ZF inks strategic cooperation pact with FlixBus

ZF Friedrichshafen AG and FlixMobility GmbH are to start working together with immediate effect. In addition to the travel apps it already offers, users of ZF’s mobility platform uflip will now be able to access the bus services offered by Germany’s leading long-distance mobility provider.

The mobility platform developed by the ZF Innovation Lab is now one of only two mobility platforms that the FlixBus travel company offers Europe-wide.

After integrating the world’s largest carpooling community BlaBlaCar this past May, uflip will soon also offer travel services from FlixMobility GmbH along with its own.

“We are now able to offer our customers a mobility platform with a broad and diversified range of products and services – based entirely on the proven plug-and-play principle,” says Malgorzata Wiklinska, head of the ZF Innovation Lab which handles all issues regarding the mobility of the future. The ZF Innovation Lab’s mission is to tap into new markets and to forge and develop business models that support this process.

For ZF, this strategic cooperation with FlixBus not only expands its service portfolio, it also takes into account the changing mobility behavior of users and, as a result, reaches new target groups.

The Travel Assistant app also integrated into the uflip mobility platform displays interesting stops en route, including restaurants, rest areas, service stations as well as authorised repair shops in the ZF Parts & Service network ‘[pro]Tech plus’. This one application makes it easy for users to do all their travel planning. For example, drivers can schedule a vehicle service check before hitting the road. On the other hand, if the car breaks down during the trip, the Travel Assistant will help the driver locate the nearest repair shop quickly and conveniently.

By integrating the carpooling service BlaBlaCar, the number of uflip downloads has already risen by 40 percent. “We expect there to be a similarly positive response when other new services are added. In any case, our community expressly requested these enhancements,” concludes Wiklinska.