FREE NOW: FREE NOW is the first mobility platform to integrate state weather data for individual recommendations

(City: Hamburg): FREE NOW, Europe’s leading multi mobility platform, is cooperating with the Mobility Data Space to implement real time third party weather data into its app. By sharing data with external providers, FREE NOW will enable automated smart mobility recommendations in combination with the local weather forecast within the app.

The first pilot is now starting with Germany's National Meteorological Service, but will also be available in other countries in the future. The overall goal is to provide users with a recommendation of a weather matching mobility option in order to improve their experience with FREE NOW. After all, eScooters and eMopeds, for example, are more suited to sunny weather and taxis and PHVs are more suited to rainy weather. Based on the weather data, FREE NOW can provide its users with very specific recommendations for action for the journey from A to B.

This use case is a pilot for FREE NOW but also the first live trial for the Mobility Data Space. The following procedure will be tested in Germany from June onwards and will be rolled out to other countries within later this year.

• FREE NOW receives data about the current weather conditions at the user’s locations, which will automatically be implemented into the app
• If the forecast predicts rain and the user opens the scooter tab, the app will automatically send an in-app-message saying that the current weather predictions are not ideal for a scooter ride. The app will then suggest booking a taxi or car sharing vehicle.
• If, on the other hand, the sun is shining, we want to encourage the user to switch to an environmentally friendly micro mobility vehicle in case the user is about to book a taxi.

For FREE NOW this is only the first step when it comes to implementing smart data sharing use cases for customers. The tool has the potential to contain even more smart data, such as current traffic alerts, event tips or information on the destination.

 

Dr. Tim Wiegels, Vice President of Data at FREE NOW, said: “The ultimate goal is to provide each user with a tailored mobility offer. If, for example, there is an 8 kilometre traffic jam, it is probably not advisable to use a car sharing vehicle. Then it might make sense to alert the user to the nearest subway or the e-scooter around the corner. If a user is going to the airport, the app might suggest a mobility option that allows luggage, such as a taxi or a carsharing vehicle.”

Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure Andreas Scheuer commented on the launch: "In our Mobility Data Space, public authorities, the automotive industry, transport companies, research institutions or start-ups can feed in their data like in a digital department store and determine in what form and under what circumstances it may be used. The data is exchanged directly between the players without a central cloud infrastructure, which means we have created a real alternative to the principle of large platform corporations that store their users' data on their servers. With this in mind, I welcome FREE NOW as our first customer and look forward to many more exciting collaborations."

Renate Hagedorn, Member of the Executive Board and Head of the Weather Forecasting Division of the German Meteorological Service, added: "Mobility has grown enormously in our society over the past decades. This has also increased the dependence of the various modes of transport on the weather. Reliable weather forecasts that include the entire spectrum of possible future scenarios are therefore crucial for efficient and thus also climate-friendly mobility in Germany - whether by rail, car, bicycle or even on foot. I am therefore delighted that the German Meteorological Service's cooperation with Free Now opens up opportunities to expand networked mobility and make our choice of transport more environmentally friendly."

For now, FREE NOW is working with Mobility Data Space in Germany and wants to extend the partnership with other partners in all European countries in the near future.

Mobility Data Space is a government-operated institution designed to make it easier for different parties in the mobility sector to exchange data with each other by acting as a neutral intermediary and enabling data to be shared on a contract basis and in a way that is appropriate for the respective use case.

About FREE NOW

FREE NOW is Europe’s leading multi-mobility platform backed by BMW Group and Daimler AG. Next to ride hailing, FREE NOW also offers micro-mobility services such as eScooters, eBikes, eMopeds as well as car sharing. It consists of the services FREE NOW (10 European markets) and Βeat (5 Latin American and 1 European market). Summed up, those services currently attract 50 million users in 16 markets and more than 150 cities. FREE NOW is therefore the biggest multi-service mobility provider in Europe and the fastest-growing ride-hailer in Latin America. FREE NOW works with various third party providers to offer their customers an even wider range of options to get from A to B. In total, around 1,900 employees in around 35 offices work for the services of FREE NOW, which is led by CEO Marc Berg.

Further information is available at free-now.com