The strategic mobility partnership between Volkswagen Group and the German city of Hamburg is to be extended, with renewed focus on the development of e-mobility, mobility services, intelligent transport networking and autonomous driving.
According to Volkswagen Group, the aim of the partnership is to bring about a lasting improvement in inner city quality of life through innovative mobility solutions.
This includes the launch of WeShare in Hamburg from spring 2020. The service, which is already operating in Berlin, will consist of an all-electric fleet of more than 1,000 e-Golf and e-up!, to be joined by the first all-electric ID.3 models at a later date.
As in Berlin, WeShare in Hamburg will operate based on a free-floating system with no fixed collection points.
Furthermore, MAN is to deliver 20 electric buses to the Hamburg Public Transport Association by the end of next year, and will cooperate with Hamburger Hafen und Logistik and haulier Jakob Weets to test fully autonomous trucks at the Altenwerder Container Terminal.
Ride-sharing platform MOIA will also add to its service and increase its fleet from 200 vehicles to 500. It is projected to feature in the ‘Switchh’ platform of Hamburg’s Hochbahn metro system
What’s more, Hamburg has expanded its infrastructure for e-mobility, and now has over 1,000 public charging points.
Jürgen Rittersberger, general secretary and senior vice president for group strategy at Volkswagen, said: “Hamburg is and remains an ideal partner for the Volkswagen Group.
“Over the last three years we have trialed and implemented numerous projects in the city. For example, we have tested autonomous driving and parking, put MOIA on the road, and forged ahead with electrification.
“Together with the city of Hamburg, we want to continue this success story with further concrete projects and to work on making mobility as sustainable, efficient and safe as possible.”
