Can remote-controlled scooters solve sidewalk clutter?
Plus, Lime adds a new vehicle, Uber pitches itself as a friend of transit, and SPAC rumors run wild in scooter world.
Hello and welcome to the Micromobility Newsletter, a weekly missive about mobility, mostly mobility in cities that is enabled by small electric vehicles. The reason you’re reading this email is that you signed up on our website or came to one of our webinars or events.
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“Absolutely humbled, and excited, about the feedback and interest that the micromobility community demonstrated towards Fleet Shield last week. We have 40+ conversations lined up with operators of all shapes and sizes, and cannot wait to deliver an insurance solution that will help them all.” - Jonathan Selby, General Manager.
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Big thanks
Thank you to everyone who came to our first all-digital event last week, Micromobility World, and made it our largest gathering ever.
For three days, world-renowned thinkers from Janette Sadik-Khan to Benedict Evans mixed with vetted startups, like Super73, Vanmoof, Taur, Nimbus, and eSkootr, for provocative, thoughtful discussions about the future of urban mobility. All told, more than 3,000 entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and enthusiasts took part.
There was tons of breaking news, some of which can be found below.
In the coming days, replays of most sessions will be made available to watch on-demand. To start, we’re releasing Pecha Kucha videos from five exciting micromobility startups we think are going to make a splash, which we’ve peppered into the email below.
We look forward to continuing to advocate for and accelerate this community’s growth, both virtually and in-person post-vaccine. Thank you for coming with us on this ride.
Illustration: Julia Steier
What you need to know this week
First, the big (SUV-sized) news: GM has promised to go all-electric by 2035. While we don’t cover the auto industry much in this newsletter, this unprecedented pivot from a top American manufacturer is a good reminder that change happens slow then fast.
Bird and Lime are both rumored to be considering SPACs after a tough year that saw ridership and revenue plummet due to lockdown. People familiar with the matter say Bird is already close to finalizing a deal to raise more than $100M in convertible debt, led by existing investors Sequoia Capital and Valor Equity Partners.
One possible moat for Tesla vs larger automakers that are now embracing EVs: charging infrastructure.
At Micromobility World, Spin announced its first teleoperations pilot is launching in Boise. Relying on three-wheeled, AI-enabled hardware from Segway and remote positioning software from Tortoise, Spin teleoperators will be able to move illegally parked scooters from anywhere in the world. Eventually, users will be able to hail a scooter, which will travel up to several blocks to their location. “If this Spin scooter gets even 25% more rentals per day than their standard fleet, they’re going to shift their fleet as quickly as possible,” said Tortoise chief Dmitry Shevelenko. But even if remote-controlled scooters don’t increase ridership, they should at least allay regulators’ concerns about sidewalk clutter—the pervasive problem of scooters blocking a sidewalk, crosswalk or handicapped space—potentially opening the door for Spin to win more city permits.
Uber sees its growing number of transit products (on-demand microtransit, routing software, MaaS ticketing) as beneficial, not competitive, to public transportation’s recovery. Is the ride-hailer right?
Lime is adding electric mopeds to its rental fleet, starting in Washington, DC and Paris.
New York City will close a car lane on both the Brooklyn and Queensboro Bridges and reserve them for cycling. Once it’s built, it never goes back.
A bipartisan bill recently introduced in the US House would make bikes, ebikes, and bike-share eligible for pre-tax commuter benefits.
VIDEO: Why the future of micromobility might be one-wheeled w/ EUCO
Lithuania-based AKO has begun taking reservations for its three-wheeled, tilting pod.
Inspired by Cambridge, Massachusetts, a new law in Washington, DC mandates protected bike lanes be built whenever certain roads undergo construction.
After Edinburgh lowered its speed limit from 30 to 20 mph in 2016, crashes fell by a third.
Neptune Scooters launched a comprehensive scooter-sharing solution, including a powerful scooter and a modular, multidock station, at Micromobility World.
VIDEO: Why cities need a comprehensive scooter system—including parking w/ Neptune
Eight European micromobility players (Bird, Bolt, Dott, FreeNow, Lime, Tier, Voi, and Wind) have banded together to form a new coalition that will advocate for the industry on key policy issues.
Lego is finally listening to requests to make toy bike lanes.
Foot traffic in Melbourne’s CBD has fallen off a cliff during lockdown. Many other cities’ downtowns are likely in a similar boat, and will be for some time.
The CEO of Nidec predicts EV prices will reach $3,000, fueling massive car adoption in India, Africa, and the Middle East.
Bill Gurley on Uber’s autonomous cars: “We probably burned $2.5 billion on autonomous. That was a waste of money.”
Voi unveiled its fourth-gen scooter, which features sensors for noise and air pollution, alarms and indicators for safety, and high-accuracy positioning. The Swedish startup claims the vehicle will have a lifespan of more than five years.
In India, Honda’s two-wheeler sales were up 11% last month, year-over-year.
VIDEO: What it will take to sell the next billion ebikes w/ Vanmoof
In the latest update of its app, ebike startup Cowboy has added a navigation feature which allows riders to plan their routes based on air quality.
Weel’s self-driving bike is taking Twitter by storm.
The Finnish city of Lahti has launched a ski-sharing program.
Robot delivery startup Starship has raised $17M.
VIDEO: How pods can solve many of micromobility’s pain points
Here’s everything we know so far about Ola’s electric moped.
President Biden is calling on the federal government to purchase more EVs.
Finally, we are proud to announce Micromobility Industries is embarking on a media partnership with eSkootr, the world’s first racing championship for electric scooters. Not only are we giddy about the prospect of someday watching a high-speed urban scooter race, we’re also excited about motorsports as a driver of technical innovation and mainstream appeal for micromobility. Big things ahead.
Jobs to be done
Welcome to our jobs board, where every week we post open positions in hopes of connecting our readers with professional opportunities in the burgeoning world of new mobility. Find out who’s hiring below and sign up for the newsletter to view fresh listings every week.
Hit reply if you have a job that you’re interested in listing.
Firmware Engineer @ Acton (remote US/Canada)
Senior Hardware Engineering Manager at Dance (Berlin)
Actively recruiting @ PBSC (Montreal)
Senior Marketing Manager @ Trov (remote US)
Head of Product @ Unagi (Bay Area)