ZF is the first major automotive components supplier to join the MaaS Alliance, a special interest group working to facilitate integrated multimodal public and private transportation using mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) concepts throughout Europe and beyond.
The primary objective of the MaaS Alliance is to bring about a paradigm shift in urban mobility, promote networked mobility concepts, and create uniform standards for technologies and legislation. With traffic jams, lack of parking, and air pollution widespread in urban environments, better mobility concepts are needed to avert the threat of complete gridlock in many city centres. There is great potential for new providers in the MaaS segment, which focuses on linking public transport and services such as taxis and ride-sharing and bike-sharing providers to form a seamless network. The backbone for this is formed by automated and zero-emission cargo and people movers, as well as autonomous taxis that are expected to take passengers to their desired destination on demand in the future.
In order to accelerate the development and dissemination of such systems even further, the German automotive parts manufacture has joined the MaaS Alliance. As the industry’s only vehicle systems supplier, the ZF Group offers all the components needed for autonomous people movers from a single source. In addition to sensors, mainframe computers, software and functions, electric drives, and actuators such as steering systems and brakes, the Group’s comprehensive technology portfolio also includes safety products.
At the same time, ZF is continuously developing its integrated systems for networked and automated applications. As recently as spring of this year, ZF further strengthened its position in the growth markets for MaaS solutions by acquiring a majority stake in Netherlands-based automated mobility provider 2getthere. For more than 20 years, 2getthere has been offering autonomous shuttles for a variety of applications, with the application spectrum of the fully automated electric transport systems ranging from airports, industrial parks, and theme parks to urban transport infrastructures.
“By joining the Alliance, we are establishing important contacts both with other mobility service providers and with the public sector, making it possible to bring together our different perspectives and expertise and pull together in the same direction,” explained Klaus Kimmelmann, ZF’s head of corporate strategy. “Together with our partners in the MaaS Alliance, we want to better identify and find sustainable solutions for the challenges posed by these new mobility concepts.”
