Voi threatens to exit London, Joby acquires Xwing and Fisker’s collapse is imminent

#movingpeople is a part of Mobility Business  - a consultancy dedicated to "All Things Mobility". This week highlighting the SME solution. 

Meet RideNear - the new UK ride-hailing solution that aggregates multiple global and local providers into one convenient app, ensuring better access to available vehicles, a broader range of options, and superior price and ETA comparisons.

Founded by Miraskar Mirakhmedov, RideNear is now emerging from stealth with paying users and partnerships in place. Try it out, RideNear is available on Google Play and the App Store. 

I’ve joined RideNear as an advisor to help them navigate the mobility ecosystem, and I am confident about their success. RideNear is in the midst of a pre-seed round - so DM the founder or myself for more information.

Ride-Hailing & Taxi, Buses & DRT  🚙🚐

Jamaica to ban ride-hailing for a period of 12 months, following the murder of a local teacher. The government wants more cooperation with local police (e.g. background checks) and improved oversight (licence, pricing) from existing apps - inDrive, Uber, 876OnTheGo, Lyft and Ride Jamaica, and will shorten the ban period if it sees such cooperation. In Egypt, Uber and Careem are facing a lawsuit, aiming to cease their operations for not holding to regulation, following the death of a rider. Japan will only allow ride-hailing only for taxi companies, not digital platforms / independent drivers. 

Bolt introduces bidding in Nigeria. Background: in May 2023 Nigeria ended its fuel subsidy, sending prices high by >100%, with prices continuing to be volatile. It made ride-hailing a complex pricing exercise, with companies such as Bolt subsidising fuel for drivers. With a bidding strategy, the pricing dilemma moves away from Bolt to the rider & driver. Still in Nigeria, InDrive secures its licence. 

How Careem, over the course of two years, went from being a market leader to a distant 3rd in Pakistan. Careem also closed its food delivery and digital payment businesses; and remember the Uber brand also closed its operations in the country. The winners: InDrive. And then Yango. 

Kakao Mobility launches a taxi-hailing app for foreigners in Korea. The k.ride app offers premium services only, allows use of foreign credit cards and provides an automatic translation function. Kakao integrates with Tesla's navigation system. Kakao fined $11.1M over data breach. 

Uber is developing Caregivers - a function that allows caregivers to coordinate non-emergency health-related transportation through the Uber app - set to launch in the summer. Uber is subsidising London’s vehicle electrification - with discounts reaching tens of thousands. Uber aims to return to York (UK), after being banned in 2017. Uber still operates in York, but only with drivers that have their licences in other councils. Uber returns to Aberdeen, while taxi drivers there are refusing to work with the city’s airport over new fees.  

Ola adds traffic lights into its maps, on top of traffic colour indication. 

BluSmart is testing its ride-hailing service in Dubai with an all-electric limousine fleet. The official launch is expected this month, with Abu-Dhabi following later this year. Yango expands to Togo. Bolt wins tender to provide ride-hailing services in Madrid, Barcelona, and Malaga airports. The tender awards Bolt with parking spots close to the airport. In Sweden, Bolt integrates into taxi-metres. After three months, Flix is present in 50 Indian cities. Lyft’s CEO says the best tippers are either people travelling to a Taylor Swift concert or to an ice cream shop. It’s all about being in a good mood. 

The Routing Company launches in Iceland, with an on-demand service around the airport. Padam expands in the UK, to Somerset. French on the Cheshire West and Chester Council’s iTravel DRT scheme - focusing on low service targets. 

Subsidised workplace commute gives people more employment opportunities and contributes to their mental health being - so say >80% of Zeelo’s riders. 

I was in the city of Iasi (Romania) last week on business, and couldn’t help talking to Bolt and Uber drivers while there:

• Bolt is the bigger player in Iasi

• For branding one’s car Bolt - the company pays 2.5 lei (€0.5) per ride, providing (a) the driver has a minimum of 250 rides per month (=€125) and up to a max of 500 rides (=€250), and (b) has over 75% rides acceptance rate. Uber pays less, up to €100, for its branding

• Both companies take 25% commission 

• While Uber shows the end destination when a driver receives the rides (before acceptance), Bolt does not. 

European Shared Mobility 203 review by Fluctuo 🚘🛵🚲🛴

Covering European car-sharing and micromobility, 2023 had seen positive modest growth, 10% increase in number of trips to 600 million and +7% vehicles to 930,000. End user revenues grew by 18% to €2.3bn, but that higher growth also has to do with inflation and price increases. 

Bikes fleet size grew by 22% YoY with dockless bikes leading the growth and TVD (average Trips per Vehicle per Day) is 2.1, same as in 2022; Scooters increased fleet by 1%, TVD same at 1.5; Mopeds fleet declined 27%, TVD 2.0 down from 2.1 in 2022; Cars increases 25% with free-floating leading growth, TVD up to 2.0 from 1.8. For the (free) report. 

Car Sharing/renting 🚗

Ush and Poppy Mobility (by D'Ieteren) partner with Vay to roll out remotely controlled vehicles in Belgium. 

GreenMobility achieves three consecutive months of (operational?) profitability in Denmark. The company expects to be “profit before tax” positive this year. 

SIXT share partners with Zity to allow SIXT’s customers use of the Zity fleet. Communauto expanding in Canada. Turucca, car-sharing brand by Humax Mobility, to launch on Jeju Island, South Korea. Hiya Car partners with East Lothian Council (UK) to allow the public to use council’s cars on the weekends, evenings and holidays. Socar will add 12-month term products to its monthly car sharing service

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

Micromobility 🚲🛴

Voi threatens to withdraw its e-scooters from London. In a letter to London’s Mayor, Voi CEO Fredrik Hjelm cited heavy regulation and unfair competition with rental e-bikes as reasons for possible withdrawal. The company is also looking at deploying e-bikes. Earlier this year Dott withdrew on similar grounds, leaving Voi and Lime to operate in the UK’s capital. 

Down 2 Earth Capital (D2E), a Private Equity firm, acquires Belgian bike leasing provider Cyclobility. Cyclobility’s business is focused on B2B leasing, with retail stores that offer maintenance and also cater to private customers. D2E will help boost bike leasing in Belgium (and, I assume, Benelux and France). 

A Deloitte micromobility study, commissioned by Bolt, finds that flexible regulation leads to “more affordable pricing and higher adoption from consumers”. One of the study’s recommendations was a minimum of four operators in each city, which differs from the recommendation presented by  a coalition of scooter companies in Mid-2023, which called for a maximum of 3 operators. 

Flamingo Scooters launching in Dunedin, New Zealand, making this the company’s 5th city. FREENOW Ireland partnered with bike sharing provider MOBY to make MOBY’s fleet available on the FREENOW app. Lime returns to Spokane, US. York (UK) scooter trial, which ran from 2020, ended. Council to decide on future expansion. Brussels still has 12,000 scooters.

The Surf Beyond story: how to go from 0 to 700 to 5,000 to Superpedestrian in under three years.  

Opinion: the evolution of micromobility from 2018 to 2024, in three distinct phases: (1) unregulated expansion in 2018-2020; (2) regulatory engagement and challenges in 2020-2022; and (3) market consolidation and strategic refocusing, from 2022 to today. 

Delivery 🍽🧺

This is bonkers. In 2022, Getir UK had an operating loss of £168M (±$215M), and in 2021 operating loss of £116M (±$150M). To put things in perspective, in 2022 Gross loss was minus 60% of turnover and Operating loss was minus 210%. In what world did managers and investors think this was feasible? 

Back then in London, local Zapp posted losses of £92.5M and the UK business of US grocery delivery app GoPuff posted a loss of £93.8M. 

Back to now - Getir’s founder/CEO, Nazim Salur, is at odds with investors and running out of money. Investors want Salur to step back from daily management and hand over the reins to Derya Erdemli, Getir’s (recently fired by Mr. Salur) chief strategy officer. Getir has sufficient funds only until the end of the month, and investors threaten to stop funding if changes aren’t implemented. 

FT looks at food delivery $20bn in losses, the combined loss of ​​DoorDash, Deliveroo, Delivery Hero and Just Eat Takeaway. Margins are looking better. 

Ocado closes a deal with Getir to send communications and promotions to its former users, encouraging them to switch to the Ocado Zoom service.

Bolt launches “Send”, a package delivery service. The service is piloted in five markets, and utilises ride-hailing drivers for packages under 15kg. Deliveroo Shopping launches in Kuwait. Talabat Jordan launches a new rewards programme; Talabat UAE signs with Dubai Taxi Company to utilise their fleet. 

Bolt food staying in Ghana. foodora is leaving Denmark, after 18 months. Gopuff extends 24/7 grocery delivery service to 5 new UK cities. 

Amazon and Grubhub expand partnership. Amazon customers can now order Grubhub restaurant delivery on Amazon’s site and Shopping app, and Amazon Prime members will now get Grubhub+ for free, on an ongoing basis. Starbucks and Grubhub launch delivery partnership in the US. Starbucks has similar partnerships with UberEats, DoorDash and GoPuff. Glovo partners with Siltech, an EV bike manufacturer, for deliveries in Lagos. DoorDash expands Ulta partnership to all 50 states. 

Thoughts about the foodpanda Taiwan - Uber deal. 

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Autonomous & remote-driving 🤖℡

A New York Times on rebuilding Cruise: safety is the “North Star''; its 2024 budget has been cut by $1 billion; and the company is in no hurry to get back on the road. Cruise now hopes to have one robotaxi service in one city by the end of 2024 and to operate in up to 5 cities with a safety driver. Also Cruise returns to Dallas, for now in manual (normal) driving mode in order to collect data needed for an autonomous launch, making it its 2nd city after getting back to Phoenix in April. 

Tesla prepares to roll-out FSD in China by the end of the year, right now registering its software with authorities. .  

WeRide’s Robovan is permitted to conduct unmanned open-road tests in Guangzhou. This is the first L4 fully driverless Robovan testing licence and the first 7X24h self-driving package delivery testing licence in China. 

WeRide L4 minibus shuttle in Roland -Garros, in partnership with Renault.  Aurora and Volvo unveil a self-driving truck designed for a driverless future. Limited manufacturing has started and pilot customers will be announced by the end of 2024. TIER IV prepares to start robotaxi services Tokyo by November 2024. Right now the company is launching its pilot tests in Odaiba. Zoox to begin testing retrofitted Toyota Highlanders in Austin and in Miami, with safety drivers. Video of a Swaayatt Robots vehicle driving off-road. Pony.ai sets sights on the Korean market. 

Vay and Peugeot partner to explore B2B use cases - logistics centres, car sharing / rental, on-demand valet services for vehicle delivery and parking. Ottopia, remote driving, video. The company says it is ready for mass production. 

NHTSA is adding another 9 Waymo incidents to its review , bringing the total to 31. Waymo confused driving behind a car with a tree video. NHTSA looks for more detail into Zoox sudden braking reports. 

Flying cars 🚁

Joby acquires the autonomy division of Xwing. Xwing has been flying autonomous since 2020, on an in-house software development platform. With over 250 unmanned flights, it was the first company to receive an official project designation for the certification of a large unmanned aerial system (UAS) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in April 2023 and the first to receive an Air Force Military Flight Release in 2024. Video. 

Archer receives an FAA Part 135 certificate to begin commercial operations, 2nd company to get FAA’s approval after Joby, which received theirs in 2022. Also Archer partners with Kakao Mobility to bring electric air taxis to South Korea in 2026. Kakao will own and operate air taxi rides. Kakao has a similar deal with Vertical Aerospace; and Archer partners with Etihad to recruit and train eVTOL pilots in UAE. 

Lilium announces completion of its $144M capital raise and eVolare orders another 4 Jets. eVolare, a UK company, plans to connect London with outer cities and the coastal areas of England.

Volocopter secures funding from existing investors. 

Wisk gets $70M to its budget from Boeing. And Boeing to pay $72M to Zunum Aero in a legal trade secrets case. Boeing will appeal. 

OEMs 🛺⚡️

Fisker. Cuts hundreds of workers to try to keep alive; it is estimated that 150 people are still working in the company, down from 1,135 in April 2019. Fisker relocates Belgian operations to the Netherlands, closing its service centre near Antwerp and shutting down its Belgian entity. And Fisker defaulted on a $3.5M loan, signalling imminent bankruptcy.  

Inside story by TechCrunch: Fisker had one model - the Fisker Ocean - which had software and mechanical problems; furthermore, there was inadequate customer service, no properly functioning warranty system, a dearth of spare parts; and lack of processes led to chaos. For more.  

Zypp Electric, Indian EV manufacturer, raised another $15M to its Series C and plans to use funds to Southeast Asia, targeting Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Today Zypp has 22,000 vehicles on-road in India, and the company plans to double that fleet size. 

Gig economy 💰

Revel, the all-Tesla asset-heavy all-employee-model premium ride-hailing player in New York, is letting go its 1,000+ driver employees, moving to a contractor (gig) model. The company has been piloting the gig model since February, and has now decided to transition in full. Revel says that it is drivers that wanted the gig worker model - as it allows greater flexibility. Next year the company also intends to add an asset-light vehicle model, which is good for the EV charging business. 

London’s drivers are protesting Uber’s dynamic pricing system. Uber moved away from a 25% commission to a dynamic pricing system in January 2023, a move that drivers say has hurt them. Moreover, Uber is apparently implementing a personalised pricing algorithm, based on past driver behaviour / acceptance of rides. Drivers wish for transparent pricing. 

Still in London, Deliveroo drivers protest against their poor pay and job security. Workers say that after expenses and wait times, their take-home falls below the national minimum wage of £11.44.

In Barcelona, taxi drivers plan to strike against ride-hailing companies, by congesting the city. This follows Cabify’s marketing campaign, which claims that there are the same number of taxis today as they were in 1979. 

In the Philippines, foodpanda drivers fight for better working conditions. 

In Nigeria, Bolt’s drive-to-win health insurance scheme leaves drivers overworked and exhausted. There is no transparency in Bolt’s communication - referring to “top drivers” as eligible. The scheme used to be applicable for drivers who performed 300 or 200 rides a month (depends who you’re asking), but that stopped in May 2023, and today Bolt provides insurance to only the top 50 drivers with the most trips each month. It is not clear how many drivers are on the platform, but an estimate from 2021 puts it at 20,000. Let that sink in - 50 out of roughly 20,000, or 0.25%, are eligible, for a period of 1 month. 

Also in Nigeria, more than 100 Glovo delivery riders protested against the company’s unreliable insurance policy.

In Seattle, DoorDash is trying to lower driver wages, from its $26.4 per active hour to $19.97. So far unsuccessful. 

In other news 📰

Uber Bubbles - the first ever champagne tour bookable directly in the Uber app - in the heart of France’s champagne region. This is actually an interesting foray into tourism. 

Airbnb partnered with ChargePoint to help hosts install home EV chargers. 

Why Is Car Insurance So Expensive? New York Times looks at the reasons, which range from more expensive parts and post-pandemic increase in accidents to the way insurance is regulated. 

TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2024: where you can find a dozen plus OEMs, AI / autonomous, EV and delivery players related to the mobility ecosystem. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul “indefinitely pauses” congestion pricing, weeks before the plan was to go live on June 30th. Regardless on your views on congestion pricing, cancelling a project of this magnitude at the last minute is highly irregular. 

Whizz, US e-bike subscription service for food delivery workers, raises $12M in Series A. Whizz develops both the bike (hardware) and the software, putting an emphasis on quality and localisation. For an interview with the founder/CEO. 

People 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Jason McGibbon is the new Chair @ Liftango. 

Sandra Witzel joined Transport Focus as a member of the board. 

Callum Houston is the new General Manager Rental @ UFODRIVE. 

Richard Catterson is the new Head of Strategic Marketing @ Hitachi Rail.

Alistair Harvey is a new Site Manager @ DHL.

Yann Bauchet is the new Head of Active and Alternative mobility @ Transdev.

Tal Sisso is the new IL HR Director @ UVeye. 

Jimmy Pavesi is the new Head of Sales - UK @ LimoLane. 

Geraldine Priya is a new Research Manager @ Frost & Sullivan. 

Chanchal Jetha is a new Program Manager @ Frost & Sullivan. 

Congrats and good luck!

Thank you for reading #movingpeople

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