Bolt, the Estonian ride-hailing and micromobility company has added a new car-sharing service to its basket of offerings in the mobility segment, dubbed Bolt Drive. The new service has been rolled out in a bid to become an all-encompassing mobility app.
Bolt Drive car-sharing service
The new Bolt Drive car-sharing service will allow customers to rent a car for short periods via their Bolt app. With this, the company has become the first mobility platform in Europe to offer car-sharing, ride-hailing, and micromobility with scooters and electric bikes, all in one app.
How does it work?
Bolt Drive is a free-floating car-sharing service. It will let customers see the nearest vehicles via GPS and book the car via the app. A ride can be started by just unlocking a car with a mobile phone and dropping it off anywhere within the city, as indicated in the app. Interestingly, there is no need to pay for parking or fuel.
Markus Villig, CEO at Bolt, said: “Personal cars are the primary cause of problems in urban transport. They are responsible for traffic, environmental emissions and taking up city space. Bolt’s mission is to help people give up their personal cars by providing a better alternative. Bolt Drive now covers the rest of the use cases, whether it’s a trip to a shopping mall or a weekend getaway. Our customers will have access to a car at any time, from the same app they already use for scooters, e-bikes and ride-hailing”.
European launch this year
Bolt intends to invest €20 million (nearly £17 million) to launch Bolt Drive in Europe this year. Initially, it will be started as a pilot in Estonia. Bolt will provide around 500 cars for Bolt Drive for the pilot in Tallinn. Further, more cities are in the pipeline for expanding the service. Mostly, it will expand in Europe; when UKTN asked if the new service will be made available in the UK soon, Bolt said, “We are starting with a pilot in our home market, Estonia, with plans to expand to other European countries. However, we are not ready to disclose future plans at the moment.” Watch this space for the next update.
The post Uber rival Bolt enters car-sharing, launches Bolt Drive appeared first on UKTN (UK Tech News).
