In 2019, it's pretty commonplace to get around by booking an Uber or making plans with friends to carpool somewhere. These methods work fine, but hopping back and forth between apps to find the best deal or trying to coordinate schedules with people via group texts can prove to be a hassle. At CES 2019, HERE Mobility announced a new app called SoMo that it thinks is the perfect solution to all this.
SoMo serves two main purposes — helping people compare prices of rides in their area without having to jump back and forth between apps and providing a platform that makes it easier than ever to schedule a carpool meetup.
A big focus with all of this is something HERE calls "Gatherings." Gatherings are events that users can create in the SoMo app and can be used for carpooling to work, a weekend party, etc. If you want to attend a gathering, you can choose to get there by driving yourself, booking a taxi through SoMo's app, or sharing a ride with friends. If you're the one driving everyone around, you can use the SoMo app to send invites to people, let them know when you'll be picking them up, and see who's agreed to ride with you.
HERE designed SoMo to be more social than its competitors, putting a big focus on sharing rides with people you already know and creating a social media-like feed on the Gathering pages.
SoMo has already signed on 1.4 million vehicles for its Mobility Marketplace (rides you can book on-demand) and supports over 350 cities around the world. As of January 7, SoMo's adding operations in Amsterdam, Athens, Almere Stad, Barcelona, Brussels, Haarlem, The Hague, Helsinki, London, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Nice, Piraeus, Thessaloniki with planned expansions in 5 to 10 new cities each month through all of 2019.
