Ride-Hailing & Taxi, Buses & DRT 🚙🚐
New York will mandate all ride-hailing fleets to be electric by 2030, making it potentially the 1st large city to hit all-EVs. This is inline with Uber and Lyft's own EV goals in the city.
Zeelo raised $14M to scale in the US, completing a $26M series A round.
Tipping. DoorDash is facing heat for “tip-nudging”, a feature nudging customers to tip drivers. In South Korea, Kakao recently implemented a tipping feature for the 1st time, and customers aren’t loving it, with 71% opposing the new feature. Inflation and rising fuel costs have made living harder for drivers; customers are claiming increased cost-of-living as well.
GoTo (Gojek & Tokopedia) gets closer to profitability, showing a ±$78.2M adjusted EBITDA Q2 loss and a forecast of positive adjusted EBITDA in Q4. The company looks to invest in its logistic and financial services arms and will exit its entertainment business.
Liftango’s guide to rural DRT. 13 steps based on 250 projects launched. A 66 page read for DRT enthusiasts. Liftango reaches 6,000 users in Cachoeirinha, Brazil, five weeks after launch. ioki launches its 3rd UK DRT scheme, in Wiltshire. Charlottesville picks Via. Maruti picks TRC. “10 reasons why go2 is the go to DRT” by Roger French. Heathrow launches a commuter service with Padam.
Gett and Sherbet partner. Sherbert’s 400 electric black cabs will now be available on the Gett platform, and Sherbet will be able to offer its leasing and maintenance services to more drivers. Also Gett opens an office dedicated for drivers.
Uber expands paratransit partnership with New York. Bolt Nigeria reaches 250 million rides in seven years. Bolt Malta introduces child seats and a call centre. Treepz appoints four new board members, which could suggest future M&A expansion and an IPO.
Yandex starts moving servers around, this time to Kazakhstan. There has been backlash from governments after a recent law in Russia allowed the FSB to gain access to all data on Russian-based servers, and now Yandex is sorting out server locations.
Sharing/renting 🚗🛴
Car Chilli is a new P2P and B2P (car rental companies’ supply) car sharing service in Singapore.
Micromobility 🚲🛴
State of North American micromobility in 2022. 157 million trips - back to pre-pandemic levels, in 401 cities, with 289K vehicles. Average trip is 2.3km and lasts 14.1 minutes. Average 1.5 trips/vehicle/day. For the full report.
The first public pilot of a universal e-scooter alert sound has gone live in London and York. funded by Tier and developed with Anderson Acoustics, UCL, nonprofits and other operators, the sound will allow pedestrians to take notice of scooters nearby. Tier has given TfL a free licence to the universal sound, allowing it to be deployed by any e-scooter operator.
Perth, Australia, has taken 200 Bird scooters off the streets as the company failed to present third-party liability and personal accident insurance cover. Neuron has not been affected by the move. Bird now claims it reinstated its insurance. In the Netherlands, fat tire bikes are of high likelihood of getting stolen and insurers don’t want to cover those.
Delivery 🍽🧺
The state of delivery robotics in 2023. Level of autonomy differs between operators, with Serve reporting (in SEC filings) >80% L4 effectiveness; Starship claims 99%; Coco works with remote operations; and Kiwibot recently moved from L3 to L4. Regulation is building up (e.g. ISO 4448 but not only) in national and city levels. Fresh food is better than groceries. A good read.
Starship launches in Wichita State University. Yandex to increase the number of robot couriers in Russia by more than 60% by the end of the year, from 80 to 130 courier robots. People are robbing and vandalising bots. Robomart, a ‘store-haling’ solution bringing stores to people on autonomous vehicles, announced a $2M seed round (total raised $3.4M).
Wing, drones by Alphabet, to begin medical drone deliveries in Ireland.
You can now order food AND groceries from Deliveroo, in a single order. The feature was in pilot mode in London, and will now be available UK nationwide. Swiggy partners with Gogoro to grow last-mile delivery electrification. Yulu partners with Zepto on a similar deal. Deliveroo partners with Zoomo in France. Wolt continues in Azerbaijan. The company is defending food safety allegations from the government. DoorDash expands partnership with Petco, now offering more than 10,000 Petco products on the platform.
Autonomous & remote-driving 🤖℡
Two weeks ago California approved 24/7 city-wide operations in San Francisco, against the will of local SF officials, and the time since has proved that there is a long way to go.
First, 10 Cruise vehicles stopped in mid-SF creating traffic, caused by either heavy 5G wireless bandwidth connectivity created by people at a nearby festival or just people interfering intentionally with the vehicles; then a Cruise vehicle drove right into wet concrete (Waymo shared a video of its car doing just fine at that same location); and then a Cruise vehicle crashed into a fire truck. There was a passenger aboard the Cruise car, and I can only wonder if he/she sensed the situation was not right before the crash, if so having nothing to do about it. The perfect storm, if you will, as it seems that autonomous vehicles work great unless people are using the 5G network or the vehicle is experiencing uncommon road hazards or needs to clear the way to emergency vehicles.
The day before the crash San Francisco's attorney filed a motion with the CPUC (California) to pause Cruise’s expansion plans, and after the crash Cruise was told/asked to decrease its fleet in the city by 50% and limit concurrent number of vehicles operating, to which the company quickly agreed.
Robotaxi prices. Cruise to charge $5 base fee +$0.9 per mile + $0.4 per minute, plus tax. As traffic is heavy, this effectively means >$3 per mile during the day. Pricing is similar to those of ride-hailing and taxis. Also, pricing will be best on the best route possible (according to Waze, Google Maps) and not on the actual route, as robotaxis have some limitations which makes trips less efficient. We’re still waiting for Waymo's pricing.
Kodiak and Pilot Company, a travel centre (fuel stations) company which is the 7th largest privately held company in the US, partner on 1st truckport, in Georgia. Kodiak will use the truckport to launch autonomous trucks and the truckport will also serve as a hub for first and last mile deliveries.
Flying cars 🚁
Vertical Aerospace crashes during an unmanned test flight. The company has only one flying prototype, which means repairs will have to be completed before the program can continue.
OEMs 🛺⚡️
Tevva to merge with US electric vehicle firm ElectraMeccanica, creating a global electric truck business. The companies will continue under the Tevva brand name, which brings the vehicles, while ElectraMeccanica brings cash and production capabilities in the US (but no product).
Vinfast, Vietnamese EV manufacturer, debuted on the Nasdaq via SPAC, to see its market cap jump to $85bn (from $23bn SPAC valuation), bigger than GM, Ford or Steelantis (which are all circa $45-50bn), to fall back to a ±40bn market cap (which, at the time of writing this, could still be volatile). An FT analysis on why this so-called SPAC feels eejit and why the stock price hardly reflects market value.
Nio will hold back UK launch to develop battery swap stations. Tesla to launch an in-house rental service. Cybertrucks are on the road and people are taking videos.
Gig economy 💰
Uber and Lyft threaten to leave Minneapolis if the minimum wage bill goes into effect on January 1st, after being recently approved as an ordinance by the city council. The bill promises a $15 per hour pay and makes it harder for ride-hail companies to deactivate drivers, and is now sitting on the desk of the Mayor, who can veto the bill. A similar veto step has been recently performed by Minnesota’s governor, responding to a similar state level legislation. The governor set up a committee to report findings by January, and It seems that the Mayor will hold the bill, and wait for the state committee to issue its recommendations. TBC.
In other news 📰
New Jersey managed to decrease traffic during a Taylor Swift concert by implementing… good public transportation. The city saw a 19% traffic decrease around the stadium, while other cities saw >100% traffic increase.
Robotaxi sex. A read on what goes on in the back seat. No, it's not a Cruise and a Waymo having sex.
Moove, vehicle financing for ride-hailing drivers, adds $76M in equity and debt at a $550M valuation. Funds will be used to fortify markets in Africa, Europe and the GCC and expand in others, and the company aims to be profitable in the next 12 months.
One of four cars sold in California in Q2 was electric. Genoe, Italy, launches MaaS app. EV graveyards in China (long read).
A Washington Post long read on if and by how much electric charging is cheaper than gas fuelling. Yes, it is cheaper, but by how much depends on the state’s fuel taxes and energy prices, and savings are influenced by the type of charger used. For an SUV, an average fill saving can account for anything between $14-$49. Keep in mind that sometimes fast charging can be more expensive than fuelling.
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