Riding is the new driving. The Disrupters: Series 1 – Gear Shift by The Economist Films, is about the meteoric rise of ride-sharing apps, which is disrupting the auto industry across the globe.
The short documentary takes a look at three different transportation companies rise to success and delves into what the future holds for the auto industry.
The worldwide companies featured in the film include India’s popular taxi on-demand service Ola, one of the fastest growing ride-sharing companies in the US Lyft, and Ford, a leading global auto company that’s also fast becoming a mobility company. 
Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of Ola comments about their mission in India: “Ola is not just a cab company. The opportunity for us is to build mobility for a billion Indians for the future. We are a technology company, we don’t own a single cab. We operate a marketplace where we aggregate to get the supply, we aggregate the demand and we connect them in the most efficient way possible.”
Statistics reveal a decline in the number of new drivers in America over the past three decades. The Transportation Research Institute of Michigan reports that 20-24 year olds with driving licence fell from 92% to 77%, and 20% decrease among 18 year olds. 
Talking about the declining number of younger drivers, David Rust, Director of Strategic Operations of Lyft says: “People do not want the hassle of owning, maintaining or paying for a car all for it to sit idle ninety six percent of the time. What a passenger wants is to get from point A to point B at an affordable rate, in an enjoyable way. When you build that experience, it is going to disrupt that industry.”
Ford has relied on selling vehicles for well over a century. Now it’s focused on keeping the company’s core business designing, manufacturing, financing and servicing a full line of Ford vehicle, while aggressively pursuing emerging opportunities through Ford Smart Mobility, the company’s plan to be a leader in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and data and analytics. Ford insists it’s preparing for a future where sales are no longer driven by the latest model.
In the film, Mark Fields, CEO for Ford Motor Company comments: “We are fundamentally rethinking our whole product development. Traditionally in our industry it’s been about producing the product, the thing. Now we are very much thinking what experience do we want to provide the customer.”
To view the full film please visit The Economist Films
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