Ride-pooling start-up aims to remove 1 million cars from the road

Mobility start-up MOIA has pledged that its ride-pooling concept project will aim to remove a million cars from the roads of major cities across Europe and the US.

Owned by Volkswagen, MOIA is introducing a fully electric ride-pooling concept that provides new mobility options to significantly reduce traffic in major cities. Various operator models will be possible and can be developed together with cities and partners. The MOIA vehicle itself has space for six passengers and is set to be revealed at TechCrunch Berlin, with the company having partnered with cities to improve efficiency at a previous TechCrunch event in London.

MOIA isn’t just about the vehicle, though. The concept also consists of a customer app, which passengers use to book and pay for a MOIA. The app shows which cars are available and how much the ride will cost before a customer books a trip. A pooling algorithm groups passengers with similar destinations together in order to increase the capacity for each car and avoid detours. A driver app and comprehensive fleet management complete the system.

“At TechCrunch in London we partnered with cities to improve the efficiency on their streets and create a solution for the typical transport problems they face. To tackle traffic, air and noise pollution and lack of space, we’ve laid groundwork to add a new mobility component to the road; helping them reach their sustainability goals. Soon to launch internationally is our ride-pooling concept; the first step toward reducing the number of cars in major cities by one million in Europe and the USA by 2025,” said Ole Harms, MOIA CEO.

According to a company statement, the MOIA car is the only world’s only fully electric pooling car that can seat six passengers comfortably. The interior was designed to be spacious, developed and designed exclusively for ride pooling services. The seats are equipped with convenience features such as dimmable reading lights and USB ports. Each car also offers fast WiFi for passengers. The car has a range of more than 300km according to WLTP-standard and can be charged up to 80 per cent in 30 minutes.