US competition authorities have approved the creation of a mobility joint venture by Daimler and BMW.

The joint ventures will cover areas from carsharing to ride-hailing 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.

The deal has already been approved by the European Commission and the approval for the US now means that all antitrust authorities involved have given the green light for the new joint venture.

The project will focus on creating a “seamlessly connected and sustainable ecosystem” for urban mobility. This will bring together the two companies’ mobility services in five business fields: free-floating car sharing services, via DriveNow (BMW) and car2go (Daimler); ride hailing services; parking services; charging services, and other on-demand mobility services. The sixth joint venture will manage the brands and license them out to the other five joint ventures.

The plan now is to close the transaction by 31 January 2019.