Missing drivers, autonomous pizzas and a very boring tunnel
An article on corporate mobility, full of examples on how the corporate commute segment has grown during the past year, from bikes to car-sharing to shuttles and buses. We at Zeelo have been a part of this growth, growing by >X2.5 in 2020, and experiencing a very strong start to 2021. All of us in the industry are waiting for the back-to-office, ready to face increasing demand and uncertainty.
Uber’s new ‘3 office -2 home’ future of work week, starting from September 2021, is a good example of the flexible return-to-office. To be able to manage daily changing demand, we will also need public-private partnerships that allow sustainable and financially-viable commutes.
Where have all the drivers gone?
In the US, demand for ride hailing service is up, but supply (drivers) is lagging behind. 40% behind. Fear of Covid-19, federal unemployment relief, and drivers switching over to delivery services are the main causes. Uber is allocating $250M to incentivize drivers to return behind the wheel. Lyft is offering a package that covers the cost of rental cars AND bonuses of up to $800 AND extra pay for >9min drive to customers. If you remember, back when Covid-19 started some said that Uber & Lyft could use the pandemic to stop the ‘bonus-fight’ over drivers. It doesn’t look so.
Autonomous Delivery
Walmart invests in Cruise so that they (Walmart) could develop “a last mile delivery ecosystem that’s fast, low-cost and scalable”. The investment comes after a successful delivery pilot and three months after Microsoft invested in Cruise. Ocado announced a ￡10M investment in Oxbotica to achieve a similar goal. Udelv and Mobileye in a partnership to build autonomous electric delivery pods. The two companies want to put the vehicle on the road by 2023. Domino’s to begin autonomous pizza deliveries with Nuro. This small, electric delivery-fit vehicle will let people know where it is and a PIN code to open the “trunk” and collect the pizza.
Autonomous non-delivery
2 people died in a car accident over the weeked, when their car crashed into a tree and burned, in a 4 hour fire you would expect from an electric car. It was a Tesla. Neither of the two were seated in the driver seat. Reminder: Tesla isn’t fully autonomous, and doesn’t claim to be.
BestMile’s autonomous shuttles are now on-demand in Switzerland. While autonomous shuttles have been around for a long time, on-demand features are relatively new. The service has been deployed as a fixed line and managed to take more than 54,000 riders, and now 17 virtual stops have been selected to operate the on-demand service. Also, Cruise to launch in Dubai in 2023 and a long read by Drive Sweden on autonomous truck partnerships.
UK Bus news
Transdev is acquiring some of Arriva’s operations. FirstGroup is now the first public transportation operator to commit to net zero targets - by 2050… no hurry guys. Liftango is expanding its Go-Ahead North Lincolnshire operations (there is a zoom for that). FlixBus is back and running and plans to expand. The last of the Routemasters.
And the overground is getting proper names.
Micromobility
NY City e-scooter pilot program has selected Bird, Lime and Veo. Each is expected to roll-out 1,000 e-scooters. Raleigh (North Carolina, US) also picked three: Lime, Bolt and Spin. Dublin City University is running an experiment to monitor how AI and computer vision can improve safety for both riders and pedestrians. Tier will supply the vehicles. Voi is experiencing citizens’ criticism in the UK. A scooter on the pavement caused a tragic death, and now there is demand the pilot will stop. Seems to be a rather Luddite approach.
The work of a sustainability manager at Tier, Voi and others.
Bytes
Uber signed three more SaaS (/microtransit/DRT) clients - in Colorado, Maryland and California. Via in Delaware. Trade unions are opposing Uber in Slovenia, facing the government who wishes to change regulation to allow ride-hailing services. Parliamentary session on the subject to take place in May. FlixTrain to launch in Sweden. European Sleeper, a railway company dedicated to night trains, is betting on business travelers.
OMG! A Boring tunnel in Las Vegas! It is… well... actually very boring. Watch the video why. It is an underground tunnel between convention centres, where cars can go at a startling speed of 35mph. Boring.
This week’s long reads are McKinsey on “Mobility’s future: an investment reality check”; An Advanced Air Mobility ecosystem whitepaper by TNMT; and on the rapid grocery delivery services (FT paywall).
And finally - I’ve recommended chartr before - and doing it again. Take a look at this taxi vs. Uber vs. Lyft analysis and graph. That’s some good graphs there.