Audi pilots corporate car-sharing fleet in latest mobility push

Audi pilots corporate car-sharing fleet in latest mobility push

Audi of America is expanding its mobility services with a national corporate car-sharing fleet service it plans to roll out next year, the company said today.

Called Audi Shared Fleet, the service is being piloted now with three Audi A4 sedans shared by tenants of American Underground, a technology incubator in Durham, N.C., Audi said. Users are able to book a vehicle and unlock it using a smartphone app.

An Audi spokesman wasn’t immediately able to provide details on the nationwide launch, such as the markets Audi plans to cover or the number of vehicles involved.

Depending on its scale, the nationwide rollout of the program could become Audi’s largest move yet into nontraditional business models in the U.S.

Last year, the company launched Audi on Demand, a smartphone-based daily rental service in San Francisco. It also launched Audi at Home, in which Audis are placed at high-end condominiums in Miami and San Francisco for residents to drive as a perk.

For now, the tenants of American Underground are an “ideal user group which helps us shape the service and perfect a unique user experience,” Thiemo Rusch, Audi of America’s senior director of vehicle sales and operation, said in a statement. “Piloting the service here gives us the necessary affirmation as we launch this new service nationally next year.”