News: Hyundai Launches MoceanLab Mobility Venture

Vulog AiMA Platform Backs Carsharing Program

Reflecting trends of change in the auto industry, last week’s the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show was a place to launch more than the latest new cars. Hyundai Motor Group launched MoceanLab, an arm of the automaker that will provide mobility services in Los Angeles. First up will be a pilot carshare service, Mocean Carshare, followed by autonomous ridesharing, shuttling, multimodal transportation and personal mobility.

Hyundai felt the opportunities posed by LA’s large and diverse population, challenges with traffic congestion and demonstrated commitments to transportation innovation and sustainability, made it the ideal city for MoceanLab. The venture plans to explore and integrate new mobility innovations–such as micromobility and multimodal transportation, serving both residents and tourists.

Mocean Carshare, the pilot program, will be a part of the City of Los Angeles’ carsharing permit pilot program offered by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro). The program will utilize up to 20 Hyundai Ioniq plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for the pilot program, set to start at the end of 2019. The goal is to transition the fleet to fully electric vehicles with a gradual expansion of a combined 300 vehicles from Hyundai and its sister company, Kia.

MoceanLab will further expand beyond the initial carsharing pilot program. In anticipation of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, MoceanLab aims to alleviate traffic and increase convenience, connecting customers to mass transit options to reduce traffic congestion around the city. This will include services offering autonomous ridesharing, shuttling, multimodal transportation, and personal mobility.

Vulog Platform Underlies Program

Vulog, which claims to be the world’s leading platform for mobility services, will provide its new AiMA platform to underpin the MoceanLab program. Included in the platform are advanced fleet management tools, consumer-facing mobile applications and in-vehicle connected technology.

Currently Vulog supplies the technology behind mobility solutions from Volkswagen (WeShare), Kia (Wible Motors), PSA (Free2Move), Sumitomo (Aimo) and the British Columbia Automobile Association (Evo). It currently has more than 30 active projects on five continents. The company forecast that it will launch the AiMA platform in 20 to 30 new markets during 2020.  

One of Vulog’s largest projects is WeShare’s carsharing fleet based in Berlin that includes 1,500 E-Golfs, which will be replaced by the company’s new I.D. electric models next year. VW also plans to expand the service through Germany, Europe and into North America in the future.