Ford DRIVE

Professional Project

Aimed to transform ride-sharing with Ford's EV Mustang Mach-E, the Ford DRIVE project focused on creating an innovative subscription model. This initiative sought to incentivize drivers to adopt electric vehicles, enhancing sustainability in urban transportation and aligning with environmental goals.

Goal

D-Ford aimed to assist Ford in creating a new subscription model for ride-sharing using their new EV Mustang Mach-E.

Objective

This new model would need to be innovative and rewarding for drivers and riders, and would act as an incentive for leveraging their EV for ride-sharing services.

Problem

How might we build a service and its touch-points to incentivize drivers to use EV’s for ride-sharing through giving them an elevated status?

Incentives: What are the different incentives that will promote ride-share drivers to use Electric Vehicles for their job?
Touch-points: What are the different touch-points that can be introduced to support these incentives?
Service: What would need to be done to provide a seamless experience for the drivers enrolled and keep them in the program?
Partnership: What would the partnership with an existing ride-share company look like?
Strategy: How would Ford support the partnership in a way that is mutually beneficial to both parties?

Role and Responsibilities:

Role:

As Research Lead, I spearheaded research planning, execution, and insight delivery, later transitioning to apply my UI/UX expertise in prototyping digital touch-points.

Responsibilities:

• Research: 
  Competitive Analysis (Secondary Research)
  User Interviews (Qualitative, Primary Research, Moderated)
  Diary Study (Qualitative, Primary Research, Unmoderated)
  Focus Groups (Qualitative, Primary Research, Moderated)
  Usability Testing (Quantitative, Primary Research, Unmoderated)
  Usage Data Analysis (Quantitative, Primary Research, Unmoderated)
  
  

• Strategy: 
  Insight Delivery
  Prioritization
  Co-Design
  Feature Set Listing
  
  

• UI/UX: 
  Concept Development
  Wire-framing
  Visual Design

Outcome:

Ford DRIVE EV Lease Pilot Program

In June 2022, Ford partnered with Uber and launched a pilot program in San Diego, CA to test the response to the program and make final tweaks.

This pilot aimed to lay the foundation for expansion to 2 other cities by 2023.

Process

Qualitative Research

Goals

• To uncover the motivations, expectations, and challenges of rideshare driving

• To define elevated status in rideshare driving through a desirable ‘Certified Driver Program’

1. Competitive Analysis

Airbnb Superhost / Soulcycle instructors: Conducted secondary research  by analyzing incentives from established programs such as Airbnb's Superhost and SoulCycle's Trainer initiatives.

Outcome: Gained initial insights into the significance and perceived value of elevated status recognition.

2. Superhero Interviews

1:1 Interviews with Superhosts and trainers: Executed six 30-minute interviews with Superhosts and Trainers to deepen understanding of their perceptions of the values provided by these programs.

Outcome: A clearer comprehension of incentives in terms of monetary benefits, personal values, and services offered.

Challenge: Due to the absence of a Non-Disclosure Agreement, this involved meticulous note-taking and real-time analysis, as recording the conversations wasn't possible.

3. Diary Studies

Day-in-the-life of (DILO): Implemented a diary study exercise involving 12 drivers across various locations, recruited via UserInterviews.com. Participants were screened based on their location, the type of car they drive, and gender.

Outcome: Explored drivers' daily journeys, gaining crucial insights into their various interactions, and developed driver personas based on the type of vehicle they drive.

Challenge:

• Deciding screening criteria: Establishing screening criteria proved challenging due to the need for consensus among stakeholders, who had specific and detailed requirements.

• Mode of Communication with drivers: Since the drivers used mobile phones mostly, it was difficult to decide on a particular mode for communicating the diary study materials

Directionality through Diary Study results:

The research revealed that drivers prioritize mobile integration with the service, as they predominantly use their mobile devices for ridesharing. 

They expressed a strong preference for enrolling in the program via their mobile devices, citing limited access to computers while working. 

Additionally, there was a clear desire to have complete access to all program details and incentives on their mobile devices.

4. Focus Groups

Co-creation of Certified Driver Program: The focus groups were structured as co-creation sessions using Miro, where the drivers were empowered and guided to design a program that best suits their needs. This was achieved by prioritizing the values and incentives they had previously shared.

Outcome: Developed a thorough program structure encompassing various incentives that were of utmost importance to the participants.

Design

1. Insights: Values and Incentives

Based on data gathered from co-creation session, values and incentives were prioritized according to the needs of the drivers.

2. Touchpoint Prototypes

Insights on values and incentives gathered from primary and secondary research were utilized to create visualizations for the 'Certified Driver Program' touchpoints. 

These visual concepts were later prioritized in co-design sessions with Ford stakeholders, focusing on their feasibility and viability.

3. Landing Page Design

Final designs for enticing enrollment: The final landing pages were crafted to effectively showcase and highlight the diverse values and incentives of the program, aimed at enticing drivers to enroll in this new initiative.

Quantitative Research:

1. Usability Testing

Experiment: Developed a controlled experiment to test different touch-points and their effectiveness. Compared driver satisfaction, efficiency, and program retention rates between drivers who have access to certain touch-points (like dedicated charging stations or maintenance services) versus those who do not.

2. Usage Data Analysis

Data Analysis: Collected and analyzed data on the usage patterns of drivers participating in the pilot program. Metrics included miles driven, charging frequency, areas covered, and rider feedback. This analysis helped in understanding the practical viability of the program and in identifying any operational challenges.

3. Market Analysis:

Instagram Engagement: Conducted a comprehensive market analysis using statistical tools to evaluate the potential market size for the Ford DRIVE program. This included assessing the number of ride-share drivers in the target cities, their current vehicle types, and their openness to switching to EVs.

Impact

Ford DRIVE Program

In June 2023, Ford Drive program was launched in partnership with Uber across 3 cities in CA:

• San Diego

• San Francisco

• Los Angeles

The program gives rideshare drivers the opportunity to lease an electric vehicle for ridesharing jobs and provides various incentives like flexibility, cost, easy access to charging and prompt service.

Road-map to EV’s for ride-sharing

The program also enabled the partnership with Uber to achieve the target of leveraging EVs for ridesharing.

This was achieved through the strategic incentivization of Uber’s Zero Emissions incentive, which aims to to becoming a zero-emission platform in US and Canadian cities as well as in major global cities where we can ensure a fair transition for drivers, by 2030.