Meet Dot, Einride $100M, Toyota allocates $1.5bn for startups

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Top Story: Meet DOT

DoorDash (Wolt, Deliveroo) unveils Dot, its autonomous robot. 

Dot can drive on roads, bike lanes, and sidewalks at up to 20 mph (32 km/h), is roughly 1.4 meters high (!), weighs 350 pounds (158 kg), can fit six pizzas and/or up to 30 pounds (13.5 kg), and is currently being tested in Phoenix. It has 9 cameras, 4 radars and 3 lidars (more in the engineering blog); a microphone for future use with customers; and runs on an interchangeable battery. It has no teleoperation capabilities. 

In addition, DoorDash is introducing the “Autonomous Delivery Platform - an AI dispatcher, matching each order with the optimal delivery method based on factors like speed, cost, location, and experience”. 

Existing delivery bots solutions today are mostly sidewalk robots, with lesser speeds and cargo capacity (CoCo, StarShip, Serve, Kiwibot to name a few) or larger, such as Robomart. Dot has been built to be ‘multi-terrain’, useful for anything from sidewalks to roads, with matching speeds and cargo capacity. 

DoorDash is betting it knows best, and can create the ultimate robot, in terms of tech, regulation and unit economics. That’s a risky bet. To be continued. 

Ride-Hailing & Robotaxi 🚙🚕

Uber acquires Segments.ai, a data labelling platform for training autonomous systems, to strengthen Uber’s AI Solutions division and its position within autonomy, from cars to drones. 

Lucid 1st autonomous-ready vehicle comes off the production line. It now goes to Nuro for refitting. A part of the 20k vehicles in the Uber-Lucid-Nuro deal, this vehicle is probably going to stay in Nuro’s Las Vegas testing grounds for the next few months. It will be interesting to see where Uber chooses to deploy the first batch of vehicles. 

This week in ride-haling & robotaxis, we go around the world for updates:

Gulf states: TIER IV signs MOU with Elm, a major Saudi company, to promote robotaxis in Saudi and also to grow local engineering talent. Yango and Etihad Rail sign MOU to simplify rides on UAE’s national railway network. The 1st stage of cooperation focuses on operational steps to ease access to rides; the 2nd will see booking integration between the parties. A summary of Baidu’s Apollo Go activity in Dubai. The company recently secured 50 new testing permits, doubling its AV fleet. 

Africa: Yango and Heetch win Ivory Coast - Uber exits the market after six years.  In Senegal, court rules that ride-haling - Yango, Yassir and Heetch - are allowed to operate in the country. Morocco officially blocks licensing for ride-hailing companies, such as inDrive, Careem and Yango. These operate in the country, but in a legal grey zone. TBC. Bolt goes head-to-head with Uber in Kenya, starts offering safari services. Yango Ventures invests in Zanifu, a Kenyan fintech, providing working capital for SMEs across Africa.  

Americas: Uber now supports WeChat in-app booking and payments  in Canada. The Chinese super-app is popular in China, with about 1 million users. Waymo receives an extension to test its vehicles in NYC until end-of-year. Uride launches in Saint John Airport. InDrive is hiring a GM in Ecuador and Bolivia. 

Europe: In Darmstadt, Germany, the autonomous project KIRA is expanding its service area. There are over 1,000 test users for the service, which is run with Mobileye and ioki’s tech. Bolt is available in Maltese. Gett expands in Edinburgh. Freenow offers 5% cashback on business travel. 

Asia: Kakao Mobility signs MOU with Sum, a local autonomous driving company. Grab signs an MOU with Selex Motors, a Vietnamese two-wheeler EV startup. Namma Yatri is also cabs, not just rickshaws. In China, apps are asking riders to rate vehicle odor (smell). The reason: many drivers live in their car to save money. 

As exercise in ride-hailing unit economics: 

DRT, Bus-Based Mobility & AV shuttles 🚍🚌

Zoox is expanding its robotaxi testing fleet to Washington DC, the 8th city Zoox will be deployed (mostly in testing). The first step is data gathering, using humans driving an SUV (and not the Zoox unique vehicle). Stepping back: Zoox is waiting for an answer back from the US government, after the company requested an exemption to operate commercial robotaxis. If/when approved, we could see Zoox enter more than one market simultaneously. 

WeRide launches Robotaxi & Robobus operation in Ras Al Khaimah, a UAE city, the company 3rd UAE city. The robobus is deployed on a tourism island; the Robotaxi operates the city itself. Commercial operations expected early 2026. 

SpartanXpress, Michigan State University’s autonomous bus, is ready for rides and research. Technology by ADASTEC. The bus will offer faculty, staff and visitors free rides around the campus. 

First Student and Samsara partner to enhance safety and operational performance on its HALO tech management platform. First Student says that the partnership has led to 30% reduction in accidents. First Student has 46,000 buses on its fleet, so the data coming out of this must be amazing.

Car Sharing/renting 🚗

 Rumours are that Stellantis is interested in selling Free2move. 

Careem acquires a minority stake in Swapp, a UAE short & long term car-rental platform. Swapp has been integrated into Careem's super-app since 2022. The new minority stake will enable instant KYC onboarding, shorter vehicle delivery times and real-time vehicle tracking.

Micromobility 🚲🛴

Dott, Lime, and Voi are the winners in the new Paris micromobility tender; each operator will be allowed between 3k and 6k e-bikes. 

Frankfurt is adding two new e-scooter operators - RideMovi and Ryde - to its existing lineup of Bolt, Dott, Lime, and Voi. The citywide cap will remain at 12,000 scooters. Dott launches 24/7 service in the West of England. Dott already has 24/7 operations elsewhere, including in Nottingham. In London, Hackney Council caps e-bike pricing at £1.75 for 30 minutes, keeping it the same as bus fares. This is in partnership with Lime and Voi, under five year contracts. 

Voi issues subsequent bonds of €40M, bringing the total raised via bonds to £90M. Funds will be used to expand its fleet and for general purposes.   

How micromobility has progressed, Paris as an example: 

Delivery - from bikes & cars to bots & drones 🍽🧺

DoorDash completes Deliveroo’s acquisition. 

DoorDash launched a “Going Out” feature, offering DashPass members access to restaurant reservations, in-store rewards and exclusive offers for dine-in guests. This is made possible via integration to recently acquired SevenRooms. UberEats has a similar function, in partnership with OpenTable. 

Serve Robotics expands to Chicago, in partnership with Uber Eats. Stuart and Iceland launch in-store, same-day scheduled delivery in the UK. A trial period with 9 stores has ended, and now the roll out is to 100+ stores. Foodpanda and TADA (ride-hailing) partner to offer new cross-platform discounts for users in Singapore. Wolt expands to Ferizaj, Kosovo's second largest economic city.

Amazon drones to resume deliveries, after the Arizona crash, which saw two of its drones crash into the boom of a crane. iFood  and Speedbird Aero resume drone delivery operation in Aracaju, after receiving permanent operation authorisation from the government. The program, which started in 2021, was in pilot mode up to now. Matternet partners with Dave’s Hot Chicken to launch a drone delivery pilot in Northridge, a Los Angeles suburb. Zipline reaches 1.6 million autonomous drone deliveries globally. 

A man is suing Avride for reportedly colliding with one of the company's delivery bots, while riding an electric bicycle, for $250k in damages. This happened back in September 2024, and has now reached the court in Austin. 

AV Freight & Logistics 🚛🚜

Einride raises $100M. Post-money valuation is unclear, but is said to be above $1 billion. Einride will continue to focus on its three solutions: electric big rigs, autonomous pod-like trucks that navigate fixed routes, and planning software designed for shippers. 

Hiab, on-road load-handling solutions, and Forterra, autonomous vehicle technology, partner to develop autonomous trucking and load handling solutions. 

Kodiak went public via SPAC. Kodiak, now valued at $2.5 billion, will receive $275M in funding. A long read on Kodiak’s journey and the industry. 

In other news 📰

Toyota has a new $1.5 billion fund, dedicated to mobility, climate, AI, and industrial automation - from seed to maturity. The company created a strategic investment subsidiary called Toyota Invention Partners Co., with $670M in capital and a focus on early stage; while allowing Woven Capital an additional $800M to focus on Series B and later.  

Momenta is considering an Hong Kong IPO - instead of a US one. TBC. 

Geotab acquires Verizon Connect’s international commercial operations, across 8 European markets and Australia. The 40,000 SME customers will be migrated into the Geotab platform within an 18 month window. 

Moovit in Japan, in partnership with the Japanese transport data association.  

Telo raises $20 million to build tiny electric trucks for cities. 

Flai, AI-for-car-dealerships, closed a $4.5M seed round. 

France is again rolling out EV subsidies for low income families. Eligibility looks at income. Job status and need of car for work / commute purposes, and can reach €7,000.

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

People 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Adam Moss is the new Finance & Transformation Director @ Stagecoach Manchester. 

Alex Vasiliu is the new Managing Director Europe @ PIX Moving. 

Connaire Wallace is the new Global Director, Talent Acquisition @ Vay. 

Craig Nelson is the new Director of Account Management @ Optibus.

Congrats and good luck!

#movingpeople is a weekly mobility & delivery newsletter - from Ride-Hailing & Robotaxi through Remote-Driving & Delivery Drones to e-bikes and Autonomous Freight & Logistics.

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