VW trials “shuttle-on-demand”

VOLKSWAGEN Group aims to unclog urban streets and establish itself as a global mobility player with an electric “shuttle-on-demand” service now being trialled in Hannover, Germany.

The German giant has created a new subsidiary, Moia, to develop the ride-pooling service that aims to fill the gap between taxis – including Uber – and public transport by using electric-powered minivans guided by sophisticated software to pick up multiple passengers heading in the same general direction.

Moia is working on a new electric-powered six-seat vehicle and associated algorithms, apps and hardware for the service that is set to go commercial in Hamburg next year ahead of a wider rollout.

Although Moia says it has no immediate plans to launch the service in Australia, it has applied for Australian trademark registration for its brand and has conceded it wants to go international.

Moia head of public relations and public affairs Michael Fischer told GoAuto: “For sure we want to expand our service also internationally. But so far there is no road map I could share with you.”

VW believes such services will provide an alternative to owning a car while at the same time reducing the number of vehicles on increasingly clogged urban streets and freeways.

Headquartered in Berlin with a start-up staff of just 50, Moia also has invested $US300 million ($A392m) of VW money in Israeli-founded Uber rival Gett in a two-pronged approach to urban mobility.

The Hannover test – involving a closed-group trial of 3500 residents – employs 20 VW Multivan T6 vehicles for a ride-pooling service covering a 90 square-kilometre urban zone.

The dress rehearsal is designed to “stress-test” the hardware and software of the service and gain feedback from customers ahead of the planned commercial roll-out in Hamburg in 2018.

Moia chief operating officer Robert Henrich said several months of testing in Hannover was to gain real-time experience before the service goes totally public.

“We want to detect and resolve any issues that arise in order to create a market-ready ride-pooling product,” he said. “Our future customers will help us to do that.”

Hannover was chosen for the trial because of the city’s reputation for openness to new mobility concepts.

Like Uber, the system requires customers to download the app and register as a Moia member before they can ride.

When a customer clicks on the app to indicate they want to be picked up and taken to a particular destination, Moia software coordinates a shuttle and like-minded travellers, setting out a route that collects each passenger and gets them to their destination in the shortest possible time.

Because passengers share the ride, the system is cheaper for each passenger than a taxi or Uber, but more convenient than public transport because it delivers passengers door to door.

Although the VW T6 vans in the Hannover service test are powered by diesel engines and can carry four passengers, the Hamburg service will get a fleet of newly designed fully electric vehicles that can seat six passengers.

Ultimately, the vehicles could be autonomous too.

Still dealing with the repercussions of the dieselgate affair, VW Group has hitched its wagon firmly to the electric vehicle (EV) push, saying it wants to be the global EV leader by 2025 by selling a million such vehicles a year.

VW showed a retro-styled all-electric van, the ID Buzz, at this year’s Detroit motor show. It later confirmed the van, looking like a latter day Kombi, will go into production in 2022.

It followed up by revealing an electric SUV, the ID Crozz, at the Frankfurt motor show in in September.