BMW and Daimler are often associated as fierce rivals; however, the firms are now investing around €1billion in a joint venture. This project will aim to develop solutions on mobility and EV infrastructure. The market is becoming extremely competitive with big players like Uber and other new age tech businesses coming to the forefront.
The project has five elements:
- Reach Now: a smartphone-based route management and booking service
- Charge Now: expanding electric car charging
- Free Now: for taxi ride-hailing
- Park Now: dedicated to offering parking services
- Share Now: for car-sharing.
This collaboration is a clear indicator that manufacturers are taking the mobility and EV market extremely seriously. OEMs that are reluctant to adapt to the market will slowly dwindle.
Will we see more of these OEM partnerships in the future? Only time will tell. I certainly see this a positive sign that the industry is moving in the right direction.
The deal aims to bundle all Daimler and BMW’s existing mobility services together in a first step toward critical mass for their joint platform. The two companies already have a customer base of around 60 million people but as yet, they haven’t made a great deal of money with their car-sharing services. Now they want to grow that customer base to over 100 million and turn a profit around the idea that, the bigger you are, the more users you will attract.
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