The technology following Hyundai’s latest car-sharing service in Los Angeles is produced by a company that is widely unknown despite its ubiquity.
Vulog announced on Tuesday while Automobility LA that Hyundai will apply its technology platform for a car-sharing pilot that will start in Los Angeles at the end of 2019 and will ultimately grow to 300 vehicles.
The Story of Vulog
Vulog might have a weak profile, but it is hardly a startup.
The French-based company has been producing the underlying hardware and software required for car-sharing services since 2006.
Vulog’s product, which involves tools like fleet control and a consumer-facing app, is practiced in car-sharing services in more than 30 cities globally.
The company states that its turnkey product can make a large-scale car-sharing service up and working in around three months.
Today, its program is used by Volkswagen’s WeShare, Kia Motor’s Wible, and Groupe PSA’ Free2Move car-sharing service.
Aimo, which is managed by Sumitomo Corporation, and a British Columbia Automobile Association company named Evo, too, uses the platform. And presently, Hyundai.
The Role of MoceanLab
Beginning of this month, Hyundai Group started MoceanLab, a mobility service trial based in Los Angeles.
It is the latest attempt by the automaker to expand and renew its core business of creating and selling vehicles.
MoceanLab will concentrate on piloting autonomous ridesharing, shuttling, multimodal transport, and individual mobility in Los Angeles.
One of the works under MoceanLab is Mocean Carshare, the car-sharing service that will apply Vulog’s technology platform.
The service is a portion of a permit pilot program given by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation along with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The car-sharing service will utilize 20 Hyundai Ioniq plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Mocean Carshare will ultimately transit to a fleet of 300 entirely electric vehicles from Hyundai and Kia Motors.
MoceanLab, the umbrella mobility services venture, will do more extra than car-sharing.
The Hyundai-owned business is eyeing the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles as an occasion to offer a variety of services to ease crowding, including autonomous ridesharing and shuttling.
The production of MoceanLab follows Hyundai’s joint venture with an autonomous driving organization Aptiv and marks the start of BotRide, an autonomous ride-hailing service in nearby Irvine, California, with Chinese autonomous startup Pony.ai and Via.
Meantime, Vulog has its purposes.
The company intends to increase its footprint in the next year to reach 60 cities by the end of 2020.
SEE ALSO: Instagram to examine hiding “Like counts” in the US, which could bother influencers
For more information and the latest tech news, keep reading iTMunch.
