Unity is strength. The Chinese manufacturer Geely seeks to associate with Daimler, of which he is already the largest shareholder, to tackle the car-sharing and VTC market. The two companies are currently in talks to create a car pooling and on-demand vehicle joint venture in China, reports Bloomberg. The objective would be compete with Didi,… Continue reading Geely and Daimler want to create a car-sharing and VTC joint venture
Tag: Didi
Daimler and Geely discuss ride sharing JV – report
Zhejiang Geely Holding – which owns Volvo Cars, is in talks with Daimler, in which billionaire owner billionaire Li Shufu took an almost 10% stake earlier this year, to set up ride-hailing and car-sharing services in China, sources told Bloomberg. A 50-50 venture that would take on market leader Didi Chuxing was under discussion, one source… Continue reading Daimler and Geely discuss ride sharing JV – report
Japan’s Toyota and SoftBank to form joint venture for new mobility services
Japanese automaker Toyota and tech giant SoftBank announced Thursday that they are forming a joint venture by April 2019 that will use data to optimize supply and demand in the transportation space.
The company, called Monet Technologies, will coordinate between Toyota's information infrastructure for connected vehicles and SoftBank's so-called Internet of Things platform that collects and analyses data from smartphones and sensors, the Japanese corporations said in a joint statement.
In the first phase, Monet plans to roll out just-in-time vehicle dispatch services for Japanese public agencies and private companies to meet user demand. Those services include on-demand transportation and corporate shuttles.
By the second half of the 2020s, the joint venture will roll out an on-demand mobility service that will use Toyota's self-driving, battery-operated electric vehicle called e-Palette for various purposes. They include meal deliveries, where the food is being prepared inside the vehicle, hospital shuttles that can conduct medical examinations on board and mobile offices.
Monet will roll out its mobility services in Japan before focusing on future expansion on the global market.
Toyota launched plans for the so-called e-Palette earlier this year and described the concept as a “fully-automated, next generation battery electric vehicle” that can be customized and scaled for various mobility services.
The companies said that the joint venture will start at 2 billion yen ($17.49 million), and will be increased to 10 billion yen in future. They did not specify a timeline.
SoftBank will own 50.25 percent of the joint venture while Toyota will take 49.75 percent. SoftBank Corp representative director and CTO, Junichi Miyakawa, will be president and CEO of the new joint venture.
That news came after Toyota's rival Honda said it was taking a stake in General Motors subsidiary Cruise Holdings as part of a plan for the two automakers to work together and build an autonomous vehicle. Honda will invest $2.75 billion over the next 12 years, which includes paying GM $750 million immediately as it takes a 5.7 percent stake in Cruise Holdings.
Both Toyota and SoftBank are separately developing technologies that are used in self-driving cars and related services.
The two companies have also invested in major ride-hailing firms: Toyota is invested in Uber and Grab while SoftBank backs both firms as well as China's Didi Chuxing.
Automakers around the world are making multibillion-dollar investments and creating long-range plans for rolling out autonomous vehicles. Many of them are teaming up with other companies to share risks, technologies and expensesassociated with building self-driving cars since it will take time before those vehicles can be mass-produced and sold for a profit.
Many analysts think the widespread adoption of self-driving cars will start to pick up in 2021 or 2022.
— CNBC's Phil LeBeau contributed to this report.
SoftBank and Toyota team up to develop services powered by self-driving vehicles
SoftBank is getting into self-driving car services after the Japanese tech giant announced a joint-venture with Toyota in its native Japan. SoftBank is invested in Uber and a range of other ride-hailing startups like Didi in China and Grab in Southeast Asia, but this initiative with Toyota is not related to those deals. Instead, it… Continue reading SoftBank and Toyota team up to develop services powered by self-driving vehicles
UPDATE 2-Toyota, SoftBank to team up in self-driving and other technology -sources
TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) will announce a partnership on automated driving and other technology on Thursday, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Toyota logo is seen during the first press day of the Paris auto show, in Paris, France, October 2, 2018.… Continue reading UPDATE 2-Toyota, SoftBank to team up in self-driving and other technology -sources
Briefing: Didi admits capacity limit and welcomes more players to join the ride hailing game
Sep 28, 2018 自己无法满足数亿民众出行需求 欢迎更多企业投入 – Tencent Tech What happened: Ride hailing giant Didi published a public announcement last night, admitting that the company itself cannot satisfy the whole Chinese ride hailing market’s demands. The company also stressed that it would strictly follow related regulations, and continue strengthening safety management. Didi also said that it has… Continue reading Briefing: Didi admits capacity limit and welcomes more players to join the ride hailing game
Ride-hailing startup Shohoz raises $15M to build the Grab of Bangladesh
Uber may be global but it is very much the alternative in some parts of the world. One such place is Bangladesh — the South Asian country that’s home to 160 million people — where local rival Pathao is backed by Go-Jek and recently raised $10 million. Now Pathao’s closest rival, Shohoz, has also pulled in… Continue reading Ride-hailing startup Shohoz raises $15M to build the Grab of Bangladesh
Indonesia’s Go-Jek could ‘soon’ launch its ride-hailing app in Thailand
Indonesia’s Go-Jek could expand into Thailand ‘very soon,’ its president says
1 Hour Ago | 01:32
Indonesia's largest ride-hailing, payments and services company, Go-Jek, plans to expand its presence across more markets in Southeast Asia in the near future, according to its president.
After officially launching its services in Vietnam earlier this week, Go-Jek is building up its operations in Thailand and working with regulators in Singapore and the Philippines, Andre Soelistyo told CNBC on Friday.
“Thailand is coming very soon … the team is already working to operationalize the product,” he said, adding that, for Singapore and the Philippines, “we're still working it out with local regulators, local teams to make sure that all the requirements are being checked properly, before we do the expansion.”
Earlier in May, Go-Jek announced that it would invest about $500 million to move into the four markets over the next several months. The company said it would provide “technological support and expertise” to local founding teams that would then work on gaining traction in each of those countries.
The mobile app that was launched in Vietnam is called Go-Viet and is now available in the major cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. On that app, users can book two-wheel rides and make use of courier services — the company said there are plans to introduce four-wheel ride-hailing, food delivery and digital payment services on the application in the future.
Soelistyo said the decision to launch first in Vietnam had several motivations, including its cultural similarity to Indonesia, and the high social media penetration rate.
“Motorcycle penetration is very high, and that's very key for our platform” he said. “We saw a lot of excitement from the local team, and local partners, and they really wanted to push this. So, we started with Vietnam as a result.”
Ultimately, Go-Jek's goal is to consolidate transactions on its app by building new technologies on top of it that can do various functions such as making payments, buying goods and services online and ordering food, according to Soelistyo.
In Singapore, reports previously suggested that Go-Jek was in talks with the country's largest taxi operator, ComfortDelGro, to forge a partnership ahead of the company's entry into the market. Soelistyo declined to comment on that report, and instead said Go-Jek always takes a “very partnership-driven” approach.
Go-Jek's expansion into Southeast Asia is set to potentially fill the void left by Uber. The U.S. tech company earlier this year sold its regional business to local competitor Grab. The two Southeast Asia-based companies already compete in Indonesia and will now do the same in Vietnam.
Both companies have notable backers: Grab counts SoftBank, China's Didi Chuxing, Toyota, global asset manager OppenheimerFunds and China's Ping An Capital among its investors. Go-Jek, which reportedly raised about $1.5 billion in funds in February, is backed by Google, Singapore's Temasek Holdings and tech giant Tencent.
Brazilian startup Yellow raises $63M — the largest Series A ever for a Latin American startup
After selling their ridesharing startup, 99, to Didi Chuxing for $1 billion last year, Ariel Lambrecht and Renato Freitas didn’t waste any time throwing their hats back in the ring. Months after their big exit, the pair joined forces with Eduardo Musa, who spent two decades in the bicycle industry, to start another São Paulo-based mobility startup.… Continue reading Brazilian startup Yellow raises $63M — the largest Series A ever for a Latin American startup
Taxify is entering the e-scooter game
Estonian ride-hailing company Taxify will compete with Bird and Lime in Europe with its new brand of e-scooters, called Bolt, launching in Paris on Thursday. The company has rolled the scooter sharing service into its mobile app, which has attracted 10 million users in 25 countries since it launched in August 2013. A spokesperson for… Continue reading Taxify is entering the e-scooter game