The strategic mobility partnership between the Volkswagen Group and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is to be extended. The focus lies on support for e-mobility, innovative mobility services, intelligent transport networking and the use of self-driving vehicles. The aim is to bring about a lasting improvement in inner-city quality of life through innovative mobility solutions. In concrete terms, this means that under the second phase of the partnership, WeShare is to be launched in Hamburg from spring 2020, following on from its successful premiere in Berlin; the service will consist of an all-electric fleet of e-Golf and e-up!, to be joined by the ID.3 at a later date.
MAN is to deliver 20 electric buses to HVV (Hamburg Public Transport Association) by the end of next year. In addition, MAN, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) and haulier Jakob Weets will be cooperating to test fully autonomous trucks at the Altenwerder Container Terminal. Moreover, MOIA will be adding to its service and increasing its fleet from the current 200 vehicles to 500. Hamburg has expanded its infrastructure for e-mobility, and now has over 1,000 public charging points.
The WeShare rollout is scheduled for spring 2020. The fleet will comprise over 1,000 e-Golf and e-up! During the course of next year, they will be joined by the first all-electric ID.3 models. As in Berlin, WeShare in Hamburg will operate based on a free-floating system – in other words, there are no fixed collection points, in order to offer customers maximum flexibility and availability.
MOIA also provides a meaningful addition to current passenger transport systems with its full-electric ridesharing service and – like WeShare – is projected to feature in the “switchh” platform of Hamburg’s Hochbahn metro system. The app offers integrated on-demand mobility services. The MOIA fleet is to be increased from the present 200 vehicles to 500.
The projects implemented under the first stage of the strategic mobility partnership have also been successful. The findings of the cooperation between MAN and public transport operators Hamburg Hochbahn metro system and Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein (VHH) were incorporated directly in the development of the new all-electric MAN Lion’s City E bus. Now, the first MAN Lion’s City E buses are to go into regular service in the city’s public transport network. In addition, a second life storage system will be connected to the charging network at the VHH depot to test the behavior of used batteries after service in buses and in stationary use under real-life conditions. A team from Group Innovation at Volkswagen AG has already been able to present significant progress in mastering complex situations on the test track for automated and connected driving in Hamburg. The test findings are being incorporated in development work at the newly founded Volkswagen Autonomy GmbH.
Audi has successfully tested and demonstrated networking between traffic lights and vehicles to improve traffic flow and provide driver support under the “Traffic Light Information” pilot project in Hamburg. In Ingolstadt, Audi’s traffic light information system service has been available for new series models since this summer. Further German cities, including Hamburg, are to join this serial service.
The Volkswagen brand has rolled out the “Clean Air” action as part of the “Hamburg eDrive” initiative, under which some 200 electric vehicles were delivered to private customers, enterprises and public service authorities at special conditions. Up to 400 vehicles, mainly e-Golf and e-up!, are being made available to Volkswagen dealers in Hamburg under this action.
In addition to implementing concrete projects, Hamburg and the Volkswagen Group are also driving the future of intelligent transport systems (ITS). One important milestone in this regard is Hamburg’s successful bid to host the 2021 ITS World Congress. Volkswagen AG actively supported the bid, is one of the main partners of the ITS World Congress, and holds the chair of the Host Committee.
