BMW Group and Daimler AG have announced they’re investing more than €1bn in their joint mobility services provider as they outline further details of the five joint ventures that will be established.

The joint venture will cover five areas, including multimodal and on-demand mobility through Daimler’s moovel and BMW’s ReachNow services

The two firms announced in spring 2018 that they were planning to combine their mobility offerings in a deal that would bring fleets a single source for everything from ride-hailing to EV charging, and have since received regulatory approval from the US and the European Commission.

The carmakers have now said that the deal – intended to create a “game-changing new player to enter the growing market for urban mobility”– will be focused on all-electric, autonomous, on-demand mobility to tap into demands from an existing 60 million BMW/Daimler customers worldwide.

The cooperation comprises five joint ventures: REACH NOW for multimodal services, CHARGE NOW for charging, FREE NOW for taxi ride-hailing, PARK NOW for parking and SHARE NOW for car-sharing.

Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, commented: “Our mobility services have developed a strong customer base and we are now taking the next strategic step. We are pooling the strength and expertise of 14 successful brands and investing more than €1 billion to establish a new player in the fast-growing market for urban mobility. By creating an intelligent network of joint ventures, we will be able to shape current and future urban mobility and draw maximum benefit from the opportunities opened up by digitalization, shared services and the increasing mobility needs of our customers. Further cooperations with other providers, including stakes in start-ups and established players, are also a possible option.”

Harald Krüger, Management Board Chairman of BMW AG, added: “We are creating a leading global game changer. The 60 million customers we already have today will benefit from a seamlessly integrated, sustainable ecosystem of car-sharing, ride-hailing, parking, charging and multimodal transport services. We have a clear vision: these five services will merge ever more closely to form a single mobility service portfolio with an all-electric, self-driving fleet of vehicles that charge and park autonomously and interconnect with the other modes of transport. This service portfolio will be a key cornerstone in our strategy as a mobility provider. The cooperation is the perfect way for us to maximise our chances in a growing market, while sharing the investments.”

The firms have also outlined further details of the five joint ventures:

REACH NOW

The REACH NOW apps will offer a range of options for getting from A to B, allowing users to book and pay directly for public transport and various other mobility options, such as car-sharing, ride-hailing and bike rentals.

It will be managed by Daniela Gerd tom Markotten as chief executive officer with Johannes Prantl as chief financial officer.

CHARGE NOW

This service by Digital Charging Solutions GmbH (DCS) makes public charge points quick and easy to locate, use and pay for, both at home and abroad. It has more than 100,000 charge points from 250 chargepoint operators across 25 countries through its white-label solutions, helping OEMs and fleet operators to realise their strategies for electric mobility.

PARK NOW

This digital parking service offers users the best possible parking solutions at a glance, allows them to reserve parking slots and manage their parking times, and enables ticketless entry and exit in public garages as well as cashless payment of parking fees. Additional benefits include reduced traffic volumes and pollution

CHARGE NOW and PARK NOW are headed by Jörg Reimann as CEO, with Thomas Menzel as CFO.

FREE NOW

One of the largest ride-hailing services in Europe and Latin America, this offers a variety of mobility services including taxis, private chauffeurs with rental vehicles, and e-scooters, and already serves more than 21 million customers and over 250,000 drivers.

FREE NOW is headed by Marc Berg as CEO, with Sebastian Hofelich as CFO.

SHARE NOW

This is a free-floating car-sharing service that allows customers to rent and pay for vehicles by smartphone — anytime, anywhere. More than 4 million customers in total currently use the fleet’s 20,000 vehicles in 31 cities around the world and its fleet will now be extended to incorporate a wider range of models and increase market coverage.

Olivier Reppert has been appointed CEO of SHARE NOW, with Stefan Glebke as CFO.