Volume 14
| Welcome to the next edition of our bi-weekly recap of the latest and greatest in connected and on-demand mobility. If you’re not already receiving this email, you should be: Subscribe |
| Uber and Lyft plan being all-electric. Lots has to change Forbes, September 14th Last week, Uber UBER followed up Lyft LYFT by announcing that all Uber rides by 2030 would be electric. It’s a lofty goal, and they are pledging resources to it, including giving drivers $1.50 extra per ride (riders pay $1 for an Uber Green) and providing funds to help people convert. They say they will commit “$800M of resources” by 2025. |
| Lucid Motors reveals Lucid Air luxury electric car with 517-mile range aimed at Tesla Tennessean, September 9th The days of fearing that you might run out of juice when driving an electric car may be coming to an end with the development of the longest-range battery-powered vehicle yet. Silicon Valley-based Lucid Motors, one of several electric vehicle startups hoping to become the next Tesla, revealed an electric car capable of going up to 517 miles on a single charge. That means you could drive from New Orleans to Nashville, from Washington, D.C., to Indianapolis., or from Chicago to Lincoln, Nebraska, without having to charge up. |
| Apple wins a major patent describing key autonomous vehicle decision-making systems & processes that control motion Patently Apple, September 8th The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 73 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we touch on a major new Project Titan invention that covers systems and algorithms for planning and controlling the motion of autonomous or partially autonomous vehicles. The new system focuses on the use of two key systems known as “The Behavior Planner,” and “The Motion Selector.” |
| A bicycle maker created an electric 4-wheeled vehicle that bridges the gap between cars and e-bikes — see Canyon’s ‘Future Mobility Concept’ Business Insider, September 13th Bicycle maker Canyon has unveiled the Future Mobility Concept, a sustainable concept vehicle that can be driven in both car and bike lanes. Canyon partnered with the Technical University of Aachen in Germany for the design, and the final product of this teamwork resulted in the combination of an electric bicycle and a car that can glide into the bike lane when traffic in the car lane is too backed up. |
| Uber analyst expects California’s Prop 22 to pass based on latest polling Yahoo Finance, September 9th Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE: UBER) shares are down 5.4% in the last three months, and one of the biggest factors weighing on the stock is California’s AB5 law, which could potentially completely overhaul the company’s business model by forcing Uber to classify its drivers as employees rather than independent contractors. Fortunately for Uber investors, one Wall Street analyst said Wednesday that new poll data suggests Uber may dodge the AB5 bullet on Election Day. |
| ChewBox is reimagining food delivery as a “vehicle of social justice” MSN, September 11th Food delivery startup ChewBox is fusing technology with the spirit of generosity to help restore economic opportunities in Los Angeles’ marginalized communities. “This is the reimagination of food services as a perpetual, sustainable vehicle of social justice,” ChewBox co-founder and CEO Kim Gaston told CBSN. “It’s an empathetic economy, you know — something we need right now,” co-founder and celebrity chef Roy Choi added. Choi and Gaston, along with chairman and investor Stephen DeBerry, are on a mission to empower people by delivering chef-made meals under $10 — all of which can be traced back to a “ghost” kitchen in the Watts neighborhood of South LA. |
| Universities roll out food delivery by robot Campus Technology, September 9th Students at Arizona State University and James Madison University can now order food for delivery by autonomous robot, thanks to a partnership between food and facilities provider Aramark and Starship Technologies. Through the Starship Deliveries mobile app, students can choose food and drink items from campus eateries or local merchants, and then drop a pin on an interactive map to indicate where the delivery should be sent. They can watch the robot’s progress on the map, and when it arrives, unlock it through the app and collect their items. Each robot can carry up to 20 pounds, according to the company. |
| Walmart to test drone delivery with Zipline in latest deal SF Gate, September 14th Walmart is teaming up with a company called Zipline to launch drone delivery program early next year that will deliver health and wellness products close to the retailer’s headquarters in Northwest Arkansas. Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, said Monday that it plans to eventually expand to general merchandise. |
| US Agency posts online map to track autonomous vehicle tests US News, September 2nd The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Wednesday launched its autonomous vehicle online tracking tool, a map that shows some of the places where the vehicles are being tested on public roads. The map is a pilot program that now shows testing in 17 cities across the nation, and the safety agency says it will as companies submit more information. |
| Why Los Angeles might make transit free Bloomberg City Lab, September 1st With ridership hovering around 50% of pre-pandemic days, the transit agency serving the most populous county in the U.S. is considering a radical change: eliminating bus and rail fares. In a board meeting on Aug. 27, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Phil Washington announced a new internal task force to study options for a fare-free system, calling the step a “moral obligation” to meet the needs of riders during the pandemic. |
| Amazon poaches former Uber manager to grow its e-bike delivery team in New York City CNBC, September 14th Amazon has made two key hires to its e-bike delivery team in New York City, including a former Uber manager, signaling it may be looking at the technology as another way to offer faster delivery times. Alex Vickers joined Amazon in June to serve as a senior program manager on the company’s electric bikes unit. He previously worked on the business development team at Jump, an e-bike rental company which was Uber acquired in 2018 and then sold to mobility start-up Lime in May. Vickers announced his move to Amazon in a LinkedIn post on Monday. |
| Yandex Self Driving Group gets $150 million, will bring autonomous vehicles to U.S. Forbes, September 5th On paper, a lot is happening with Yandex’s self-driving vehicles. Yandex NV a Russian multinational company that specializes in Internet-related products and services and sometimes called the Google GOOGL of Russia, will spin-off its autonomous vehicle business and form a new company – Yandex Self Driving Group B.V. (or Yandex SDG) with Uber UBER. |
| Canoo aims to reinvent electric vehicles and subscriptions Pymnts, September 8th A COVID slump slowed the roll of major automakers and dealers this past spring, with the pandemic causing a 30 percent drop in auto sales to date. That’s giving extra momentum to the car-leasing trend that’s been displacing ownership for years. And that, in turn, is being challenged by ideas like fractional ownership and, more recently, auto subscriptions. Many people think 2020 is the wrong time to buy a car anyway. That group would certainly include Alex Marcinkowski, chief strategy officer at Canoo, the electric vehicle company that has made headlines with its recent $600 million fundraise. Canoo accomplished that by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) called Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp., bypassing much of the red tape and long waiting times involved in traditional initial public offerings (IPOs). |
