Sascha Meyer & Ralf Sigmund, MOIA: How future-proof is ride-sharing?
By: Sarah Schulze Darup
Tags: Innovation, Mobility, Shared Economy, Automotive, Ridesharing

What started with a brilliant launch at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2016, has become a moving landmark in cities like Hamburg and Hanover. With its electric shuttles, MOIA brings the idea of sustainable mobility services on the road. Sascha Meyer, Chief Product Officer, and Ralf Sigmund, Chief Technology Officer at MOIA, show us how the companies’ deep tech provides a holistic customer experience — digital and physical.

Copyright: MOIA

The use of private cars has been declining in Germany’s largest cities for more than a decade — even if only slowly. People are increasingly making their way by foot, bicycle, public transport, or car and ride-sharing. The social trend away from individual transportation is reflected in the ever-decreasing car and driver’s license ownership among the younger population. In addition to the existing offer of local public transport, new forms of individual mobility are pushing into cities in the wake of digitalization — and as a result, a need for new infrastructures.

In this episode of REWRITE TECH, Sascha Meyer, Chief Product Officer, and Ralf Sigmund, Chief Technology Officer, from the ride pooling-service MOIA give insights into their business model and their approach to build an outstanding user experience.

MOIA — the deep tech behind ride-pooling

The idea of multi-passenger shuttles wasn’t inherently new back in 2016. What was new, when MOIA jumped right into the German market, was its idea of mobility as an experience. Under the VW umbrella of brands, the new venture division provides comfortable rides with electric vans through cities. Customers can submit a booking request via the app with their desired pickup and destination. MOIA suggests up to three trip offers, from which they select the most suitable. “That’s what we do by heart,” says Sascha Meyer, Chief Product Officer at MOIA. “There is a lot of magic going on behind the scenes: Our algorithms.”

Unlike its parent company Volkswagen Group, MOIA isn’t an automotive company, but a deep-tech startup that develops easy-to-use consumer products. The person leading the IT development is Ralf Sigmund. “From the van, the hardware and software to the charging infrastructure — at MOIA, we are very product-focused,” says the Chief Technology Officer. “We started right from the green field with only a few people. Today we manage a fleet of hundreds of full-time operating vehicles and their drivers. The most important thing is to learn from operations and our customers to further improve the product.”

The team just invested more than a year to switch to a new algorithm. With the help of the new algorithm, the fleet as well as dynamic behaviour can be better controlled. Also, in terms of electric mobility, the development isn’t finished as the team still gains new insights about the long-term viability of battery operations.

“Electromobility is a part of the future that is starting right now” — Ralf Sigmund

Ralf Sigmund

Delivering an excellent product experience

Due to MOIA’s nature as a ride pooling-service, the user experience is not limited to the digital product. The “MOIA +6” van was specially designed for ride-pooling by MOIA in cooperation with Volkswagen. “This vehicle is catered towards the needs of riders”, explains Sascha. “It’s very comfortable, it’s quiet and the seating allows anyone to enter individually.”

Overall, the teams at MOIA try to think holistic to ensure all passengers have a great experience starting by opening the app until their payment is done. The reasoning behind that is simple: “Customers don’t differentiate between the physical and the digital part of an experience,” knows Sascha, hence all parts of the user journey must be simple and delightful.

How future-proof is ride-sharing?

In times of the Corona pandemic, the concept of ride-sharing services was put to the test. Many people are currently staying at home and switch to individual modes of travel. MOIA responded with a sophisticated hygiene concept such as partitions between driver and customers and increased the cleaning of the vans. To prevent the further spread of the virus and to support the policy decision, MOIA temporarily suspended their service on December 24th. The company intends to resume regular service as soon as the restrictions on public life are lifted and the demand for mobility returns to normal.

But it was not only the pandemic that recently caused movement on the market. Many ride-sharing providers had to discontinue their services because of high operating costs and lack of profitability. MOIA, on the other hand, could catch on due to its sustainable business model and VW as a strong stakeholder in its back. “When we started, we went all-in,” says Sascha Meyer. “What sets us apart from competitors are our special ingredients for the European market: We have our own operations, charging infrastructure, and full-time drivers. We try to build a sustainable business model — ecological and socially.”

MOIA relies on close cooperation with the cities and provides perspectives on how the future of mobility can look like. Moreover, MOIA conducts a study with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Munich to inspect what impact its fleet has on traffic and mobility behaviour in cities.

“The future of mobility is colourful — ranging from bikes, e-scooters to car and ride-sharing and based on the fundament of a strong public transport.” — Sascha Meyer

Sascha Meyer

Listen to REWRITE TECH with Sascha Meyer & Ralf Sigmund from MOIA

You find the whole conversation with Kelly on all audio streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music.

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