This week highlighting two US events and one European event:
Ride AI, San Francisco, 15 April, brings together autonomous vehicle pioneers, regulators, and AI experts to focus on the next big challenge: marketing autonomous vehicles into mainstream adoption. This link gives you a discounted ticket.
Curbivore, Los Angeles, 16-17 April, is an Autonomy, Delivery & Mobility event, with speakers from Uber, Instacart, DoorDash, Starship and over 1,000 participants. Use this link or make sure you enter MP50 for a 50% discount.
ATOM Connect, Riga, Latvia, 14 May, is a shared mobility event, with both speaking and workshop sessions. Register interest here.
For all mobility and autonomy events:
Ride-Hailing & Robotaxi 🚙🚕
Baidu experienced a ‘system failure’ which caused over 100 vehicles in Wuhan to suddenly freeze on the spot. Baidu is not commenting on what happened; and while social media recorded several accidents, official public sources claim that there were none. One shouldn't expect much transparency from the Chinese; but also not from US companies - for example they lack transparency over everything remote driving. Europe must make sure that the robotaxi roll out has regulators and the public better informed.
Uber acquires Blacklane, the global Chauffeur ride-hailing solution. Blacklane, founded in 2011, operates in over 500 cities across 60 countries. Deal numbers were not shared, but I’ve heard it is in the €900M region, which would make sense, seeing the company was valued circa €500M back in 2024, and that Uber needs this acquisition to better position in the premium mobility space, More here. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
Reports of Uber looking to buy a controlling stake in Kakao Mobility, the >90% market share ride-hailing solution in South Korea. Roughly a third of Kakao Mobility is held by different investors, but for Uber to gain a controlling stake, Kakao itself would have to agree to sell. That is not very likely.
Last week we learned that Verne partnered with Uber and Pony.ai using BAIC vehicles to launch robotaxi operation in Zagreb, Croatia; the Verne vision was always for the company to develop their own platform - owning the demand generation (ride-hailing app), running fleet operations and manufacturing their own eclectic vehicle, while relaying on Mobileye for the tech. That is not the news - so what happened? Tamas GABOR tells a story of a marriage of convenience; true or not, the key takeaways for me are:
By partnering with Uber, Verne has forfeited its own demand generation; this might have to do with funds invested by Uber. Once you partner with Uber on demand, there is no going back.
Mobileye’s fully autonomous performance is questionable. It was supposed to launch with Verne; and was not shortlisted for the London launch by any player.
Waymo: (1) believes in a future that has an autonomous personal car; (2) getting ready to launch in Tokyo in the “in a few months” with taxi operator Nihon Kotsu and mobility (taxi-hailing) platform GO; (3) starts operations at the San Antonio Airport; (4) and also in San Antonio, caught driving the wrong way in a school zone. For some reasons - we don’t know why, cough, transparency - Waymo keeps messing up near schools.
Tesla admits to using remote drivers: "As a redundancy measure in rare cases … [remote assistance operators] are authorized to temporarily assume direct vehicle control as the final escalation maneuver after all other available intervention actions have been exhausted”. Tesla’s remote drivers can drive at up to 10mph (16 km/h).
Namma Yatri’s parent company, Moving Tech Innovations, acquires Dutch company Automicle, its first international acquisition. Automicle is a MaaS and digital parking company; the company raised circa $106k over the years and has 5 employees. The way I read it - Moving Tech will implement Automicle’s tech in India, expanding its Indian portfolio.
GM moving toward eyes-off driving. Soon, over 200 vehicles will begin supervised testing and collect data on public highways in California and Michigan. L3 ready vehicles are expected in 2028.
Pony.ai delivered an initial batch of more than 100 seventh-generation (Gen-7) robotaxis to Guangzhou Chenqi Mobility Technology - to operate on Chenqi’s ride-hailing platform. Pony’s business model: licensing the tech. CaoCao removes safety drivers in Hangzhou. CaoCao, the ride-hailing subsidiary of Geely, has over 100 autonomous vehicles in the city. Kazakhstan prepares to introduce driverless taxis with Yandex (AV-tech) and inDrive (demand platform) by the end of 2026. WeRide and Uber launch commercial robotaxi service in Dubai. Trials started in December 2025, and now move to ‘fully’ driverless. Also WeRide and Grab officially launch Singapore's first autonomous public ride service in Punggol. In Hungary, Mobileye + Zeekr are testing L4 on public roads. Turing Drive eyes Japan expansion.
Uklon launches Uklon Travel - a new service that enables users to purchase bus tickets for intercity and international routes directly within the Uklon app. Uber launches in Mauritius, working with Logidis, a local taxi company. Singapore-founded TADA is expanding to New York with a zero-commission model. In Uganda, SafeBoda launches a corporate transport solution. Yango expands to delivery in Cameroon. Yango adds public transport options in Pakistan. InDrive grows in the Philippines. Maxim received official operating approval from the Malaysian authorities. Uber Golf. Cabify is the new sponsor for Valencia FC; recently Uber sponsored Barcelona. After losing two potential titles, I am breathless as I wait for the next seven Arsenal Premier league games.
#movingpeople is a part of Mobility Business - a consultancy focused on Innovation, Growth and Autonomy in the Mobility industry.
Autonomous Shuttles, DRT & Bus-Based Mobility 🚍🚌
Zoox brings its robotaxis to Austin and Miami after almost two years of operating its test vehicles in those cities. These locations add to the existing Las Vegas and San Francisco operations. Zoox is custom built for autonomy - i.e. no steering wheel nor pedals - which means that in order to launch commercial services the company requires additional government exemptions.
VDL ETS is exploring remote driving for buses (video inside). This doesn't sound right to me - driving a bus in urban environments is far too complicated for a remote driver; depots don’t need remote drivers; this leaves intercity work, which might be feasible on-ground but financial viability is limited as those buses do travel in the city to pick up passengers.
Singapore to begin a trial of driverless buses on two public routes. The autonomous buses are jointly produced by technology firms MKX Technologies and Zhidao Network Technology (Beijing) with electric vehicle manufacturer BYD.
I rode the Cambridge Connector autonomous bus powered by Fusion Processing and Alexander Dennis. To make autonomous public transport financially viable you need to take the driver out. We all know that, so what’s stopping us?
People (or riders) - this is the hardest challenge
Regulation
Road infrastructure
For more on the challenges, solution and the ride itself:
Micromobility 🚲🛴
Also, the Rivian spinoff, partners with DoorDash to develop autonomous delivery vehicles. The deal includes a $200M investment from DoorDash, which brings the total raised to $305M and to a valuation of $1 billion.
Svišť, Slovak shared micromobility, acquires bondi, Dutch shared micromobility and multi-modal player. bondi operates in 8 Dutch cities and has 100,000 registered riders. Svišť’s long term play is expanding into Western Europe.
Dott is rolling out 45,000 new e-bikes (13k) and e-scooters (32k) across Europe. Dott’s CEO: “They’re more comfortable for riders and, with better availability, they’ll generate more demand. On the operational side, they’re easier for our teams to operate with 2x the battery capacity, reducing operations and charging costs”.
Delivery - bikes to cars, bots & drones 🍽🧺
Manna Air Delivery completes a $50M Series B raise, bringing the total raised to $110M. Funds will be used for massive growth - 400 new jobs, 300 in Ireland and 100 in the US, adding to the existing workforce of 170 people.
Just a couple weeks ago Zipline raised another $200M, bringing the Series H round to $800M in total. Funds will be used to expand in the US. In related news, Wing and Walmart expand in Atlanta.
Delivery bots vandalized in Sheffield, UK and in Philadelphia, US. Is it because they are taking space on the street? Taking jobs away from people? Carry cameras that challenge privacy? Maybe just human aggression? All of the above and probably more reasons - yet the space between humans and robots is going to vastly change over the next decade.
Avride launches delivery bots at Salisbury University, achieving over 4.600 orders since the launch in February.
Prosus considering selling 10% stake in Delivery Hero to Aspex, investment managers. Prosus currently holds 26.8% stake in Delivery Hero; Aspex 9.2%. A sale would make Aspex the largest shareholder, replacing Prosus.
China is looking to stop the delivery price wars; these have negatively affected the profits of the likes of Meituan and JD.com.
Wonder hires CFO ahead of a potential 2027 IPO. Just Eat among firms investigated in fake reviews probe by the UK's competition watchdog. Lack of trust and loyalty - What Ghost Kitchens Got Wrong - a super interesting read by Andrew Miller.
AV Freight, Industrial & Logistics 🚛🚜
The Traton Group and Applied Intuition announced Traton One OS, a unified SDV platform that will be utilised across Traton’s four brands: Scania, MAN, International and Volkswagen Truck & Bus. In other news, International (OEM), Ryder (customer), and Plus (AV Tech) begin daily operations along a 600-mile route in Texas.
Mars Auto, a Korean self-driving truck start-up, transported 3,379km of self-driving cargo from the west to the east of the United States in three days. This is a pilot. Einride gains Texas road approval for autonomous freight - its 5th US state.
I love meeting new people and learning about innovation in mobility. Let’s get-to-know / catch up.
In other news 📰
Rivian unlocks another $1 billion from Volkswagen.
No Traffic, traffic signal management, raises $90M, bringing the total raised to $165M. Per the company, it holds 10% of the US public transport agencies market, circa 450 clients.
Google partners with the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) on the DfT’s new "Better Connected" strategy - integrating real-time bus information into Google Maps for services across England.
eVTOL startup AIR secures $1 billion in orders for personal aircraft from 3,300 customers (on average, $300k a unit). FAA approval and serial production are expected later this year. Meanwhile - Vertical Aerospace is short for cash.
Fraction, self-driving system for last-mile logistics, shuts down. Per founder: “growth was ultimately constrained by funding, vehicle availability, and supply chain realities in this market” and also “there is still enormous potential with visionary light EV partners in Asia and Europe”.
Toyota’s Woven Capital appoints new CIO and COO in push for finding the ‘future of mobility’.
Global Public Transit Index by Mosaiq:
Crush test dummies are built with only men in mind - this means that women are 73% more likely to be severely injured in vehicle crashes than men, and 17% more likely to die. A must see 9 minute video. This needs to be fixed ASAP.
NGV Talent's US-focused "AV Industry Talent Demand Report" is a great way to describe the state of autonomy in 2026:
1) Rapid growth: demand increased from 1,385 roles in 2025 to 3,021 in 2026
2) On-ground expansion: operational roles represent over 30% of total hiring + hiring locations increasing from 65 to 101
3) Multiple companies: hiring isn't reserved for only a few companies - just look at Dallas!
People 🧑🤝🧑
Allan Teder is the new Director of Driver Operations @ Uber.
Amy Hinsliff-Smith is the new Global CL Innovation Culture Leader @ CEVA Logistics.
Halil Şentürk is the new Senior Transportation Planner @ Arup.
Josh Martin is the new Senior Manager - Business Development @ The Go-Ahead Group.
Justin Ben-Nathan is the new Business Development Executive @ PartsPlus.
Matthew Thomas is the new Chief of Staff @ Veezu.
Richard Hannah is the new Chief Executive Officer @ Neuron Mobility.
Steve Longman is the new Autonomous Vehicles - Transport Solutions Manager @ Motability Foundation.
Suzanne Tennant is the new Head of Content and Marketing Strategy @ Oxa.
Tim Pockney is the new Senior Marketing Communications Lead @ Zenzic.
Timofei Maksimenko is the new Technical Project Manager @ Yandex.
Zacharie Chebance is the new Presale Engineer Manager @ Optibus.
Congrats and good luck!
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