This is the world’s first ride-sharing car – and it’ll take over our roads in 2025
This ride-sharing car could end up replacing popular hailing apps like Uber in the near future. And it could see one million cars removed from the road in the next decade
VOLKSWAGEN Group start-up Moia has introduced the world's very first purpose-built ride-sharing vehicle.
Due to be released onto the streets of Hamburg next year, the fully electric car has been designed with the vision of drastically reducing traffic and pollution in major cities.
The six-seater van will operate in conjunction with a customer app, where users will be able to order and pay for their trip before they are picked up.
The system works in a similar way to Uber and other ride-hailing services, where users can see how much a trip will cost and what cars are available before they ride.
But the difference for Moia is the use of an algorithm that groups customers together depending on their destination, increasing the capacity of cars and eliminating lengthy detours.
By grouping users together in the one vehicle, Moia hopes to limit the number of cars on the road and reduce pollution - with the goal of removing one million cars from European and US city roads by 2025.
The Moia system will also include a driver app to continue to provide work for professional drivers.
Ole Harms, Moia CEO, said: “We started one year ago at TechCrunch in London with the vision of partnering with cities to improve the efficiency on their streets.
"We want to create a solution for the typical transport problems that cities face, such as traffic, air and noise pollution, and lack of space, while simultaneously helping them reach their sustainability goals.
"In 2018, we’ll be ready to launch our ride pooling concept internationally and take the first steps toward our goal of reducing the number of cars in major cities by one million in Europe and the USA by 2025."
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The car itself holds six passengers and one driver, powered by a fully electric motor with a range of 186 miles.
Fitted with standalone seats, the interior is spacious enough for each passenger to be able to move around freely.
Interior features also include dimmable reading lights, USB ports and fast WiFi for passengers.