A German car sharing pilot is using its customers and local businesses to handle some of the work normally carried out by operators.
YouTaxi, launched by software company Tobit Laboratories in Ahaus in the Münsterland region, has been offering electric cars through the city’s SuperApp since April. Users can earn credits by charging, cleaning, relocating and delivering vehicles to other customers.
The service operates without dedicated operations staff. Its digital platform handles bookings, task allocation and billing, with mobility tech platform Invers providing the vehicle access and fleet management technology.
Bharath Devanathan, Chief Business Operator at Invers, said the approach could help combat the higher operating costs associated with running shared fleets in rural areas.
“YouTaxi is addressing the challenge for rural areas by combining a marketing centered financing approach with operations supported by its users,” Devanathan told Zag Daily.
The service launched in April with 22 electric vehicles available through Ahaus’s SuperApp. Local businesses have since helped fund another 10 vehicles by paying to use them as mobile advertising space, bringing the total fleet to 32.
Businesses receive a share of the revenue generated by the cars, while users receive community credits for completing operational tasks.
The model is now being extended into neighbouring Vreden, Stadtlohn and Legden. YouTaxi says bookings have increased each month since the service launched with around 64% of users aged under 35.
Invers supplies its CloudBoxx vehicle access system and Driving Analysis platform to the service. The latter is used to monitor driving behaviour, reward good driving and flag suspicious activity.
Devanathan said similar approaches already exist in smaller car clubs, cooperatives and neighbourhood car sharing schemes in countries including the Netherlands, Germany and Canada, where users take responsibility for some fleet operations.
He said the model could be replicated in other rural markets but its success would depend on the communities involved.
“In rural areas, people experience specific mobility needs while at the same time living in smaller communities where community projects are sometimes easier to realise,” he said.
YouTaxi is also intended to give municipalities a way to provide shared mobility without having to operate their own fleet or employ staff to manage it. The project says local authorities can combine funding programmes with the community and advertising model to support its launch.
The pilot comes as European car sharing fleets continue to expand. Invers reported an 8% increase in the continent’s car sharing fleet between 2024 and 2025, taking the total above 129,000 vehicles across station-based and free-floating services.
