Clever mobility app to become FREE NOW, be part of international group launched by Daimler and BMW

Clever, one of the biggest ride hailing apps in Romania, will become FREE NOW over the next few months, and will be part of the international group NOW launched by Daimler and BMW in February 2019. Clever’s transformation into FREE NOW will allow Romanian passengers to use a single app to find either a taxi or an alternative transport solution in Romania and over 100 cities in 9 European countries: Germany, UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Austria and Sweden, according to a statement by the company.

The company also says that the first stage of launching FREE NOW in Romania will begin with the enrollment of existing Clever drivers in Bucharest in the new app, followed by a similar migration in other Romanian cities where Clever operates.

Drivers will be able to increase their income through the multimodal service platform that connects them both with Romanian passengers and with foreign passengers coming to Romania for tourism or business purposes.

The FREE NOW app will be available soon on app stores for passengers as well. Thereafter, the Clever application will continue to be operational for a period of time, after which it will be completely replaced by the new FREE NOW application.

“Clever becomes part of Europe’s leading mobility solutions group, a change that will bring major benefits to all our passengers and drivers. The first strategic step towards transforming the application into a multimodal platform was made in January this year, by launching the alternative transport service CleverGO. Migration to FREE NOW is an important chapter in our quest to provide a full range of mobility services in one app. With FREE NOW, Romanian passengers will be able to use the same e-hailling app anywhere in Europe. In 2019 alone, Clever transported over one million passengers in Romania, as the most downloaded app in the industry at the national level,” said Andrei Frunza, the CEO of Clever / FREE NOW Romania.

FREE NOW is part of the NOW group resulting from the merger of BMW and Daimler’s urban mobility services. The group’s other business verticals are SHARE NOW – a car rental service directly from the street, allowing customers to rent and pay for vehicles using their smartphone, anywhere and anytime, PARK NOW – parking service allowing users to find the best parking solutions, reserve a place and manage parking time, including the possibility to pay electronically for the parking space, CHARGE NOW – service for electric car drivers that provides easy location and fast charging points and payment by application, and REACH NOW – a multimodal application for transport services.

“In the medium term, we will continue to invest in the development of transport solutions, whether we refer to the taxi area, which will always be an important component of our activity, or to alternative transport, which was recently regulated in Romania. Our mission is to provide passengers with accessible and modern mobility services, and drivers with a consistent source of income,” adds Andrei Frunza.

“We are delighted by Clever’s transformation into FREE NOW,” said Eckart Diepenhorst, CEO of FREE NOW Europe. “It is an important step in our strategy of expanding the international portfolio of solutions dedicated to the 14 million existing passengers at the European level. They will be able to use their FREE NOW application in Romania as well, which means there is a potential for increasing demand for Romanian drivers. For us, FREE NOW means freedom. Freedom of movement for both passengers and drivers, without worries and daily stress. We want our passengers to enjoy their journey and get from point A to point B in our care. We also want drivers who use our app to be sure that they will have enough orders and revenue to match,” added Diepenhorst.