German carmakers Daimler and BMW unveiled a joint ride-hailing, parking and electric car charging business on Friday to compete with mobility services provided by Uber and other tech firms.
The luxury car firms said they would invest more than 1 billion euros ($1.13 billion) to expand the joint venture, shifting beyond manufacturing and car sales towards pay-per-minute or pay-per-mile systems.
Consultancy PwC has said carmakers face marginalisation by cash-rich technology firms unless they develop services based on vehicle usage.
Established ride-hailing firms have been expanding. China’s Didi Chuxing aims to build its business in Latin America and Uber is gaining a stranglehold on its U.S. market.
“Further cooperation with other providers, including stakes in startups and established players, are also a possible option,” Daimler’s Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said.
Daimler’s Car2Go car-sharing brand will be combined with BMW’s DriveNow, ParkNow and ChargeNow businesses, with both carmakers holding 50 percent stake in the venture.
The venture has five strands: REACH NOW, a smartphone-based route management and booking service, CHARGE NOW for electric car charging, FREE NOW for taxi ride-hailing, PARK NOW for parking services and SHARE NOW for car-sharing.
“These five services will merge ever more closely to form a single mobility service portfolio with an all-electric, self-driving fleet of vehicles that charge and park autonomously,” said BMW Chief Executive Harald Krueger.