Hyundai Motor Company announced an updated roadmap for its future business Strategy 2025 at the 2020 CEO Investor Day’\ forum held virtually in Seoul. The comprehensive mid- to long-term strategy reinforces Hyundai’s plan to lead the future mobility industry as a Smart Mobility Solution Provider. The updated Strategy 2025 roadmap... Read more →

Volvo Group Venture Capital AB has invested in Flock Freight, a technology company based in Solana Beach, California, that pools shipments to fill unused trailer space. The company uses algorithms to match multiple LTL (less than a truckload) shipments into one shared truckload that eliminates all terminals and hubs, improving... Read more →

FCA Italy S.p.A. (FCA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., and ENGIE EPS, an Italian technology player in energy storage and e-mobility, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at creating a Joint Venture to become a leader in the European e-Mobility landscape. The JV would rely... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group and Greece have agreed to establish a mobility system on the Mediterranean island of Astypalea. To that end, the current transport system on the island will transition to electric vehicles and renewable power generation. In the long run, Astypalea will strive to become a model island for... Read more →

SEAT has created its first multimodal mobility platform as a service through its SEAT:CODE software development center. This platform is the first software product developed and marketed by the company in order to operate and manage vehicle fleets 100% digitally. SEAT MÓ has been the first operator to use this... Read more →

The BMW Group and Daimler Mobility AG are transferring the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) business of their joint subsidiary moovel Group GmbH to Mobimeo GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn. At the same time, the two shareholders are focusing the moovel Group’s market presence on the existing offering... Read more →

Viggo, a technology-driven Danish ride-hailing service, has ordered 300 Fisker Ocean electric SUVs, marking Viggo’s largest single order to date. Viggo, founded in 2019, is aiming to challenge the standards for urban transportation through advanced data-driven innovation, zero-emission cars and Scandinavian simplicity. Since founding, Viggo has built a network of... Read more →

Daimler Insurance Services and Swiss Re have entered into a strategic partnership for automotive and mobility insurance and launched a new company called Movinx. Both shareholders of the 50/50 joint venture will leverage their complementary expertise to establish a new business model. The aim is to develop fully digital automotive... 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 →

Porsche Digital has spun off its own company in the field of e-mobility, thereby expanding its digital business portfolio. “&Charge” offers a digital platform through which users can obtain credit for their online purchases for electric mobility. The start-up, which is based in Frankfurt am Main in Germany, thus offers... Read more →

Premium EV manufacturer NIO has launched Battery as a Service (BaaS) for customers in China. NIO BaaS users can purchase a car without the battery, making EVs more price competitive against existing powertrains, while also providing the flexibility to change battery capacity depending on their needs and pay accordingly. In... Read more →

DeepRoute, an international self-driving vehicle technology provider, and Cao Cao Mobility, a strategically invested business of Geely Technology Group, are partnering to advance the design, development and commercialization of Cao Cao’s autonomous robo-taxis service. The autonomous vehicles, powered by DeepRoute’s innovative self-driving technology solution, will be deployed at the 2022... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation and Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, are expanding their global collaboration, applying AWS’ portfolio of services to expand Toyota’s Mobility Services Platform (MSPF), an ecosystem to help Toyota engineers develop, deploy, and manage the next generation of data-driven mobility services for driver and passenger... Read more →

Kia Motors Corporation plans to expand its partnerships with global mobility companies to meet the needs of a diverse range of customers worldwide. Kia’s President and CEO Ho Sung Song shared the company’s strategy for global mobility during his visit to the company’s Sohari plant in Korea to review launch... Read more →

The Orange County (CA) Transportation Authority (OCTA) has a Tesla Model X SUV as its first all-electric vehicle in the OCTA Vanpool program. The Tesla X is provided by Green Commuter, one of three vanpool companies contracted by OCTA to provide vehicles to commuters in Orange County to help them... 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 →

Kia Motors Corporation has founded ‘Purple M’, a new start-up designed to offer customized EV mobility services. Purple M is a new joint venture created in partnership between Kia Motors and CODE42.ai, a Korean technology firm pioneering the transition to autonomous Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS). Through this new start-up, Kia and CODE42.ai... Read more →

Mobileye, an Intel Company, and WILLER, one of the largest transportation operators in Japan, Taiwan and the Southeast Asian region, have formed a strategic collaboration to launch an autonomous robotaxi service in Japan and markets across Southeast Asia, including Taiwan. Beginning in Japan, the companies will collaborate on the testing... 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 →

AMPLY Power (earlier post) is managing the charging of electric buses for SolTrans, a public transportation provider for south Solano County, California. Unique to this application, AMPLY is operating its cloud-based software in conjunction with the fueling of SolTrans buses that run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). Soltran’s Operations and... Read more →

Uber Technologies will acquire delivery service Postmates for approximately $2.65 billion in an all-stock transaction. This transaction brings together Uber’s global Rides and Eats platform with Postmates’ delivery business in the US. Postmates is complementary to Uber Eats, with differentiated geographic focus areas and customer demographics. Postmates also has established... Read more →

Electric cars are becoming an attractive business proposition for high-mileage vehicle operators such as ride-sharer Uber in key EU capitals such as Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Lisbon, a new study by research and campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) has found. Medium-sized battery-electric cars are on average 14% cheaper to... Read more →

Ridesharing company Lyft—in collaboration with Environmental Defense Fund—has commited to reach 100% electric vehicles on the Lyft platform by 2030. By working with drivers to transition to electric vehicles, we have the potential to avoid tens of millions of metric tons of GHG emissions to the atmosphere and to reduce... Read more →

Honda Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned Honda subsidiary in China, has established Hynex Mobility Service Co., Ltd., a new joint venture company with Neusoft Reach Automotive Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Hynex Mobility Service will strive to advance connected services and offer new value users can enjoy through their... Read more →

Hyundai Motor will display a 1:8-scale model of its ‘UAM-PBV-Hub’ smart mobility ecosystem (earlier post) in its headquarters lobby until June 12 and at global events afterward. The 1:8-scale model on display is a miniature of the exhibit shown at CES 2020 and includes integration of its Urban Air Mobility... Read more →

Swiss start-up Bestmile has developed an orchestration platform for on-demand mobility providers that steers every vehicle in a fleet in real time. The focus is on the control of autonomous vehicles. Bestmile’s cloud-based mobility services solution features its Fleet Orchestration Platform, native professional and public applications, and API-enabled integration with... Read more →

A new study from Juniper Research has found that the total number of MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service) platform users (which integrates different transport services, including buses, taxis, rail and metro into a single app), will grow by more than fivefold by 2021 compared with 2019. This means the market will reach more... Read more →

Intel Corporation today has acquired Moovit, a mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) solutions company, for approximately $900 million ($840 million net of Intel Capital equity gain). Moovit is known for its urban mobility application that offers travelers around the world multimodal trip planning by combining public transportation, bicycle and scooter services, ride-hailing, and... Read more →

Charging-as-a-service provider AMPLY Power is managing the charging of electric buses for Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority, which is operating under the name Tri Delta Transit. AMPLY identified 40% of annual energy savings its managed charging software platform could realize, while guaranteeing vehicles were charged and ready to work each... Read more →

Via, a company that provides digital infrastructure to power public mobility in cities around the world (earlier post), has raised a Series E financing led by EXOR. The financing values the company at $2.25 billion and will enable Via to advance its vision of efficient, accessible, and equitable public mobility.... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company will establish a Hyundai Mobility Global Innovation Center in Singapore (HMGICs) to accelerate its innovation efforts, with support from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). The new innovative lab will be located in Singapore’s Jurong Innovation District. HMGICs will occupy a footprint of 44,000 m2 with the... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation and NTT Corporation entered into a memorandum of understanding concerning a business and capital alliance to build a long-term and continuous cooperative relationship that enables the commercialization of smart city businesses via the realization of a smart city platform. Smart city platform. The platform is to consist... 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 →

Pioneering methods to accelerate electric fleet adoption, AMPLY Power will demonstrate and document its Charging-as-a-Service approach for an all-electric school bus fleet in New York City. Logan Bus Company is providing a fleet of five electric school buses for the demonstration, Black and Veatch will be bringing its depth of... Read more →

Didi Chuxing (DiDi), the world’s leading mobile transportation platform, will launch Latin America’s first shared electric vehicle (EV) fleet through its app in Mexico, as the company further invests in sustainable transportation innovations in the region. Launched in April 2018, DiDi Mexico offers its range of ride-hailing, taxi-hailing and food... Read more →

Consumer Reports is publishing survey results that show consumer concerns with new mobility options including ridehailing and ridesharing services. Chart shows the percentage of Americans who have used some common modes of transportation in the past two years. Source: Consumer Reports The survey reveals safety is a major concern for... Read more →

Kia Motors Corporation announced details of ‘Plan S’, its mid- to long-term strategy aimed at progressively establishing a leadership position in the future automotive industry, encompassing electrification and mobility services, as well as connectivity and autonomy. The Plan S strategy outlines Kia’s shift from a business system focused on internal... 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 →

With a two-day hackathon, Mercedes-Benz started the brand’s #MoveSafety initiative which in a first step focusses on creating a contextual application helping users to get where they want to be, as safely as possible. The new app will be based on “Tuban Xiong”, an app which has already been successfully... 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 →

Following the successful launch of the YOUR NOW joint ventures in February 2019, BMW Group and Daimler are gearing up for the joint ventures’ next phase of expansion, which will be focused on profitable growth. The services offered by the joint ventures will continue to be tailored to customer needs... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation and Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co., Ltd. (Nishitetsu) have begin full-scale operation of the Toyota-developed multi-modal mobility service “my route” for smartphones. The service was launched in Fukuoka City and Kitakyushu City in collaboration with service providers in the areas of traffic, shopping, and event information. The project will... Read more →

Collaboration to advance development of urban mobility extended to 2022 Focus on support for e-mobility, innovative mobility services, intelligent transport networking and autonomous driving WeShare, Volkswagen’s full-electric car sharing service, to start in Hamburg next spring with over 1,000 electric vehicles From end of 2019, MAN electric buses to make... Read more →

At the 9th edition of the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, SEAT announced the creation of a new strategic business unit focused on urban mobility and presented its new e-Kickscooter concept and its first electric e-Scooter concept. The SEAT Urban Mobility business unit will integrate all the product,... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group has launched MoceanLab, a mobility service venture, as part of the Group’s larger initiative to create a sustainable, connected future. MoceanLab will provide mobility services in the City of Los Angeles, and expand its services to autonomous ridesharing, shuttling, multimodal transportation, and personal mobility. After a comprehensive... Read more →

In a first for the African continent, the Volkswagen Brand has launched a pilot project in partnership with Siemens to test the feasibility of electric mobility in an African country. The pilot project, which will form part of Volkswagen’s operations in Rwanda, was officially announced today by Thomas Schäfer, CEO... 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 →

The deployment of micromobility sharing services (bikes and scooters) has expanded rapidly in cities across the United States. According to the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), the number of shared bike trips in the 100 largest US cities increased from 321,000 in 2010 to 45.5 million in 2018.... Read more →