Vulog has released an update to its AiMA platform, with the supplier maintaining it is the first technology provider in the sector to fully support multimodal and multi-city capability.
Early users of shared mobility schemes required them to access numerous providers of different specific services.
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Research by Vulog linked to mobility schemes in Paris in early 2019, revealed the average shared-mobility user had seven different apps on their phone in order to move around cities.
Furthermore, the majority of shared mobility schemes started up in a single city, meaning when users travelled to other cities they needed to sign up to a different service.
The new release of Vulog’s AiMA platform supports multimodal and multi-city operations and the French company sees such services becoming the norm within the next 12 to 18 months.
The world’s first multimodal, multi-city shared mobility scheme is Poppy in Belgium. Since the summer of 2019, Poppy’s customers in Brussels and Antwerp have been able to access shared electric mopeds, kick-scooters and cars; the latter can be collected and dropped off in either city.
Stockholm’s Aimo has also become a multimodal service, with 200 electric kick-scooters recently added to its 300-strong fleet of electric Renault Zoe EVs. Both operations trialled Vulog’s updated AiMA platform and saw user activity increase during the trial period by up to 34%.
“As established players and new entrants engage in an ongoing battle for customer acquisition, operators need to develop their proposition and offer flexibility to maximise their appeal,” said Vulog CEO, Gregory Ducongé.
“For example, I may want a kick-scooter for the daily commute, a moped for a longer trip across the city for a meeting and a car for out-of-town road trips with my family at the weekend.
If I have to use several apps, they each need my billing details and personal data and I’ll receive multiple alerts and updates from each. A single, seamless scheme that meets all my needs is more convenient and manageable.
“Multimodal and multi-city capabilities give operators a competitive advantage over their rivals and we believe such services will be crucial to sustained long-term profitability for all operators. And, we’ve future-proofed our AiMA platform so that operators can add autonomous cars as soon as they will be ready to deploy.”
Vulog provides the technology backbone for 30 shared mobility schemes on five continents, with its AiMA platform integrating and connecting various critical functions which enable car sharing.
From vehicle scheduling and fleet management to payment processing and parking registration services, the real-time data-driven technology stack delivers for users and operators.
