Ride-Hailing & Taxi, Buses & DRT 🚙🚐
Rapido, Indian bike-taxi, raises $120M and becomes a unicron. The company, which has Swiggy as a main investor (15%) and as a partner for delivery work, runs 1.65 million rides a day, competing with the likes of Ola (1.3 million) and Uber (1.93 million) in the ride-hailing market. Funds will be used to increase market share in India.
Uber and BYD partner to offer 100,000 new EV to drivers. BYD will offer Uber’s drivers, initially in Europe and Latin America, discounts on vehicle maintenance, charging, financing and leasing.
INSHUR, an insurance company for private hire, courier and food delivery drivers, published a report on the US on-demand industry. Interesting takeaways:
Most of drivers are under the age of 45
There is an even gender split - 49% are women - but women are more likely to work in delivery roles than ride-hailing
30% of drivers drive for more than 100 hours per month
Biggest problems: rude customers, followed by poor pay and difficult assignments
25% of drivers would like ride-hailing apps to help with insurance
Uber India is rolling out “concurrent rides”, a feature that allows users to book up to three trips for any of their contacts. The feature allows people without a smartphone access to Uber services, and accepts cash payments directly to drivers. Uber Poland to introduce special kiosks, targeting people without smartphones, such as senior citizens. These kiosks, which have been tested in the Czech Republic, will be deployed in airports, train stations, and hospitals. Uber Spain launches train ticketing, in partnership with Omio.
HQ, corporate ground transport platform, partners with Berlin-based Talixo. Talixo’s global inventory covers 1,100 cities in 130 countries. Careem Pakistan launches “Flexi Rides” in Karachi. Flexi is Careem's bidding solution. In Ireland, FREENOW partners with Waterford Taxis. Morocco is cracking down on taxis refusing rides - new regulation will impose hefty fines and could lead to seizure of vehicles.
Via expands DRT operation with Nottinghamshire County Council. This led Roger French to write a piece on it, with the most supporting words he ever wrote on DRT services: “jury is definitely still out as to whether DRT is a cost effective alternative to fixed timetables”. At least he didn’t rule it out.
In Essex & Suffolk, Arrow Taxis announced ceased operations of the local DRT scheme, with immediate effect, due to falling passenger numbers and spiralling costs. Some routes have been picked up by other companies, the council is “working urgently to identify the best approach for the services previously run by the company”.
Wiltshire DRT ioki-powered scheme marks 55,000 passenger rides during its first year. The scheme has 4,500 registered users. The service runs 6 days a week, so let’s assume 300 service days a year - that brings us to a simple average of 183 rides a day on the five routes the council operates. A month ago it was reported that the council saw a 30% increase in riders along the routes.
To all the mobility developers out there - a study on “Human-Machine collaborative decision-making approach to scheduling customized buses with flexible departure times”. For the full paper.
Car Sharing/renting 🚗
GetGo, Singapore’s largest carsharing platform, and Charge+, Singapore’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging operator, partner to enhance EV accessibility for Singapore’s condominium residents.
Socar signs an MOU with Seoul to promote the municipal bike-sharing scheme.
Micromobility 🚲🛴
Shared-bike schemes in North America are getting more expensive. Ridership numbers are above pre-pandemic levels, with 2023 US & Canadian annual rides reaching 157 million. When in July, City Bike, a NYC scheme run by Lyft, increased price by 20%, Lyft contributed the price increase to “higher-than-anticipated battery swapping, insurance and vehicle expenses”, together with theft and vandalism. Some schemes, such as in Houston and Cincinnati, struggle to receive enough government funding and are in danger or are closing down.
Lime is testing new e-bikes to encourage women and older riders. The company data shows that 70% of users are men and the average age is 33 (this is supported by other studies conducted from time to time, and probably because scooters are dangerous vehicles), so this move looks to expand the user base and win points in municipal tenders. The LimeBike and the LimeGlider are being rolled out in Atlanta, Seattle and Zurich. They are smaller, lighter, easier to get on/off, have big front baskets fit for groceries and other attributes to make them appealing to the non young-male.
Also Lime partners with CycleSaver offering a cycle-to-work scheme, allowing UK employees discounted minutes on electric bikes to use for commuting.
Maytan acquires Cogo, shared mobility aggregator. Maytna plans to “expand upon Cogo’s current offerings to enable small operators with a few scooters or e-bikes to get started with their shared mobility project at a low cost”.
Delivery 🍽🧺
DoorDash hires Parisa Sadrzadeh, an ex-Flexport and ex-Amazon as VP Strategy & Op, indicating an increased (industry-wide) focus on retail (non-restaurant) activities.
Orders increased 19% to 635 million (comparing to Q2 YoY %, unless mentioned otherwise)
Gross Order Volume (GOV) increased 20% to $19.7 billion
Revenue increased 23% to 2.63 billion
Gross profit increased to 13.3% from 13.1% in Q1/24
Net loss $158M, down from $172M
Adjusted EBITDA 430%, 2.2% as a % of Marketplace GOV
In Seattle, DoorDash is adding a $1.99 fee on certain long distance orders. According to DoorDash: “Seattle’s misguided app-based minimum pay ordinance, the law that led to a drastic reduction in orders from Seattle merchants and therefore Dasher earnings… DoorDash continues to lose money in the market due to the minimum pay ordinance”.
JET published its H1/24 financial results. Highlights:
Europe and RoW saw increase in GMV, with North America (Grubhub, -9% continuing downward trend
As a result, revenue is stagnant, €2,570 million compared to H1/23 with €2,588
Half year adjusted EBITDA of €203M; an increase of over 40% YoY and above analysts expectations
Free cash flow (before changes in working capital) of €38M
The company announced a €150M stock buyback program.
Delivery Hero is ready to consolidate its European and Asian businesses - Foodora, Yemeksepeti and Foodpanda. The three businesses operate on Delivery Hero’s Pandora platform technology, and the merger is not anticipated to impact the brands’ vendors, customers or partners. Tareq Barto, Talabat’s COO, will oversee the consolidation.
Yogiyo continues the South Korean delivery price wars. The company reduced its commission fee to 9.7% (from 12.5%), with Coupang and Baemin now both at 9.8%. The company signals to high-volume restaurants that fees might fall as low as 4.7%.
Zomato’s shares rose by 19% after a strong Q2 report. The company reported a profit of $30.2M, well above expectations, with Blinkit (q-delivery operations) leading growth. GOV increased 53% YoY, revenue 74%, EBITDA margin was 4.2%
Zomato launches District, a new app brand for the ‘going out’ segment - focusing on services such as movies, shopping, and staycations. This adds to the current food business.
JET and Morrison expand partnership to include supermarket groceries. Deliveroo partners with B&Q. On Ola’s attempt to enter the food delivery market via the ONDC. Grubhub's new features include (1) homepage personalization, (2) wallet, (3) checkout recommendations, (4) priority (faster) delivery and more. DoorDash introduces new products to drive off-peak demand - such as lunch specials and happy hour.
Autonomous & remote-driving 🤖℡
WeRide files for IPO in US, the largest Chinese-company IPO since DiDi. WeRide, valued at $5.1 billion in 2022, operates L2 to L4 schemes in 30 cities across seven countries. Why list in the US?
In the SEC filings the company mentions it could face “various legal and operational risks and uncertainties tied to the People’s Republic of China… for example, we face risks associated with the fact that the PRC government has significant authority in regulating our operations and may influence or intervene in our operations at any time, regulatory approvals on offerings conducted overseas by, and foreign investment in, China-based issuers, anti-monopoly regulatory actions and oversight on data security,” the SEC filing said.
Public perception of Autonomous Vehicles - by The Verge. A survey of 2,000 US adults reveals that there are still many knowledge gaps, and when represented with facts, people are willing to change their perspectives. For example, while 73% think that “AVs aren't ready to be deployed on the road without a driver present”, only 18% know that Waymo autonomous ride-hailing serves tens of thousands of riders on a weekly basis. For more.
Aurora raises $483M in share sale ahead of commercial launch. Funds allow the company “runway well into 2026, putting us on the path to deploy driverless trucks at scale and become a cash flow positive company, which we expect in 2028”.
Pronto, a start up by Anthony Levandowski, develops self-driving systems designed for haulage trucks and other off-road vehicles. Pronto recently partnered with Heidelberg Materials, one of the largest build materials and cement producers in the world, to integrate Pronto’s technology into haulage trucks
Mobileye publishes Q2/24 report - and warns of sluggish demand. The company lowered EyeQ chips shipment expectations from 31-33 million units to 28-29 million units and shipments of the SuperVision system to 110-130K units from 175-195K expected previously. Revenue expectations lowered from $1.83-1.96 billion to $1.6-1.68 billion. Stock fell. For the report.
Nuro received regulatory approval to test its 3rd-gen autonomous delivery vehicle in California. The company is focusing on “getting the autonomy piece right”.
Tesla is sued in a fatal accident that took place in April, whilst the car was on FSD and the driver was looking at the phone. Formally, FSD requires constant human awareness, but it appears that not many do.
Hengqin, an island near Macau, has opened its entire 330 km road network to driverless car road tests.
Flying cars 🚁
EHang delivered the first batch of 10 units of EH216-S pilotless electric vertical takeoff and landing aircrafts to Taiyuan Xishan Ecological Tourism, to be used for local low-altitude sightseeing and tourism services. Earlier this year the companies signed an MOU for up to 50 vehicles, with 450 additional vehicles in the next two years.
Archer Aviation is set to complete construction of its nearly 400,000 square foot manufacturing facility by the end of the year. The facility will allow manufacturing of 650 vehicles annually, and has the ability to increase size to produce 2,300 vehicles annually.
Joby Aviation on its way to the UK, but services will start only toward 2030.
OEMs 🛺⚡️
Fisker’s liquidation might be moving to Chapter 7 proceeding, which means immediate shut down. There is much unknown, with the first-in-line creditor pushing in this direction, which means the rest of creditors are in a losing position. For more. And a complete timeline of Fisker’s fall.
Zapp EV plans to expand globally with an early start in India. The company will debut its first product in the UK and Thailand in the coming months, followed by India, due to the country’s huge potential.
Gig economy 💰
Uber expands partnership with GMB union in the UK - now to include UberEats’s couriers.
In Philadelphia, a judge dismissed a lawsuit against Uber for misclassifying drivers as independent contractors rather than its employees, seeing that it would be a third trial, after two separate juries deadlocked.
Bolt starts offering UK drivers holiday pay and a guarantee of the minimum wage on top of recent access to a company pension scheme, ahead of a court hearing next month on their employment status. In terms of benefits offered, de facto Bolt is treating drivers as workers, but still classified them as independent contractors, leaving the company at a position to change benefits in the future as it desires.
India’s women gig workers fight for a better future - a video article.
In other news 📰
How Uber took care of one autistic child, in the name of Geographic justice.
Google Maps “steals” one of Waze’s key features -incident reporting and parking assistance.
People 🧑🤝🧑
Adrien Ravet is the new M&A and Corporate Development Manager @ Modaxo.
Chris Elliott is the new Transport Planning & Development Officer @ City of London Corporation.
Ilsuk (moncher) Park is the new Autonomous Driving Services and Infrastructure Director @ Kakao Mobility.
Matthias Schanze is a new Board Member @ ENTROVIEW.
Mohsen Kasiri is the new Data Product Manager @ CARFAX.
Olivier Roubi is the new VP Rental & Leasing @ Orange EV.
Rinat (Becher) Yogev is a new Board Observer @ Addionics.
Congrats and good luck!
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