Movements | August 22nd, 2019
Issue #60— Brought to you by Michal Naka and Adam Feldman. Join thousands of others who receive this analysis and curation of emerging mobility news in their inbox every week — subscribe now.
Micromobility
Skip announced their new “S3’ scooter hardware. Design and engineering from the ground up from the team lead by the founders of Boosted Board, the vehicle features a 40 inch wheelbase, 10 inch airless tires, 615 Wh swappable batteries, and integrated electronic lock. “Starting with the basic vehicle architecture, we designed a low center of gravity, rear wheel drive, road-worthy lighting, and built a stable base for your feet that’s long and wide.” | The Verge
What if your mail was delivered by scooter? | Rick Usher
Lime is working on a new fundraising round and Softbank is said to be involved: “The fundraising round is in the early stages, and nothing is set, but the company could raise as much as $500 million, the people said.” | Business Insider
Dog powered micromobility. | Cheddar
Floatility demos a 3 wheeled “self-driving” scooter. | Floatility
Accessibility and micromobility: Bird is working on scooter hardware that can attach to wheelchairs. | Kerby Olsen
Ridehailing
The Uber app expands its integration of Lime scooters to Europe. | Lime
Deals & Investments
SpotHero raises a $50m series D. Looks like their GMV is on track to hit $1B this year, which, if I’m reading the article correctly, looks like a 100% year over year increase.
Product Launches & Updates
Microautonomy: Segway-Ninebot announced the S60, a 3-wheeled shared scooter that can return itself to charging stations. Here’s a video demo of the S60 in action. | Segway Robotics
The parent company of Mercedes-Benz, Daimler, has launched a second scooter company called Float in Helsinki, Finland. The corporate startup plans to expand to eBikes and eMopeds. Hive previously launched under Daimler’s MyTaxi subsidiary last fall. | Lab1886
Scooter hardware manufacturer Acton announces swappable battery tech for their fleet use scooters. | Acton
Cities & Policy
Atlanta’s mayor promises temporary bikelanes as the city has faced multiple scooter rider deaths over the past few months. “In the next 30 days, we plan to implement changes to our streets to better protect everyone,” Mayor Bottoms wrote in the August 16 column titled, “Facilitating scooter growth while managing safety.” | Curbed
60 million Indians use e-rickshaws every day. | NYTimes