- ments. GM has been the most After surviving the recession, Detroit is enjoy- ing record U.S. sales and plowing the profits into mobility experiments division based in Silicon Valley that will invest in promising transpor- tation startups. It also launched FordPass, a smartphone app that helps users find parking or share their cars. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is partnering with Google to test self-driving soft- ware in 100 of its mini- vans. In congested and ex- pensive cities, people are increasingly content to share cars or summon rides using their smart- phones. In five years, 35 million people globally will be using car-sharing ser- vices, up from 5.8 million now, according to Boston Consulting Group. That means 550,000 fewer cars sold each year. With- in another few decades, fleets of self-driving tax- is could replace the need for personal car owner- ship altogether. Automakers that don’t adapt risk being sup- planted by high-tech competitors. “We’re investing in future-proofing,” says Elena Ford, who led the development of FordPass and is the great-great-granddaugh- ter of Ford’s founder. There are dangers. Making vehicles is com- plicated and expensive, and car companies have stumbled when they’ve taken on new business- es. GM bought software maker Electronic Data Systems Inc. in 1984 but sold it 12 years later. Ford owned Hertz rental cars but sold it a decade ago. Chrysler owned air- automakers totals $2.3 trillion a year, he says; the transportation busi- ness, including taxis, buses and car-sharing, is worth $5.4 trillion. Companies are target- ing people like Shannon Serenko, 32, who works at Johnson & Johnson and lives in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan. Paying for parking, insurance and gas for a car she barely uses would be a hassle, she says. Instead, she rents a Chevrolet Volt from Ma- ven for $42 a day when she wants to run errands. “I’d just rather be spending all that mon- ey on other things than parking a car for six out aggressive of the Detroit companies. In January, it invested $500 million in Lyft and said it will co-develop a service that lets customers summon self-driving cars. Three months later, it paid a rumored $1 billion for Cruise Automation, a startup that makes au- tonomous vehicle soft- ware. Around the same time, it launched Maven, a car-sharing service in Ann Arbor and Chicago. GM President Dan Am- mann said that when GM sees potential value, it can’t afford to sit back and see where the mar- ket heads. “We believe in speed,” Ammann said. AP PHOTO/CARLOS OSORIO, FILE Carmakers attempt to compete with service-based, tech-centered mobility businesses like Zipcar, Uber In this Friday, May 6, 2016, file photo, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne, left, shakes hands with Dino Chiodo, president of Unifor Local 444 in front of a 2017 Pacifica minivan on the Windsor Assembly Plant line, in Windsor, Ontario. Fiat Chrysler and Google announced Tuesday, May 3, that they will work together to more than double the size of Google’s self-driving vehicle fleet by adding 100 Chrysler Pacifica minivans. Carmakers are reinventing themselves as “mobility” companies that can accommodate all the different ways people get around. So far, Wall Street is on board. Colin Langan, an auto analyst with UBS, said investors under- stand the need to invest in new mobility, and ex- pect companies to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year doing so. But alarm bells may go off if they’re routinely spending more. “Historically, automak- ers have not been good allocators of cash,” Lan- gan said. Fiat Chrysler CEO Ser- gio Marchionne says it’s dangerous for automak- ers to place big bets on one solution. He stresses that FCA’s partnership with Google is open-end- ed and not exclusive. If the companies decide to keep working togeth- er, they will eventually hammer out details like licensing fees for the software. We honor the many accomplishments of African Americans. It is our primary goal as a labor union to better the lives of all people working in the building trades through advocacy, civil demonstration, and the long-held belief that workers deserve a “family wage” - fair pay for an honest day’s work. A family wage, and the benefits that go with it, not only strengthens families, but also allows our communities to become stronger, more cohesive, and more responsive to their citizens’ needs. Our family wage agenda reflects our commitment to people working in the building trades, and to workers everywhere. In this small way, we are doing our part to help people achieve the American Dream. This dream that workers can hold dear regardless of race, color, national origin, gender, creed, or religious beliefs. Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters Representing more than 5.000 construction workers in Oregon State. Do you want to know more about becoming a Union carpenter? Go to www.NWCarpenters.org PORTLAND OFFICE 1636 East Burnside, Portland, OR 97214 503.261.1862 | 800.974.9052 HEADQUARTERS 25120 Pacific Hwy S, Suite 200, Kent, WA 98032 253.954.8800 | 800.573.8333
