Dubai born startup CAFU & Ford forge new partnership

Ford and Dubai born start up, CAFU, announced a new strategic partnership to reinvent the refuelling experience through Ford’s SYNC® communications and entertainment system in the United Arab Emirates. As part of CAFU’s vision of convenience in motion, the technology tie up will mean that Ford and Lincoln customers will be able to order fuel seamlessly and directly from their infotainment systems. This is a first-of-its-kind partnership and service in the region and is now available to citizens and residents of the UAE. 

The partnership between CAFU and Ford aims to enable further convenience for Ford and Lincoln customers in making refuelling simpler, smarter and in line with its strategic mission for placing convenience firmly at the heart of their service.  

“Our partnership with Ford marks a new era of convenience in motion enabled by technology and innovative thinking.  It is another step forward in our long-term vision for CAFU of making life better through greater car connectivity, predictive enabled features, and innovation evolving the consumer experience towards further convenience and ease of use to make operating a car simpler and smarter. Ford and Lincoln customers in the UAE will now be able to make the refuelling experience predicative and easier than ever before with CAFU, making visiting and queuing up at a petrol station a thing of the past,” said CAFU Founder and CEO, Rashid Al Ghurair.

Ravi Ravichandran, Middle East Executive Director at Ford Direct Markets, said: “At Ford, customers are our top priority and we strive to do the very best in providing them with a complete peace of mind. The unique partnership with CAFU through the *SYNC® infotainment system in our Ford and Lincoln vehicles underscores our commitment and demonstrates our efforts to better serve our customers in the UAE.” 

Greater Driver Connectivity: SYNC® Up to Fuel Up  

In the drive towards ongoing innovation by both companies, the partnership will benefit Ford and Lincoln customers in the UAE owning 2017 model year vehicles onwards, that are equipped with *SYNC® communications and entertainment system. The integration will allow customers to connect to their CAFU account via Bluetooth on their Android Operating System enabling them to make a refueling order while keeping their eyes on the road.

In a move to enable further ease of use, Ford and Lincoln customers will also be able to use the infotainment systems voice command option to book their refueling slots anytime and anywhere.

A new Era of Predictive Refueling

As part of the technology integration, the teams at CAFU and Ford have worked to build unique predicative features that will alert the customer to refuel when the fuel level gauge hits 20 per cent or less. A pop-up prompt to refuel will automatically appear, leading to the next available CAFU refueling slot based on the selected location notified by the customer.

With CAFU’s on demand refueling service operating across parts of the UAE, customers will be able to refuel on the go at the same price as the petrol station with no delivery fees saving time and avoiding queues.

According to an IPSOS study, UAE residents are estimated to spend an average of 10 minutes waiting in line for fuel at a petrol station. Therefore, this partnership is set to transform the customers driving experience across the nation, opening the door to greater convenience by saving time and avoiding queues at petrol stations.

Since CAFU began operating in the UAE in 2018 as the first on-demand fuel delivery service in the MENA region, more and more drivers have signed up to its offer of fuel anytime, anywhere. In November last year, the innovative start up surpassed two million fills and continues to rapidly grow due to the value placed by consumers on convenience through the on-demand and contactless nature of the service.

With the Ford partnership announced by CAFU, it is advancing its ambition to provide innovative car services all with just a few clicks of a smartphone or voice commands in your car enabling the way it’s run and operated to be seamless and effortless. It marks the next step towards a new era of car ownership that is simpler, smarter and powered by technology.