Kakao interested in FreeNow, Meituan in foodpanda, Cruise's CEO resigns and Arrival’s last chance

Kakao bids for FreeNow; Didi moves back to profit; InDrive launches $100M fund; Uber addressing unjust driver deactivations; Cityscoot declares bankruptcy; Uber Direct in Spain; Delivery Hero grew 9% and Meituan showing interest in foodpanda; Cruise CEO quits; AAM Reality index puts Volocopter at 1st place; Arrival get $50M to try and sell; and more with Yango, Lyft, Pathao, JoyRide, Liftango, Via, ioki, Turo, Amovens, Luup, Vianova, Doordash, Einride, Vay, Joby, Archer, Canoo, Threads, Paris SUV parking fees and Google traffic lights. Let’s start #movingpeople. 

Ride-Hailing & Taxi, Buses & DRT  🚙🚐

Kakao Mobility is bidding for 80% of FreeNow for the sum of $154M, in a deal that makes sense both for the buyer and for the seller, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, but raises questions over FreeNow’s valuation. My analysis. 

Didi posts 1st quarterly profit since US (failed) IPO. Revenue rose by 25% YoY to $7.1bn, with 90% of revenue coming from the China Mobility segment. Q3/23 net profit was $14.9M, roughly 0.2% of revenue. 

InDrive launches ventures and M&A arm. The fund will invest up to $100M to facilitate expansion in markets the company operates in: Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. Investments could include ride-hailing competitors, delivery businesses, and insurtech and fintech businesses, allowing for horizontal and vertical integration. 

Uber is addressing unfair driver deactivations - identifying users consistently giving bad ratings or feedback with the intent of getting a refund and allowing drivers and couriers opportunities to appeal deactivations. 

In Bangladesh, Uber and Pathao are launching a subscription model, after drivers started to work around the platforms by connecting directly with the customers. Now, drivers will buy a daily, weekly or monthly pass to use the Uber/Pathao platform, replacing the commission based structure. 

Uber is getting close to pilot their own ‘task rabbit’ product, named Uber Tasks, to be tested first in two North American cities.

Yango launches ride-hailing in Ethiopia, franchise partnering with ShuuFare. The partnership was announced a month ago, and now starts on-ground, competing with local player Feres. Lyft launches in London - Ontario, Canada. Lyft launches a new EV charging program, working with EVCS. JoyRide, Philippines, rolls out ‘super taxi’ service - effectively a luxury service at metered (same) prices. 25 cars will be dedicated to the service. JoyRide has over 5 million downloads and 30,000 vehicles on its network. 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: the government does not intend to regulate e-hailing services, including setting minimum trip prices. Belarus making sure Yandex.Taxi servers are locally hosted. 

Liftango in Cachoeirinha, Brazil: 228 passengers daily spread across 6 vehicles (38 per vehicle per day), with 8,000 registered users. Via will run the public transport of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, starting from January 1st 2024. New Braunfels, Texas, launches microtransit service. Wiltshire, UK, expands ioki-powered DRT operations. 

I love meeting new people, learning about new companies and exchanging opinions. Want to get-to-know and talk mobility? Let’s set up a half-hour coffee chat. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedSharing/renting 🚗🛴

OuiCar will start operating under the Turo brand.  The acquisition was completed in June 2022. Amovens launches P2P subscription plan. Communauto sees increasing car thefts. Autonapůl, Czech car-sharing, expanding to smaller towns in the country. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMicromobility 🚲🛴

Cityscoot and Revel announce termination of moped operations in Paris with Cityscoot declaring bankruptcy. Cityscoot recently won a new tender in Paris, but did not have access to funds to purchase the fleet. The company has 2,500 vehicles in Paris and also operates in two Italian cities. 

In Japan, local Luup controls more than 90% of the country’s shared e-scooter market in terms of ride mileage. Protected by regulators, the company has recently raised. Berlin chooses Vianova to help manage micromobility in the city. Helbiz expands to Tampa and its PR is way over the top. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedDelivery 🍽🧺

Delivery Hero Q3 financials: €11.6bn GMV, up 8.6% YoY; Asia contributed 54.6%, MENA 25.1%, Europe 15.5%. Revenue up 16.2% to €2.7bn, Asia contributed 34%, MENA 26.6% and Europe 13.5%. Delivery Hero is expected to cash-flow break-even in H2/23. The CEO remarks on Asia: “Asia is our largest segment, Asia is the most profitable segment… but in terms of growth, it is holding us back a little bit.”, referring to the slowdown of the Asian market, which shrunk on a YoY basis both in terms of GMV and of revenue. 

Next to the foodpanda deal - Meituan is interested in acquiring Delivery Hero’s southeast Asia arm - after it was reported that the sale is focused on Grab. For Meituan, it is a way to diversify out of China. It is also reported that Grab, should it decide to continue with the acquisition, could face regulatory antitrust issues. 

Uber Direct, Uber’s white-labelled delivery service, is being rolled out in Spain across 200 cities. The service allows under 2 hours, same day and next day delivered, from orders originated with the merchants own online channels. 

DoorDash now offers alcohol delivery in New Jersey. Save Mart adds DoorDash as delivery provider.

Hope you enjoy reading #movingpeople. If you do, please consider sharing it with others so that they may benefit from it too. 

Autonomous & remote-driving 🤖℡

Cruise’s CEO quits. GM, who are likely to take a more active role in running the subsidiary, appointed two presidents: Cruise’s EVP of engineering and GM’s general council. This isn’t completely unexpected. 

Also Cruise took the decision to remove all vehicles from operations for safety review, including all manual operations. This follows last week news of a recall of its 950 vehicle fleet; and Cruise suspends its employee equity program. 

Einride begins fully-autonomous, commercial EV truck operations in a 0.3 mile road stretch in the US. Vay begins driverless remotely operated drives in Las Vegas. WeRide in Mongolia. Robotaxis in Oslo. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFlying cars 🚁

Joby Aviation and Volocopter demonstrated flights in NYC. The city intends to electrify its two helipads in the city. Archer closes $500M MOU deal for up to 100 vehicles with local UAE firm. Volocopter puts Singapore planned service on hold indefinitely, unable to find local funding partners. 

First, we take scooters… In Paris, officials are likely to object to the planned eVTOL operations during the 2024 Olympics. The flights are to be operated by Volocopter. Reasons given: noise, pollution (due to electricity usage) and an unreasonable gift to rich people, as rides are expected to cost €110. Keep in mind that it is the central government, not the local one, calling the shots. 

AAM Reality Index. Based on (1) funding received, (2) team, (3) technology readiness, (4) certification progress and (5) production readiness, the index puts Volocopter at 1st place with 8.3/10 score. EHang, Joby and Beta tied at 2nd with 8 points each, with Archer at 5th place with 7.9 points. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedOEMs 🛺⚡️

Arrival secures a $50M bridge loan while it looks for a buyer. The money comes from existing investors. Canoo contracts with Los Angeles-based Prime Time Shuttle for the purchase of up to 550 electric vehicles.

GM absorbs commercial EV maker BrightDrop, CEO is out. BrightDrop originally spun out of GM’s Global Innovation organisation to become a wholly owned subsidiary — and now comes back to be part of GM.

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedGig economy 💰

The UK government calls on food delivery firms to put tighter controls on unchecked accounts, fearing underaged labour and illegal Immigrants workers. This follows the death of a 17 year old on the Deliveroo platform. 

Jakarta, Indonesia: EV bikes challenges - riders don’t like them due to uncomfortable design and drivers are limited by range. Yet Grab, Gojek and InDrive are pushing EVs into the market. 

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedIn other news 📰

Google’s “Project Green Light” aims to optimise the coordination and timing of traffic lights. The project is ongoing across 70 cities in 13 countries, and could save on traffic jams and pollution. 

Threads bundles essential maintenance services such as tires, oil changes and roadside assistance into a monthly subscription service, and has just announced API integration to Smartcar for connected car data. 

The US government is considering limiting speed limits to 100mph (160 kmh) - to be implemented as part of the car tech stack. Similar steps are already being regulated in Europe. 

Paris wants to charge SUVs more on parking. SUVs in the city increased by 60% in the past four years, and now account for 15% of vehicles. This “auto-beasty” is causing challenges for the city, so a referendum is to be held in early February to decide if to increase parking fees for SUVs. It is likely to pass. 

David Zipper read on why robotaxis are likely to be adding to total mileage driven, congestion and private-car usage over PT services, learning from 15 years of ride-hailing lessons. 

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