Before we stopped publishing the expenses of this group, they were costing over $1 billion per year, with a few million in revenue to show for it. Can anyone explain their path to profitability? It isn’t going to be selling data from my vehicle, since I can opt out from data collection/monetization. Anyone???
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None. They are a billion plus dollar drain on the income statement.
Thank you for your honest assessment of Smart Mobility. I'll be on the lookout for job openings there as this looks like the perfect non-stress home for me and my career goals.
Do I need any per-requisite knowledge to join?
It is great to be working in Smart Mobility! We have no deliverables, sit around all day dreaming about the future, and we have zero accountability for profits or quality! If that wasn’t enough, we all get six figure paychecks! Everybody should be trying to get into the Smart Mobility group!
Well, for starters, a lot of managers are getting big fat bonuses for this "initiative". Also, all the "friends and family" of the managers are also getting big fat salaries for pretending to do something. That's the value of Smart Mobility (for managers).
For the company, I don't see any value. Well, maybe to trick some investors into thinking that Ford is going to compete with Silicon Valley. Other than that, it makes no sense.
Ford sells around 4 million vehicles a year in the whole world. That is not enough consumers to sell their data, even if they don't opt out from the data collection. To give you an idea, Facebook have around 2.9 billion (with a B) active users. Even if Ford sells 4 million vehicles to new customers only (not repeated customers), it will take the company 725 years to catch up with Facebook. Good luck with that, Bill!