Issue [#102] - 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.
If you’re finding this newsletter valuable, consider sharing it with friends 🤜🤛
Micromobility
Supply-demand imbalance in shared mobility: cost and consequence. | Zoba
Lime restarted service in Brazil and Chile. | LABZ
Tier begins selling a foldable electric scooter model directly to consumers that includes theft protection and mobile unlocking. | Tier
136 million shared bike and scooter trips were taken across the USA in 2019. | NACTO
Product Launches & Updates
Bosch is expanding “PowerStations”, it’s eBike battery charging network in the German Alps. The company says it “want to improve charging options not only in holiday regions, but also in urban areas.”. | Bike EU
Google Maps is rolling out a map refresh based on satellite imagery with a new “color-mapping algorithmic technique”. | Google
Voi teased its new “Voiager 4” scooter. The new vehicle features turn signals, improved GPS accuracy, NFC integration, and environmental sensors. | Voi
Ridehailing, Carsharing, & Delivery
The first product leader of Daimler’s Car2go, Helemuth Ritzer, opens up about the challenges faced inside of OEMs to foster innovation in the age of Tesla and other new mobility services. “Having worked the majority of my career for one of the OEMs, unsurprisingly it was difficult for me, up until a few years ago, to believe that this model is outdated and can not be evolved.” | Helmuth Ritzer
Toronto finds that Uber Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAV) improve mobility for people with shorter wait times. “We find that UberWAV services met the average wait-time requirement imposed by the City and believe that by offering shorter wait-times than previously available, this service significantly improves the mobility of people who require accessible transport services.” | Transport Findings
Didi hit 50 million trips in a single day across its ridehailing and bikesharing services. | Didi
A fascinating inside look at Amazon's unprecedented scaling of its delivery service. “The company now delivers 67% of its own package volume using in-house programs like Amazon Flex and delivery service partnerships. If Amazon continues to expand its delivery station network, it would be on track to control 85% of its own package volume by the end of 2022.” | The Information ($)
Investment & Deals
Ebike delivery startup Bolt, rebranded as “Zoomo” and raised an $11 million Series A. | Zoomo
DeliveryHero acquires online grocery marketplace InstaShop. | Delivery Hero
Will the pandemic make or break softbank’s struggling mobility portfolio? | Comotion
Electric battery network startup PushMe confirms it was acquired by Tier Mobility. | George Kalligeros