Bikes, flying taxis, ride-sharing & more
Welcome to our weekly news highlights, the place where you‘ll find the most important information in the urban mobility space. Follow us to keep updated, we post every Tuesday! Here is what happened last week:
Uber to launch dockless bike-sharing in SF
Uber and Jump have made a partnership that will allow Uber users locate, unlock and use dockless Jump bikes in San Francisco, all through the Uber app. This deal is cutting a pain-point for the end-user by practically merging the functionality of the Jump app into Uber’s and increasing demand for Jump (Jump app users will, of course, still have access to the bikes without using Uber). The number of bikes, however, will be limited to 250, which could be increased to 500 if allowed by the city after 9 months of “probation” for the dockless bike initiative.
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Uber Piloting A Bike-Sharing Service In San FranciscoUber is probably best known for its ride-sharing services, whether it be cars or even motorbikes (in some countries)…www.ubergizmo.comUber’s partnership with Jump could put the future of stationless bikes in San Francisco at riskDockless bike-sharing company Jump just became the first U.S.-based company to work with a ride-hail app. Soon, San…www.recode.net
Mondo raises $2 million for African expansion
Mondo, Kenya’s ride-hailing app, has closed a $5 million series A investment round. The company, which prides itself in offering a localised product addressing the needs of their home territory, will use the money to expand to six new cities. Mondo’s competitors in Kenya are Uber, LittleCab and Taxify.
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Mondo Ride Raises $5 Million for Expansion, Plans To Expand to 6 New African CitiesKenya is fortunate to have several ride sharing platforms, and one of them is Mondo Ride. Today, they have announced…www.techweez.comCustomization is the next frontier in East Africa’s ride-sharing warsMore than two years after it launched in Kenya, the ride-hailing app Mondo Ride has closed a second financing round of…qz.com
Vahana makes her first flight
Vertical take-off and landing, VTOLs, are back in the news! And this time it’s Airbus’ Vahana. The self-piloted first flight lasted a few seconds shorter than a minute but it’s the result of a 2 year-old project. The company plans to launch an autonomous fleet by 2020 as an alternative to moving from A to B within city. Zach Lovering, Vahana’s project executive mentions:
“Our aim has long been to design and build a single passenger electric VTOL, self-piloted aircraft that will answer the growing need for urban mobility… Our first flights mark a huge milestone for Vahana as well as the global pursuit of urban air mobility.”
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Airbus’ autonomous ‘air taxi’ Vahana completes its first test flightAirbus conducted the first successful test flight of its Vahana electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft…www.theverge.com
Sao Paulo gets ahead with Tembici
Tembici in partnership with PBSC, will roll out 2,600 bikes across the brazilian city of Sao Paulo. The initiative aims to offer a clean alternative of transportation within the city and serve first and last miles for commuters and visitors alike. The bikes will be accessible through a mobile application as well as through sales points allowing card and cash payments.
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São Paulo rolls out bike-share schemePBSC, a global provider of bike-sharing solutions and sustainable urban mobility pioneer, has begun deployment of an…smartcitiesworld.net
Lyft’s first office in Europe
The american ride-hailing company has decided to open an office in Munich, Germany. The people working for Lyft in Munich will focus their efforts on developing advanced localization and geometric mapping to further develop their autonomous driving technologies. The company does not mention anything about offering its ride-hailing services in Germany, but that could also be part of the plan down the line, as Munich is one of the only two cities where competitor Uber operates in Germany.
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Uber Rival Lyft Opens First European OfficeRide-hailing provider Lyft Inc. is expanding to Europe, opening an office in the southern German city of Munich, home…www.bloomberg.com
Ford’s Chariot coming to London
In attempts to fill in the gaps of public transport south of the Thames, Ford’s Chariot comes to London. Chariot is a semi-public shuttle that mimics a bus route but with pre-bookable seats and only 15 of them. The service currently operates in San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Columbus and New York, London being the first city outside the United States. And if you were wondering about their license, Ford operates with their own minibuses and as for the drivers, they are professionals that have been trained and are employed by the company.
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Ford’s Chariot ride-sharing vans come to London14 specially-branded Transit buses, capable of seating 15 passengers at a time, will run four services across South…www.engadget.com
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