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Uber 🤝 WeRide, autonomous defence contracts and new US ban on China
Barak Sas
September 30, 2024
#movingpeople is a part of Mobility Business - a consultancy dedicated to "All Things Mobility", focused on growth.
Uber 🤝 with WeRide to offer 🤖🚖 rides in the UAE
Uber partners with WeRide, a Chinese autonomous player, to bring robotaxis to the UAE. This partnership, further advancing Uber’s global autonomous strategy, follows a similar partnership with Waymo and an investment in Wayve, both announced recently. In Abu Dhabi, WeRide currently operates a robotaxi fleet bookable with the TXAI app; now riders booking on the Uber app could also be directed to an autonomous ride performed by WeRide.
Notable: in the Uber PR, it was important enough for both companies to write: “The partnership does not contemplate any launches in the United States or China”. Geopolitics at its best; or worst.
Don’t rule out that the timing of Uber’s robotaxi PR blitzkrieg is a preemptive move, to protect share value from Tesla’s robotaxi reveal on October 10th.
Ride-Hailing & Taxi, Buses & DRT 🚙🚐
Autofleet partners with Curb Mobility to offer its optimised dispatch solution through Curb’s platform. Yango starts in Jizzakh, Uzbekistan. Yango partners with insurance company Waada to offer ride-hailing insurance in Pakistan. In Georgia. Yandex violated personal data protection laws by transferring data to Russia, and was fined $1,500. Poppy Taxi launches in Brussels. InDrive celebrates 5 billion rides.
UK taxi & private-hire demographics:
93.6% men
Average age 48, with 22% of the workforce under 40
Ethnicity: white constitute 45.1% of the workforce and Asian or Asian British, 42.1%. An increase from 2010 when 63% of drivers were White, and 29% identified as Asian or Asian British
89.1% of drivers are self-employed, increase from 76% in 2010
Also in a podcast version. Mobility in 2030, EVs, AVs and eVTOLS - François Hoehlinger invited me as a guest to his podcast and this is the discussion we had:
Car Sharing/renting 🚗
SEAT stopped its car and moped sharing businesses, after recording losses of €31.6M. The closure has been communicated to customers back in February, and now executed.
Cambio celebrates 20 years in Flanders, Belgium. In the region today there are over 39,000 users, who share 1,700 cars at 750 pickup points.
The fear of electric car rentals - part 2. This is an excellent post detailing the real-life challenges of renting EVs.
Micromobility 🚲🛴
The Sharing Group (TSG), Amsterdam-based shared mobility operator, increased its stake in Drop Mobility, B2B shared e-bikes in the Netherlands, to a majority share. TSG has held a minority share in Drop Mobility since 2022.
Bicycle Transit Systems has entered into an agreement to acquire BCycle from Trek. Bicycle Transit Systems operates bike share schemes in the US; BCycle manufactures hardware and software for bike share schemes; and Trek Bikes builds and sells bikes.
Lyft ends scooter service in Washington, D.C, as part of the company’s strategy to focus on docked bikes. Lime launches in Vancouver with custom-built parking stations. Zoomo launched in Hamburg. Houston cuts the city’s bike-sharing scheme. This follows BCycle* shutting down due to financial difficulties (*and in the earlier paragraphs we learn that the business has been acquired) and the non-profit operator claiming it quits in June. The program was supposed to relaunch, but the city decided not to budget it.
I love meeting new people, learning about mobility innovation and exchanging opinions. Interested in discussing mobility?
Delivery 🍽🧺
Urban delivery companies push into retail: Gopuff partners with Shopify to offer merchants instant delivery options. Iceland adds Deliveroo to its rapid delivery offer. Deliveroo partners with Not On The High Street. Just Eat partners with Lovehoney Group, a “sexual wellness” retailer, starting in the UK, Denmark and Austria. Just Eat partners with Boots, leading health and beauty retailer, starting with 50 sites across the UK.
Zomato’s co-founder Akriti Chopra quits after a 13-year tenure. She has been the Chief People Officer since 2021, after a career in finance and operations, and is now looking to pursue other interests.
Autonomous & remote-driving 🤖℡
Autonomous driving & ADAS ecosystem landscape - download here.
McKinsey on remote driving - a consumer perspectives survey. The most interesting takeaway: “average willingness to pay, which was assessed by asking consumers how much they would pay for 10 minutes of remote driving, was about $9 globally”.
Kodiak’s technology has been integrated into Textron’s RIPSAW M3 armoured vehicle. While remote driving is a part of the solution, it is not clear from the article who, or what, decides on firing. Nighttime robotaxi launches in Seoul, safety driver included. The vehicles are supplied by KG Mobility. May Mobility scales back expansion plans in its Ann Arbor HQ. New webpage for Simulytic - a simulation and analysis tool focused on autonomous operations for insurance purposes.
Intermobility is a community of >1,000 mobility professionals, journalists and industry investors. Based on slack, Intermobility is a free community. If you’d like to join, DM me for an invite link.
Flying cars 🚁
The world is planning 1,044 vertiports for construction by 2028 - yet the authors of the study estimate that roughly 620 of those will be ready by 2028. For more.
EHang performs a pilotless flight in Brazil, in partnership with local operator Gohobb.
Vertaxi raises $28.3M to build an eVTOL.
OEMs 🛺⚡️
US to propose ban on Chinese software, hardware in connected vehicles, citing national security reasons. The new legislation is now open for 30 days for public consultations. This follows a recent tariff hike from the Biden Administration, and this proposal is likely to go into effect, meaning another blow to the Chinese car industry.
In other news 📰
AtoB, transportation industry payments solution, raises $130M Series C, a mix of equity and debt. .
Distribution, ground-transport tech platform, raises $80M series C.
Pyka, a logistic electric autonomous plane, raises $40M. The company works with the defence industry, which presents both opportunities (revenue, tech dev) and challenges (people, values).
Porsche invested in Quantum Systems, a drone manufacturer from Germany.
The NHTSA proposed forcing car companies to limit the risk of pedestrian head injuries in a collision. If this becomes a law, it will lead to a major change - car companies would have to consider pedestrians. TBC.
Americans vote according to gas prices. Quoting from the report: “in 23 of the 24 swing counties analyzed, we found that an increase in average annual gasoline consumption and expenditure in a block group was associated with a decrease in votes for Biden in those counties, even when controlling for race, income, and population density”.
How WFH is contributing to super-commute.
I love meeting new people, learning about mobility innovation and exchanging opinions. Interested in discussing mobility?
People 🧑🤝🧑
Chris Lewis is the new Managing Director, UK @ Gett.
Cyprien Duval is the new Junior Project Manager @ Alstom.
Danny O'Gorman is the new Ireland GM @ FREENOW.
Richard Jeremy is the new Bus Reform Programme Manager @ Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority.
Sharad Agarwal is the new Managing Director, North America @ Optibus.
Thalia Schindler is the new Program Specialist @ freesbe.
Congrats and good luck!
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