July 27, 2023
Drive Shift | 2nd Edition: Uncover the Forces Driving Change in Smart Mobility and Beyond
Uber expands its P2P car sharing operation to the US, showcasing the potential of the market
Car sharing - the transportation category that allows individuals to access vehicles for short-term use without the need for long-term ownership - is emerging as one of the primary categories in current and future mobility. The model gaining notable momentum is Peer to Peer (P2P) car sharing, in which private individuals rent their vehicles to other private individuals.
A year after acquiring the Australian-based startup Car Next Door, Uber is expanding its P2P sharing service now called Uber Carshare to North America, doubling down on the potential it sees in the category. Set to roll out first in Toronto and then Boston, car owners will be able to offer their own private vehicles for rent and have the final say about pricing and availability.
Uber's moves also recognizes that P2P car sharing is taking significant share from the car as-a-service sector. Service providers such as Turo, Getaround, Hyiacar and GoMore are growing consistently in the number of users as well as in the number of vehicle owners and total vehicles offered on their platforms. For example, Turo experienced significant growth in 2022, reaching revenue of $746.6 million, a 59% increase from the previous year. (Despite increased spending, the company managed to reduce its net losses and reported a positive net income).
While not all is rosy (Getaround's stock crashed by more than 90% last December) the general opinion is that the P2P car sharing upwards trajectory is set due to increasing demand for cost-effective, sustainable transportation, changing attitudes towards car ownership and evolving technological capabilities. Companies have their work set out for them, however, including building trust between users, ensuring reliable and convenient access to vehicles, managing insurance and liability issues, and overcoming regulatory hurdles.
As adopted by various OEMs such as Renault, bidirectional EV charging may become a significant tool for energy efficiency
In a world where energy efficiency has great importance for carbon-free economy aspirations, bidirectional EV charging has the potential to become an effective tool to fulfill these goals. Bidirectional charging allows electric vehicles to not only receive energy from the grid but also feed excess energy back into the grid when needed, a functionality that can promote grid stabilization, renewables integration, and energy cost optimization.
The latest OEM to join this trend is Renault who announced this month that it will implement bidirectional charging in its Renault 5. To support the use of this technology by Renault’s users, the French automaker will promote the “Mobilize Powerbox” charger, through its mobility brand, Mobilize.
Until now, several OEMs such as Ford, Nissan and Volkswagen launched EVs with bidirectional charging features that allow vehicle to grid (V2G) power transfer. Other OEMs such as Kia, Hyundai and MG also implemented bidirectional charging but for now only for external electric appliances (V2L, vehicle to load) or between vehicles (V2V, vehicle to vehicle).
Companies that have developed bidirectional charging solutions such as Fermata Energy and Indra, have managed to raise significant funding in the recent year and to create valuable partnerships. Last month, Volvo Cars revealed its investment in the Canadian-based startup Dcbel. This deal shows that the car manufacturers are interested in the market not only as potential customers but also as investors.
It is clear that some issues such as the price of chargers, the impact of bidirectional charging on battery health and the standardization of chargers and charging features need to be addressed before we see mass adoption of these solutions. That said, it seems that the bidirectional charging trend is expected to expand in the coming years as more OEMs are expected to roll out these features in their vehicles. In addition, lawmakers are starting to push the concept, as in California, where a bill that is expected to require car manufacturers to implement a bidirectional charging feature by 2027, was introduced last May.
As cities become more dense, smart traffic management solutions such as NoTraffic become a necessity
If you live or work in a big city, you probably know the experience of waiting endlessly in a traffic jam. In Drive TLVs home base of Tel Aviv traffic has become one of the city's most pressing challenges. As time passes, city lanes are becoming busier, not only as more individuals move in with their private vehicles, but also as road users must share space with growing pedestrian and micro mobility traffic. According to the World Bank, urbanization rates are only expected to increase, where by 2050 70% of the world's population is projected to call cities their home. To this end, the traffic management market, which was created to find technological solutions to these problems, has been growing in recent years.
In the last month, one of the market's most prominent companies, Israeli-based NoTraffic, raised $50M in Series B financing. The company, which developed an AI-based smart traffic light system that allows authorities to optimize traffic in their jurisdictions, already collaborates with several states and municipalities in the US. Solutions such as NoTraffic and others allow authorities to set traffic policies that will be automatically implemented in response to real-time traffic insights.
Smart traffic lights are not the only solution adopted by authorities. Mobility data analytics solutions are another prime example, in which urban data is collected and automatically converted into insights. The data collected is based on various sources such as smart cameras, sensors, direct vehicles data (V2X), cellular information and other sources. Startup companies in this field such as VivaCity and GoodVision have managed to raise funding in recent months. Another critical issue that can be solved thanks to technology is law enforcement. Solutions such as Hayden AI which install smart cameras on public vehicles, allow authorities to automatically locate and enforce violations that harm traffic in the city such as driving on a public transport route, blocking micro mobility lanes, traffic violations and more.
As cities become more dense and private car alternatives are not adequately adopted, the issue of urban transportation will worsen. Therefore, smart technological solutions are positioned to solve some of the most pressing challenges faced by our cities.
Uber expands its P2P car sharing operation to the US, showcasing the potential of the market
Car sharing - the transportation category that allows individuals to access vehicles for short-term use without the need for long-term ownership - is emerging as one of the primary categories in current and future mobility. The model gaining notable momentum is Peer to Peer (P2P) car sharing, in which private individuals rent their vehicles to other private individuals.
A year after acquiring the Australian-based startup Car Next Door, Uber is expanding its P2P sharing service now called Uber Carshare to North America, doubling down on the potential it sees in the category. Set to roll out first in Toronto and then Boston, car owners will be able to offer their own private vehicles for rent and have the final say about pricing and availability.
Uber's moves also recognizes that P2P car sharing is taking significant share from the car as-a-service sector. Service providers such as Turo, Getaround, Hyiacar and GoMore are growing consistently in the number of users as well as in the number of vehicle owners and total vehicles offered on their platforms. For example, Turo experienced significant growth in 2022, reaching revenue of $746.6 million, a 59% increase from the previous year. (Despite increased spending, the company managed to reduce its net losses and reported a positive net income).
While not all is rosy (Getaround's stock crashed by more than 90% last December) the general opinion is that the P2P car sharing upwards trajectory is set due to increasing demand for cost-effective, sustainable transportation, changing attitudes towards car ownership and evolving technological capabilities. Companies have their work set out for them, however, including building trust between users, ensuring reliable and convenient access to vehicles, managing insurance and liability issues, and overcoming regulatory hurdles.
As adopted by various OEMs such as Renault, bidirectional EV charging may become a significant tool for energy efficiency
In a world where energy efficiency has great importance for carbon-free economy aspirations, bidirectional EV charging has the potential to become an effective tool to fulfill these goals. Bidirectional charging allows electric vehicles to not only receive energy from the grid but also feed excess energy back into the grid when needed, a functionality that can promote grid stabilization, renewables integration, and energy cost optimization.
The latest OEM to join this trend is Renault who announced this month that it will implement bidirectional charging in its Renault 5. To support the use of this technology by Renault’s users, the French automaker will promote the “Mobilize Powerbox” charger, through its mobility brand, Mobilize.
Until now, several OEMs such as Ford, Nissan and Volkswagen launched EVs with bidirectional charging features that allow vehicle to grid (V2G) power transfer. Other OEMs such as Kia, Hyundai and MG also implemented bidirectional charging but for now only for external electric appliances (V2L, vehicle to load) or between vehicles (V2V, vehicle to vehicle).
Companies that have developed bidirectional charging solutions such as Fermata Energy and Indra, have managed to raise significant funding in the recent year and to create valuable partnerships. Last month, Volvo Cars revealed its investment in the Canadian-based startup Dcbel. This deal shows that the car manufacturers are interested in the market not only as potential customers but also as investors.
It is clear that some issues such as the price of chargers, the impact of bidirectional charging on battery health and the standardization of chargers and charging features need to be addressed before we see mass adoption of these solutions. That said, it seems that the bidirectional charging trend is expected to expand in the coming years as more OEMs are expected to roll out these features in their vehicles. In addition, lawmakers are starting to push the concept, as in California, where a bill that is expected to require car manufacturers to implement a bidirectional charging feature by 2027, was introduced last May.
As cities become more dense, smart traffic management solutions such as NoTraffic become a necessity
If you live or work in a big city, you probably know the experience of waiting endlessly in a traffic jam. In Drive TLVs home base of Tel Aviv traffic has become one of the city's most pressing challenges. As time passes, city lanes are becoming busier, not only as more individuals move in with their private vehicles, but also as road users must share space with growing pedestrian and micro mobility traffic. According to the World Bank, urbanization rates are only expected to increase, where by 2050 70% of the world's population is projected to call cities their home. To this end, the traffic management market, which was created to find technological solutions to these problems, has been growing in recent years.
In the last month, one of the market's most prominent companies, Israeli-based NoTraffic, raised $50M in Series B financing. The company, which developed an AI-based smart traffic light system that allows authorities to optimize traffic in their jurisdictions, already collaborates with several states and municipalities in the US. Solutions such as NoTraffic and others allow authorities to set traffic policies that will be automatically implemented in response to real-time traffic insights.
Smart traffic lights are not the only solution adopted by authorities. Mobility data analytics solutions are another prime example, in which urban data is collected and automatically converted into insights. The data collected is based on various sources such as smart cameras, sensors, direct vehicles data (V2X), cellular information and other sources. Startup companies in this field such as VivaCity and GoodVision have managed to raise funding in recent months. Another critical issue that can be solved thanks to technology is law enforcement. Solutions such as Hayden AI which install smart cameras on public vehicles, allow authorities to automatically locate and enforce violations that harm traffic in the city such as driving on a public transport route, blocking micro mobility lanes, traffic violations and more.
As cities become more dense and private car alternatives are not adequately adopted, the issue of urban transportation will worsen. Therefore, smart technological solutions are positioned to solve some of the most pressing challenges faced by our cities.
