Aurora reinstates safety-driver, Poppy & Ush together, Brazil gears for food wars

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Ride-Hailing & Taxi, Buses & DRT  🚙🚐

Uber Shuttle introduces ”Route Share”, a weekday commute service, in seven major US cities, running along dozens of routes in each city. The service, at 50% the cost of an UberX, runs between set stops at a 20-min frequency; booking possible 7 days to 10 minutes before the ride. The next stage? Making the service eligible for pre-tax commuter benefits. These types of commuter services have been tried before, the difference here is the vast amount of data Uber has to fine-tune the routes, and the consumer traction the company already commands. 

BluSmart starts offloading some 1,500-2,000 vehicles to generate cash to pay back banks and other lenders. Buyers include Evera and Everest Fleet. Also as a result of the sudden bankruptcy, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is examining the use of digital wallets, used in companies such as BluSmart and operating in a grey area; BluSmart’s users with credit in their wallet have been unable to use their money. 

DiDi is getting ready to launch ride-hailing in Hong-Kong. The company started working with taxis back in 2018, but now looks to move to independent (gig-economy) drivers. Non-taxi work is currently illegal, but that is expected to change by the end of 2025. 

SelfDrive launches OTO, a premium chauffeur service in the UAE. Liftango selected to run Otago Regional Council (NZ) on-demand bus service. Treepz partners with Miva Open University (Nigeria) to become its official transport provider. Blue, Romanian ride-hailing powered by eCabs Technologies, expands to Brașov, its 2nd city in the country. Lyft partners with Bee Maps, a mapping service which uses driver dash-cams and AI to generate mapping data. 

Bolt partners with Talabat - Talabat pro users now have 10% discount (up to ±$4 per ride) on Bolt rides. Bolt Malta introduces new subscription service, combining food delivery and rides. Bolt partners with Driver Technologies to supply dash cams to drivers in South Africa and Paraguay. Bolt wants gig drivers in Latvia. Bolt had roughly 60% market share in the country, but a soon-to-be-launched new player is threatening its position. 

Car Sharing/renting 🚗

Poppy (car-sharing) acquires Ush (autonomous & remote-driving implementation). Both companies are a part of D’leteren, Belgium’s #1 automotive company. Both also partnered on the first European commercial teledriving project, launched in Belgium. I’d expect more news relating to teledriven car-sharing services in Belgium, soon. 

Why is teledriving crucial to car-sharing? The ability to move cars around without needing a human driver will allow to increase revenue by making services more attractive (easily delivering to customer’s home) and increase service area (keeping the same # of cars); and to reduce costs by easily rebalancing fleets, saving on parking costs and minimising vandalism incidents. For car-sharing companies, which are struggling with profitability, especially with today’s car prices and interest rates, teledriving could be a game-changer. 

The Turo-Uber partnership (announced back in September 2024) is now live in the US. People can now book a Turo via the Uber app. Zoomcar partners with Wego, to offer its cars on the Wego platform. Also Zoomcar has a new CEO. CarTrawler partners with Virgin Australia, to offer Virgin’s customers with car rental options.

Micromobility 🚲🛴

Bird (or by its true name: Third Lane Mobility, also counting in Spin) managed to achieve EBITDA profitability by switching to Chinese hardware (rather than own designed and manufactured); moving some ops in-house; improving insurance and SIM costs. Some Third Lane Mobility 2024 stats:

• Operating in over 200 cities 

• Fleet of 180,000 vehicles (85% scooters)

• 35 million rides

• $220M in gross receipts

• Nearly $20 million in adjusted EBITDA

Voi publishes Q1/25 numbers: 

• Net revenue grow 28% YoY to €26.3M (from €20.6M)

• Vehicle margin increased to 48.4% (41%)

• EBIT improved to -€7.9M (-€13.1)

• 110 cities across 12 countries 

Q1 is always a slow quarter for the company, which reported 2024 positive EBIT for the full year. 

Nextbike launching two new bike models.

Delivery 🍽🧺

If you can’t beat them - join them. Uber and iFood partner - the partnership will allow iFood users to book Uber rides directly from the iFood app, and Uber users will gain access to iFood’s food, grocery, and convenience delivery within the Uber app.

Rappi to invest to expand its Brazilian operations and grow its restaurant business; this has to do with the return of 99Food (DiDi) and Meituan’s expected-soon entry into the market. Meituan, with its international brand Keeta, is expected in Brazil in the next few months. 

Talabat Q1/25 numbers: 

• GMV up 30% (YoY) to $2.1 billion

• Revenue up 34% to $846M

• Adjusted EBITDA up 34% to $140M

DHL eCommerce UK to merge with Evri to create UK's premier parcel delivery business. Amazon partners with Gopuff in the UK to offer rapid deliveries. Uber India expands courier offering to include large deliveries with large (car) vehicles. DoorDash expands drone delivery partnership with Wing in Charlotte.

Alex Mitchell deep-dive on the transition to two-wheeler in delivery. 

I love meeting new people and learning about innovation. Let’s get-to-know.

Autonomous & remote-driving 🤖℡

Aurora updates that PACCAR, one of its partners on the new autonomous route, has requested a safety driver (observer) to be reinstated on the recently launched fully autonomous route. This update raises more questions than answers, as the PR around Aurora’s new service did not mention an observer at all, and there is no explanation why PACCAR requested this in the first place. Also (seems unrelated) Uber announces proposed private placement of $1 billion Aurora notes.  

WeRide launches China’s first 24/7 robotaxi network in Central Guangzhou. Eight robotaxis will run between a set of predetermined stops. WeRide first introduced robotaxis in Guangzhou in 2019, and today is active in across 8 Chinese cities. Also WeRide is removing safety drivers and expanding coverage in Abu Dhabi. 

KargoBot, autonomous freight, raises $41.6M, with Shanxi Automobile Group, heavy truck manufacturer, joining the round. The company is a DiDi spin-off, which also saw investment from CIMC Vehicle Group, container truck manufacturer, in its previous round. KargoBot operates in the North of China and Mongolia, has driven 20 million km, and this round is meant to bring it to commercialisation. 

Easymile was rumoured to switch to logistics, and now I see that it launched an autonomous baggage towing service in Japan. A similar pivot was done by Aurrigo. 

Baidu prepares to launch in Europe. The company is in talks in Switzerland and Turkey. Pony.ai is said to list confidentially in Hong Kong. The company is also traded on the NASDAQ. Waymo begins mapping Boston. The NHTSA reached out to Tesla, asking how the company will operate in poor weather conditions. Ruter celebrates its 100th ride! The service became publicly available on February 20th, meaning it took 3 months to complete 100 rides, or roughly a ride a day. Waymo recalls 1,200 robotaxis following low-speed collisions with gates and chains. Wayve closer to Uber. 

Flying cars 🚁

Archer Q1 shareholder letter: 

• Plan to launch air-taxi commercial operations with Abu Dhabi Aviation and Ethiopian Airlines.

• UAE deployment expected later this year

• Plan air-taxi network with United Airlines. 

• Total cash position surpasses $1 billion

Also Archer selected as the official air taxi provider of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic games. 

Joby flies two aircraft simultaneously in testing milestone.

OEMs 🛺⚡️

Slate Auto crosses 100,000 refundable reservations in two weeks. Registration fee is only $50. 

Apple launches next-gen ‘CarPlay Ultra’ software, starting with Aston Martin. Google to bring Gemini to Android Auto.

Gig economy 💰

Colorado bill progressing, and ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft are urging the governor to veto the bill before it becomes a law. Uber has said that if the bill passes, it would leave the state. The bill requires driver background checks, bans drivers from offering passengers food and drink, requires drivers to have the ability to record inside their vehicles (pending rider consent), and allows people to sue ride-sharing companies in cases such as death, sexual assault, personal injury or kidnapping. Today those cases are sent to arbitration. 

In other news 📰

JetBlue sells off venture arm to asset manager Sky Leasing. See portfolio here. 

Billionaire founder of Luminar replaced as CEO following ethics inquiry. Not much is known yet. 

Switzerland and UK sign MoU on direct rail connection. 

BlaBlaCar now sells train tickets in France. 

Pony.ai catches fire in Beijing. There was no one in the car when the fire started. 

I love meeting new people and learning about innovation. Let’s get-to-know.

People 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Dmitriy Vanchugov is the new Global Head of Transit @ Uber. 

Jon Salmon is the new Director @ RTIG. 

Josepha Reichert is the new Senior Fleet Manager @ Amazon. 

Owen Jenkins is the new Executive Director of Place @ Surrey County Council.

Congrats and good luck!

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