Best of LinkedIn: Autonomous & Mobility Markets CW 29/ 30

00:00:00: Provided by Thomas Allgeier and Frennus, based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts about autonomous mobility markets in calendar weeks twenty-nine and thirty.

00:00:09: Frenness supports tier one automotive suppliers with early stage market validation for their R&D efforts by combining secondary research direct OEM expert interviews and facilitated customer meetings.

00:00:20: you can find more info in description.

00:00:23: So today's deep dive is exploring, you know two massive tectonic shifts in mobility.

00:00:28: First how cities are fundamentally rethinking the physical space of their streets and second How capital technology and regulation they're basically sprinting to catch up with autonomy electrification and micro-mobility.

00:00:40: Yeah, exactly.

00:00:41: And just to give you a quick roadmap of where we're heading today—we are going to unpack how micro-mobility operators are finally proving out real business models why robotaxy companies are kind of outrunning the rules built together in them.

00:00:51: and uh...why the EV transition is starting.

00:00:54: look less like a forecast more like a hard fact

00:00:56: Right!

00:00:57: So let's start with this first theme The battle for physical space.

00:01:01: Because…for decades I mean..the default was building cities for cars.

00:01:06: But….the data is really forcing a hard pivot.

00:01:10: It definitely is.

00:01:11: And Hassan Maitreau shared this great example focusing on Ponovedra in Spain, they actually restricted car access to their historic center over two decades ago and the mayor there Miguel Anzo Fernandez-Lores.

00:01:22: he had really skriking quote, he said it's not my duty as mayor to make sure you have a parking spot.

00:01:28: It's the same if you bought a cow or fridge and then ask me where are going put them?

00:01:32: I mean that is such a radical mindset.

00:01:34: shift right comparing your car to a cow but results speak for themselves.

00:01:38: Oh

00:01:38: absolutely!

00:01:38: The population of property values actually grew which totally contrary what critics usually fear when you restrict cars.

00:01:44: Yeah on flip side Hilary Orr shared highly tactical approach from Alexandria, Virginia.

00:01:50: So they aren't banning cars outright there actively managing the curb using INRX data.

00:01:55: They just recently added nearly forty spaces in Old Town and like one hundred on Eisenhower Avenue

00:02:00: Which is a huge contrast to what Chris Wade noted about Peterborough over In The UK.

00:02:05: They are actually trialing free evening parking back by nearly nine hundred thousand pounds From the Cambridger & Peterborough Combined Authority Just To Try And Boost The Town Center

00:02:15: Right, which makes you ask are cities treating parking as just some operational afterthought?

00:02:20: Because John Pinkard argues that it's actually the primary driver of placemaking and travel behavior.

00:02:25: Well...and has massive safety consequences too!

00:02:28: Rebecca Sanders brought up recent NYT coverage on how taller boxier vehicles They're drastically increasing pedestrian risk.

00:02:36: She's saying this requires NHTSA action and a true safe system approach, you know reducing exposure severity And the likelihood of crashes which

00:02:45: connects perfectly to Misa Yusuf.

00:02:47: point on crossing alignment.

00:02:48: like misaligned curb ramps in refuge islands they literally force wheelchair users and The visually impaired into making these really dangerous corrections right in the middle of traffic.

00:02:58: Yeah, it's a huge problem.

00:03:00: And speaking of danger, Khaled Chowdhury noted that Toronto's TTC is now piloting streetcar cameras because at this hundred and forty one people were hit while boarding or exiting streetcars over the last decade.

00:03:10: Oh wow!

00:03:11: Hundred and forty-one?

00:03:12: yeah

00:03:13: It's wild

00:03:13: That is insane.

00:03:14: But you know well cities are moving at a glacial pace to redesign streets for safety.

00:03:19: A whole new class of lightweight vehicles has successfully just hacked the existing infrastructure.

00:03:24: Right, let's get into micromobility because the narrative here has shifted so much.

00:03:28: it went from chaotic VC funded sidewalk clutter to becoming this highly profitable integrated transit layer.

00:03:37: The financial milestone here is staggering.

00:03:39: Marcin Matsarag broke down Lyme's NASDAQ debut, so Lyme debuted at a one point six-six billion dollar valuation...

00:03:46: A billion?

00:03:47: Wait

00:03:47: really?!

00:03:47: Yeah!

00:03:47: One point six six billion.

00:03:48: the revenue jumped from five hundred and twenty one million in twenty twenty three to eight hundred eighty six point seven million last year And Uber played this beautifully.

00:03:56: they took a minority stake an act as a distribution layer So that route fourteen percent of Lymes turnover without even owning the fleet.

00:04:02: That it so smart

00:04:03: It is.

00:04:04: and it brings up Brendan Wallace's insight.

00:04:05: He says Lyme isn't a scooter company, its real estate company

00:04:09: Oh like cell towers

00:04:10: Exactly Just Like Cell Towers were telecom infrastructure that became Real Estate.

00:04:15: Lyme essentially monetized Turb Access and charging permits.

00:04:19: That makes alot of sense.

00:04:20: And they aren't the only ones winning.

00:04:21: Draben Joel Jones reported that Bolt turned profitable in twenty-twenty five.

00:04:26: They swung to a nineteen point five million euro operating profit on two point two seven billion in revenue, which was driven by a sixty three point four percent gross margin.

00:04:37: A sixty-three percent margin on hardware is just.

00:04:39: it's incredible.

00:04:40: and hey By the way if you want to make sure you catch all our future deep dives into these market shifts Make sure you hit subscribe or whatever app You're using right now.

00:04:47: definitely do that.

00:04:48: but looking at the hardware itself It's actually changing to match public reception.

00:04:52: Bojan Jukic observe that eBikes are basically defeating eScooters.

00:04:56: Brussels is retiring E scooter permits by twenty twenty seven.

00:04:59: wait entirely

00:05:00: yeah entirely.

00:05:01: And parisvoy dot and lime They are all shifting their tenders toward e-bikes.

00:05:08: Scooters kind of lost the perception war back in twenty eighteen, whereas bikes have You know a century of public goodwill behind them.

00:05:14: That's

00:05:15: true.

00:05:15: But operators are getting so much better at managing The scooters that are out there.

00:05:20: Manuel Herzog shed this great operational success story about Dots Swiss scooter fleet.

00:05:25: they set ridership records and Basil Zurich & St Gallon during A massive heat wave And a festival weekend.

00:05:31: how do they avoid?

00:05:32: The usual chaos though

00:05:33: pure operational maturity.

00:05:36: They utilize dynamic geofenced parking zones and this is my favorite part, an actual don't drink-and-ride dexterity test right in the

00:05:43: air.".

00:05:43: Oh that is brilliant!

00:05:44: But you know while micro mobility figured out how to share the road... The next wave.

00:05:49: robotexes are currently locked into a really fierce battle over how they fit into the transit ecosystem.

00:05:53: Yeah the expansion there is rapid.

00:05:55: it's messy

00:05:56: Super messy.

00:05:57: Eduardo Rojas mapped out global chessboard for this And the market has essentially split into blocks and domestic rivals.

00:06:04: China is led by WeRide, Baidu Apollo, and

00:06:07: Pony.ai.".

00:06:08: And Europe is trying to position itself as this open testbed right?

00:06:12: Right

00:06:12: but Janney Stave-San gave a pretty blunt reality check on that.

00:06:16: the UN adopted a new level four robo taxi framework globally But The European press celebrating it is kind of missing the point.

00:06:24: Waymo in baidu are building an actual operational lead on the ground while europe Is well writing the rules

00:06:30: Yeah, and the U.S is having a brutal regulatory turf war over it.

00:06:35: Daniel Abrea Marques broke down this proposed Washington DC bill which was backed by Weymouth By The Way And It would charge robotaxi operators a one million dollar fee just to apply?

00:06:45: A million Just To Apply.

00:06:46: Yep

00:06:47: Plus five million dollar non-refundable permit fee Five Million Liability Insurance Requirement and a fifteen cent per mile tax.

00:06:55: Wow, Uber.

00:06:55: most have lost their minds over that.

00:06:56: Oh!

00:06:57: They cried monopoly immediately.

00:06:59: Yet, Uber's own lobbyist in New Jersey proposed a rule requiring human drivers to serve eighty-five percent of rides which effectively forces AVs onto Uber's platform anyway.

00:07:09: It

00:07:09: all just platforms politics at this point?

00:07:10: Exactly!

00:07:11: The tech isn't the hardest part anymore.

00:07:13: it is market fight

00:07:14: Right.

00:07:14: and then there are infrastructure and safety clashes happening right now on street.

00:07:18: Awad Abdelameem and Russell King pointed out this massive road funding gap.

00:07:22: If self-driving vehicles pay no gas tax or road charge, widespread use could raise vehicle miles by forty percent while cutting transit use by ten

00:07:31: percent.".

00:07:31: That's a scary metric!

00:07:33: And Ben Hubbard noted the physical friction too... Which

00:07:41: really makes you wonder… When passenger convenience and public safety collide, who wins?

00:07:47: Are we holding AI to a higher standard than human

00:07:49: drivers?".

00:07:50: Well Europe is viewing this entirely differently.

00:07:52: Nicholas Koch pointed out that Europe doesn't just want to replace human taxi-drivers with robots.

00:07:57: they actually want fewer empty kilometers in stronger public transport.

00:08:00: overall.

00:08:01: Right which is why Jan Gramatica argues that depot operations for autonomous buses are the most practical starting point.

00:08:07: Yeah And Bassmann & Hovel summed it up nicely after Geneva Mobility Congress.

00:08:12: The real tension isn't the vehicle tech itself, it's ecosystem orchestration.

00:08:17: Like how do you balance passenger safety using remote operators and onboard cameras with the risk of creating this massive AI surveillance state?

00:08:25: That is a tricky balance.

00:08:26: but whether its micromobility scooter or human driven ride hail Or an autonomous robo taxi...the underlying platform for all them is electric and the EV data is finally silencing the skeptics.

00:08:40: Oh, absolutely!

00:08:41: We are crossing threshold from early adoption to market dominance.

00:08:44: The June twenty-twenty six milestones were huge.

00:08:47: Stig Schroeder & Kaya Kinkel showed that electric vehicles became the single strongest drivetrain in Germany at over twenty eight percent market share.

00:08:54: Battery Electric registrations where up nearly fifty per cent year over a year.

00:08:57: on first half alone

00:08:59: And David Swan had similar data from Australia EV sales reached nearly one four in June.

00:09:04: And crucially, the whole fear of battery degradation is basically being disproven.

00:09:09: GeoTab Telematics data shows newer EVs lose only about one point eight percent capacity a year.

00:09:14: Yeah they outlasted Chassis at this point But manufacturing reality for this shift is still really painful.

00:09:20: Christine Mengele posted about Volkswagen.

00:09:23: If you recall back in twenty nineteen there was prediction that automakers without sub-twenty thousand Euro EV would fail by

00:09:30: twenty twenty

00:09:31: five.

00:09:31: Right.

00:09:31: So VW responded with the ID dot two all at roughly twenty five K euros, and they built a new Gigafactory in sales getter.

00:09:38: but the late transition still triggered like one hundred thousand German job cuts.

00:09:42: it's brutal though.

00:09:43: helmet rule from Amag did defend VW on this pointing out that six of the ten best-selling BEVs in Switzerland last year were actually from The VW Group.

00:09:51: Right, but there is also a hidden digital cost to these new vehicles.

00:09:55: Donnie Sarasigara shared his experience test driving the X-Pen P seven plus via.

00:10:00: so A New EU law mandates driver distraction detection cameras in every new car sold since July.

00:10:06: twenty twenty six.

00:10:07: Okay that makes sense for safety sure

00:10:09: But while the data sleeps on a server in Europe The system's maintenance and support are run out of Guangzhou.

00:10:14: It raises massive questions about where GDPR protections actually end when remote engineers have access.

00:10:19: Yeah

00:10:19: That Is a Massive Privacy Loophole.

00:10:21: It really is.

00:10:22: Now, before we wrap up today I want to leave you with a final thought on all this mobility innovation.

00:10:27: building on a specific data point Dennis Gordemond analyzed Belgium's federal mobility budget which has given two employees for transit.

00:10:35: three and four holders put the funds toward housing or rent.

00:10:39: in fact Half spend the entire allowance on housing with zero going to transport.

00:10:44: Wait, really?

00:10:45: Nothing on

00:10:45: transit?!

00:10:46: Nothing!

00:10:46: So my question is if the ultimate mobility solution for employees Is simply using their transit budget To afford housing closer where they work Are we over-engineering our vehicles Like...is the most disruptive next gen vehicle Actually just smarter urban housing and zoning?

00:11:02: That's such a wild thought Definitely something to mull over.

00:11:05: If you enjoyed this episode, new episodes drop every two weeks.

00:11:08: Also check out our other editions on charging and battery tech commercial fleets and SDV and AI defined.

00:11:13: Thank You so much for listening!

00:11:14: And don't forget to subscribe.