This episode of the ON THE MOVE Podcast sits down with the geniuses from the British-American professional services and management consulting firm Aon to discuss how risk capital can unlock growth for mobility businesses.
MOVE’s Editor Grace Dawes is joined by Martyn Denney, Head of Innovation & Investments UK and Marc Spurling, Director of AGV Future Mobility from the firm.
Within the mobility ecosystem, the landscape is constantly progressing and adapting. With new tech being launched every day, Aon are the go-to leaders for managing the risk that comes with this continuous innovation.
The firm offers a range of risk-mitigation products and share the belief that insurance is the gatekeeper for innovation for every single aspect of the mobility ecosystem.
This year, Aon is also returning as a Diamond sponsor of MOVE 2024. So it only made sense to meet-up with them and discuss how they’ll be ramping up their presence at the event this year.
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One of MOVE’s attending start-ups Kerbo Charge recently took their company to the Dragon’s Den and won an investment from sustainability devotee, Deborah Meadan.
In this start-up success story, co-founders Michael Goulden and Ben Whitaker pitched and demoed their product in front of Dragons Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, Sara Davies and Steven Bartlett in the hopes of receiving funding and the chance to scale-up their business internationally.
The duo’s pitch was filmed in the summer of 2023 and they received the news just last month that their session was going to be officially aired on BBC One.
In this interview, Goulden discusses how the company will be using the investment with the hopes of rolling out the through-pavement EV charging channel across the UK.
Goulden also discusses the lack of economic incentives for buying an electric car in the UK and how their business and product is trying to amplify this.
Emily Yates Chief Innovation Officer at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) spoke to MOVEMNT at the MOVE America conference about women’s safety on public transportation.
Yates works specifically on the cross-overs between data, analytics, and policy at SEPTA and also oversees sustainability, therefore having a huge number of issues to be concerned with in public transport.
Yates mentions the significant concern over women’s safety on public transportation as she states that two-thirds of the people who use the SEPTA services are women. Therefore, women’s safety is a big focus for innovation. Yates discusses the development of live bus location and times via an app which the Authority hope will give more confidence to those using SEPTA’s services.
Watch the full interview to hear more on this plus an exclusive insight into what Yates discussed on her panel at the event, entitled “How to integrate new mobility services with minimal disruption”.
Sean Ackley Head of Charging & Energy at VinFast spoke with MOVEMNT at the MOVE America conference about how the electric charging system has the potential to become a seamless and integrated experience.
Ackley proposes that electric vehicle (EV) charging shouldn’t be complex or difficult to understand, and it shouldn’t feel hard to find either.
He discusses how VinFast are working to remove the complexities of charging across the mobility ecosystem, meeting the people who are capable of making this possible at MOVE.
To do this, the company are integrating all of these different partners into a single app and have successfully integrated over 112,000 charge points to make charging infrastructure easier to find.
Ganesh Iyer the CEO of NIO USA spoke at the MOVE America conference about how NIO are innovating and transforming their company in order to challenge one of the biggest issues in the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) – range anxiety.
Iyer himself described NIO as a “pioneer in the smart EV industry” that was founded originally in 2014, boasting a design centre in Munich and in the Silicon Valley which Iyer leads himself as the company’s key innovation centre.
He also emphasised that “we are not a car company, we are a lifestyle brand” that holds user enterprise as its key interest. In this interview, Iyer also comments on his panel that he joined at the conference: “Circular batteries: how recycling programs are driving a sustainable battery ecosystem”. Iyer explains how the panel discussion turned to the obstacle of battery degradation and how this can be combatted.
He also mentioned NIO’s attempts at hurdling this obstacle via their power replenishment system, which allows users to charge, swap, or upgrade their depleted EV battery, giving a channelled focus on the innovation of the swapping system.
John Kuehn manager of transit partnerships at Uber discusses Uber’s mission for easier and more efficient transit across the US – even in transit deserts!
Kuehn discussed Uber’s endeavour to partner with cities and transit agencies to support and offer them additional services they might not have the powers to provide independently in transit.
He explains that Uber want to fill the gaps in the transit space where agencies might not be able to fulfil all of the rides they would like to.
Kuehn also mentions the return of Uber’s X Share service which would allow users to share rides with other users, which was banned during the pandemic.
Watch the full interview to hear more about Uber’s experience at MOVE America 2023 and what they had to say on their panel about “How equitable MaaS programs can become ladders of opportunity”.
Michele Mueller the senior project manager of connected and automated vehicles at Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) discusses how the state are employing innovative technology in their safety systems to ensure people get home safely every day.
Mueller also talks about how the department are working with new start-ups to help expand and develop Michigan’s transportation system as well as the opportunity to meet these exact types of start-ups at the MOVE America conference.
MDOT are developing their systems by looking at the challenges within the transport infrastructure and working with industry partners to find solutions to these challenges.
Mueller explains that the department’s goal to make their systems smarter, more efficient, and most importantly, to help people get home to their families as safely as possible.
Jason JonMichael a senior strategist at the United States Department of Transport (USDOT) discussed how AI and automated systems are impacting the way Americans get around.
As a member of the Highly Automated Safety Systems Centre of Excellence (HASS COE) JonMichael explained how his team have a duty to help USDOT by reviewing, assessing, and validating the safety of autonomous systems and AI in transportation. JonMichael stressed that this applies not only in ground autonomy and advanced air mobility but also across national rail systems and ports.
HASS COE was established by congress to focus on automation systems and investigate their intermodal and multimodal implications, to help augment each USDOT Operating Administration’s own expertise and enable success in assessing, predicting, and verifying the safety of relevant emerging technology.
JonMichael also commented on the amount of funding that the Biden-Harris administration has recently provided to US transport systems and stated that it is “the shotgun start” US transport infrastructure needs.
Watch the full interview to hear more about how US transport is adopting and adapting to ever-developing technology and if we should be happy with this.
Brice Adamson President of Enterprise Fleet Management spoke recently at the MOVE America conference about how EFM enabled Domino’s Pizza to deploy 1,100 electric vehicles (EVs) as part of their delivery fleet.
With a mission to maximise fleet performance and mitigate financial risk with their predictive tools and technology, Enterprise’s analytics software offers real-time cost and performance insights that consider their client’s fleet mileage, insurance costs, driver downtime, vehicle depreciation and more.
Adamson stated that the company begin by learning their client’s objectives and goals and then use their software to help to advise on which fleet best suits them achieve those specific targets.
In a real-life example, Domino’s Pizza told the fleet management company that they wanted to reach zero-emissions in their pizza delivery fleet by 2050, after which Adamson explained that EFM recommended the fully-electric Chevrolet Bolt to put those 1,100 vehicles on the road in just one year.
Watch the full interview to learn more about where EFM are headed towards in helping fleet operations achieve their sustainability goals more efficiently and where they’ll be expanding their services to.
Elon Musk’s global leading automotive company Tesla will reportedly be manufacturing cheap electric vehicles (EVs) in its factory near Berlin with a price tag of around $25,000, as reported by Reuters on Monday.
This rumoured model would be the company’s cheapest EV, but it is unclear yet as to whether the model will be a remake or an entirely new product.
The plan to build the cheaper vehicle was reportedly discussed when Musk visited Tesla’s Berlin-Brandenburg gigafactory in Gruenheide last week, but the comapnies’ intentions behind the rumoured production have not yet been confirmed.
The circulating low price could allow the company to effectively compete with EV prices from China and Europe, as reported by Forbes.
Tesla’s current cheapest car in the EU is the Model 3, starting at $46,200.
Watch the first keynote panel that kicked off in the keynote theatre on the morning of day one at the MOVE America 2023 conference in Austin, Texas. The panel is joined by the stop speakers and disruptors that attended the event who came together to discuss how the tech-mobility space is revolutionising and what its future looks like, or could look like. Watch the full session below.
Watch this keynote panel discussion from day one of MOVE America 2023 joined by the top players in the EV charing space. This conversation surrounds the main barriers in EV adoption for the American population and how the lack of charging infrastructure might be affecting this. Watch the full video below to hear what these experts have to say about the issue and how it will effect America’s clean energy transition.
How long do you think it will be until the cars on the roads will have no drivers? Will autonomous vehicles become the norm in the next few years? Or longer? Watch this keynote discussion from day one of MOVE America 2023 on the growth of autonomous vehicles in the tech-mobility space and how companies are embracing this trending mode of transportation.
This day one keynote panel from MOVE America 2023 discusses how we can accelerate change within the mobility ecosystem through collaboration and innovation. Joined by some of the top names in mobility, watch the full keynote discussion below.
This keynote discussion is from day two of the MOVE America 2023 in Austin, Texas, and follows a conversation about the layers of the supply chain in the tech-mobility space. With bold statements from mobility’s most credible sources, this panel also includes a heavily debated estimation of when cars will become fully electrified. Watch the full video to hear the panel’s predictions.
Jana Breitkopf CEO of Mercedes Pay USA claimed that her company have developed a software that can allow a vehicle to pay directly from itself and act as a payment device.
The fintech branch of Mercedes-Benz is focused on developing in-car payments without the card. The software integrates Mercedes pay’s digital ePayment platform into a large number of applications of the Mercedes-Benz Group.
Whether it be for Mercedes-Benz e-commerce products and services or paying for a parking spot, the in-house software can enable any user to purchase a service/product with just a tap.
Breitkopf also discusses the panel discussions that she joined at MOVE America, discussing the rise of the software-defined vehicle and how OEMs are becoming more like tech companies.
As a transit technology company Zeelo and DigiSure joined forces as a way of ensuring the safety of their users whilst increasing safety from risk. DigiSure contribute to this collaborative effort by assigning certified drivers to Zeelo transit vehicles, optimising the upmost safety for users.
Sam Ryan said:
“We’re not just a technology company in the mobility space. We have to be in the business of the safe movement of people.”
Shim outlines DigiSure’s dedication to risk management and insurance by explaining how the company carries out identity screening and background checks on drivers before they are assigned to Zeelo’s transit vehicles.
Watch the full interview for more detail about the collaboration and some insight on the companies’ experiences at MOVE America 2023.
Andrew Savage VP & founding team from the popular micro-mobility company Lime has reassured riders that the company’s e-bikes are thriving on the streets of Paris despite the recent ban of all e-scooters in the French capital.
Savage addressed the trend at the MOVE America conference in Austin Texas, assuring that the ban has not slowed down the company’s e-mobility market in Europe despite expectations. Due to the removal of e-scooters, e-bikes are now taking off in the city and filling the micro-mobility gap for pedestrians.
At the conference, Savage also hosted his own talk “Making micro-mobility sustainable and profitable”. He claims that many businesses believe in sustainability not being wholly compatible with profitability, but Savage disagrees.
In this full interview, Savage details how Lime is attempting to make a congruence between sustainability and profitability in order to better the micro-mobility market whilst still continuing to thrive as a business.
At the MOVE America conference in Austin Texas, Alex Urist VP of XCharge announced a recent round of investment from Shell Ventures, making it the second round of funding from the start-up investor.
Urist told how the investment will help the electric vehicle charging company with their growth in the US, European infrastructure, and the scaling up of internal operations.
XCharge’s latest Net Zero Series was also demoed at the event and Urist commented on how it will help EV drivers to charge their cars without “breaking the bank”.
Watch the full video below to hear more about XCharge and how they are helping the US in the shift to electrification…
