Free Now application receives permanent technical approval as operator of digital alternative transport platform

Free Now, part of the largest European mobility platform owned by Daimler and BMW, has received permanent technical approval as an operator of the digital alternative transport platform from the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Communications (MTIC) , according to a press statement released by this company, sent to AGERPRES on Friday.

"The newest taxi and ridesharing application in Romania, launched at the end of last year, has completed in a very short time all the necessary steps to comply with the new ridesharing legislation introduced in Romania by GEO no. 49/2019 on transport activities. Clever, part of the same group, has already obtained the technical approval, being the first platform with definitive license under the new legislation (...) The Clever and Free Now platforms currently have over 30,000 registered drivers in the whole country, both for taxi services and for alternative transport services, which achieved over 30 million races in 2019 alone," the same source said.

The company data show that, at present, over 60 per cent of the active drivers of alternative transport on the Clever and Free Now platforms are authorized according to the law and will be able to take orders after 1 February.

Free Now was founded under the name of mytaxi, in June 2009, and was the first taxi application in the world to establish a direct link between passengers and taxi drivers. In July 2019, the mytaxi application became Free Now, and as of February 2019, the company is part of the joint venture between BMW and Daimler.

Clever was established in 2010 and is the first e-hailling application in Romania that allows the payment of both cash and direct application fees, by bank card. With over 1.5 million passengers and over 30,000 registered drivers, Clever has over 70 employees and is present in 20 cities across the country. In June 2017, Clever joined the Free Now group, a company resulting from the joint venture between Daimler and BMW