VW mobility unit chief says self-driving cars core to plan

Bloomberg

Volkswagen AG’s fledgling Moia mobility unit is betting on the rise of self-driving cars to deliver on its plan to catch up with ride-hailing leaders like Uber Technologies Inc without burning through piles of cash.
Moia is focussed on connecting the fast-changing mobility marketplace with the German automaker’s vast manufacturing capacity, including its efforts to develop autonomous cars, according to unit CEO Ole Harms. Moia is open to partnerships as it aims to crack the top three in mobility — a category that includes services like ride pooling and car sharing — and also make a profit by 2025, he said.
“Our clear goal is to open up mobility as a service for VW group,” Harms said in an interview. “Establishing a profitable business model and optimising what we do is key before a global roll-out. We don’t want to scale up mistakes.”
While the ambitions are high, VW is making up for lost ground. Its mobility efforts are behind not only Uber, Lyft Inc. and China’s Didi Chuxing Inc., but also Daimler AG and BMW AG, which recently said they will combine their car-shar-ing services DriveNow and Car2Go, which started in 2008 and 2011, respectively.
VW has invested “a significant three-digit million-euro” amount on Moia, which was formed in late 2016, and more than $300 million into Uber rival Gett Inc.
New Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess, whose success with cost-cutting measures to boost profitability at VW’s namesake brand helped propel him to his new position, visited Moia’s Berlin offices soon after taking over.