Daimler invests in startup that pools passengers travelling in a similar direction

Daimler Buses’ subsidiary EvoBus has secured a minority investment in CleverShuttle.

Based in Berlin, Germany, CleverShuttle pools passengers travelling in a similar direction together in an electric vehicle, driven by a professional driver. The startup’s app determines the fastest and cheapest routes for all the passengers.

Since the beginning of 2016, CleverShuttle has transported more than 170 000 passengers, testing its on-demand software over more than 500 000 km.

The CleverShuttle software platform could deliver significant benefits to public, or other transport networks, for example, by allowing them to adjust their mobility offers to customer requirements at any time. It could also lead to transport offerings that are more suited to public needs, as well as less expensive.

EvoBus and CleverShuttle plan to cooperate to deliver on-demand, or flexible mobility solutions that adapt to suit customer demands.

Daimler Buses says it aspires to play an active part in shaping the future of mobility, not merely by means of new vehicles, but also new service offerings.
The company in 2016 started a specialist Mobility Solutions department as a sort of think-tank for all future-relevant topics.

“In the development of new solutions concerning the future of mobility, we’re not only working with our long-standing customers from the public transport networks, but also with new, innovative technology companies from the start-up scene,” says Daimler Buses Mobility Solutions head Heinz Friedrich.

“This allows us to quickly provide our customers with new offers in order to adjust their business even better to their individual requirements. Together with CleverShuttle we are going to test new services already this year as part of an initial pilot phase in a German city.”

CleverShuttle co-founder and MD Bruno Ginnuth believes his company is “closing the gap between buses and taxis. Both have their own purpose, but in-between them there was hardly anything available in Germany”.