Uber is offering its drivers in London a three-component ‘PowerUp Package’ worth up to £22,750 to switch to EVs. Uber has committed that all Uber vehicles in London will be fully electric by the end of 2025. 25% of the miles driven by Uber drivers in London are now fully... Read more →
Mercedes-Benz Mobility and BMW Group intend to sell their car-sharing joint venture SHARE NOW to Stellantis. The three companies recently signed an agreement to this effect and agreed not to disclose the details of the transaction. It is also subject to the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities. SHARE NOW... Read more →
Kia revealed the Niro Plus, its first purpose-built vehicle (PBV). Kia is exploring diverse ways to help people and businesses move beyond traditional automotive, and the company expects its PBV models to be an important part of future mobility. The Kia Niro Plus will be deployed as a general model... Read more →
The LA Department of Transportation (LADOT) launched its Universal Basic Mobility (UBM) Pilot in South Los Angeles—one of the largest programs of its kind in the country, increasing access to transportation options for thousands of Angelenos. The pilot will bring e-bikes, shared EV cars and on-demand EV shuttle service, in... Read more →
Forth and Mobility Development Group are creating a national partnership to launch the Affordable Mobility Platform (AMP), which will establish electric vehicle (EV) carsharing based at affordable housing sites in at least five states over the next two years. In November 2021, Forth was awarded two grants from the US... Read more →
Toyota’s global brand for new mobility services, KINTO, is now introducing the Toyota Mirai fuel cell vehicle into its KINTO Share fleet in Sweden. Since KINTO started its Swedish operations one year ago, the mobility service provider has grown rapidly to almost 1.000 cars in operation today, covering almost all... Read more →
The Volkswagen Group is expanding its WeShare electric car sharing project to Hamburg later this week; the pilot project launched in Berlin in 2019. Due to the Corona pandemic, we are unfortunately only able to launch in Hamburg with a delay of around one year. We are all the more... Read more →
Autonomous driving software company Aurora has entered a long-term, global, and strategic collaboration with Toyota and Denso, one of the largest global manufacturers and tier-one automotive suppliers, respectively, to build and globally deploy self-driving cars at scale. This collaboration has two primary goals: To develop and test driverless-capable vehicles equipped... Read more →
Researchers at MIT report that the entrance of transportation network companies (TNCs)—specifically Uber and Lyft, which together have a 98% share of the market—in cities led to increased road congestion in terms of both intensity (by 0.9%) and duration (by 4.5%); an 8.9% decline in transit ridership; and an insignificant... Read more →
On 1 January 2021, Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd., Keihin Corporation, Showa Corporation and Nissin Kogyo Co., Ltd. concluded management integration to form Hitachi Astemo, Ltd., a provider of mobility solutions to the automotive industry. The name “Astemo” is derived from the words “Advanced Sustainable Technologies for Mobility” and describes the... Read more →
When ridesourcing companies Uber and Lyft show up in urban areas, vehicle registrations per capita increase by 0.7% on average, increasing even more in car-dependent cities, according to a new study led by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. In an open-access paper in the journal iScience, the team estimates the... Read more →
The coronavirus pandemic is having a lasting impact on people’s mobility habits all over the world, according to the findings of the Continental Mobility Study 2020. Private car use has seen strong growth, while sharing and hailing services, which have been booming in recent years, are suffering a significant slump.... Read more →
Volkswagen and Uber have launched a pilot project for the utilization of electric vehicles within the sustainable ride hailing service “Uber Green”. The objective of the pilot project is to use a number of year-old e-Golf vehicles which may run into three digits. Volkswagen has already been using the e-Golf... Read more →
Uber is committing to become a fully zero-emission platform by 2040, with 100% of rides taking place in zero-emission vehicles, on public transit, or with micromobility. The company is also setting an earlier goal to have 100% of rides take place in electric vehicles (EVs) in US, Canadian, and European... Read more →
Lyft announced that, following on the success of its rental pilot in California, it is partnering with SIXT rent-a-car to expand car rentals across the US. Starting this August, Lyft riders in Seattle, Las Vegas, and Miami will be able to rent a SIXT car through the Rentals tab in... Read more →
A global survey of more than survey found that more than 120 auto tech leaders by Informa Tech Automotive Group found that 57% expect that COVID-19 will quicken the pace and rate of consolidation within the automotive industry. In addition, with an increased reluctance to use public transportation, more than... Read more →
Replacing a gasoline-powered ride-hailing vehicle with an electric vehicle can deliver three times the carbon benefits of a personally owned electric vehicle, according to a study by a University of California, Davis, researcher of Uber and Lyft data. The paper is published in the journal Nature Energy. Ride-hailing vehicles travel... Read more →
NEVS has presented its new mobility ecosystem: PONS—the first generation of autonomous vehicles with a connected user interface. The self-driving vehicle Sango is the centerpiece of the system. The self-driving vehicle Sango NEVS developed PONS because cities all over the world, clogged by pollution and traffic, want to do whatever... Read more →
BASF and DiDi, the world’s leading mobile transportation platform, signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, where Xiaoju Autocare (Xiaoju Yangche), a subsidiary of DiDi, is headquartered. Under the agreement, BASF will provide DiDi with sustainable automotive refinish products developed at its research and production site in... Read more →
A new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) finds that the rising use of ride-hailing services is increasing carbon emissions, with ride-hailing trips producing nearly 70% greater emissions compared to the trips they are replacing. This significant increase in emissions comes in part from “deadheading”—the miles a driver... Read more →
WeShare, Volkswagen and ŠKODA’s free-floating electric car sharing service, is to expand into seven more cities in Germany and other European countries in 2020. Prague and Hamburg in the spring are to be followed by Paris, Madrid, Budapest, Munich and Milan in the course of the year. In all these... Read more →
A new report from Tractica forecasts that the global market for Mobility as a service (MaaS) to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.0% to become a $563.3 billion market by 2025, largely driven by ride-hailing applications. Tractica defines mobility as a service (MaaS) as technology-driven programs... Read more →
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has released the 2018 Base-year Emissions Inventory Report, as required by Senate Bill 1014 (SB 1014, California Clean Miles Standard). (Earlier post.) SB 1014, enacted in 2018, directed CARB and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to develop and implement measures to reduce GHG emissions... Read more →
Uber is adding more polluting car trips to already-clogged European cities such as London and Paris, new analysis by European NGOs suggests—contributing to air pollution and climate change and exploding the company’s sustainability claims. Data compiled by Euromonitor for European research and campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) shows a... Read more →
Hyundai, in collaboration with Pony.ai and Via, unveiled BotRide, a shared, on-demand, autonomous vehicle service operating on public roads. Starting on 4 November, a fleet of self-driving Hyundai KONA Electric SUVs will provide a free ride-sharing service to the local community of Irvine, California. The pilot introduces BotRide to several... Read more →
Micromobility (defined as shared bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters) could deliver substantial benefits to consumers and businesses around the world, including efficient and cost-effective travel, reduced traffic congestion, decreased emissions and a boost to the local economy. According to the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ trip distance estimates, scooters are... Read more →
The arrival of ridehailing is associated with an increase of approximately 3 percent in the number of motor vehicle fatalities and fatal accidents, according to research from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Rice University. From the study, Barrios et al.. The researchers used the staggered roll-out... Read more →
Volkswagen is entering the growing car sharing sector with the launch of WeShare in Berlin today. With 1,500 e-Golf vehicles, the Volkswagen brand is bringing onto the roads a 100% electric fleet; all the vehicles will be operated on green power. The e-Golfs will be followed by 500 additional e-up!... Read more →
Researchers from the University of Kentucky and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority have determined that, contrary to the concept and vision, transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft are the biggest contributor to growing traffic congestion in San Francisco. Using data scraped from the application programming interfaces of... Read more →
Toyota Motor Corp., DENSO Corporation and the SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF) will invest $1 billion in Uber Technologies Inc.’s Advanced Technologies Group (Uber ATG). The investment, in a newly formed ATG corporate entity, aims to accelerate the development and commercialization of automated ridesharing services. Under the terms, Toyota and DENSO... Read more →
Hyundai Motor Group has developed a “Digital Key”, which allows users to unlock and start their Hyundai or Kia vehicle via their smartphone. Replacing a traditional physical key, the new Digital Key can be downloaded via an app and used by up to four authorized people. The Digital Key can... Read more →
BMW i Ventures and Volvo Cars Tech Fund each have invested in Zūm, a fast-growing on-demand ride sharing service for student transportation for school districts and working families. The company, which celebrates its fourth birthday this month, aims to become the world’s safest and largest child transportation provider. The new... Read more →
With the enactment of SB 1014 (earlier post)—the Clean Miles Standard and Incentive Program—the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is to develop and to implement new requirements for transportation network companies (TNCs)—i.e., ridesharing companies—for innovative ways to curb GHG emissions as new mobility... Read more →
Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) is introducing “total-care service,” a pioneering set of mobility services specially designed for ride-hailing companies. Working with ride-hailing companies, Total-care Service will enable Toyota to leverage onboard telematics data through a shared information platform and provide services such as fleet management, automotive insurance, and vehicle maintenance... Read more →
BASF and the Research and Development Center of Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd. (GAC R&D Center) introduced three co-developed electric concept cars at Auto Guangzhou 2018, featuring futuristic designs that address the diverse needs of China’s drivers. The three two-seat concept electric cars are designed by GAC R&D Center, with... Read more →
The first of hundreds of electric car-sharing vehicles coming to Sacramento, California as part of Electrify America’s $44-million investment in the City will be unveiled tomorrow at the Whispering Pines Apartments in Meadowview. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, Electrify America and Envoy, an electric car-sharing company awarded funds by Electrify America,... Read more →
Ford Motor Company, Uber and Lyft have committed to support to SharedStreets, a new data platform designed to make it easier for the private sector to work with cities around the world and leverage data to improve urban mobility. At the heart of SharedStreets is a linear referencing system which... Read more →
Groupe Renault and ADA, a subsidiary of the Rousselet Group, are launching the Moov’In.Paris application, which will provide access to their free-floating car-sharing service for electric vehicles. The Moov’in.Paris application is available for download from the Apple Store and Google Play. The new user can create his or her account... Read more →
Ride-hailing accounts for approximately an 83.5% increase in the miles cars travel for ride-hailing passengers in Denver’s metro area, according to a study published this week in the journal Transportation by researchers at the University of Colorado Denver. For this study, the conservative (lower end) percentage of deadheading miles from... Read more →
California has become the first state in the US to regulate the greenhouse gas produced by the surge in popularity of ridesharing. California Governor Brown signed SB 1014, a bill requiring transportation network companies (TNCs) to account for, and reduce, the greenhouse gas emissions of their operations. The explosive growth... Read more →
With car2go, moovel, mytaxi/Intelligent Apps (mytaxi, beat, Clever Taxi and Chauffeur Privé), the mobility portfolio in the segment of Daimler Financial Services counted 24.4 million customers as of July 30, 2018. This represents an increase of 64% (compared to the previous year). The number of transactions reached 95.3 million in... Read more →
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber) have agreed to expand their collaboration with the aim of advancing and bringing to market autonomous ride-sharing as a mobility service at scale. To accomplish this, technology from each company will be integrated into purpose-built Toyota vehicles to be deployed on... Read more →
The Volkswagen brand is launching an extensive all-electric car sharing offering in selected major cities under its “We Share” sub-brand. The first fleet of vehicles will be rolled out in the German capital Berlin, and will comprise 1,500 e-Golfs when the service begins operating in the second quarter of 2019,... Read more →
Hyundai Motor Company is partnering with -, India’s fastest growing self-drive car-sharing company, to develop an innovative car-sharing service and conduct creative marketing activities in India. The strategic partnership includes a Hyundai Motor investment in Revv. The strategic investment and partnership will enable both Hyundai Motor and Revv to build... Read more →
A new report by ABI research forecasts that a proportionately higher uptake of EVs in car-sharing fleets, and the higher utilization rates of those EVs, will result in global electric mileage share to exceed 20% by 2030. While consumer adoption of EVs continues to disappoint with only 2% of all... Read more →
Carsharing service car2go has opened its tenth North American location; the new Chicago fleet comprises 400 vehicles, including smart fortwo and Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLA vehicles. Chicago is the third-largest city in the US and due to its very high population density and well-developed local public transport system offers perfect... Read more →
Considering electrification, autonomy and sharing (the “Three Revolutions”), a team from Boston University and the University of California, Berkeley projects that electricity use from light duty vehicle (LDV) transport will likely be in the 570–1140 TWh range—13–26%—respectively, of total electricity demand in 2050. Their open-access study appears in the journal Energy... Read more →
China-based Didi Chuxing, the world’s leading one-stop mobile transportation platform, and Booking Holdings, a global leader in online accommodations and travel e-commerce, have entered into a strategic partnership. Booking Holdings has invested US$500 million in DiDi, recognizing DiDi as a leader in the mobile transportation industry. Under the partnership, DiDi... Read more →
In Hawaii, Toyota launched a new round-trip, station-based car share service called Hui. Operated by Servco Pacific (Servco), Toyota’s distributor in Hawaii, the Hui service utilizes Toyota’s proprietary global Mobility Service Platform (MSPF) (earlier post) and a consumer facing app developed by Toyota Connected North America (TCNA), the global technology... Read more →
The City of Paris and Groupe Renault announced their intention to share their expertise and skills to develop electric mobility for Parisians, Île-de-France residents and visitors. The partnership will result in short-, medium- and long-term actions in favor of the development of connected and autonomous electric vehicles. As a first... Read more →