Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that Chariot, the San Francisco-based shuttle service it acquired last year, will soon expand to New York.
It's the third new city for Chariot this year, following expansions to Austin, Texas, and Seattle. Ford said Chariot will expand to eight cities globally by year end.
The shuttle service uses 12-seat Ford Transit vans and real-time traffic data to determine routes in densely populated cities. Chariot often shuttles people between their homes and transit centers such as train or subway stations.
Chariot will launch next month in New York with two planned service areas in Manhattan and Brooklyn at a flat rate of $4 per ride, although customers can create other routes through crowd-sourcing. Ford said Chariot will have 60 vehicles in New York by fall.
"Our mission at Chariot is to provide reliable, safe and affordable transportation for as many people as possible," Chariot CEO Ali Vahabzadeh said in a statement. "We want to connect people more easily to where they want to go -- whether they need help making it to a transit hub or live in an area underserved by public transportation."
Ford said its global data, insights and analytics team is helping Chariot's team identify the best routes. A study by KPMG concluded that because of the vans' size, every Chariot vehicle can remove about 10 cars from the road.
