Ride sharing, with the aim of reducing resource usage, is one of the key aspects for building a more sustainable and efficient world. While many automakers have incorporated ride-sharing services into their electric concept cars for the future, Volkswagen has gone one step ahead and will launch the service in Hamburg at end of 2018 with MOIA.

MOIA is VW’s Berlin-based startup, which is tasked with taking a million cars off the road in major cities of Europe and the USA by 2025. The ride pooling ecosystem consists of an app which passengers use to book and pay for the service. Availability and fares will be displayed in advance, and the pooling algorithm will group passengers with similar destinations together for increasing each car’s capacity.

The MOIA car is a fully electric mini-van that can carry up to six passengers and has a range of over 300 km. The interior is spacious and each passenger can have his own standalone seat with ample legroom. Dimmable reading lights, USB ports and WiFi connection are also available on board, while luggage can be stored next to the driver. The car itself was also developed with a co-creative process and tested multiple times with potential users of different ages.