As part of London Tech Week, Ford has announced their plans for a new “Smart Mobility” office in the capital city on the site of the 2012 London Olympics. Opening later this year, this will be Ford’s third Smart Mobility office and the first one outside the US. The other two are in Dearborn, Michigan and Palo Alto, California.
So, what is a Smart Mobility office? According to Ford, the phrase is a name for their subsidiary “formed to design, build, grow and invest in emerging mobility services.” When it was founded last year, the chairman was Jim Hackett, now the CEO of the Ford Motor Company. The announcement of the new London office coincides with Ford’s plan to test out a fleet of plug-in hybrids in the U.K. later this year, and a broader effort by tech companies to invest in London as a center of innovation one year after Brexit.
“Basing our rapidly growing team here in the heart of mobility innovation in London is critical to accelerating our learning and development of new technologies,” Ford’s President of Europe, Middle East, and Africa Steven Armstrong told Bloomberg.
Ford’s new Smart Mobility office will be located at an East London tech hub called Here East, which is housed in the former 2012 Olympic Press and Broadcast Center. They will employ about 40 specialists who will work on connectivity, mobility, autonomous cars, and the consumer experience to lead the way in the future of mobility – whether that involves owning a car or not.