Volkswagen has jumped on board the rising demand for mobility services companies by launching its very own, dubbed MOIA.
Essentially the German firm’s answer to Uber and Lyft, MOIA will operate as a stand-alone company within the VW Group. Initially, it will focus on ride hailing via the app of existing ride hailing service Gett, offering on-demand transportation, delivery and logistics in over 100 cities worldwide.
Speaking of this, the chief executive of MOIA, Ole Harms said “Together with Gett we are pursuing a clearly defined expansion strategy in Europe – only recently, three of the Group’s brands launched the first joint initiative with attractive vehicle packages for Gett drivers in the growth market of Moscow. Further markets will follow soon.”
Alongside ride hailing, MOIA will focus on the pooling business (connected commuting/driving) and plans to set up its own on-demand service through a dedicate smartphone application. The first pilots on the pooling business will begin next year.
MOIA will be headquartered in Berlin and initially, operate with a team of around 50.
According to Volkswagen chief executive Matthias Muller, “MOIA will help us gain a deeper understanding of new forms of mobility and how to make them even more attractive in future, to offer a much broader scope than at present and to tailor these services to suit very wide-ranging needs. Even though not everyone will still own a car in future, MOIA can help make everyone a customer of our company in some way or another.”
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