Volkswagen already is one of the largest vehicle manufacturers in the world. In the future, it might become one of the world’s largest ride providers, too.
Like many other automotive companies, Volkswagen is moving beyond its traditional role of merely building cars and morphing into a business centered on mobility. The company said this week that it is launching a new subsidiary called Moia that is intended to hatch innovations based around ride-hailing apps. The name Moia comes from the Sanskrit word for “magic.”
Volkswagen is no stranger to ride hailing. In May, it invested $300 million in Gett, a global competitor of Uber and Lyft with a strong presence in Europe. It’s unclear exactly what role Gett will play with Moia, but Volkswagen sees the combination of the two as a means of entrenching its position on its home continent and elsewhere.
“
“We want to demonstrate that innovative mobility solutions are possible outside of Silicon Valley.”
—Ole Harms, Moia
”
“Our sights are set on becoming one of the global top players for mobility services in the medium term,” said Moia CEO Ole Harms.
Beyond ride hailing, Moia will develop an app for what VW calls “connected commuting,” offering customers ways to plan journeys across different modes of transportation on a one-stop platform, a plan similar in concept to Moovel, a Daimler subsidiary that offers integrated bookings and payments.
Moia also will focus on on-demand pooling, in which customers summon vehicles and share rides with others headed in the same direction on small shuttles, a plan similar to the on-demand shuttles tested by Ford’s recently launched Smart Mobility subsidiary. Another similarity to Ford’s approach: Volkswagen says it will both market these services directly to customers and explore partnerships with cities.
“The objective is holistic transportation solutions that make individual transport and public transport more effective,” Harms said, “thus avoiding unnecessary journeys and optimizing use of the existing road infrastructure.”
Based in Berlin, Moia will launch with 50 employees at the outset and grow throughout 2017. The company intends to launch a pilot project testing connected commuting next year. Volkswagen says it expects to “generate a substantial share of its sales revenue from this new business by 2025,” although it does not elaborate on more specific revenue targets.
Volkswagen’s announcement comes on the heels of one from another German automaker. BMW’s iVentures, the company’s venture-capital arm, soon will raise $530 million for mobility-related projects and relocate to Silicon Valley, according to Forbes. That is one move Moia won’t make. Volkswagen appears eager to demonstrate that the California hub does not have a monopoly on such technology.
“With Moia,” Harms said, “we want to demonstrate that innovative mobility solutions are possible outside of Silicon Valley.”
from Car and Driver BlogCar and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/2gbQDy3
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment