Volkswagen spins off new company focused on ride-hailing and self-driving cars

Volkswagen announced this morning the launch of a spinoff company focused on “new mobility solutions” such as ride-hailing and on-demand autonomous vehicles. The German car giant says it hopes to generate “a significant share” of its sale revenue from these new services by 2025.

The standalone company, Moia, will be headquartered in Berlin, where it will likely test out many of its new services before expanding them to other cities. It’s the latest move by a major car manufacturer to embrace so-called “mobility solutions.”

Car companies like diesel emissions scandal.

Volkswagen announced the creation of Moia at recent $300 million investment in London-based ride-hailing service Gett.

As part of this renewed commitment to mobility, Volkswagen says it will "explore" self-driving technology, though no detail is offered as to what that might look like, which markets might be tested first, or what vehicles would be used. Most large automakers are now actively exploring autonomous driving — as are major ride-hailing companies — and Volkswagen Group subsidiary Audi has been one of the more energetic developers of the technology over the past decade. At the Paris Auto Show earlier this year, Volkswagen unveiled its ID concept car, with a retractable steering wheel and capability for autonomous driving.

Ole Harms, who served as executive director and head of new business and mobility services at Volkswagen, will assume the post as CEO of Moia starting January 1st, 2017. The first pilot projects will begin later next year.