The Best Bits: What you missed at Autonomy 2023
If you didn't make it to Autonomy in Paris, here's the top 5 things that you missed
#1: Donkey Republic, Dott, Drover & Freenow on the future of shared mobility
Has shared mobility reached its peak?
That’s the question we put to Erdem Ovacik (Donkey Republic), Maxim Romain (Dott), Scott Shepard (Drover), and David Koral (Free Now).
The consensus is that this is just the beginning. The panel were optimistic about the amount of funding being put into public transport and shared mobility. However, more needs to be done to push ‘first and last mile’ mobility. For example, the panel called for train stations to make more space for shared bikes, rather than just private ones.
Other points of interest:
- The desire for a better relationship between cities and operators to settle upon functioning regulations that benefit all
- A win-win situation that keeps rider safety as a top priority.
- Doing more to make shared mobility accessible to women
- End user-pricing
- The rise of virtual stations
Plus, find out why Maxim Romain, the COO of Dott, backs cargo bikes as the mode to watch in 2023.
#2: Breaking the glass ceiling with 'Femmes en Mouvement'
Femmes en Mouvement, a French association established in its current form in 2019, took centre stage to promote a female professional network for mobility and passenger transport.
The talk (in French) covered ‘Women’s mobility: how to better take into account their needs in public transport' , coupled with a superb women’s networking event. The speaker, Marie-Xavière Wauquiez, co-founder and president of Femmes en Mouvement, left us with the 5 words to remember in the case of harassment: distraire, déleguer, documenter, diriger, dialoguer.
Thanks to Femmes en Mouvement for a great opportunity to be able to come together as women in a male-dominated industry.
#3: Lime and Pony showcase innovations to stop double riding
Although it came too late to make a difference in Paris, both Lime and Pony announced safety tech designed to stamp out misuse of shared scooters .
Lime’s ‘Single Rider Recognition Technology’ will combine multiple sets of data to determine if there is a second rider onboard. It will be able to recognise changes such as vehicle acceleration and angle in order to detect a change in weight. Users will receive an audible warning and notification on their app to let them know the vehicle has caught on, then their scooter will slow until it is stopped.
Pony is looking at similar technology. If two people are detected on the vehicle, it will not start at all. Plus, sensors will know if there are more than one pair of feet on the scooter.
#4: “If you want to get people out of cars, the most effective way to do it is with electric bikes.”
Fifteen is introducing a new generation of shared bikes and docking stations. The company, born out of Smoove and Zoov, has deployed both new stations and shared bikes in Marseille– and it’s a major upgrade. Not only have the stations been redesigned, the bikes have had a facelift too.
“We’ve worked on the frame,” says La Rodallec, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Fifteen. “The more pieces there are, the more complicated it becomes; [the new frame] allows us to save 1kg in weight, reduce costs and improve reliability.”
How else are they different? Let’s have a look at some of the changes:
- The stations are designed to be denser, taking up less space as rather than a ‘slotting’ system, there are magnets. The user adds their bike to the end of the row when they are finished with it, rather than docking it individually.
- Non-dockable options
- Virtual stations for cities (the bikes have built-in sensors to manage this)
- Charge it at home: long-term rentals will be possible as users can potentially unlock the battery with an app for at-home charging. Just as CEO Benoit Yameundjeu said, these bikes will be “where and when people need them.”
#5: Industry Insiders with Fluctuo
We took advantage of one of the largest mobility gatherings in the world to conduct interviews with some industry experts.
“Legislation needs to be an enabler, not a disabler.”
– Tom Nutley
We also spoke to Tom Nutley, who is the Head of Business Development at Urban Sharing. He thinks that the industry is ‘moving very quickly, it’s exciting, it’s disruptive, and super innovative’, and from a micromobility perspective, he had some insightful predictions for the future of the industry, including a big change to the operational business model!
Look out for our Industry Insiders interview series on our blog!
If you think we should be interviewing you, let us know at:
The latest edition of the European Shared Mobility Index is here! Get your copy here.
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