Ford forms Ford Smart Mobility unit to hone focus on digital business

Ford said it is creating a subsidiary called Ford Smart Mobility, which will focus on delivering new digital services.

The unit's mandate is to deliver mobility services. Jim Hackett, former CEO of Steelcase, will leave Ford's board of directors to become chairman at Ford Smart Mobility.

By creating a subsidiary, the automaker is hoping to advance its digital business plan. Ford Smart Mobility will focus on mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and analytics. Ford is taking a two prong approach where it focuses on digital as well as its core business of designing, building and marketing cars.

Also: Ford's master plan to enter transportation services rests on software prowess |

Ford Smart Mobility will aim to become "part of the growing transportation services market," said Ford CEO Mark Fields. The unit is expected to operate as a startup within the larger company.

The new unit will build on many of the projects and technologies at Ford already with a focus on connectivity via its SYNC system, commercializing Ford's various mobile experiments, autonomous vehicles, melding the physical and digital customer experience and overseeing the company's data science efforts.

Here's a look at Ford's various digital experiments.