Interview: Mobility-as-a-Feature

Mobility-as-a-Feature (MaaF) wants to create a marketplace with added value with offerings beyond the typical mobility services, which should also appeal to new user groups. Does this trend have the potential to be a game changer in connected mobility? We talked about this with Eva Graßl, Manager Product Communication at banbutsu, and Nicolai Harnisch, Head of Networked Mobility at Bayern Innovativ.

Nicolai, what exactly is Mobility-as-a-Feature (MaaF)?

Nicolai : To explain this, you perhaps need to take a step back to the concept of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). This is the integration of a wide variety of mobility services and offerings on one platform. The idea behind this is that I, as a user, do not have to fight my way through a jungle of apps from the various mobility service companies and transport associations, but instead need a single access point to book and pay for the means of transport I need for my journey - depending on my needs. Well-known examples of mobility-as-a-service platforms are, for example, Free Now or the MVGO app of the Munich transport company MVG.

Mobility-as-a-service is thus an important factor in establishing and scaling shared mobility, as it enormously facilitates access and increases user-friendliness.

Where are the greatest challenges at present and how can they be overcome?

Nicolai : Shared mobility offerings generally have a difficult time, as they operate in a very competitive market for low margins. At the same time, many circumstances, e.g., data privacy concerns, make it difficult to deeply integrate shared mobility services in terms of MaaS. Consequently, both shared mobility and mobility-as-a-service are located in the "Trough of disillusionment" in the Gartner Hype Cycle.

This is where MaaF comes in: In order to address new user groups, functions and cooperations are increasingly being established, the so-called "Mobility-as-a-Feature (MaaF). In simple terms, MaaF describes the provision of mobility services on platforms that per se do not have to be mobility-related, or are the further development of mobility platforms into providers of a wide variety of - even non-mobility-related - services. An example of this would be UBER, which started as a ride-hailing service and later launched a food delivery service with UberEats. In doing so, UBER was able to intelligently combine a number of synergies into a new business model: an established brand and platform with a large customer base, as well as drivers who can also be dispatched for food deliveries if required, thus reducing the so-called 'idle times' of vehicles.

Eva, How do you approach the topic of MaaF at banbutsu?

Eva : As Nicolai has already aptly put it, 'MaaF' is basically about offering mobility services from a wide range of providers as 'features', i.e. as independent elements. These can then be combined like building blocks with other platforms or applications to create new business models and service offerings. However, the approach not only exists in the context of mobility, but is already widespread and established in areas such as e-commerce, entertainment, payment, and logistics. And this is exactly where we come in with banbutsu. We use our platform to combine and orchestrate existing features, for example from mobility and e-commerce. This quickly turns standalone, isolated services (so-called verticals) into relevant and individual experiences that relate to current user needs.

In conventional "mobility-as-a-service" offerings, mobility is the primary service to transport users from one place to another. In contrast, mobility as a feature enables the focus to be placed on the actual travel intention, such as a weekend getaway with the family.

Through 'MaaF', new potentials are thus created that make it easier for mobility providers to integrate into existing travel platforms. On the other hand, mobility providers can further expand their own offering through features of other providers, for example, to be perceived as an entry point for travel inspiration and planning.

We position ourselves as a platform provider at the center of the 'feature landscape' to support our customers quickly and efficiently in this transformation and generate clear advantages in terms of competitive differentiation.

How did you go about establishing "Mobility-as-a-Feature"?

Eva : We looked at the intentions for mobility and what people want to experience when they are mobile. That was our starting point. For example, city dwellers often use their own cars only for day trips or weekend excursions in the surrounding countryside; in the city, the vehicle is usually not in use at all. MaaS offers such as car sharing are then often an obstacle because they have to be booked separately in addition to leisure offers and cannot be integrated into the excursion as easily as the own vehicle. Therefore, after founding our company, we picked out the areas of car sharing and tourism and designed an experience offer by using "Mobility-as-a-Feature".

In a pilot project, we then bundled the car sharing service SHARE NOW and providers of various leisure activities in tourism regions on our platform. The result is not a trip with a rental car, but a whole experience trip that is started with the motivation "I want to experience something with the car" and orchestrated around the vehicle. In the process, the offers are linked and suggested so intelligently and seamlessly that they are not an obstacle, but an absolute added value for the customer.

Let me give you an example to make it more tangible: With SHARE NOW, customers can book a vehicle, e.g. an E-Fiat 500, for the weekend in the Austrian Zillertal. Subsequently, the banbutsu platform links the vehicle rental with a bike rental on site. General booking parameters such as number of people, rental duration and bike preference are directly matched with availability and only providers with available offers are suggested. When you arrive at the bike rental, you will already find a reserved charging parking space and the e-mountain bikes are ready to be rented. A bike route, adapted to the needs and preferences of the riders, starts directly at the bike store. Users only have to indicate which activity they are in the mood for. They don't have to worry about transporting bikes as they would with their own car, nor do they have to assemble the activities themselves and research availabilities and processes. By handling the process via a platform, the individual components can be interlinked in such a way that the booking and implementation process is as simple and straightforward as possible, making it a seamless experience for customers.

What is the greatest advantage of MaaF for users as well as for society (e.g., in terms of sustainability)?

Eva : Platform solutions that integrate mobility as a feature and ultimately create entire experiences can make the best possible use of existing synergies. Especially in the area of mobility, there are already many good offerings and specialists, so we don't need to reinvent the wheel. If we enable existing mobility providers to serve demand better and in a more targeted way, there is no need to build up resources for another mobility service provider and further burden the infrastructure. On the contrary, the efficient bundling of offers, as well as a mobility service tailored to the destination and trip purpose of the individual user, creates better utilization of alternative, sustainable mobility solutions.

In addition, offers are made available to users when and where they are relevant. Intelligent systems help to update availabilities in real time, and to coordinate partners and their offers in such a way that a smooth process is ensured for customers - from booking to realization of the experience.

Bundling mobility and non-mobility related offers on independent so-called 'white label' platforms like banbutsu, also gives companies the opportunity to preserve their DNA and highlight their own brand identity. This strengthens the relationship with users and makes companies less dependent on mobility aggregators, for whom only price pressure rather than the customer experience is relevant.

What factors must be in place for MaaF to succeed?

Eva : First of all, all offers, mobility services as well as non-mobility services, must be bundled together on one platform and made available. The platform must be designed to be flexible enough to create packages of all kinds of offers. On the other hand, offerings must be standardized to a certain degree so that the platform can be operated in a stable and robust manner. This is a major but exciting technical challenge.

In addition, there must be relevance for the clientele. Only if the non-mobility-related services correspond to the intentions of the clientele and are precisely linked to mobility offerings will alternative forms of mobility be better able to establish themselves. Or in other words: We need to find out why users make a journey and align the offer based on that.

What does this look like in practice?

Eva : banbutsu has developed its own AI (artificial intelligence), which, unlike generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, is based on concrete expert knowledge, sensor data and facts. The big advantages are on the one hand the control over the recommendation itself and on the other hand the scaling.

Our AI is first fed with expert knowledge, in the concrete case this is all information about mobility services and transport-independent offers. By this I mean really detailed information, e.g. how much load volume a certain passenger car has or information from the mountain guide on walkability of routes. Then, depending on the user context, the system brings together all the information for a particular use case, e.g. user preferences, how many participants are planned, how many of them are children, what the weather conditions are like on site, etc.

Furthermore, depending on the use case, we can then combine our AI's recommendations with custom platform modules such as payment, logistics and notifications to map a seamless travel experience. We then end up with a dynamic platform that puts the customer's interest at the center and uses MaaF to provide mobility as easily as possible in every relevant situation.

How do you see the future of MaaF, or what role does MaaF play in the mobility of the future?

Nicolai : I can well imagine that MaaF can contribute to establishing shared mobility in the mobility routines of users if they can be provided with suitable mobility offers for their everyday errands or leisure activities. Nowadays, many people make doctor's appointments via platforms such as doctolib - here it would make sense if a suitable mobility offer were provided directly. I could imagine something similar for services like Urban Sports Club. Both platforms would benefit here: Leisure offers are made accessible and the customer base for mobility providers is expanded.

On the other hand, Mobility-as-a-Feature can support people who don't have their own car, for example, especially for everyday errands. Car-sharing is already cooperating with DIY stores, for example, so that users could pause their rental while shopping. This makes it easier to integrate car sharing into everyday life and reduces car dependency.

Eva : The examples you described are definitely conceivable. Mobility services can then not only serve as a pure means of transportation to get users from A to B, but can be even better integrated into individual situations. For example, if I drive to sports with a carsharing vehicle and park the car there during a course, a delivery service can put my weekly groceries in the vehicle in the meantime. As long as the individual components can be linked together, the possibilities are endless...