BMW and Mercedes-Benz create Share Now car-sharing alliance
A car sharing service involving more than 20,000 cars made by BMW and Mercedes-Benz has been named Share Now.
The free-floating car sharing service is available in nine London boroughs and comes as part of an alliance between BMW and Daimler, which owns Mercedes.
The two German firms also announced on Thursday that they will team up to develop driverless cars.
Read more: BMW and Daimler launch urban mobility joint venture
Share Now offers car sharing via an app called Drive Now, which means Londoners can share a ride in a Mini or BMW in Westminster, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Barnet, Brent, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest.
It brings former brands Drive Now and Car2go under a single roof, with 4m users already registered with the service. Share Now boss Olivier Reppert said the aim was to reduce traffic and emissions.
“Our car sharing improves the quality of life in cities – because we offer a cost-efficient and flexible alternative to owning a car.”
A fleet of more than 20,000 BMW, Mercedes-Benz, smart and MINI vehicles is available in 30 cities in Europe and North America (Source: Share Now)
Meanwhile manufacturing giants Daimler and BMW’s alliance will see the German luxury market competitors pool together resources on the expensive task of developing driverless car tech.
Spiralling research costs have already prompted Honda to pool its efforts with General Motors, while Volkswagen is pursuing talks with Ford about a similar partnership.
Michael Hafner, head of automated driving at Mercedes-Benz, said: “We have learned that the development of these systems is a bit like climbing a mountain.”
“Taking the first few meters from the base station to the summit seems easy. But the closer you come to the goal, the thinner the air around you becomes, the more strength is required for each further step, and the more complex become the challenges you have to resolve.”
Read more: Daimler profits slide as Mercedes maker warns of 'strong headwinds'
The initial focus will be to fast-forward the development of “next-generation technologies for driver assistance systems, automated driving on highways and parking features,” the firms said in a statement.
They will also discuss extending the partnership even further to cover “higher levels of automation, both on highways and in urban areas”.