Uber cementing AV control, Prosus to reduce Delivery Hero stake, Turo buys Kyte and Via soon IPO

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Top Story: Uber is cementing its leadership in the AV race

a) Uber + Nuro + Lucid 

Another week, another major AV deal for Uber. The company is partnering with Lucid (OEM) and Nuro (L4 tech stack), key takeaways from the deal: 

• Uber will order up to 20,000 of Lucid Gravity SUV over the six years since production (starting late 2026)  - and invest $300M in Lucid.

• Vehicles will be owned and operated by Uber or its third-party fleet partners (e.g. Moove / Avomo).

• In addition Uber is  investing an undisclosed “multi-hundred-million dollar” in Nuro; some sources say it is more than the Lucid investment.

b) Uber + Baidu

Also this week - Uber partners with Baidu in a “multi-year strategic partnership to deploy thousands of Baidu’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles on the Uber platform” in multiple markets outside the U.S. and mainland China. Deployment will start in Asia and continue to the Middle East. 

By now Uber has AV partnership with roughly 20 different partners - in ride-hailing and delivery. At the pace Uber is leading, it is hard to see any company being able to match Uber’s hold on the AV supply chain. None of the other ride-hailing players are even close; and automakers (exc. Tesla) and AV tech layers (exc. MAYBE Waymo) aren’t built to compete in this space. Is the future of travel - Uber? 

Ride-Hailing & Taxi, Buses & DRT  🚙🚐

Via confidentiality files for a (much waited) US IPO. The company which invented and leads the DRT/microtransit industry has raised in total $880M, and ended 2022 with an annualised revenue run rate of over $200M, operating in 650 cities across 30 countries. The last round, in February 2023, gave the company a valuation of $3.5 billion. 

VNV Q2/25 financial report - key mobility takeaways: 

• Gett: generated $521M in gross revenue and an EBITDA of $17M in the 12 months trailing March 25, with $69M is cash and cash equivalents. Strong financial performance, allowing the shareholders to take home $30M in dividends. While the original Pango deal was canceled, there seems to be a list of interested parties, so we might hear of a sale soon. Fair value change (for the past 6 months): +13%. 

• Voi: in the last twelve months ending Q1/25 had €138.6M net revenues, €21.2M adjusted EBITDA and €3.3M adjusted EBIT. The recent wins in the Paris e-bike tender and the one in Grenoble give reasons to be optimistic; Voi’s Q2 report will be out July 29th. TBC. Fair value change: +26%. 

• BlaBlaCar: “nothing new to report this quarter really”. Fair value change: -4%.

• For the full report. 

WeRide launches Southeast Asia’s first fully driverless AV service. The robobus service connects three hotels and a shopping centre on Sentora Island in Singapore, runs on a 1.2km loop every 12 minutes.  

Moia shuts down Hanover operations to focus on its new strategy - becoming a supplier of autonomous solutions for public transport companies. Hamburg autonomous operations will continue. 

Waymo expands in Austin - increasing the service area from 37 sq. mile to 90 sq. mile. Waymo now has over 100 vehicles in Austin. To the right, a Tesla service map Musk published as a joke on Waymo; to the left, the updated Waymo map. 

Yango Pakistan partners with DealCart, an e-commerce platform, to launch grocery delivery. Yango Dubai adds city taxis into its corporate client offering. Yango introduces new advertisement monetisation tools and opens an influencer marketing division. 

The Jamaican government is cracking down on the ride-hailing sector. Last June, the government announced a 12-month ban on ride-hailing transport services inDrive, Uber, 876OnTheGo, Lyft and Ride Jamaica for "national security concerns"; while the ban period is now over, the government still seems determined to discontinue such services. 

Uber Shuttle shuts down in Mumbai. Uride rolls out booster seat category across Canada. As a parent, I welcome this. InDrive Pakistan launches premium rides. In Germany, several cities  have initiated a night cab voucher program, subsidising taxi rides with €10 vouchers to give women a safer way home. 

Car Sharing/renting 🚗

Turo acquires “select assets” from Kyte, a rental company providing vehicles delivered (and picked up) to the customer’s door. 

Zipcar expands to Hawaii. Socar introduces a corporate car-sharing solution. Automondial offers premium shared-cars in multi-unit residential buildings in Ottawa, Canada.

Delivery 🍽🧺

Prosus is offering to slash its Delivery Hero stake to below 10% and give up its board seat to address EU concerns over its €4.1 billion Just Eat Takeaway deal. Prosus today holds 27% of Delivery Hero, hence serious EU anti-trust concerns regarding the JET deal. This offer should push the deal forward. 

Grubhub partners with Wyndham, the largest hotel franchisor in the world, with 9,100 locations, to deliver to 6,000 locations (and 20 different brands) across the US. Those staying at Wyndham hotels will enjoy a $0 delivery on eligible orders, lower service fees and a 5% credit back on pickup orders. Meanwhile, Wonder is looking to refinance the $500M debt it acquired Grubhub with. 

Talabat opens the largest quick-commerce distribution centre in the Middle East, in Egypt. The centre will support up to 60 dark stores and 1.6 million items daily. 

Lieferando, German food delivery by Just Eat, is planning to cut 2,000 jobs. 

Autonomous & remote-driving 🤖℡

MOTOR Ai raises €17.1M Seed funding. Funds will be used to develop the company L4 autonomous vehicle stack. 

BMW partners with Chinese-company Momenta to deploy ADAS technology in China. 

A long read on Autonomous trucking. The TAM is huge; there is a shortage of drivers; AV trucking companies are starting with middle mile operations, keeping on highways, where it is ‘easier’ to operate’; the sheer size of a truck makes it easier to add sensors and LiDARs; and the economics make sense - Gad (author) calculates that there could be saving of $0.52 per mile, on a now cost of roughly $2.2 to $2.3 per mile, saving just over $60,000 per year per truck. Not to mention quicker service, now that vehicles can run non-stop to destination. More inside.

Flying cars 🚁

Joby expands eVTOL facility capacity - producing 24 aircraft per year. Keep in mind Joby plans are to develop up to 500 aircrafts a year in that facility - once fully operational (whenever that is). 

Vertical Aerospace announces closing of $60M underwritten public offering.

In other news 📰

Rivian partners with Google to bring a unique Google Maps to the automaker operating system. Rivian adds its trip planner, user interface and EV charger locations to the existing maps. 

The UK government announces a £63M package to support home charging for houses without driveways and help to transition NHS fleets. 

How US school kids travel has changed over the years: much more driving, less active travel. Look surprised. Probably the main reason is “increasing distance to school, driven by household preferences for low residential density”, but there are some more reasons here. 

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

People 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Aurelien Cottet is the new Vice President of Business Development - EMEA @ Cubic Transportation Systems. 

Charlie Wilson is the new Business Development UK @ See.Sense.

Dror Perl is the new Senior Director of PMO @ Mobileye. 

Élodie Thomas is the new Group Head of Mobility Engineering and Operations Strategy @ WSP France.

Hazav Binyamini is the new VP Operations @ Ottopia. 

Nicola Kane is the new Chair of the UK’s Transport Planning Society.  

Raazia Nadeem is the new Product Designer @ Careem.

Congrats and good luck!

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