Ride-hailing & self-driving firms seek partnerships & more

Welcome to our weekly news roundup. Last week, ride-hailing saw roaming partnerships being formed and support from its users but also faced growth halts. Self-driving seems to powered by partnerships and bike-sharing gains an investing momentum. Follow Splyt for a weekly update on the most important mobility news.

Kakao to allow roaming with Japan

Kakao has announced its ambitions to enable Korean Kakao Mobility users to hail a ride in Japan through a roaming partnership with Japan Taxi. Kakao is said to be interested in such partnership due to the large number of Korean tourists who visit Japan each year. Efforts to physically expand their mobility services to Japan have been obstructed by the strict regulatory system so the best way to keep their users on board when abroad, was through a roaming partnership.

Istanbul’s Taxi drivers want Uber out

It wouldn’t be the first city in the world where Uber faces fierce opposition from traditional taxi drivers — it also wouldn’t be the first place where the people are on Uber’s side. Reuters reports people in Turkey are fed up with traditional cabbies who have a tarnished reputation of being bad drivers, deny trips and being rude. The hashtag #donttouchuber has been widely used on social media where Uber users demonstrate their support and preference for the american company over regular cabs.

Barcelona gets Uber back

As one city wants Uber out, another one welcomes it back. Despite numerous protest and actually having it kicked out of Barcelona, Uber is back. This time the service will only operate with licensed drivers. Uber will only be allowed to have one driver per 30 traditional taxis, just like its Spanish competitor Cabify. Barcelona is an important market for Uber given the huge amount of international visitors it sees.

Indonesian government orders ride-hailing companies to stop hiring new drivers

Due to a worsening traffic situation in the city of Jakarta, the government has given the order to ride-hailing companies to stop enlisting new drivers. Recent studies have shown that ride-hailing does, in fact, worsen a city’s congestion. Grab, Uber and Go-Jek will now have to satisfy demand with the drivers they already have.

Uber wants to sell its self-driving tech to Toyota

Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi has met with with Gill Pratt, Toyota’s autonomous division lead, to discuss a possible partnership between the two companies. Uber is said to have plans to sell its self-driving technology to others and Toyota is also open to work with technologies developed externally. The big question now remains: How will the fatal accident in Arizona, where a woman got hit by an AV, will affect Uber’s self-driving reputation and Arizona’s liberal policy?

Selfless move? Uber may be selling its self-driving technology to ToyotaUber has been working on its self-driving car technology for quite some time now, but it won’t just benefit itself. As…www.digitaltrends.com

Magna invests in Lyft self driving

Just as Uber plans to engage in partnerships to deploy its self-driving tech, so does Lyft. Magna, the car supplier has invested $200 million in Lyft to secure a self-driving partnership, making the race for autonomous fleets even more congested (or friendlier?). Lyft’s co-founder Logan Green mentions:

“We don’t want just one or two companies out there in the world to have access to self-driving technology. We want every single OEM to make self driving vehicles . . . and be able to operate on the Lyft network.”

Subscribe to readKeep abreast of significant corporate, financial and political developments around the world. Stay informed and spot…www.ft.com

Astonishing funding round raised by OFO

According to Ofo itself, the largest funding round in the history of bike-sharing. The Chinese company has just raised an astonishing $866 million, led by Alibaba. The company claims to have over 200 million users. Founder and CEO, Dai Wei mentions:

“As the global leader in the bike-sharing sector, Ofo has been transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development. Ofo will continue to put our customers first and lead the bike-sharing industry with technological innovation and efficient operations.”