VW subsidiary Moia ends operations in Hanover

Moia launched its ridepooling service in Hanover in July 2018. From 2019, the shuttles could be booked across the entire city. From August 2020, only the gold-yellow, fully electric vehicles were in use. Due to the pandemic, Moia paused operations on 24 December 2020, resuming regular service on 1 June 2021. Since then, the company has maintained a low profile there.

Last Friday, however, the VW subsidiary made headlines. Moia has stopped its service, effective immediately. Customers could no longer book rides via the app and received a notification.

“As part of Moia’s ongoing transformation process in Hanover, almost all employees accepted a voluntary redundancy offer,” a spokesperson told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa). The company stated it could no longer maintain the service under these staffing conditions. The sudden end suggests the withdrawal happened faster than planned.

Moia cites a strategic refocus as the main reason behind the previously intended exit. The rideshare provider wants to concentrate on its activities in Hamburg. “Against this backdrop, Moia will not apply for a new licence for the service in Hanover,” a spokesperson said.  

The withdrawal from Hanover forms part of Moia’s wider strategy to reposition itself as a technology and systems provider for autonomous mobility solutions rather than operating ridepooling services itself. The VW subsidiary aims to offer public and private mobility providers “safe and turnkey end-to-end solutions for autonomous mobility services”. Two years ago, Volkswagen opened up its electric ridepooling service to other providers via a licensing model.

Moia’s offering in Hamburg remains unaffected by the changes in Hanover. “Development and testing of the mobility service with end customers will now be focused there,” a spokesperson told the news agency. Hamburg also serves as a testing ground for Moia’s future autonomous services. In the ALIKE project, for example, Hamburger Hochbahn, Holon, VW subsidiary Moia and other partners plan to trial around 20 autonomous electric shuttles in the city.

In addition to Hamburg, the now production-ready ID. Buzz AD will also operate in Berlin. Over a year ago, Berlin’s public transport provider BVG signed a memorandum of understanding with Moia to gather experience with the ridepooling service as part of its public transport offering. Just a few months later, Swiss VW Group importer and dealer AMAG partnered with Moia to bring the ridepooling solution to Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Moia’s recently announced cooperation with Uber is set for the coming years. VW and Uber have entered a strategic partnership to deploy a fleet of thousands of robo-taxis in the USA over the next decade, using Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz. The pilot phase is scheduled to start later this year in Los Angeles.

spiegel.de, heise.de (both in German)