Hamburg and the Volkswagen Group have extended their mobility partnership including activities in automated and networked driving, electrification of vehicle fleets and the ride pooling service MOIA by another three years. Volkswagen is also gearing up to launch its purely electric WeShare car sharing service with over 1,000 electric vehicles in Hamburg from spring 2020 via its subsidiary Urban Mobility International (UMI) GmbH. The service will become part of the switchh platform in future. Hamburg has also increased the number of charging points for electric vehicles to 1,000 publicly making it the leader in Germany, according to an announcement in City Hall. The Moia ride pooling service will grow to 500 vehicles next year.

Joint activities since 2016 include autonomous parking at Hamburg Airport, test drives on Hamburg’s test track for automated and networked driving, the development of Moia, tests of a light phase assistant as well as the development of a large battery storage at VHH’s depot in Bergedorf. Tests of the “Truck Pilot” project with autonomous trucks by MAN will be conducted at HHLA’s Altenwerder container terminal (CTA) in 2020 in addition to the expanded MOIA and WeShare services.

“We take a positive stock of the partnership. Volkswagen’s commitment to urban mobility helps us to reduce emissions from car traffic, introduce new alternative mobility options and gain experience in shaping tomorrow’s mobility. This supports our aspiration to become a model city of forward-looking urban mobility. We look forward to extending the partnership beyond the 2021 ITS World Congress”,

said Michael Westhagemann, Senator for Economics, Transport and Innovation.

Philipp Reth, CEO of Volkswagen’s WeShare, remarked:

“After Berlin, Hamburg will become the second city in Germany where we provide people with 100 per cent local, emission-free, e-fleets to share for everyday, individual mobility. The city offers excellent conditions for this. We are planning a competitive business area as well as a significant number of vehicles in Hamburg.”

Jürgen Rittersberger, General Secretary and Senior Vice President Group Strategy at Volkswagen AG, noted: “Hamburg is and will remain an ideal partner for the Volkswagen group.”

Hamburg is hosting the ITS World Congress for Intelligent Transport Systems in 2021.

Source and photo credit: Hamburg  news