Mozilitis in the Road Transport Tech Industry

Mozilit

mozilit

Fast Company is the world&#x27;s leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design.

Tech layoffs 2024 update: Cisco, Instacart, Firefox maker Mozilla

In today’s episode of the Brains Byte Back podcast, we speak with , CEO of , an end-to-end platform that allows companies to achieve their expansion needs through finding, hiring, retaining, and paying talent. Pablo Miller Remoti To start the show Miller shares how Remoti is a total talent platform that connects companies with talent in Latin America, and advocates that the platform offers three main services: talent connection, talent employment, and people products. People products include retention plans, smooth onboarding and offboarding processes, and the upcoming launch of their recruitment app. He also shares the origin story of Remoti, explaining that the initial basis of the company was established in the UK seven years ago when Miller noticed the demand for salespeople in London’s fintech companies and started a small recruitment firm. He recognized the need for a different approach and aimed to build a business that understood and provided a unique service. While visiting Colombia, the country his mother is from, Miller witnessed the rise of second-generation Latin talent and the potential for innovation in the market and decided to set up operations in Colombia, serving clients from the US and UK. company culture The conversation then moves onto the topic of the future of and innovation. With this in mind, Remoti aims to connect Latin American professionals with global companies that can offer better opportunities and development. remote work Miller also shares how he believes remote work promotes and breaks down geographical barriers, providing opportunities for talented individuals who may not have access to the same resources locally. social mobility And finally, Miller shares insights on how to hire talent quickly and effectively for your business. He states that those looking to hire should consider international perspectives, local preferences, benefits, upskilling opportunities, and candidate output rather than focusing solely on universities. https://youtu.be/fM9YyO_so6I?embedable=true I’m the founder and CEO my main role and this business, it has been said, is to keep the lights on, turn off the fires and keep it all together. Remoti is a platform that allows companies to build technology hubs in Latin America. As I like to call it, we’re a total talent platform in the sense that we offer three services. Number one, we connect you to the talent. Number two, we employ the talent for you. And then number three, we call it people products. So we’re able to locally hire your talent and we have a number of retention products to ensure a smooth onboarding off-boarding and several retention plans. Alongside that will be launching our app in the next coming months, which allowed the whole recruitment process to be done for your template. Pablo Miller: Fantastic. thank you for joining us today, and thank you for taking a break from putting out those fires and making sure those lights are kept on. And I really want to kick off with how did Remoti first start? Samuel Brake Guia: So Remoti, which was formerly known as Fincrew, actually started in the UK seven years ago. So I was brought up in the UK. I was at Nottingham University, studying Politics and Sociology, and this was in 2008 when everyone hated the banks and the rise of Fintech started rising. So, I noticed that all these small, Fintechs in London, needed, graduate salespeople, and from Nottingham University, we set up a very small recruitment company. When I was doing that, I noticed that all the cool Fintech companies really didn’t like recruiters, they thought that we were transactional. They thought that we didn’t actually understand the company culture. Pablo Miller: So I wanted to build a business that was a bit different and the idea was actually set up the company in the US and then, my mother’s from Armenia, Quindío and I came on holiday to Colombia before I set up the business, and I saw something truly amazing happening in Latin America which was, first of all, the rise of, second-generation Latin talent, both locally and the ones that have gone abroad to study or work in other companies and have come back and secondly, and the markets here were just right for innovation and for disruption and so I had one investor at the time and I told him instead of, wiring the money to our Chase account in the US, can you wire it to our Bancolombia account here in Bogota and we set up the operation in Colombia, servicing US and UK clients. So we kind of trod along, working there, within their clients just operations here that everything was with outside markets and then the pandemic here and this is when everyone for okay, I don’t need to hire locally, Latin America is a market with a lot of potential. Let’s have a look at that time and that’s when Remoti was built in terms of being kind of the bridge between the West and LATAM. And that essentially has been now for the last three years. : Fantastic. I have to say, I do completely understand what you mean when you talk about the potential here in Latin America and I have to say as well that it’s great to speak with you being based in Bogota because I definitely do feel like there’s an energy within the startup ecosystem, especially in Medellin and Bogota that I really love and it’s so surprising to see. And most people might not think of that if they’ve not been down here of how much potential there is here. So it’s so great to hear of this success story coming out from essentially my own back garden, well where I live anyway, at least obviously not being from here myself, but I want to know on a separate note, Remoti, what’s the story behind that name? How did that come about? Samuel Brake Guia Yeah, great question. Just to kind of supplement what you’re saying, when people ask us, we’ve managed to scale a team, to 70 people. And we took very limited funding and our secret sauce has always been our people. There is great energy in this country. And people want to work for companies where they’re treated, where they’re respected and therefore this is why when foreign companies look at Latin America and Colombia and it’s a great place to start a business. Pablo Miller: So when we change the name from Fincrew which was meant to be like fintech recruitment to Remoti, we wanted to give a real remote work vibe and secondly, because we’re building a bunch of technology. If you are onboarding products of boarding products for our salary benchmark products, we want to obviously have the technology infrastructure, so really Remoti stands for remote technology infrastructure and we get good feedback from our clients because it says exactly what we do. Because ultimately you can’t just set up a remote team. Number one, it is very hard to hire local people if you’re based UK or China or whatever. And then to actually hire them properly to ensure that their payroll, legal taxes and all that are done accordingly and also to retain them. So that’s where the name remote technology infrastructure comes from that. If you want to just build a remote team, you just integrate pur platform into your business and off you go. That’s nice. Yeah, it does have that real startup vibe. I can see that in the name and I think it reflects what you do. We’ve obviously spoken a lot about the company here, but I would love to know some more insights. So can you share some insights on what companies have to do in order to secure top talent? Samuel Brake Guia: Yeah, so it’s also quite an interesting topic obviously, in the market that we’re in. Last year, our key markets, we work along with Fintech clients, we worked a lot with Web 3 clients, and obviously with the down market, we’ve had to find alternative markets, to find growth in these, tricky market conditions. So we look at one market that’s growing very fast for us is actually ERP Implementation Consultants. So these folks go into companies to implement in this SAP, Salesforce, Workday and traditionally you’d have to hire someone locally, and what these big institutions, found that actually make sense to have some folks based in Argentina, based in Cali, Bogota. And they design implementing, literally from here and it’s a remote role. Pablo Miller: So, for us, we’re very easy to work with in the sense that we find a client. They tell us what their needs are. We then tell them exactly where we believe in the region that can be a talent pool, we conduct salary benchmark reports, So we’re in contact with Finance to ensure that it’s in conjunction with them, We then assign a full team and that team, our slogan is “Quality at pace”, that team works full time for that assignment and then we’ll be able to deliver results very very quickly at the highest quality to our clients. : Fantastic. it sounds like you got it. Very nailed down. And I am so happy to see that there’s so much innovation in this space because I think remote work really does feel like it’s here to stay and as someone that feels the benefits of this. And I know so many other people have as well. It’s so exciting to see it flourish really. The benefits of this are just I think so profound that it’s great to see that you’re working on innovating in this space to make sure it prevails really. Samuel Brake Guia : Absolutely. And I think one of the key things, from my story. My mother was from Armenia, she traveled to the UK, my dad is English and we’re very fortunate that we went to, good schools, good universities, we learn how to communicate well. And that obviously gave us a lot of opportunities for me and my sister when it came to jobs. So really my vision with remote work is, I want to get that untouched talent of Latin America that has all that potential. We want to help them connect with companies that locally may not be able to pay them as well. May not be able to develop them as well, and may not be able to give them the opportunities. And so there’s a wonderful kind of social mobility angle to the rise of remote work. Pablo Miller : Yeah. Breaking down borders. That is a wonderful side effect of this, the remote work digital world that I can see here. And I also have to say I’ve seen on your blog that you have a post titled, how to recruit fast Six practical strategies to hire quickly. Now I would definitely recommend listeners, go and check that out. But while I have you here, I would love to cover a few insights that you can share based on this article, as well as your own knowledge and how our listeners can hire quickly and effectively. Samuel Brake Guia : Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the key things that, obviously supplements the title is that you’ve got to think internationally and at the same time, think realistic. So as you know being based in Medellin, someone from Medlelin is very different from someone in Bogota. So as a business you need to understand the differences of particular people and, particular geographical candidates who would like, in terms of benefits the way they want to work, some people want to work, hybrid, and someone people want to work remotely. Number two, you need to be able to give them access to upscale courses locally as well. if we’re looking, hiring someone in Europe, maybe they’re not that interested in, having English courses, for example, as opposed to candidates in Latin America, and number three, you need to obviously be open-minded and not be kind of judgmental about universities. Always look at the output that these candidates achieve. So if a candidate has done incredible work at a local startup, they should not be discounted if they haven’t been to Harvard or something. It’s very important to have these sort of mindsets when looking at hiring and connection. Pablo Miller I think that’s some solid advice there and I think it can be surprising just how much of a difference there can be when it comes to even small distances, like you mentioned, Medellin to Bogota. And I think you can find that across many countries and I do want to know, are there other companies operating in this space? And if so, how do you differentiate yourself from the competition? Samuel Brake Guia: : Great question. So HR tech, it’s certainly a crowded space and number two, I mean there’s a lot of companies now saying, I can help you find talent in Latin America, it’s cheap, etc. You have got to be very cautious about this in the sense that certain companies are trying to just sell Latin America for the cheap economic sense. But really Latin America is a great example of the modern workforce, the folks that are developers here, they not the ones that have been building databases in a bank for about 30 years, it’s that kind of millennial developer the self-taught, worked at startups. And so where we differentiate ourselves is that we have access to the modern workforce that can build modern digital products. And secondly, we’ve been focusing more on corporate clients, they hate finding new supplies for everything. So given that we’re a total talent platform. Pablo Miller They have three essential services from finding to hiring to retaining talent. It means the clients can with one provider, solve the whole problem. So when I look at competitive Ontop, fabulous business, great founders, but they just offer the payroll solutions, they don’t offer retention products. They don’t offer talent scout. And then obviously deal who are one of the pioneers and this amazing, payroll business. When the pandemic hit they got great technology, they really just focus on the payments and payroll side and so really if you don’t retain the candidates, it’s hard to offer them payroll. So this Remoti fits in well and we can offer all three services. Most importantly we have access to the modern workforce and we have tools in order to retain them and also to attract them to your business. That makes a lot of sense. I can see that and I do like the idea that this modern world is more of a meritocracy, it matters less where you are and just more about your skills and your ability. And I think that that’s really important because I really dislike the fact that so much is dictated by where you’re born. And I think that when job opportunities are open to everyone in the world, that just feels like it’s more of a meritocracy, the way it should be. And really my last question to you is what’s next on the horizon? Samuel Brake Guia: Yeah. absolutely. So, at the moment, as I mentioned we’ll be launching our app and our app is super interesting because, like most problems in life, most problems are caused by, bad communication. So, our industry has a very bad reputation for candidates not being given proper feedback or candidates not being fully prepared or candidates not being rejected probably. So we’ve got a communication tool that candidates can download and they seamlessly go through the whole recruitment process and all the communication between the candidate, client, and recruiter is in one place. Number two, in terms of the payroll, the digital wallet will be in the app so they can track their payments. Pablo Miller: They can also track when they will be paid. And number three will be building a marketplace where there’s going to be upsell. So we’re going to be offering our community of developer language courses and also development courses. And so really in one place, you’d be able to find a job. You’ll be able to grow financially. Number three, you’ll be able to upskill. So essentially we’re digitalizing this community and helping them, regardless of where you are in Latin America to find a great job, be paid accordingly and also to be upskilling. And that is really our passion for the modern workforce. Fantastic. if people are listening and they want to keep up with the work that you folks are doing. Pablo, what’s the best way for them to do that?Pablo Miller: So obviously the main channels, we have LinkedIn. We also have Instagram with Facebook and also on our website. We also have two offices, one in Bogota and Medellin, so people are welcome to come in for a coffee, would be delighted to host them. And, from candidates to clients, we have an open-door policy and are always very happy to virtually meet. Samuel Brake Guia: This article was originally published by on Samuel Brake Guia The Sociable.

Breaking Barriers: Remote Work's Impact on Social Mobility in Latin America

Mobile phones have always been a staple of corporate communication. In the early days, companies would provide mobile devices to their employees. When the technology became widely available in the early 2000s, people began using personal phones for work-related communication. The practice reached a whole new level when smartphones hit the scene and employees started using their own devices for various work-related tasks. Companies embraced the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend, cutting down expenses on fancy gadgets like Blackberries. Nowadays, smartphones are versatile tools and can take on tasks that previously required specialized equipment. With full-fledged office suites installed, mobile devices are the go-to tool for . around 90% of employees The Dominance of Google's Mobile OS Google's Android and Apple's iOS are the undisputed leaders in the global mobile operating system market — a claim that can safely be extrapolated to the corporate world as well. In terms of , Android occupies a dominant position with 72% of the share, while iOS claims a smaller but still very substantial share of 27%. All of the other players in this space collectively hold the remaining 1%. global market share The reason behind Android's global popularity with users is the extensive range of devices it supports. In contrast to Apple's own exclusive iPhone line, Android runs on smartphones produced by dozens of manufacturers and caters to all price segments, from budget models priced at a mere $50 to premium flagship devices costing upwards of $1500. This has made the Android operating system , where cost often takes precedence over brand recognition. Given that from the consumer’s point of view app ecosystems of Android and iOS are very much alike, many users opt for much more affordable Android-powered options. a favorite in emerging markets The Role of User Data in Google’s Revenue So how does Google monetize Android? The 15-30% cut it takes of what app developers earn on Google Play represents only a small slice of . In fact, it’s included in the category "apps, devices, and content" which constitutes only about 11% of overall earnings. Similarly, cloud technologies account for about 8% of Google’s revenue. Alphabet's total revenue A whopping 80% of the company's earnings come from advertising, heavily fueled by data analytics so that the company can target users even more effectively. How Data Is Collected on Android Google's services and products, such as Android, are key ways for the company to get access to users and their data. When you buy an Android phone, you'll notice it comes with a whole suite of Google services already pre-installed. These are part of Google Mobile Services (GMS), which include apps like Google Play Store, Gmail, Google Drive, Chrome, Search, YouTube, Maps, and Photos. requires that these apps are displayed on the phone's first screen and set as the default. This strategy is crucial, as research shows that most users do not bother to change their default search engine or use other apps that are not immediately visible. As a result, Google gains access to a massive array of user data that these apps collect. Google's agreement with smartphone manufacturers Basic core Android OS apps, such as the Dialer, which is used to make phone calls, or SMS Messenger collect data as well. have confirmed that the Google Dialer sends data to Google's servers such as call details, including its time and duration, phone numbers, and even app usage time. Google Messages service collects the message hash of both sent and received texts, giving the tech giant even more insight into its users' communication habits. Android users can’t choose to opt out of sharing this data with Google. Research studies Security Risks of Android Mobility Device vendors receive Android OS with GMS from Google and are responsible for installing the OS. The OS code consists of millions of lines which makes it very difficult — or downright impossible — for device vendors to audit. All the GMS apps are controlled entirely by Google. Hence, all devices on Android are potentially subject to undocumented vulnerabilities or may run features unknown to device vendors. Device vendors also receive Android updates that fix various vulnerabilities and update security policies directly from Google and then need to roll out these updates themselves on user devices. The update process is cumbersome, and thus security updates are usually installed months after being released by Google. Cases from Around the World As long as there is an internet connection, every Android device is fully controlled by the OS developer and device vendor.  There is always a chance of it getting blocked or having certain features selectively disabled. Moreover, data could be remotely wiped off, or accessed without authorization by the device manufacturers or even third parties such as government agencies ​​of the country where the device or OS manufacturer is registered. Unless, of course, authorities or security forces specifically require back-door access to devices. In recent years, there have been numerous instances of remote service restrictions imposed on users. A prime example took place in the spring of 2022 when Google all payments and monetization for apps in Russia, including advertising and monetization across its products such as YouTube and AdSense. In addition, Google began arbitrarily disabling its cloud services and deleting apps from stores, mirroring Apple's policies. shut down There are other numerous examples of Google’s will and policies being imposed upon users located very far from its headquarters in Mountain View, CA. Earlier, in August 2017, Android began to for Iranian users. In September 2018, Google new phone sales in Turkey after being fined 93 million liras by Turkish authorities for antitrust violations. In May 2019, Huawei faced a major setback when Google on the company. _______________________________________________________________ limit access to its services stopped licensing imposed a massive ban In today's hyper-connected world, data security and privacy are of paramount importance, especially in a corporate setting. Unfortunately, when it comes to Android devices, it appears that Google is in complete control. They have access to user data and the ability to disable it at will, as demonstrated by several examples of remote restrictions in recent years. This level of control raises significant concerns, particularly for those who require high levels of confidentiality in their communications. Despite this, Google is unwilling to fully disable support for Android devices in sanctioned countries. Of course, doing so would disrupt the collection of user data - perhaps, not the desired outcome for Google.

Android Devices in Enterprise Mobility — Navigating Key Risks

From Help to Gentleman: A Tale of Social Mobility

The might be waning among knowledge workers. Enter: The Great Disengagement. Great Resignation Two out of three professionals in the U.S. (66%) are not actively looking for another job, according to a new survey by the Blind. The digital media network commissioned the survey of nearly 7,000 verified professionals in the U.S. professional social network Living Corporate “Employees feel stuck. They are growing less optimistic about their careers while simultaneously growing more anxious about the economy,” noted Living Corporate Founder and CEO . Zach Nunn Professionals fear a recession might be imminent Indeed, Blind and Living Corporate’s survey found that more than three out of four professionals (76%) are concerned about a possible recession. Professionals in the financial services, financial technology and on-demand or “gig economy” industries were most pessimistic about the state of the economy. All or nearly every professional polled at Airbnb (90%), Coinbase (98%), Deloitte (87%), DocuSign (91%), Instacart (100%), Robinhood (100%), ServiceNow (91%), Stripe (94%), T-Mobile (90%), Twitter (94%) and Wayfair (92%) expressed concern. See full table here And it’s no wonder why. According to Blind’s tech layoffs tracker, more than 450 and technology companies have laid off more than 75,000 people in 2022, including more than 20,000 jobs cut in the last three weeks alone. startups Recent news headlines of companies “freezing” or pausing hiring, rescinding job offers, and laying off employees have not helped build confidence. The majority of professionals surveyed (53%) by Blind and Living Corporate said they feel less confident about their job security now compared to one year ago. Only one in eleven professionals (9%) said they felt more confident about their job security. See full table . here Perhaps unsurprisingly, one’s economic outlook affected how secure they felt about their jobs. Ninety percent of professionals who feared a recession was imminent said they felt less confident about their job security. However, 60% who were unconcerned about an upcoming recession said their confidence in their job security has not changed in the last year. Employee engagement at a record-low Nunn warns employee engagement will be a top organizational risk for employers in 2023 if current trends continue. He added: “The productivity gains businesses enjoyed during the work-from-home period caused by the pandemic are being challenged and becoming more volatile.” The reported employee productivity dropped by 7.2% in the first quarter of 2022—the steepest decrease since 1947. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics “If the economy slows at the pace many fear, organizations and employees could be caught in a stalemate, as both parties look to move on but are too pressured by the economic environment to do so,” concluded Nunn. The bottom line Professionals in the financial services and technology industries have long enjoyed solid pay and high job mobility. However, concerns about a recession have slowed the Great Resignation, according to a new analysis by Blind and Living Corporate. The vast majority of workers are pessimistic about the economy, which has affected their job security and willingness to actively search for a new role. Methodology Blind and Living Corporate conducted an online survey of 6,911 verified professionals in the U.S. on the professional social network Blind from June 20 to 21, 2022, to understand how professionals feel about recent layoffs in the technology industry. Also published on Teamblind’s blog.

Job Mobility Slows Amidst Recession Fears and Tech Layoffs 

Sometime in 2016, car and ridesharing services were suddenly joined by e-scooters, mopeds, and bicycles for rent on the corner. And, of course, more car and ridesharing concepts joined them in the following years. New Mobility startups have set the plan to simplify people’s journeys. While they can make a crucial contribution to lowering emissions by personal car traveling, it’s not as simple as it seemed at first ten years ago. In the long run, this will develop into a network of options that will motivate people to give up their privately owned cars since sharing vehicles are more reliable, cheaper, and more trustworthy than driving their cars. You can expect the twist coming! And for developers and data scientists, we provide a guide on using the that solves some issues in this article. The companies’ big bet is that people will use the services to get to the closest public transport hub or to cover short distances in cities (intermodality). Kuwala software framework In fact, people love the service of Uber or Tier, but the hoped-for effect fails to convert into the big vision. Uber leads to because individuals do not give up their own vehicles. An e-scooter is moved just five times per day. So on average, an e-scooter is used for just . congested streets in New York 60–80 minutes There are currently about 60,000 sharing vehicles in Berlin (distributed among more than 40 regional and global players). On the other hand, there are over 1.2 million vehicles, (YoY Growth). Therefore, it will take more sharing offerings that are also more frequently used to achieve measurable success and the profitability of the companies. with new registrations of privately owned cars at a 5-year high and an increase of 1.1% Matti and I still believe that the hype around New Mobility was not just hot air. Maybe also because we are working with one of the few profitable car-sharing services in the industry. The two key goals of utilization and profitability go hand in hand with the utopian goal of traffic transformation and a profitable business. The goal can be further operationalized in this regard: to be located precisely where they are needed in terms of actual demand. Vehicle availability and distribution must be optimized so that the short-term loss of missing vehicles on the road is not noticeable. Vehicle maintenance and recharging times must be optimized intermodality, coverage, and profitability in new and existing markets. Service areas must be chosen to balance But how can you turn a great idea into a profitable business? We think it takes a certain amount of data intelligence. It would be best to find out the theoretical maximum at a specific time in a particular place in a vast city like Berlin. Your gut feeling (the biggest neural network in the world) might not be too helpful in this case and leads to decisions with considerable opportunity costs. For this reason, it is essential to identify and estimate the actual demand with the help of data. Possible influencing factors are for example: (many new mobility startups already use this source with success) Weather with an estimation of the number of people who need a ride. Events such as concerts Total visitation frequency and on an hourly estimation. popularity at places and locations to have finely graded adjustments instead of top-level decisions on a zip code level. High-resolution demographics information One company that has mastered external and dynamic data processing is Uber. It even incorporates data from electric toothbrushes into its predictions to dynamically adjust pricing and fleet distribution. However, not every company is Uber. However, we believe that changing the mobility of people for good is only possible if all players can develop such algorithms. One thing in advance, we have already created something for you so that your mobility startup also has the possibility to make data-driven decisions with just one hands-on developer. Let us start with a little recipe that spots some challenges when starting with spatial mobility analytics. Not every company manages to pay the brightest Data Scientists and develop their own prediction models. With Kuwala, we have already implemented exactly the case described above and looked at Lisbon as an example. We decided to correlate with the holistic popularity score through Kuwala. Are you curious if it’s actually that easy? Uber traversals Everything we show you next is easy to reproduce with a well-set-up computer, Python3, Docker (and docker-compose), and not more than five lines of code. Since we talk data and give you the skills to run everything during a commercial break on TV, make sure to have 8GB RAM and 10GBs left on your hard disk. Setup Clone our GitHub repository ( ) https://github.com/kuwala-io/kuwala Launch Docker in the background From inside the root directly run with Shell or GitBash kuwala/scripts && sh initialize_core_components.sh && sh run_cli.sh cd Select to download the demo data Now a Jupyter Notebook will open Launch and Analyze in Jupyter Notebook The Jupyter Notebook will guide you now through the following analytical steps. Just execute the commands to get a feeling of the already integrated functions of data quality review, analytics, and visualization Load CSV with traversals Load popularity score for Lisbon Join data frames Data quality report with Pandas Profiling Correlation analysis between popularity score data of Lisbon and Uber traversals Launch a map for explorative results with the Unfolded.ai SDK You want to replicate the results in a web environment? We have also hosted the complete example on Binder. No Installation is needed and you just run the commands to get a first impression - Just click here just click here. Learn to adjust Kuwala to your use case, region, and data Now it’s your turn. With the built-in CLI of Kuwala, you can populate the three external data pipelines, namely, Point-of-Interest data, popularity score, and high-resolution demographics into a local database. - Populate in database - Integrate your own data - Query with the Jupyter Notebook Where do we go from here? Kuwala is an , and therefore we live from other developers using our tools, giving feedback, and developing further. For example, we would love to integrate weather data or other data sources. open-source project For additional content from Kuwala, we recommend our . weekly podcast episodes

How to Build an Uber-like Intelligence System for a Mobility Startup

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your  background. I have a background in IT, Business Administration and in startup-building. I’ve lived some time in Australia where I started my first startup in the solar industry. What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do? Our Startup is called Next Mobility Labs. We are a company builder / startup studio investing in and supporting sustainable, digital mobility startups. What is the origin story? Armin (Co-Founder) and I met within the digital agency mediaman which he founded 25 years ago. We both made some experiences in founding and building up startups in our career. 2 years ago we decided to follow our passion and start the journey of the Next Mobility Labs. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? Well I would say we are not the typical startup that solves a single problem, we rather encourage and support smart and ambitious people to solve various problems within the mobility sector. I love our team because we share the same values which is the most important thing in my opinion. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? Building another Startup ;) At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? If our startups are able to attract potential clients and receive funding from investors we are on the right track and consider our startups successful What’s most exciting about your traction to date? We were able to attract top-notch people from the industry to join us as advisors / partners. e.g. Dr. Peter Mertens (former CTO Audi) or Thomas Andrae, a well known german serial founder and investor. What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why? I’m both excited and worried about AI. On one hand it opens huge potentials but on the other hand I think it is very important that we as humans define a common rule set how we will use AI. What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform? I like the idea of the startup of the year award and got notified by your people that we got selected. What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself? Stay hungry and go your own way. Don’t always rely on what others say. What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing? Networking is almost everything. You can have great solutions but you need a well established network to bring the power of your solution with speed on the street. Next Mobility Labs was nominated in Startups of the Year hosted by HackerNoon. as one of the best startups in Mainz, Germany

"Stay hungry and go your own way", advised Felix Paul Wagner, Managing Partner of Next Mobility Lab

How do my users move in this city? Where do they go? What does the “flow” of this city look like? How does that change throughout the day? These are the questions that we hear from our users (mostly micro-mobility companies or on-demand companies) quite often. If you are a micro-mobility company (ride-sharing, ride-hailing, carpooling) and these questions inhabit your mind as well, the article should help you navigate through some of those questions. What is movement analysis? Until now, we have talked about performing geospatial analytics in primarily two ways: Static Points: Analysing metrics or events with respect to a static entity that doesn’t move. For example, analyzing how many trips start from a station or what is the average prep time at this restaurant. To read more, check this out! Aggregations: Using a system of geospatial aggregations such as hexbin or geohash when we are dealing with an event that has happened at a certain place and time. For example, aggregating orders delivered onto hexagonal grids for one city. To read more, check this out. However, in order to understand the metrics between two events over a trip, movement analysis is very useful. Characterists of movement (or trips) While analyzing trips, here are the characteristics that we should be looking at: Origin: Where do the trips originate from? For example, in the morning, as users travel to their place of work, trips are likely to start in residential areas or near bus stations or metro stations for the last-mile. Destination: Where do the trips end? Similarly, in the evenings, users mostly travel back to their homes. Paths: What are the most common routes or paths taken by the user? What paths do the most valuable users take? If there are multiple ways to reach a destination, which paths do users take? For example, if you are a carpooling or ride-sharing company, this should also help you analyze what are the most frequented routes for you to pick up the maximum number of users. Distance: What is the average distance of the trips and how does that change with time? Where do long-distance trips originate from? Where do short-distance end to? For example, a lot of trips to the beach are long-distance and are on weekends. Moreover, they originate from the center of the city. Time Taken: What is the average time taken during the trip and how does that change with where the trips originate from? Do short-distance trips also take a lot of time to travel because of the routes they travel through? Repeatability: How much percent of trips are repeat trips? How many users are repeat users? Characteristic: Trips can have several characteristics of their own. For example: How much revenue do you obtain from the trip? Are they profitable? What are the most unsafe routes for users? Insights from Analyzing Movement Data What are the additional insights that you can get from performing movement analysis? Flow Flow analysis (or network analysis) is to understand how the city moves at different times of the day or even historically. For example, with one of the last mile delivery companies, studying the flow showed that the delivery partners started moving towards the center of the city and by evening, they started moving out, because most of them lived on the outskirts. But they needed to come inwards because that’s the region in which they receive the maximum amount of orders. We usually denote the flow using arcs or lines (and play with time to understand its temporal patterns). Arcs layers help us understand the most frequented origin and destination in the city as well as the distance between them. Arcs don’t show you the paths taken between both the points. The image below shows the historical analysis of the flow in the city of Austin. Another way to show the overall flow can also be done using lines that are just a visual representation of the arcs. Top O-D Pairs Just extrapolating from the previous point, when you study the flow, you can also identify what are the top origin-destination points. Knowing the top origin-destination pairs makes reallocation an easy play. You can always keep your vehicles (or drivers) available at those points. This should also help ride-sharing companies to incentivize pick up at those points. Idle Spots What are the spots where vehicles or riders are idle while in trip? This is a very important analysis to carry out for micro-mobility companies. They are losing out on money for every minute their bikes are not utilized. Most of them charge on a per km ridden basis. Some of the point of analysis for idle spots are: When: Is there a time pattern to when vehicles are idle in trip? For example, in the afternoon near the hotspot tourist location. Characteristic: How many bikes frequent that idle spot together? How many unique trips? How many unique users? Duration: For how long is the vehicle idle for? For example, outside a hospital or for three hours until the movie gets over. Frequency: How often does the vehicle get idle? Is there a temporal or seasonal pattern to it? Distance to Nearest Station: If the bikes are supposed to be in a station, how far is the idle spot to that location? Cohorts Who are the users who do the maximum number of trips? What do your power users have in common? How much time on an average do they spend traveling? How much distance do they travel? Where do they go? Having deep knowledge about your power users is a must to understand what kind of persona has the maximum utility of your product and for what use case. Outliers Outliers help you understand anomalies in your movement data. How many people go to the outskirts of the city? For example, in a lot of cases, we have observed that people cross state borders (which is illegal). In that case, a thorough understanding of just one user or trip becomes fairly insightful. Where did this user go? Why? Does he always take these routes? In these cases, having a detailed view of one particular user or trip is important. Demand-Supply Demand-Supply analysis is key to optimizing asset utilization (and hence reducing the idle time). Next Demand Time: When the trip is ongoing, what does the demand look like at the destination? If the ride is going to end at a location that is actually demand-deficient, your vehicle might end up spending a lot of time idle there or the rider would have to come back without a ride. Point of Interest: Another very interesting analysis that can be done is to analyze how the movement gets influenced by different points of interest such as schools, colleges, malls or tourist destinations. External Events: It would also be insightful to analyze how different external events such as rain, a large concert, a sports match, protests affect the demand and the supply for your company. Movement Analytics using Locale At Locale, we are building a “movement” analytics platform that uses geospatial data of users, vehicles, or riders. Supply and operations teams in micro-mobility to monitor what’s going on on the ground and take more tactical decisions. Product and analytics teams can use it to do historical analysis and take more strategic decisions. To help you analyze movement faster and better, we have built models that automatically create paths from the pings from your trips. Our mission is to bring the same level of granular analytics as Uber and Grab to every company collecting location data. We want to enable business teams in on-demand companies to get operational insights within a minute, not hours or weeks later! If you would like a demo, please get in touch with me on LinkedIn or Twitter or visit our website. If you want to get a demo, you can get in touch with me. Orignally posted here. Read Similar: Making Location-Based Experimentation a part of our DNA. [Link]A Product for Operational Analytics using Geospatial Data. [Link] How do my users move in this city? Where do they go? What does the “flow” of this city look like? How does that change throughout the day? How do my users move in this city? Where do they go? What does the “flow” of this city look like? How does that change throughout the day? How do my users move in this city? Where do they go? What does the “flow” of this city look like? How does that change throughout the day? These are the questions that we hear from our users (mostly micro-mobility companies or on-demand companies) quite often. If you are a micro-mobility company (ride-sharing, ride-hailing, carpooling) and these questions inhabit your mind as well, the article should help you navigate through some of those questions. What is movement analysis? Until now, we have talked about performing geospatial analytics in primarily two ways: Static Points: Analysing metrics or events with respect to a static entity that doesn’t move. For example, analyzing how many trips start from a station or what is the average prep time at this restaurant. To read more, check this out! Static Points: For example, analyzing how many trips start from a station or what is the average prep time at this restaurant. this Aggregations: Using a system of geospatial aggregations such as hexbin or geohash when we are dealing with an event that has happened at a certain place and time. For example, aggregating orders delivered onto hexagonal grids for one city. To read more, check this out. Aggregations: For example, aggregating orders delivered onto hexagonal grids for one city. this However, in order to understand the metrics between two events over a trip, movement analysis is very useful. between Characterists of movement (or trips) While analyzing trips, here are the characteristics that we should be looking at: Origin: Where do the trips originate from? For example, in the morning, as users travel to their place of work, trips are likely to start in residential areas or near bus stations or metro stations for the last-mile. Origin: For example, in the morning, as users travel to their place of work, trips are likely to start in residential areas or near bus stations or metro stations for the last-mile. Destination: Where do the trips end? Similarly, in the evenings, users mostly travel back to their homes. Destination: Similarly, in the evenings, users mostly travel back to their homes. Paths: What are the most common routes or paths taken by the user? What paths do the most valuable users take? If there are multiple ways to reach a destination, which paths do users take? For example, if you are a carpooling or ride-sharing company, this should also help you analyze what are the most frequented routes for you to pick up the maximum number of users. Paths: For example, if you are a carpooling or ride-sharing company, this should also help you analyze what are the most frequented routes for you to pick up the maximum number of users. Distance: What is the average distance of the trips and how does that change with time? Where do long-distance trips originate from? Where do short-distance end to? For example, a lot of trips to the beach are long-distance and are on weekends. Moreover, they originate from the center of the city. Distance: For example, a lot of trips to the beach are long-distance and are on weekends. Moreover, they originate from the center of the city. Time Taken: What is the average time taken during the trip and how does that change with where the trips originate from? Do short-distance trips also take a lot of time to travel because of the routes they travel through? Time Taken: Repeatability: How much percent of trips are repeat trips? How many users are repeat users? Repeatability: Characteristic: Trips can have several characteristics of their own. For example: How much revenue do you obtain from the trip? Are they profitable? What are the most unsafe routes for users? Characteristic: Insights from Analyzing Movement Data What are the additional insights that you can get from performing movement analysis? Flow Flow analysis (or network analysis) is to understand how the city moves at different times of the day or even historically. For example, with one of the last mile delivery companies, studying the flow showed that the delivery partners started moving towards the center of the city and by evening, they started moving out, because most of them lived on the outskirts. But they needed to come inwards because that’s the region in which they receive the maximum amount of orders. For example, with one of the last mile delivery companies, studying the flow showed that the delivery partners started moving towards the center of the city and by evening, they started moving out, because most of them lived on the outskirts. But they needed to come inwards because that’s the region in which they receive the maximum amount of orders. We usually denote the flow using arcs or lines (and play with time to understand its temporal patterns). Arcs layers help us understand the most frequented origin and destination in the city as well as the distance between them. Arcs don’t show you the paths taken between both the points. The image below shows the historical analysis of the flow in the city of Austin. Another way to show the overall flow can also be done using lines that are just a visual representation of the arcs. Top O-D Pairs Just extrapolating from the previous point, when you study the flow, you can also identify what are the top origin-destination points. Knowing the top origin-destination pairs makes reallocation an easy play. You can always keep your vehicles (or drivers) available at those points. This should also help ride-sharing companies to incentivize pick up at those points. Idle Spots What are the spots where vehicles or riders are idle while in trip? This is a very important analysis to carry out for micro-mobility companies. They are losing out on money for every minute their bikes are not utilized. Most of them charge on a per km ridden basis. Some of the point of analysis for idle spots are: When: Is there a time pattern to when vehicles are idle in trip? For example, in the afternoon near the hotspot tourist location. When: For example, in the afternoon near the hotspot tourist location. Characteristic: How many bikes frequent that idle spot together? How many unique trips? How many unique users? Characteristic: Duration: For how long is the vehicle idle for? For example, outside a hospital or for three hours until the movie gets over. Duration: For example, outside a hospital or for three hours until the movie gets over. Frequency: How often does the vehicle get idle? Is there a temporal or seasonal pattern to it? Frequency: Distance to Nearest Station: If the bikes are supposed to be in a station, how far is the idle spot to that location? Distance to Nearest Station: Cohorts Who are the users who do the maximum number of trips? What do your power users have in common? How much time on an average do they spend traveling? How much distance do they travel? Where do they go? Having deep knowledge about your power users is a must to understand what kind of persona has the maximum utility of your product and for what use case. Outliers Outliers help you understand anomalies in your movement data. How many people go to the outskirts of the city? For example, in a lot of cases, we have observed that people cross state borders (which is illegal). In that case, a thorough understanding of just one user or trip becomes fairly insightful. For example, in a lot of cases, we have observed that people cross state borders (which is illegal). Where did this user go? Why? Does he always take these routes? In these cases, having a detailed view of one particular user or trip is important. Demand-Supply Demand-Supply analysis is key to optimizing asset utilization (and hence reducing the idle time). Next Demand Time : When the trip is ongoing, what does the demand look like at the destination? If the ride is going to end at a location that is actually demand-deficient, your vehicle might end up spending a lot of time idle there or the rider would have to come back without a ride. Next Demand Time Point of Interest: Another very interesting analysis that can be done is to analyze how the movement gets influenced by different points of interest such as schools, colleges, malls or tourist destinations. Point of Interest: External Events: It would also be insightful to analyze how different external events such as rain, a large concert, a sports match, protests affect the demand and the supply for your company. External Events: Movement Analytics using Locale At Locale, we are building a “movement” analytics platform that uses geospatial data of users, vehicles, or riders. Supply and operations teams in micro-mobility to monitor what’s going on on the ground and take more tactical decisions. Product and analytics teams can use it to do historical analysis and take more strategic decisions. To help you analyze movement faster and better, we have built models that automatically create paths from the pings from your trips. Our mission is to bring the same level of granular analytics as Uber and Grab to every company collecting location data. We want to enable business teams in on-demand companies to get operational insights within a minute, not hours or weeks later! If you would like a demo, please get in touch with me on LinkedIn or Twitter or visit our website . LinkedIn Twitter website If you want to get a demo, you can get in touch with me. Orignally posted here . Orignally posted here here . Read Similar: Making Location-Based Experimentation a part of our DNA. [Link] A Product for Operational Analytics using Geospatial Data. [Link] Making Location-Based Experimentation a part of our DNA. [ Link ] Link A Product for Operational Analytics using Geospatial Data. [ Link] Link]

Geospatial Analysis of Movement Patterns for Mobility & Delivery

Geo is practically everywhere today! With the prevalence of GPS all around us & the rise of smartphones, location data is being collected in abundance. Legend almost all of the data (~80%) that companies store has a location component. says Our lives are now filled with products and services available at the tap of a phone, getting things delivered in minutes to our doorstep! Today, it is hard to find an app which doesn’t ask for your location permissions. There is a famous in the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) world which says When you place an order from any food delivery app, every event starting from placing of the order — to delivery executives (DE) getting assigned to — the DE picking it up from the restaurant — to him delivering happens at a certain lat-long! quote “everything happens somewhere.” Which brings me to my next point: Why are we obsessed with “location” as a dimension? Firstly, there is no “mobility” without dynamic location. In other words, location is a fundamental aspect whenever there is movement of assets (people, vehicles, cargo, parcel) on the ground. After all, in cities and towns where things change at every sq km in a city, it’s important to add the “context” of those areas. For the on-demand economy that we live in, analyzing location data across all your dimensions (users, stores, partners) becomes in real-time. This is because you have to match your supply with demand, do location-based pricing, promotions or faster and more accurate deliveries at scale! critical And finally, the most successful for consumers are based on sequential activities at a very granular level: Where are you? Where do you need to go? What do you want to do when you get there? This becomes important when you need to acquire customers by targeting ads and retaining and engaging them by their behavior. location-based experiences studying Location is not only about a point on a map. It is about a line. It is about movement. But all this time, the location component has been particularly in business decisions. This is because conventional analytics tools are fantastic for the treasure trove of statistical data that businesses have but somewhere, they fall short of . neglected location-based decisioning You might be wondering: “But, why?” Before we deep-dive into that, let’s understand how geospatial data is different from statistical data. Location is exciting! If played right, it can drive significant revenue improvements (case in point: Uber & Airbnb). Its high usage and real-time nature make it really valuable and sticky. What sets geospatial data apart from statistical data? Just like text, sound, image are different kinds of data, Latitude-Longitude is a different kind of data that can add immense depth, meaning and insights to statistical data in a space-time context. Statistical data comes in a tabular format and usually, is comprised of two elements: values across time. (also called geographic data or location data) is often formatted as points (latitude-longitude coordinates), polygons or polylines. Geospatial data It incorporates the third dimension on top: values across time and dynamic location — which requires a completely different approach and treatment. Computing metrics for static assets involves plotting points on a map and calculating metrics for that. Movement analytics concerns itself with how do we visualize, analyze and optimize how things move on the ground! Two special properties of geospatial data are autocorrelation and non-stationarity, which make it difficult to meet the assumptions and requirements of traditional (nonspatial) statistical methods, like OLS regression. means how similar (correlated) are my measures between nearby observations. It falls in-line with the first law of geography as well- Spatial Autocorrelation “ everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things ”. is a condition in which a simple “global” model cannot explain spatial relationships between the variables. The nature of the model alters over space and behaves differently in different parts of the study area. Spatial nonstationarity Let’s answer our pending question now: Why are current statistical tools not apt for spatial analysis? Today, the current way of dealing with location data inside companies is broken. Due to the dearth of any location analytics products out there, most of the businesses have no choice but to rely on traditional BI and analytics tools. It’s not puzzling that this is a highly ineffective strategy because these tools are not really meant for geo-analysis. 1. Formats Most companies collect location log data in the form of . The way to analyze the patterns they encompass is to have an infrastructure that can ingest these pings in real-time — something that platforms like Periscope or Tableau don’t cater to. “ pings ” Moreover, location data is present across disparate databases, in different structures. Hence, slicing and dicing variables across tables in real-time comes even more complex. 2. Visualizations All of us know that a statistical dashboard contains bars and charts which sprout from carrying out operations (sum, count, divide, average, etc) on variables. While getting live trend updates through spikes and dips on graphs might be helpful, these charts are work better on aggregated historical data. Adding or dividing lat-longs and creating bars and charts on them is pretty futile. To make sense of these lat-longs, you need to have a map by your side to understand their spatial distribution! Another important aspect that governs all the properties of a geospatial dashboard is a . Not having this layering mechanism which you can use to display multiple types of data points on the map, sort of misses the point. For instance, layer layers help in viewing how my orders (first layer) and partners locations (second layer) are distributed across my area clusters (third layer). Maps are also more insightful to draw inferences than bars and charts if there is movement of components on the ground involved. Hence, real-time geographic analysis when everything is dynamic becomes fundamental. 3. Aggregation Traditional BI tools like and offer the capability to plot points on a map. However, just plotting points on a map is not adequate as billion dots in space is not very intuitive. Moreover, PowerBI Geckoboard Location intelligence is so much more than tracking and plotting points on a map! Strategies like clustering, heat mapping, aggregation, indexing, etc. come in handy to absorb a large number of points. Some tools like and also allow the creation of heat maps — a fantastic way to depict the patterns of metrics. The disadvantage of heatmaps is that they are only a visual representation, thus restricting you to do any sort of analysis on it. Tableau Periscope To know more about why heatmaps don’t work, check out! this A more efficient way to do aggregation is indexing them on or . Once you analyze the pattern of your metrics (such as demand and supply) across grids, you can use the cells as a single unit in your models as well. Indexing also helps to go very granular in your analysis. hexagonal grids geohashes 4. Data Preparation Using and , you can clean your statistical data by taking care of the blanks, spaces, data formats, NAs etc whereas cleaning of GPS data involves snapping it back to the nearest road or correcting for . (You must have observed often while using Google Maps, GPS goes off very far randomly.) It is safe to say that GPS as a technology still has miles to go! Cleaning: Periscope Thoughtspot spatial outliers Platforms like or allow you to merge two tables using an inner join, left join or a right join on the basis of a common identifier. It’s quite difficult to do spatial merges using these platform if, for instance, you have data across three dimensions: users, delivery partners, and stores (sometimes they come in different formats). Merging: Tableau Prep Metabase A involves inserting columns from one feature table of a layer to another in the spatial perspective. spatial join For example. merging a Kormangala area polygon with all the ride pick up points inside it. Enriching of any data implies adding new layers of information and merging it with third-party or external data sources. In the GIS world, we enrich spatial data for a better context of areas in which the points are present. This means adding the environmental layer of roads, traffic, weather, points of interest, demographics, buildings, etc. Enriching: The internal solutions not working out? Some companies, of course, realize this and hack around open-source tools (like or ). But these open source tools come with their own list of constraints and limitations. Kepler.gl QGIS However, the issue doesn’t get resolved here because geospatial data itself comes with a bucket full of challenges. Performing geospatial queries on streaming data become very compute-intensive and legacy technologies (like ArcGIS) provide very little support. The complexity increases with visualizing large geospatial datasets with any sort of interactivity at scale. Sometimes developers also build their own internal tools, but most of the times they are not well suited for all different audiences inside the company. Since the tools are not built in a scalable way, maintaining these suck up a lot of developer bandwidth often! A lot of times there is even a repetition of effort and the wheel keeps getting re-invented over and over again. As Jeff Lawson from Twilio — “It is easier than ever to build software but harder than ever to operate it”. said Why are we building Locale.ai? It all started with a personal problem. As data scientists working with geospatial data, the existing analytics products were futile in our daily workflows. Hence, we had to build our own tools and libraries for our everyday workflows. We then realized data scientists around the globe face similar problems when it comes to location data. As a result, businesses are struggling to attain operational efficiency! At , we plan on solving these problems once and for all. We want to make all of these processes less painful and building a world where it is very easy to get all your geospatial answers in minutes! That’s why we are going back to the drawing board and handcrafting this experience completely from scratch. Locale So, the next time you want to order medicines in case of an emergency, you won’t hopefully read on the screen, “ ” Next time the delivery guys won’t have to stand idle in the scorching heat, cold or rains waiting for the orders to come. Delivery guys are not available. Please check again later. They can be incentivized to move to high demand areas and can earn more money. The push notifications that you get won’t be spam — they will be shot to you at the right place and right time. Read Similar: Bridging Supply-Demand Gaps in Last-Mile Delivery Companies Geospatially [ ] Link Carto vs Kepler vs Locale: Which product to use for geospatial analytics? [ ] Link

Why Do We Need a New Product for Geospatial Analytics for Mobility

is upon us. Cities are changing at a pace like never before, largely made possible through technological advancements. It has disrupted existing industries and paved the way for a shared mobility market - one that redefines the way people move and interact. Being able to effortlessly move across cities enabled billions across the globe to access opportunities, tap into great products and services, while connecting with people that are important to them. A fundamental analysis of the status-quo of urban transportation A new mobility ecosystem The growth of the mobility industry and the momentum it gained came at a cost - traditional transport was incredibly time-consuming and lacked advanced safety systems. What’s driving the next frontier in urban mobility? Traditional transport burns time and cost - it forces many to spend hours of their lives in traffic, with reports highlighting that the . Cities in Europe, Latin America and Asia were seeing similar trends. Nearly - a statistic that carries significant costs for businesses and the economy at large. average Los Angeles citizen spent over 102 hours stranded in traffic 60-90 hours were spent every year being stuck in road traffic Being trapped in gridlock last year and the city of London saw its direct and indirect costs climb more than 8 billion euros. The environmental impact of traffic is also significant. It accounts for over 70 percent of carbon emissions in Europe. cost the U.S. alone a staggering $305 billion Urban mobility is looking to tackle just this - the flawed transport system. The status-quo of urban transportation is rapidly shifting The mobility landscape is changing. In recent years, enabled by robust technology solutions, we are looking at a rise of alternative mobility which include more efficient means of transport mushrooming across the globe - including ride sharing, autonomous vehicles (AVs), mobility as a service (MaaS) and some of the biggest automakers developing electric vehicles (EVs). This caters to the rising mass of customers that demand clean and sustainable solutions to travel. The rise of shared mobility - a market valued at $619.5 billion by 2025 Digitalization welcomed a new wave of mobility services that included app-ordering services, peer-to-peer car sharing, ride-sharing, free-floating services and car-pooling. This has prompted many customers to resort to alternatives like electric scooters and bikes, and other ride-sharing services instead of relying on traditional public transport or taxis. “Challenging the economic efficiency of car ownership is exactly what is at the heart of all mobility services offers. And consumers are convinced with this message," a research report by IPSOS highlighted. Thus, more than 50% of current car owners predict that instead of owning a car, people will use shared mobility services in future, as it will be the cheaper option,” the report said. A game changer: Alternative mobility gives rise to advanced technologies With alternative mobility slowly but surely replacing the ownership culture, ridesharing has shifted its dynamics. From a time when customers touted ride-sharing to be a novel experience, it has now becoming a base expectation - all of it largely enabled through technology. The boom birthed , acquired a significant number of customers and soon penetrated into markets such as Bogota and Mexico City, densely populated regions that were known for their crippling traffic and heavy congestion during peak hours. Public transport in some of the major cities in major Latin American cities were often stressful for the traveler. electric scooter startups like Bird and Lime that expanded quickly Startups like Lime and Bird, valued at over $1.1 billion and $2 billion respectively in just under 14 months after founding, have captured a sizeable market. Enter alternative mobility services. Investors are betting big on several players in the bike sharing sector, a space that’s now witnessing billions in funding flowing in. The increased funding has enabled the platforms to expand and resolve cracks in their growth model. Many of the startups have spearheaded alternative forms of transport for users, helping reduce the negative impact non-electric vehicles have on the environment - be it carbon emissions, greenhouse gases and higher fuel usage. Over the long term, this business model is sustainable, clean and will support future technologies that enable electric vehicles. Better yet, a large number of internet-based technologies have permeated the market - ensuring that safety and security are not compromised. Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are seeing a boom, with advanced features expected to further augment the market in the future. "Generally, the interests of business (mobility providers) and city authorities coincide, with both parts aiming to reduce the number of cars on the roads," according to a report by IPSOS . “Free parking for car-sharing vehicles, tax privileges for electric cars, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, allowance to use public transport lanes for electric cars: these are just a few of many vivid examples of cities supporting the development of mobility into its current form. Surely, more and more different pilots of state-business partnerships will appear,” it added. Behind the curtain, multiple technologies power the mobility sector There are a variety of technologies including real-time GPS, identity and access management, IoT, insurtech and mobile computing that the mobility sector uses to keep their services running smoothly. Shared vehicles like bikes, scooters or cars tap into IoT to gather real-time information through the internet. When it comes to shared mobility, GPS is used to track the vehicle, allow locking and unlocking through the app and even enables options like collecting data about the vehicle status to predict maintenance cycles. How does this help companies? It allows them to ensure evenly distributed vehicles, saving millions in maintenance costs and helping them track vehicles in order to prevent theft. However, the data that's collected may be shared with other third parties like insurtech companies. Simply put, insurtech is the set of technologies that disrupt the insurance industry. It enables customized policies that are dynamically priced and easily accessible via mobile. The customization oftentimes relies on data collected through IoT. So if a user rents a scooter, the insurtech company could provide him with an individual offer based on this driving style from previous routes. Eventually, all these technologies form a connected ecosystem that support the rise of shared mobility services. “currently just 12 percent of cars are equipped with embedded connectivity solutions, and monetisation is still weak (less than $1.5 billion in revenue). But this is set to change.” A McKinsey report remarked that The future of mobility is centered around the user Shared mobility may be an easy nut to crack, but like most services, relies heavily on its users. The entire ecosystem is kept buoyant by its users - a central figure of all intersecting technologies. This extends the age old access management issue - is the user allowed to access the vehicle? And even more important: Is the user really who he or she claims to be? Creating a Digital Identity for users enables a frictionless sharing mobility Without connecting the data to a real human being, the system is incomplete. For example, tracking a bike might be important for anti-theft purposes, but if something were to happen, the insurance claim should be addressed to an actual person. It is not enough to connect the data with an online pseudonym. While access management does not solely revolve around access to accounts, it even includes sensitive details like the location of the user and the places they visited. Here’s where trusted digital identity becomes increasingly important. Companies run the risk of theft, vandalism and may face damage claims. This may seem innocuous - but what if the user faced legal action or had a history of cases that indicated offense or assault? Riders may need to know who they’re sharing their ride with and if they are indeed the person they claim to be. This is incredibly important when it comes to safety, and confirming the user’s identity through digital identity platforms will amplify security. Strong identity access management (IAM) solutions can bolster the enterprise's security. Through biometric technology, platforms help companies identify users, while ensuring the user gets to control their data. digital identity verification The sharing economy hinges on trust. And that’s why digital identities matter. The rise of the sharing economy gives an average person the opportunity to start their own venture - be it running a cab business or renting out their properties. Customers today have a lot more options at hand through companies participating in the shared economy - a space that largely hinges on trust. It’s high time enterprises rethink their approach to identifying their users and authenticating that they are who they claim to be. Verified and are vital for the future of shared mobility. Digital identity and access management platforms can connect dozens of government or official IDs from across the globe to prove true identities and build trust between the enterprise and their users. reliable digital identities

What is Alternative Mobility? And Why Digital Identity Is Crucial For Its Future

Scaling SpotHero and the Future of Mobility

“Contracts, transactions, and the records of them are among the defining structures in our economic, legal, and political systems. They protect assets and set organizational boundaries. They govern interactions among nations, organizations, communities, and individuals…And yet these critical tools and the bureaucracies formed to manage them have not kept up with the economy’s digital transformation. They’re like a rush-hour gridlock trapping a Formula 1 race car. In a digital world, the way we regulate and maintain administrative control has to change. Blockchain promises to solve this problem.” — Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani, Harvard Business Review Blockchain. Mobility Services. Digital Transformation. Although discussions about these concepts are prevalent in a wide range of industries, some people may still be unaware of the full scope of changes we’re on the verge of undertaking in the way our communities and organizations manage transportation, business, and the increasingly-vital collection and usage of data. Various levels of vehicle connectivity and automation systems are already commercially-available, while fully autonomous cars are expected to enter the market within the next two years. Some experts predict as many as 10 million self-driving cars on our roads by 2020 with the number of networked cars expanding by 30 percent annually over the next five years, while tech companies and auto industry specialists continue to develop radically-new solutions to better handle the ever-growing population and congestion challenges in our cities. And this is just the beginning of what’s to come. Although urban mobility has been controlled historically by a select number of global giants in conjunction with local authorities, disruptive alternatives are popping up everywhere, such as peer-to-peer carsharing solutions, fixed monthly fee access to a range of automated public transportation options, and other Mobility as a Service (MaaS) concepts. While this transportation evolution holds the promise of monumental strides forward, MaaS faces many significant challenges that must be solved before its full potential can be realized. For one, a major lack of transparency exists, with insufficient integration between a large percentage of service providers in some areas. Also, governmental support is unfortunately almost non-existent at this point, leading to additional complications. So, while MaaS may eventually be capable of providing the solution for many of our urban transportation problems, using it remains difficult. As suggested in the Harvard Business Review quote at the beginning of this article, blockchain carries the potential to alleviate the inefficiencies, inaccuracies, and lack of transparency that can restrict progress in the incredibly complex world of transportation. Blockchain can provide the missing link between the various ecosystems that exist in smart cities, service providers, governments, and commuters. DataArt’s recent proof-of-concept project, , illuminates blockchain’s ability to manage all relevant data from the complete chain of vehicle goods and services providers. From manufacturing and repairs to insurance, gas, and parking, our solution offers a glimpse into the auto industry’s new direction, transforming the myriad of data silos into a single, elegant, and accurate system to benefit us all. Porsche Blockchain Services Ecosystem (Porsche BSE) Written by Igor Ilunin, head of IoT at DataArt .

Blockchain-Based Mobility Services

Similar to the internet, blockchain technology is sector-agnostic. However, similar to how internet applications differ from healthcare to automotive, blockchain’s innovation principles are expressed differently as well. One of the areas in which blockchain is increasingly being utilised is mobility. Blockchain is a toolkit. A solution needs a problem. When solving your mobility challenge, consider this: Is blockchain uniquely qualified to solve this problem? Thought leaders think blockchain will elevate the mobility game.Alex Smout from commented: InMotion Ventures “The rapid changes in the automotive and mobility sectors present many problems which benefit from the unique strengths of blockchain. We’re seeing growth in trading and sharing of high value assets at the same time as disintermediation of “trusted” middlemen, meaning transparency and trust are critical. Smart, connected vehicles need to balance the need for security and control of data with market desire for connectivity and data access. And now, for the first time, OEMs, service providers and cities are having to collaborate on open standards to provide safe, sustainable services. These trends, and dozens more, mean the mobility sector is already spawning legitimate investment opportunities with blockchain at their core, even with the current limitations of the technology.” The Blockchain Toolkit Smart Contracts Smart contracts boost trust to an unprecedented level. The agreement only executes when both parties have fulfilled all requirements. Pen and paper contracts tend to be between two or multiple parties, may they be individuals or institutions. Smart contracts however are code, thus they can be person-to-person, person-to-machine and machine-to-person, unlocking new dimensions of value creation. Crypto-Assets The ability of coding a set of characteristics to the ‘store of value’ that flows within your business elevates a one-dimensional product or service to an interactive platform, network or ecosystem. By designing crypto-assets for specific use cases you can stimulate desired behaviour, mobilising your community to add value to your business. Trusted Ledger Transparent records of transactions stored on an immutable decentralised ledger are intuitively most valuable in low-trust environments. It becomes possible to verify statements, such as the number of cars in a fleet or the trackrecord of the driver. Which Mobility Challenges Could Blockchain Solve? Quite a few according to Chris Kirby, founder of . Tomorrow’s Journey “Today mobility is heavily centralised with overly complex service layers that create waste and often offer a sub optimal product to consumers — blockchain has the potential to unravel this market. There are three ways where I see blockchain impacting mobility. Firstly, creating a network of non centrally and fractionally owned, shared access vehicles. Secondly, the management of this network through a tokenised marketplace for a trusted community to carry out maintenance and movement tasks. Finally, creating a trust network for consumers to access shared vehicles using a verified digital identity.” What does this have to do with blockchain? We’ll first explore how useful blockchain is applied to a vehicle in isolation, and then we place it in an increasingly broader context, until we arrive at smart cities. Mobility is evolving from a walled garden into an inter-connected web of relationships. As proposed in article, our blockchain toolkit can be applied to four core areas: , , and an . Philipp Sandner this Multi-party process Single-source of truth Missing trust Open ecosystem A Single Vehicle Use Cases —This could be information the car gathers on itself, such as total mileage, weight or age. Alternatively, this could be information others gather on the car, think vehicle condition, workshop visits and repairs. Everything that contributes to resale value. Absolute Information — Using absolute information to recalculate risk premiums, and verify claims by resolving the circumstances of an accident. Insurance — Car ownership is in decline, for with modern mobility services there is less need to own a car. As mobility services advance, and car ownership decreases, the question is: Fractional ownership who will own the cars providing the mobility services? — If we consider a vehicle in insolation, who could it possibly pay? Itself. Payments Is Blockchain Worth It? Simply put, a blockchain ledger is a log of transactions. The absolute information and insurance use cases would benefit from a single source of information. But, this would also be possible with a regular database. The first question rings: Do you need a shared, consistent database? This reinforces the trustworthiness of the data source, and thus makes a blockchain-based solution a little more interesting. Our next requirement asks records to not be amended or deleted. Yes, these use cases would benefit from multi-party collaboration. We’re slowly getting somewhere. Does more than 1 writer need to update the data? About as far as you can throw them. The mobility sector is infamous for its lack of trust. Let’s consider a semi-decentralised consensus mechanism to validate the input on the ledger, such as Proof-of-Authority. Backed up by ‘real-world’ legal contracts, trusted parties, or nodes, obtain ledger writing permission when a set level of agreement is reached between these parties. Like a representative democracy, but with self-elected representatives and without the people. Now, are all writers trusted? That’s just the ledger. Back to our insurance use case. Insurance can become smart with smart contracts. Clauses can be activated by certain triggers, i.e. unsafe route or an un-authenticated driver. Smart contracts have more applications. It’s called the self-owning car because it can ‘think’ for itself. It can do it’s own transactions and billing via smart contracts. The balance of the costs and revenues is then distributed among the shareholders, verified by the ledger. Confusingly, ‘the self-owning car’ is a car owned by multiple shareholders (institutions and individuals alike!). The vehicle could also pay its own account to unlock temporary vehicle functions. Think of software functions such as cruise control or hardware functions such as EV battery acceleration boost. famously extended the range of some Florida vehicles for drivers to escape Hurricane Irma. Tesla Interestingly, we’ve seen that even when considering a single vehicle in isolation, it pays not to discount blockchain benefits. Vehicle — Infrastructure Use Cases — This could be information the car gathers on infrastructure, such as charging efficiencies, road conditions, weather or air quality. Absolute Information — The very first interaction vehicles won’t need humans for, is payments. Payments Is Blockchain Worth It? Whenever one party interacts with another party, may it be a person or machine, the first question is: Recognising the trustworthiness of both the requester and the requested is the business of . Who is this party and are they allowed to make the request they’re making? authentication The Hummels family undertakes a comfortable Europe road trip in their leased BMW 6. When leasing the car, BMW verified the identity of the parents (buyers) and by extension the temporary owners of the vehicle. When confronted with a toll-route in France, our Hummels family breezes through, not paying much heed. Under the hood, the toll infrastructure requests the identity of the vehicle, reads the BMW 6 authentication seal ( ), calculates the toll fee, obtains the information relevant for fee extraction from Mr. and Mrs. Hummels, and executes the payment. The Hummels BMW 6 crypto-asset account subsequently sees a fee deduction for toll way Paris-Bordeaux. 4-passenger capacity, medium pollution, low road impact only Machine-to-Machine communication thrives on a need-to-know basis. This is not fiction. The IOTA Foundation is currently working on vehicle payments to EV charging stations — more . here When considering if it’s worth storing absolute information on the ledger, frequency is our key criteria. Some data, like traffic data, is only useful when tracked real-time. For this data type local councils are better off using a traditional database. If we consider a use case such as grid distribution, we find a multi-party collaboration in a low-trust environment requirement. Furthermore, crypto-assets could be used as a tool to create an open ecosystem, further reducing customer adoption barriers. Benjamin Sinram and Nicolai Bartkowiak, from Volkswagen Group IT, : state “There is a lot of potential for blockchain applications in the Volkswagen Group, from maintenance, logistics and digital applications to specialised solutions such as tamper-proof odometer readings. Blockchain technology also offers a lot of opportunities when it comes to self-driving vehicles. It can protect cars from hackers better than other technologies, and help with automatic payments at fuelling stations or car washes.” Not using blockchain when you should is as dangerous as using blockchain when you shouldn’t. Is blockchain uniquely qualified to solve the challenge? Vehicle — Person Use Cases — Consider information the vehicle gathers on its drivers and passengers: Acceleration speed, time spent driving (i.e. a bus driver), number of passengers or possession of driving licence. Absolute Information — Data Ownership Who owns the data directly connected to the individual in the car? —The line between ride-sharing, ride-hailing and vehicle-on-demand blurs when you can customise your virtual identity to unlock permissions for the required service. We’ll see different use cases for the same vehicle, used by different individuals for different services at different times of the day. Ride-sharing / Ride-hailing — Vehicle financing Can financial constructions such as leasing be de-risked? Is Blockchain Worth It? Individuals will, and need, to control identifiable data. Virtual identities, like the BMW example, will act as verified identity proxies when engaging with services. Your identity is the most valuable thing you own. What do you need to know when somebody uses a P2P ride-hailing service? Let’s strip it back. Let’s say the person needs to be over 18, without a criminal track-record, owning sufficient funds for the service and with an average rating of 3 out of 5 stars. If a trusted third party can vouch for this information, in theory this will suffice for the utilisation of the service. When a service requires more complex information, the requested variables are adjusted. For example, identity can be augmented by social capital. We asked: Can financial constructions such as leasing be de-risked? Partly. Verifiable social capital goes a long way to vouching for desired behaviour. Permission to use specific services can be retracted. Unlocking system can be deactivated. Due diligence can be simplified. In this case, blockchain’s usefulness very much depends on the solution construction. When it comes to payments, Max Lomuscio, from , highlighted that tokenisation of the Mobility sector can also… DOVU “…incentivise specific actions (safe driving, eco-driving, …) that add value to the whole community of citizens. Leveraging the permissionless technology, these token-rewards can then freely flow across different mobility services to promote an open and expanded MaaS ecosystem” . Applying blockchain to the relationship between people and vehicles is arguable easier than to the relationship between machines. The latter requires a perfect solution, for alternatively there is a risk machines go rogue. The first allows for a more granular introduction, feeling the waters when implementing new use cases. Vehicle — Vehicle Use Cases — This could include information the vehicle gathers on other cars, such as traffic jams, accident detection or early warning signs of erratic driving patterns. Absolute Information — Autonomous Fleet What happens is our ‘self-owning car’ construct is applied at scale? — We can imagine use cases where vehicles are required to communicate and negotiate with other vehicles. Payments Is Blockchain Worth It? Because of its real-time nature, this type of absolute information is not a perfect match for the blockchain ledger. However, it can act as triggers for smart contracts or other vehicle prompts, i.e. a toll fee increase in case of heavy traffic. It is key to remember that when we talk about unmanned vehicles, we are not just talking about cars. The blockchain will expedite automatically executed transactions among vehicle owners, operators and third-party service providers by utilising a single source, usage-based payment system. Even in vehicle: vehicle payments authentication plays a role. Again, is the requesting party authorised to make a request? In platooning several vehicles drive behind each other in very close distance. Safety is ensured by the communication of the involved vehicles and the real-time exchange of sensor data. Another example is negotiating right of way, when one vehicle, like ambulance on its way to the hospital, needs to assume priority over an another, such as a commuting civilian. If we envision the future of mobility to be shared, blockchain can not be excluded from the conversation. The Smart City We’ve identified the different pieces of the puzzle, but how to complete the jigsaw? Blockchain-based identity (for machines and individuals!) will be the key puzzle piece to unlock mobility services at scale. The line between mobility services blurs when you can customise your virtual identity to unlock permissions for the required service. We’ll see different use cases for the same vehicle, used by different individuals for different service purposes at different times of day. If we envision the future of mobility to be shared, blockchain can not be excluded from the conversation. Machine-to-Machine communication thrives on a need-to-know basis. Value is created in a different way, therefore value needs to be extracted and measured in a different way. Expect OEMs and other mobility players to move towards the Standard Agreements | Open Developer Platform quadrant. The current innovation approach won’t hold. Image: Xapix Together The mobility sector is already on the road to disruption. This transformation is only possibly thanks to the combined efforts, expertise and forward thinking of industry players. A such example is (Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative), a consortium of blockchain and mobility industry leaders that work together on realising the potential of the tech. The importance of this partnership is underscored by , the Head of Mobility and Automotive at Foundation. MOBI Alisa Maas IOTA “IOTA’s edge technology offers endless opportunities, but the translation into real business value is driven by the industry and will evolve over time. This is why the IOTA Foundation is working together with the industry on use cases, Proof of Concepts and pilots to further develop the IOTA technology and at the same time facilitates the creation of smart business models and value added services in disruptive areas such as new ownership models, e-mobility and centralised platforms.” Similarly, Sinram and Bartkowiak, from Volkswagen Group IT (as mentioned in article) not only study concrete applications themselves, but also have built up a network of nearly 300 employees in the organisation, across all the brands, who exchange ideas on this topic and meet multiple times a year. this “Our contacts among the different brands enable us to work very efficiently. The atmosphere is open, and we’re happy to include interested individuals from any department.” This is the beauty of the Blockchain ecosystem: it brings together the brightest minds from different companies, sectors and backgrounds to reimagine whole industries. — Even-though we discussed many use cases, this list is by no means comprehensive. What are you working on? Anything we missed? We would love to hear from you. Arwen Smit ( @arwensmit ) is CEO at MintBit ( www.mintbit.io ). Want more insights? Subscribe to the monthly Blockchain Byte newsletter here or follow us on Twitter at @mintbit_ .

Reimagining Mobility With Blockchain

(Photo c_redit: Kim Leuenberger)_ The rebirth of Segway and the future of private and shared transportation. In 2009, almost 10 years ago, Segway and General Motors teamed up to create a new type of personal transport vehicle dubbed Project PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility). Back then, the two-wheeled electric vehicle — essentially an upsized and modified Segway scooter with seating for two — was introduced at the New York Auto Show. As recently wrote in : “It was 17 years ago that inventor Dean Kamen onto the set of Good Morning America and into the annals of entrepreneurial infamy. Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr and Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos were ebullient at the time about the market opportunity for the electric, two-wheeled vehicle. Doerr predicted that Segway would hit $1 billion in sales as fast as any company in history.” Brad Stone Bloomberg rolled his Segway It didn’t happen. 17 years later, Segway scooters have almost disappeared — if not for malls and city tours — replaced by the electric scooters that the company now manufactures for startups like Bird, Lime , and others. But the almost 10-year-old PUMA has reappeared on my LinkedIn feed with a video post by , president and CEO of . Jon Steinberg Cheddar This tiny car is just for the city. _August 10, 2018: Jon Steinberg posted on LinkedIn_www.linkedin.com Jon Steinberg on LinkedIn: "This tiny car is just for the city. (Via Cheddar) Gotta love it! Mostly because during the past 17 years, Segway has resisted the market and survived it… Or it tried, as in 2015 it was acquired by Chinese manufacturer Ninebot. And it’s now experiencing a rebirth. I’m not sure if, after 10 years, the PUMA tiny car will ever get released, but the same-ish concept is being refurbished by many new transportation startups. Segway and GM’s PUMA , founder of Organic Transit, explained to how “little electric vehicles can play a central role in smart cities, serving as nodes in a wide mesh network, acting as mini cell towers, as battery banks, and as a sensor suites for air pollution, pothole detection, etc. The coming rollout of 5G for instance, telecos will need to install many more towers compared to today’s 4G to achieve the promised high bandwidth. Instead of trying to stick fixed towers everywhere, they could perhaps wire little electric vehicles like the ELF and have them serve as roaming towers, creating an immediately deployable network rather than spending the months or years it takes to put fixed towers everywhere.” Rob Cotter Have A Go The ELF by Organic Transit The ELF is a tiny car-ish. It is a solar and pedal hybrid vehicle. Organic Transit dubbed it as “The most efficient vehicle on the planet” and TreeHugger’s Sami Grover recently pointed out that, despite the ELF being extremely expensive to buy for private use, it would be perfect for sharing. Already startup Lime, whose fleet already includes electric scooters and bikes, is eyeing new transportation products and, as reported by Bloomberg, is . It’s still not clear whether it would have three or four wheels, but it would drive in normal street traffic, and could hit a top speed of about 40 miles per hour, , Lime’s co-founder and chairman, told Bloomberg. developing what it refers to as ‘transit pods’ Brad Bao Cities need pods because traditional cars are overkill for the bulk of urban driving, Bao said. Most trips consist of a single person looking to travel three miles or less. “They don’t need to have a five seater or a seven-seater, plus all that gasoline consumption,” he said. “But there is no such product out there to meet their needs.” he said. “Our goal is to be a leading multimodal company,” said Toby Sun, co-founder and CEO. _The key is multimodality — mobility in our cities can benefit from both electric scoopers and electric moped scooters._hackernoon.com The other electric scooters and beyond I’ve written about multimodality and mobility a few weeks back. In a post here on , founder and CEO of Scoot defines multimodality as “the 21st century subway system.” Scoot is currently introducing an electric kick-style scooter to its fleet of electric moped scooters and electric bicycles and, like Lime, is eyes electric four-wheeler vehicles. Medium Michael Keating The Microlino by Micro Mobility Systems Recently, the Microlino caught my attention. This quirky, small, electric city car — first shown at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show — has now passed its last tests and is now legal across European roads. According to Micro Mobility Systems, the Swiss company that created the Microlino, production will start soon and with deliveries in Switzerland thereafter, before entering into the market in Germany in 2019. The Microlino program started in April 2016 with a joint-venture with Italian car manufacturer Tazzari.

Tiny cars, better mobility?

Turin, Italy is experimenting with autonomous cars and electric scooters, while London, UK is looking to become the most walkable city in the world. The debate around mobility is growing. It’s not any longer about traffic and bike lanes, but about transforming our cities and creating new partnerships to make smart mobility the end goal. It’s interesting to see how the city of Turin in my native Italy is really becoming an open innovation laboratory with important projects revolving around mobility. The first is the new memorandum of understanding (MOU) on autonomous cars signed with the Italian Transportation Ministry and a few private/public partners, including the city’s two main universities. “In a city like Turin known for its automotive industry, it’s an important challenge to look at the future of ,” said Turin Mayor Chiara Appendino in a Facebook video. The new MOU allows car manufacturers and autonomous car companies to be part of the testing in the city of Turin. Turin is starting to experiment with autonomous cars. “The city will become an experimental laboratory,” commented commissioner Maria Lapietra, in charge of mobility for the city. “The true innovation about this project is that we’re not going to use a dedicated track to experiment with autonomous cars. It’s important for us to test this new technology in real city, with real traffic, and real problems. We want to be a true test for the future of our city.” “Our goal is not only testing this technology, but also creating an ecosystem, which includes autonomous cars, drones, and robotics, that can contribute to new mechanisms aimed at bringing innovation to the city and attracting new business,” said commissioner Paola Pisano, in charge of innovation for the city. In addition to autonomous cars, Turin will also be experimenting with electric scooters. The Mayor has, in fact, announced that the city has partnered with to bring their scooters to Turin and its first Italian city — the company debuted in Europe with a launch in Paris in June. LimeBike The partnership, to start between now and September, brings around 300 scooters to Turin to be rentable during the day , from dawn to sunset— and not at night. User will also have the option to bring the scooter home to recharge it and get credits on the Lime app — in a way mimicking what the so-called “juicers” do in the US. In addition to Turin, London is also trying to bring more mobility innovation. London’s first ever walking and cycling commissioner, Will Norman, has unveiled the capital’s first . It sets out how London will become a city where walking, for those that can, is the most obvious, enjoyable and attractive means of travel for all short trips. Walking Action Plan The plan has an ambitious vision to make London the most walkable city in the world, with a million extra walking trips taking place each day by 2024. Also, the Mayor of London wants to increase the proportion of people walking, cycling, and taking public transport to 80% of journeys by 2041, from 63% now. And the Mayor is investing a record £2.2bn in streets across London to make them better for walking and cycling, and improve air quality. Will Norman, London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, said: “Walking is a fantastic way to get around and explore London, and getting more Londoners to walk regularly is essential for the health and future prosperity of our city. Whether you’re popping to the shops or heading for the local train station, we’re investing record amounts to make walking the safest, easiest and most enjoyable way of getting around. By making it easier for Londoners to leave their cars at home and walk instead, it will tackle the air pollution crisis and reduce congestion as London’s population continues to grow. It will have a truly transformational impact on our city.”

The future of mobility and smart cities in Europe

Uber’s strategy has a new home — “mobility data infrastructure for YOUR city”. Blame it on competition and regulation. There was this recent article by Eugene Wei around , defining them as the ceiling that a company’s growth curve would bump its head against if it continued down its current path. There has been a lot happening lately in the urban mobility market and it’s helpful to make a sense of the changes by thinking about the invisible asymptote of one of the key players: Uber. invisible asymptotes Uber’s invisible asymptote has been the . Ubers are not a cheap mode of transport for vast number of use cases and a vast number of people, especially if you compare them with say the subway in New York. Uber has been aware of this invisible asymptote and has been continuously innovating to bring cheaper solutions such as Uber Pool and to market, and those have largely helped it grow at a healthy pace till date. Significant percent (though likely not majority) of Uber rides are now Pool. price of its service Uber Express Pool While this is great, the mobility market has evolved and Uber’s invisible asymptote now seems to be more clearly visible. Uber doesn’t have many more tricks up its sleeve to continue to lower the price of its service. The result is a new strategy that is becoming the north star sooner that I had expected. Uber wants to be the mobility cloud for cities — . the data infrastructure layer sitting between all the modes of transport and the apps/channels we use to access them Uber as the data infrastructure layer for mobility options in a city Uber recently articulated this strategy by saying that it wants to take consumers from Point A to Point B even if it involves covering multiple modes of transport. There are multiple factors that have led Uber to this point and that make this strategy so compelling. First, Uber has internalized the . It found itself surrounded by deep pocketed competitors in international markets and figured that bleeding money through discounting wasn’t sustainable. It has ceded ground to Didi in China and Grab in Southeast Asia. This meant that some of the assumptions around the size of its user base supporting its valuation turned out to to be untrue, putting more pressure on it to penetrate its existing markets deeper to capture demand beyond taxis. deeply geographical nature of the price competition Second, the entry of bikes and scooters promised to and shut Uber out. The users that scooters are going after are precisely the users that Uber is finding hard to win over because Uber is not cheap and, in this case, also not convenient. The only logical way to react to this was to acquire one of the companies and gain an entry into the market, which it did with its . substantially lower the price of short distance commute acquisition of Jump Third, it became clear that for it. Self-driving won’t come soon enough (assuming a 2019 IPO for Uber) and Uber won’t be the one to get the self-driving technology right. In addition, there is an increasing threat that some players in the market might be able to cobble up a partnership to offer much cheaper rides to consumers w/o having to rely on Uber’s distribution. An example would be Waymo partnering with one of the big car manufacturers to have the capital muscle and expertise to deploy a fleet of self-driving cars in a city and enable consumers to hail them using Goole Maps which already has a large captive user base. self-driving, which was Uber’s silver bullet to lowering the price of its service, won’t deliver Lastly, Lyft, Uber’s primary competitor with a nicer brand image is becoming (example ), offering a path to lowering the price of service through subsidies. The entry of Uber/Lyft taught cities a lot about regulation and cities have realized that these new age transportation options are here to stay. They are finding that over-regulation (not allowing Uber/Lyft because of taxi unions) won’t work and so won’t under-regulation (letting city streets become scooter graveyards). Cities are increasingly trying to leverage their position in the mobility equation and are thinking of using Uber/Lyft as means to solving the urban mobility issues that the cities have always wanted to solve. If cities can subsidize Uber/Lyft rides to public transportation centers to incentivize higher usage of public transport, then its a win-win situation for Uber/Lyft and the cities, allowing them to offer a real alternate to car ownership. more aggressive with partnerships with cities Lyft’s partnership with the City of Phoenix This perfect storm of factors shaping the mobility market has resulted in Uber seeing itself more as the infrastructure layer for mobility, probably sooner than it might have imagined. This last point above around partnerships is the most important one because, going forward, cities will play an outsized role in defining the future of mobility. Bikes and scooters are not the last innovations in the space of urban mobility and Uber’s ability to capitalize on the future innovations will depend on whether it can be the data infrastructure connecting all the mobility options in a city which in turn will depend on whether or not cities allow it to do that. If Uber can have all the mobility data and can offer cities a solution that optimizes the mobility options for price, convenience and utilization, then it surely will have a deeper moat than just offering a ride sharing solution. It is for this reason precisely that Uber is spending to clean up its image and apologize for its past deeds. This campaign is not for consumers; it is to give city governments the cover to partner with Uber without the fear of a public backlash because governments don’t want to be seen partnering with evil entities. $500 Mn in ads Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s new positioning of Uber as a softer (less brash) is a pre-requisite for its push to be the mobility cloud. How open will this mobility cloud be is still a question but it’s now in Uber’s interest to push for a world where each city has at least one mobility cloud and it hopes that is can own the mobility clouds for most cities. In that sense, the change of guard at the top for Uber has been very timely and . maybe one day, Uber will be able to tax all mobility the way AWS taxes all storage and computation

Uber Mobility Cloud

By Ben Wilterdink, Director of Outreach and Policy Research at the Archbridge Institute Believing that the next generation will generally do better than the current one is an often unspoken, but essential, piece of the American Dream. Arguably the best way to gauge the health of this part of the American Dream is to measure how much an individual earns compared to how much their parents earned at the same age. Economists call this absolute intergenerational economic mobility, and here, the United States could be doing better. In a on economic mobility, a team of researchers working at the Equality of Opportunity Project led by Raj Chetty found that 90 percent of children born in 1940 earned more than their parents at the same age while only 50 percent of children born in the 1980s were able to do the same. Other research on rates of intergenerational economic mobility, however, paint a somewhat better picture. In the of an economic mobility series published by the Archbridge Institute, Dr. Scott Winship examines contemporary rates of economic mobility in America using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). While much of his research complements the Chetty et. al. study, Winship finds that after adjusting for changes in family size, accounting for government transfer payments, and using a different formula to measure inflation, about 68 percent of children born in the 1980s are earning more than their parents were at the same age. Despite some disagreements on the precise measurement of absolute intergenerational economic mobility, there is certainly room for improvement. landmark study first installment The Modern Labor Market While there are many factors contributing to a less-than-ideal level of upward absolute economic mobility, one factor that looks increasingly important is that participants in the labor market have not been able to keep pace with the skill set required to succeed in an increasingly advanced and global economy. The labor market encountered by those born in the 1980s is vastly different than the one facing those joining it today. One found millennials will likely hold four different jobs by the time they reach age 32. The same study noted that current workers were more likely than previous generations not just to switch jobs more often, but also to switch entire industries more often. These trends coincide with the increasing pressures of globalization and technological disruption that have dramatically changed the nature of work in a short period of time. study The transformative impact of technological change on the labor market is difficult to overstate. By far the biggest labor market disruptor appears to be automation. A 2015 from Ball State University examined job losses in the U.S. manufacturing sector and found that only about 13 percent of the job losses could be attributed to trade with the rest resulting from productivity enhancing technological advancements. According to a 2015 published in the , between 1962 and 2005 the U.S. Steel industry experienced a 75 percent decline in its workforce (more than 400,000 people) without any corresponding loss in output. report paper American Economic Review Greater automation is also reflected in the change of the American workforce from agricultural workers and tangible goods producers to primarily service providers. According to from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, 38 percent of jobs in the U.S. in 1945 were goods-producing compared with just 14 percent in 2017.While this shift has been accompanied by a rising wage premium for highly skilled workers able to capture the productivity gains provided by capital investment in automation, it also produced a decline in job opportunities (particularly well-paying job opportunities) for unskilled or low-skill workers. data Simply put, moving from a goods-based economy to a service-based economy has been paired with a shift in the need for hard skills in the labor market toward a growing premium associated with soft skills. As automation quickly replaces jobs that are routine in nature, more job opportunities are now found in career paths that place increased value on soft skills. The Growing Importance of Soft Skills Broadly referring to interpersonal skills, communications skills, and social intelligence, soft skills are sometimes non-cognitive skills, emotional skills, or non-academic skills. Loosely categorized as a broad set of skills, competencies, behaviors, attitudes, and personal qualities, soft skills enable people to effectively navigate their environment, work well with others, perform well, and achieve their goals. Economists James Heckman and Tim Kautz, of the University of Chicago, documented the importance of soft skills in a landmark 2012 , “Hard Evidence on Soft Skills.” That paper included a far-reaching survey of the literature around soft skills and found strong evidence that they were critically important predictors of future economic success. called paper Interestingly, recent evidence indicates that these soft skills may have even become a more important factor for success in the modern labor market than traditional hard skills (or cognitive skills). A 2014 National Bureau of Economic Research from Kautz, Heckman, and others found that “[Soft skills’] predictive power rivals that of cognitive skills.” Furthermore, a 2017 research examining the labor market in Sweden (often cited as one of the best performing nations in terms of economic mobility) from 1992 to 2013 found that “the labor market appears to increasingly value individuals possessing high non-cognitive relative to cognitive skills over time.” It is becoming increasingly clear that equipping workers with soft skills is the most effective pathway to their future success. That means ensuring that workers have the ability to develop and hone these skills is critical to ensuring more upward economic mobility. paper paper But it is not just economists and academics that are placing the emphasis on soft skills, increasingly employers are becoming more vocal about the soft skills shortfall in the modern labor market. In a detailed 2014 for the National Bureau of Economic Research, University of Pennsylvania professor Peter Cappelli cites one survey of employers in which soft skills were of particular importance: paper The Computer and Technology Industry Association (2012) produced an unusually detailed report, again based on a survey of employers, where 93 percent of employers responding said that they had a skills gap. Yet 90 percent also responded that they are at least “moderately close” to “where they want to be” with respect to skills, only 15 percent said that a factor in their skill problem was insufficient focus on STEM education, and only 20 percent reported that the problem was a limited pool of skilled IT workers, the essence of the STEM skill shortage argument. A large part of their perceived skill gaps had to do with “soft skills”- work ethic and motivation (almost 20 percent said that their concern was only soft skills, and about half reported that it was equally divided between “hard” and “soft skills”). The Computer and Technology Industry Association survey is hardly an outlier when it comes to measures of what employers report are their challenges in finding qualified applicants to fill job openings. According to a more recent in the article Wall Street Journal: A recent LinkedIn survey of 291 hiring managers found 58% say the lack of soft skills among job candidates is limiting their company’s productivity. In a survey of nearly 900 executives [in 2015], 92% said soft skills were equally important or more important than technical skills. But 89% said they have a very or somewhat difficult time finding people with the requisite attributes. Many say it’s a problem spanning age groups and experience levels. Wall Street Journal Furthermore, Bob Funk, Chairman, CEO and founder of Express Employment Professionals, one of the nation’s largest job agencies, sat down with William McGurn of the in September, 2017 to the modern labor market and his experience spending more than 20 years finding people employment: Wall Street Journal discuss This experience gives Mr. Funk some definite — and timely — notions about getting ahead in today’s America. Like everyone else, he talks about education and skills. But what he means by these words may be a little different from how they are used in the Harvard Business Review. Start with skills. Hard skills and experience, he says, are only half the equation, and not the important half. He shares a small brochure his company puts out summarizing a recent survey of employers. “So many people do not realize how important the soft skills are to unlocking job opportunity,” he says. In order, the survey found the top five traits employers look for are as follows: attitude, work ethic/integrity, communication, culture fit, critical thinking. While soft skills may be more difficult to measure than traditional hard skills, there is little doubt that they are of immense importance. In addition to being the most sought after skills from the perspective of employers, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests soft skills also lead to higher wages. Recent from David Deming, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, showed that over the past several decades, the labor market has been increasingly favoring social skills, particularly the ability to work well in teams. Specifically, Deming finds: research Between 1980 and 2012, jobs requiring high levels of social interaction grew by nearly 12 percentage points as a share of the U.S. labor force. Math-intensive but less social jobs — including many STEM occupations — shrank by 3.3 percentage points over the same period. Employment and wage growth were particularly strong for jobs requiring high levels of both math skill and social skills. One particularly interesting finding was the evolution of jobs that were not math-intensive but were more social. This group ranked just behind the high-math, high-social jobs in both wage growth and job opportunities. Interestingly, Deming’s research also found that from 1980 to 2012, jobs requiring high social skills (regardless of math requirements) grew as a share of employment opportunities while jobs that did not require social skills shrank as a share of employment opportunities. Building Soft Skills While there is still much research to be done into how best to develop soft skills, it is clear that development begins in early childhood and continues through adolescence and early adulthood. Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the best ways to develop the soft skills necessary for labor market success comes in the form of entry level employment. A 2015 from USAID concludes, “Theoretical literature suggests that adolescence and young adulthood are optimal times to develop and reinforce these skills.” Additionally, a growing body of evidence suggests that actually working, or at least being in a workplace environment, is a key indicator of successful soft skill development. In a 2005 based on a far reaching longitudinal study of 1,000 students, University of Minnesota Sociologist Jeylan Mortimer concludes the following: report book Working and Growing Up in America, … high school students who work even as much as half-time are in fact better off in many ways than students who don’t have jobs at all. Having part-time jobs can increase confidence and time management skills, promote vocational exploration, and enhance subsequent academic success. The wider social circle of adults they meet through their jobs can also buffer strains at home, and some of what young people learn on the job — not least, responsibility and confidence — gives them an advantage in later work life. Dr. Mortimer’s conclusions are consistent with more recent research as well. In a 2014 for the Employment Policies Institute titled “The Lasting Benefits of Early Work Experience,” economists Charles Baum and Christopher Ruhm “find clear evidence that part-time work by young adults — both during senior year of high school, and during the summer months — translates to future career benefits that include higher hourly wages, increased annual earnings and less time spent out of work.” But the benefit doesn’t stop in high school, the report’s executive summary states: report Most importantly, the economists find that this career benefit of entry-level work persists in the long term: Young adults who graduated high school in the late 1970s and early 1980s and worked part-time during their senior year saw a career benefit 5–10 years after graduation — and the earnings differential still existed nearly 30 years later. … Drs. Ruhm and Baum demonstrate that these future career benefits are occurring specifically as a result of the career experience that’s gained in early work experience. Bob Funk seems to these findings rather succinctly, stating in no uncertain terms, “Those low-paying, entry-level jobs are good training for the soft skills you need for upward mobility.” This view has had many champions, ranging from host to former CEO of CKE restaurants, which includes Carl’s Jr. and Hardees, . While entry level employment experience is clearly one mechanism to develop and reinforce soft skills among teens and young adults, research suggests that crucial building blocks of soft skill development begin in early childhood. summarize Dirty Jobs Mike Rowe Andy Puzder Creating an environment in which early childhood equips kids with the basic soft skills necessary for success later in life is critically important, but will require some major adjustments to our current culture. As a number of economists. including James Heckman and David Deming, quantify the importance of soft skills, and particularly their role in economic success, psychologists are leading the way in identifying factors in early childhood development that lead to their acquisition. In her much lauded book psychologist Angela Duckworth outlines the importance of childhood effort and resiliency in future academic and career success. But just as psychologists are converging on grit, resiliency, and character as the essential building blocks for successful soft skill development, the mechanisms by which children acquire these traits is under attack. Writing in , Lenore Skenazy, President of the nonprofit , and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, issue a timely warning about the cost of our culture’s intense focus on childhood safety: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance , Reason Magazine Let Grow Foundation When we raise kids unaccustomed to facing anything on their own, including risk, failure, and hurt feelings, our society and even our economy are threatened. Yet modern child-rearing practices and laws seem all but designed to cultivate this lack of preparedness. There’s the fear that everything children see, do, eat, hear, and lick could hurt them. And there’s a newer belief that has been spreading through higher education that words and ideas themselves can be traumatizing. According to Skenazy and Haidt, the unsupervised free play of children has been an early casualty of the excessive focus on safety. Experts recognize unsupervised free play as essential for early childhood development and, importantly, the groundwork for soft skill development. For example, Boston College psychology professor emeritus, Peter Gray, has the importance of free play in early childhood development. Skenazy and Haidt his research on the importance of free play: documented summarize In free play, ideally with kids of mixed ages, the children decide what to do and how to do it. That’s , literally. The little kids desperately want to be like the bigger kids, so instead of bawling when they strike out during a sandlot baseball game, they work hard to hold themselves together. This is the foundation of maturity. … teamwork Best of all, without adults intervening, the kids have to do all the for themselves, from deciding what game to play to making sure the teams are roughly equal. Then, when there’s an argument, they have to resolve it themselves. That’s a tough skill to learn, but the drive to continue playing . To get back to having fun, they first have to come up with a solution, so they do. This teaches them that they can disagree, hash it out, and — perhaps with some grumbling — move on. [Emphasis mine.] problem solving motivates them to work things out Teamwork, problem solving, and motivation are the exact benchmarks often discussed in the context of soft skills necessary to succeed in the labor market. These skills begin to develop early in a child’s life and our current culture of excessive safety seems to grossly underestimate their importance and undermine their development. Simply put, in order to preserve the American Dream, our culture and policies should recognize the importance of developing and sustaining soft skills. Whether it is by repealing policies that restrict entry level employment opportunities or reversing cultural norms that overemphasize childhood safety, the economic and social cost of ignoring these skills will be immense. Individuals need opportunities in their formative years to develop soft skills so that they have the most sought after skill set when they enter the labor market as adults. This will allow them to achieve higher earnings and increase absolute economic mobility as well. Much of this post builds on research from the Archbridge Institute’s forthcoming report on Economic Mobility, Skill Formation, and the Minimum Wage. The Archbridge Institute is a non-partisan, independent, 501(c)(3) public policy think tank. Our mission is to lift artificial and natural barriers to economic mobility, by producing and disseminating multidisciplinary academic and policy research, to empower individuals to thrive and strengthen civil society.

Skills for the 21st Century — Building Human Capital for Economic Mobility

“You press a button. In a very short period of time, a car shows up.” On a recent , Chris Ballinger, CFO and Director of Mobility Services for the , said: podcast Toyota Research Institute You press a button. In a very short period of time, a car shows up. Takes you where you want to go, drops you off. The negotiation of payment, who you are, your reputation, the car’s reputation, the contract… All of those are potential applications for the kinds of things that Blockchain does so well. Toyota is . Truth be told: the problem with everybody owning a , is that cars are effectively . betting on Blockchain heavily car underutilized On average, . Yes, you read that right. cars are parked 95% of the time insurance, maintenance, parking, driving license renewals, etc. Is that overhead worth it if you’re only using your car 5% of the time? On top of that, owning a car comes with fixed costs: Mobility-as-a-Service Toyota is betting on a future where mobility is practiced on demand. In other words, . mobility becomes a service rather than a resource you own There is a (either stationed or roaming around), and you request one by using an application on your device. fleet of autonomous cars in a city The car takes you where you want to go, you pay for ride and you get off. It then becomes available again to drive somebody else. The ecosystem it must be capable of finding a recharging station — and all other services it needs — all by itself. Since there is nobody driving the car, Of course, companies like Toyota don’t plan to deploy recharging stations everywhere in the world for their vehicles. Instead, they envision an , much like there are petrol stations, car washes, insurance companies, etc. all around the globe. economy/ecosystem of services surrounding the car But the key difference with today is that with those services, as well as perform trades immediately: by exchanging currency or some other token representing value. the car must be able to communicate Hello, Smart Contracts. Creating a single central database in the world for all these partners and transactions is impracticable. Who would own it? Would it comply with all legal regulations across the globe? How secure would it be? Who would manage it? Centralization is not the answer. Enter the blockchain . Transactions on the Blockchain So say you’ve called an autonomous vehicle and it’s about to pick you up. I will abbreviate “transaction” with TX. Imagine this flow: , but since it was not carrying a human until it picked you up, it . Insurance: The vehicle has an insurance policy only covers the car As soon as you hop on, . It does this by making a TX with a smart contract that covers the car + 1 human . the vehicle upgrades the policy to cover one human (you) until the estimated time of arrival (ETA) It starts driving. But alas, it needs to . It makes a TX on the blockchain with another smart contract to pay the toll. A deposit is paid upfront for the entire length of the toll road. Toll roads: access a toll road It continues driving. When it leaves the toll road, it makes another TX with the previous smart contract. It gets the deposit back, minus the cost of the trip on the toll road (based on the number of kilometers). It drops you off at the destination. You pay the car by issuing a TX on the blockchain. The car pays the insurance fee, prorated by the amount of time you actually spent in the car (both the start and the end of the trip were registered on the blockchain). The car then downgrades the insurance to a “zero humans” coverage. Payment: vehicle + 1 human The car notices it’s low on battery and it’s also dirty. So it charges you a soiling fee via the blockchain, and also decreases your reputation by –1 points by making another TX on the blockchain. Battery and soiling: You littered a bit. Since it has collected your transportation fee, plus the soiling charge, it first finds a recharging station and recharges itself. It pays the owner of the station via a TX on the blockchain. Recharging: (it could be someone’s home!) Then it goes to a cleaning service and pays via a TX on the blockchain, to get itself shiny and hospitable again. Cleaning: (is this human-operated or automated? If human… is this what we’ve been relegated to? 🤔) That is, unless this happens to it: It is now available to pick up another passenger. A trap for self-driving cars. 👉 For about blockchain, make sure to on Medium. top articles follow both, consensusX and me If you enjoyed this article, please on Medium (clap/heart it!), and on Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. recommend it share it About the author My name is Raúl Kripalani and I’m a backend & distributed systems engineer. I currently work for on building a modular network stack for P2P networks called . Protocol Labs libp2p Feel free to connect with me on Twitter and/or LinkedIn .

Stories, News & Mentions about MOZILIT

Mozilit’s Stories on HackerNoon

Mozilit's News & Mentions