Scott Griffith, the Former Zipcar CEO, has joined Ford Motor Co. for improving the automaker’s autonomous vehicle development.
On Monday, Griffith has joined Ford Autonomous LLC in a new responsibility as the chief director of AV product, marketing, and operations related to the company.
Griffith will take charge of the development and execution of the automaker’s go-to-market strategy as it relates to on day works, customer experience, and autonomy.
The Ford subsidiary was formed in 2018 and focused on autonomous vehicle development, including self-driving systems integration, AV research, and advanced engineering and technology automation.
Jim Farley, Ford’s president, says that Ford is still committed to launching self-driving commercial robocars by its self-imposed deadline of 2021. Ford has taken the pace by Quantum Signal AI in July.
Griffith is essential to this team for his experience in “launching a new mobility service with large-scale operations.”
Being a student of Cambridge, Griffith worked as a car-sharing service Zipcar as CEO in 2003, replacing one of the founders and clenched the position until 2013.
Griffith made his mark by emerging out the world’s largest car-sharing network in going public in 2011. He is responsible for its sale to Avis Budget Group the year he exited the company.
Griffith’s responsibilities as director of AV product will include further improving Ford’s brand and marketing, assisting the customer experience, and product attributes needed to deliver the broad markets.
Farley further stated that being able to operate a technology-enabled fleet with a high utilization rate and rapid recovery is critical for our self-driving service to become seen as trusted, reliable, and efficient.
“Finally, you have heard me talk about the importance of building a self-driving service that’s scalable — and where and how big you launch is key to this. Having deployed a similar strategy at Zipcar, Scott understands the importance of perfecting the customer experience and achieving scalability city by city before expanding nationally,” added cherished, cherished with the Scott arrival in the Ford.
It is further known that Ford has been working on several customer-focused initiatives, including piloting autonomous pizza delivery with Dominoes and package delivery through Post mates and Walmart stores.
