Smarter Cars

In this episode, we’re talking with Maxim Romain, co-founder and COO of Dott, a French micromobility company operating shared kick scooters and now e-bikes in Europe. We discuss Dott’s approach to sustainability and cities, its scooter operations, swappable batteries, parking compliance and other technology solutions, the regulatory environment in Europe and its plans to roll out new e-bikes. You can learn more about Dott here: https://ridedott.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

Today we're talking with Peter Deppe, CEO/co-founder of Kuhmute, a company that provides universal charging docks for micromobility devices. We discuss how Kuhmute docks work with all form factors from e-bikes to wheelchairs with variable charging and an adapter, the process for installing and powering docks, how Kuhmute works with cities and private companies to provide infrastructure, and the pros and cons of swappable batteries and docking stations. You can learn more about Kuhmute here: https://www.kuhmute.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

Today we’re talking with Fred Jones of Tier - a German company that has become one of the biggest micromobility players in Europe. Tier operates shared fleets of electric scooters and is rolling out electric bikes and mopeds as well. We discuss Tier’s strategy and operations in Europe, its new battery swapping energy network with stations it intends to roll out in shops and other locations in cities, scooter safety and design, and Tier’s use of technology to enforce proper parking compliance. You can learn more about Tier here: https://www.tier.app --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

Today we're talking with Jameson Detweiler, President/Co-Founder of Fantasmo, a company that makes HD maps and provides hyper-accurate positioning services for micromobility companies. We discuss the challenges of GPS and geolocating vehicles in cities, the benefits of camera-based positioning systems, Fantasmo's current service offering for verifying parking compliance for scooters and bikes, and its planned services involving sidewalk and lane detection and related positioning use cases. You can find more at https://www.fantasmo.io --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

Today we're talking with Ghassan Haddad, Lime's Head of Public Policy and Communications for Europe, Middle East and Africa. We discuss Lime's operations in European cities, policy differences between European and US cities, Lime's expansion into new form factors including the addition of Jump bikes and now e-mopeds, safety and durability improvements in kick scooters and what the next year or so may look like for scooters in Europe.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

Today we're talking with Shabazz Stuart, founder/CEO of Oonee, which makes secure parking structures for bikes and scooters in cities. You can see what Oonee looks like at https://www.ooneepod.com. We discuss how Oonee pods and kiosks can serve both owned and shared micromobility for many different use cases. We also cover the broader questions around the shared infrastructure needed to make micromobility work at scale in cities and how cities can work with private mobility companies to facilitate building and monetizing this infrastructure. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

Today we're talking with Alex Nesic, co-founder and Chief Business Officer at Drover. Drover provides an advanced IoT module for micromobility vehicles that is capable of granular infrastructure distinction in real time without the need for ground truth information or precise GPS. Drover helps shared fleet providers improve operational efficiency, regulatory compliance and safety. Drover's product can identify sidewalks, streets, and bike lanes and provide geofencing even in GPS-challenged areas along with an array of vehicle control or user notification capabilities. You can find more about Drover here: https://www.drover.ai --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

We interview Carl Vernersson, Chief Commercial Officer of Voi, a micromobility company based in Sweden. We discuss Voi's latest scooter and technology, including turn signals, sidewalk detection, and swappable batteries. We also discuss the operational and regulatory challenges in European markets, safety considerations for scooters and Voi's expansion into new cities. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

In this episode, we talk with Felix Petersen, Head of Europe for Spin, about Spin's expansion into Europe, the approach to regulation in different European countries, the operational and infrastructure challenges and opportunities in Europe, and the future of various form factors for micromobility.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

In this Season 5 finale, we're talking with Sam Kansara, a senior product manager at Waymo who is scaling the Waymo One driverless ride service and Waymo Via for trucking and local delivery. Waymo has been the leader in developing autonomous driving technology and the first ride service to remove the safety driver for a portion of the rides it offers in the Phoenix area. We discuss Waymo’s ride service, how Waymo thinks about safety and deployment, Waymo’s Via delivery service and the user experience and expectations around offering fully driverless rides. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

Today we're talking with Jewel Li, the COO of AutoX, a company making an autonomous driving system for cars, delivery vehicles and long haul trucks. AutoX recently was the third company to receive a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California without a driver in the car.  We discuss AutoX's technology and business model, the driverless permit process in California, the testing that AutoX is doing in China, the differences in testing, regulation and infrastructure between China and the US, and AutoX's partnerships and ride service pilots.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

In this episode, we talk with venture capital investor Evangelos Simoudis, Managing Partner of Synapse Partners and author of two books on the future of transportation - The Big Data Opportunity in Our Driverless Future and his newly published Transportation Transformation. We discuss his views on the future of autonomous vehicles, ridehail services, micromobility and public transit. We explore his thesis that next generation mobility - combining intelligent infrastructures provided by cities, with multi-modal transportation and goods delivery services - will require new value chains with novel business models and will rely on the collaboration of three constituencies - the automotive ecosystem, mobility services companies and governments. You can find more about Evangelos and his venture capital work at Synapse Partners here: https://synapsepartners.co/about/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

In this episode, we talk with Graham Gullans, VP of Business and Corporate Development at Superpedestrian, a company that makes intelligent electric scooters and bikes and now operates a shared micromobility service called Link. We discuss the use of vehicle intelligence to improve safety, reliability and compliance for shared scooters and how Superpedestrian is taking on some of the biggest challenges that shared micromobility operators face. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

In this episode, we talk with Modar Alaoui, the CEO and founder of Eyeris, a company that provides in-vehicle scene understanding for cars with ADAS systems and fully autonomous vehicles. In-vehicle scene understanding can be used for tasks such as driver monitoring, occupant monitoring, safety and convenience adjustments and personalization, and determining whether a fleet vehicle needs to be cleaned or if items were left behind by a passenger. Eyeris has developed algorithms that evaluate and understand human behavior, surface classification and object localization using cameras and other sensors and an extensive data set built over many years. You can find more information about Eyeris here: https://www.eyeris.ai/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

In this episode, we talk with Dmitry Shevelenko, CEO and founder of Tortoise, a company providing remote repositioning services for lightweight electric vehicles such as scooters and delivery robots. We discuss the challenges facing the shared scooter industry, and how Tortoise can help solve operational cost and revenue issues by using tele-operation to remotely reposition scooters to prevent clutter, make scooters more available to find and rent, recharge scooters and provide on-demand rental capability. We discuss Tortoise’s current operations in Peachtree Georgia, and its future plans for deployment in both the scooter and delivery markets. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

In this episode, we talk with Matthew Johnson-Roberson, the CEO and co-founder of RefractionAI, a company that builds and deploys robotic platforms to provide safe and scalable last mile goods delivery in urban areas. We discuss Refraction’s current business model, providing delivery services to restaurants and grocery stores in Ann Arbor, Michigan, its custom delivery pod that drives autonomously in the bike lane with tele-operation back up, and its future plans for expanding into other sectors and geographies to become the Stripe/Square of last mile logistics and delivery. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

In this episode, we talk with Warren Logan, the Policy Director of Mobility and Interagency Relations for the Mayor’s Office of Oakland, California. Warren works closely with the City’s Department of Transportation, Public Works Department and other Bay Area public agencies to develop strategies that advance the city’s vision for safe and sustainable transportation for everyone. Warren joins us to discuss racism in transportation, including how it affects freedom of movement for black people, the impact of policing and enforcement in public spaces, the reaction in black communities to quick build projects, bike lanes and slow streets, how community engagement and building diverse teams can help serve communities historically left out of urban planning, and how cities and companies need to get out of their silos to address the intersectional issues of transportation, housing, jobs, policing and criminal justice. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

Today we are talking with James Wu, founder and CEO of DeepMap. DeepMap creates high definition maps for autonomous vehicles and assisted driving systems, and provides a map engine service with maintenance and updates to the maps. We discuss DeepMap’s business and customer model, how high definition maps are created, how mapping and localization work with the autonomous stack, technical and compute challenges for mapping, and the future of autonomous vehicles post-pandemic. For more on the work DeepMap is doing and job openings, check out their website: https://www.deepmap.ai/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

In this episode, we talk with Jason Stinson, CTO and co-founder of Renovo. We discuss Renovo’s origin story going back to 2010 - from its original electric supercar The Coupe, to working with Stanford on Marty, to developing an automotive software platform to help companies manage data from autonomous driving and assisted driving systems. Jason’s a car guy and a tech guy so we also discuss his thoughts on the future of autonomy, whether there will ever be a Level 3 car, and what it will take to get autonomous vehicles deployed at scale. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support

Welcome to Season 5 of the Smarter Cars podcast. In this episode, we talk with Jody Kelman, Director of Product Management, Lyft’s Self-Driving Platform. We discuss Lyft’s two-pronged approach to autonomous vehicles, including its partnerships with Aptiv in Las Vegas and Waymo in Arizona, as well as its own development of an autonomous driving system through its Level 5 division. We also cover the challenges of operating self-driving fleets on a ride hail platform, and policies to promote multi-modal trips and better traffic flow in cities. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smarter-cars/support