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Uber's SE Asia uncertainty. Denso cybersecurity deal. AV thermal cameras.
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From an outsider's perspective, Japan's famously robust public transportation often overshadows its extensive road network, the world's sixth-largest (though its automotive brands are obviously global giants).

Those roadways will see an intensifying battle as both domestic and foreign Japan's taxi market:
  • Toyota invested ~$69M into taxi-hailing app JapanTaxi
  • Sony partnered with five taxi operators to build an AI-driven dispatch system
  • Nissan and DeNA began field tests of a self-driving taxi service
  • Didi Chuxing partnered with investor SoftBank to launch a joint taxi-hailing venture
  • Uber's CEO announced a renewed focus on Japan, targeting partnerships with taxi operators (Uber's Tokyo market share stands at <1%)
These new players will compete against Line Taxi in a Japanese market with powerful incumbents (peer-to-peer services are still outlawed). As with other ride-hailing markets, there are overlapping interests at play; Toyota backed Uber in 2016, and SoftBank is now a major shareholder in both Didi and Uber.

On SoftBank, my colleague Matt Wong (@mlcwong) spotted this slide in its last investor briefing, which may point towards more joint ventures with its portfolio companies:



Follow all of SoftBank's investments with our handy tracker.

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The recent clutch of startups and OEMs piloting all-inclusive vehicle subscriptions have joined older experiments like Cox Automotive's Flexdrive and other car-sharing models.

Part of the convenience and flexibility pitch with these models is eliminating consumers' paradox of choice – namely for ancillary services like insurance.

Though most pilots are still in very early stages, insurers have come in to provide coverage on these programs. We took a look at which insurers have entered the fray thus far:


Of course, the penultimate subscription model might include a ride-hailing or robotaxi service with no ownership component whatsoever:

Players like Uber, Lyft, and Via have experimented with monthly ride passes, but mileage-based subscription models (like John Zimmer's vision above) have yet to be realized.

Self-driving

Some perspective from XKCD:



Drive safe,

Kerry
@kerrygwu
Deal spotlight

Bosch has acquired enterprise carpooling startup SPLT, which will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary under the supplier's newly formed Connected Mobility Solutions division.



Many OEMs are, of course, aggressively investing in or building their own sharing and hailing services. AV developer Waymo also recently secured permission to operate as a TNC in its first launch market of Arizona (see one of Google's patent on ride-hailing research here).

But the entrance of Tier 1 suppliers will further complicate the competitive landscape. These players, long content with a non-consumer-facing position in the automotive world, are reaching directly towards the end-user as the nature of mobility evolves.
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This week in Auto Tech
A curated mix of recent articles on mobility tech financings, exits, announcements, hirings, partnerships & perspectives.

Deals & Funds
Corporate mobility moves. SEAT, the Spanish subsidiary of Volkswagen, acquired car-sharing platform Respiro to kickstart its mobility unit. Bosch bought enterprise carpooling startup SPLT.
FinSMEs (SEAT) / TechCrunch (Bosch)

Meanwhile, vehicle rental company Avis is under pressure by SRS Investment Management to change its legacy board amidst major changes in the mobility space.
Bloomberg

NXP bidding war. Qualcomm is sweetening its bid for NXP against Broadcom's counteroffers.
Reuters

Moovit nets $50M. Intel Capital led the Series D into the urban transit planning app. As part of the deal, Moovit data will be integrated into Mobileye's navigation system.
TechCrunch

Zoomcar lands $40M. Mahindra & Mahindra led the Series C for the on-demand car rental service.
Bloomberg Quint

Honcker gets $15M+. IAC invested in the vehicle leasing aggregator.  
TechCrunch

Zagster raises $15M. Edison Capital Partners led the round for the bikeshare company. 
TechCrunch

ParkBee picks up $6.2M. Statkraft Ventures led the round into the parking app. 
TechCrunch

Tyrata closes $4.5M. Dealer Tire invested in the Series A round for the tire monitoring startup. 
Tire Review

Denso cybersecurity deal. Denso led a financing to Dellfer, a connected vehicle cybersecurity startup. 
Denso

News

Lyft broadens initiatives. On the heels of Uber's partnership with JUMP bikes earlier this month, Lyft partnered with the Baltimore Bike Share program. Hitch Health is the latest healthcare provider to partner with the company for rides to non-urgent medical appointments.
TechCrunch (bike-sharing) / Engadget (healthcare)

Uber SE Asia. Rumors have floated that Uber is shopping Southeast Asia operations to competitors like Grab. In response, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says he is still leaning in to invest in India. The company is under scrutiny by Singapore's competition agency after receiving an investment from the country's largest taxi operator. 
CNBC (sale) / Reuters (response) / Reuters (Singapore)

Japan ride-hailing battles. Japanese companies are jockeying for ride-hailing dominance after SoftBank announced it would help Didi expand to Japan. Sony has announced a joint venture with Daiwa and 5 other domestic taxi firms to build an AI-based ride-hailing system. Nissan, which partnered with mobile gaming platform DeNA, will field test ridehailing autonomous cars.
Reuters (Sony) / Reuters (Nissan)

The road to cheaper EVs. Automakers race to build cheaper EVs to access Indian market. Toyota is developing a new electric motor which uses half the amount of rare earth metals, potentially decreasing the cost of EVs. 
Wall Street Journal (India) / Bloomberg (Toyota)

UPS building EVs. UPS has partnered with Workhorse to develop and deploy 50 custom-built delivery trucks. 
TechCrunch

Cobalt rush. Worried about the increased demand for cobalt from the rising EV industry, Apple is in talks to buy the metal directly from miners. While automakers like BMW have been doing the same, Matthew Klippenstein of Clean Technica explains why cobalt scarcity may be overblown.
Bloomberg (Apple) / Clean Technica (scarcity)


Articles, Perspectives, & Studies
City transportation in 2043. In the latest issue of Sidewalk Talk, University of Sydney transport professor David Levinson discusses his vision of the future of urban transportation. 
Medium

Google on auto trends 2018. Google published its annual auto search trends report, highlighting consumers' interest in onboard cameras and more advanced vision systems. 
Think with Google

Map battle II. Mark Bergen of Bloomberg explains the current cartographic cartel and outlines the next phase of the mapping war.
Bloomberg

Uber AV patent. The ride-hailing giant received a patent earlier this week for an autonomous vehicle diagnostics system. 
USPTO

More autonomy studies. According to the Northeastern University/Gallup survey of Americans' attitudes toward AI, the majority of Americans still rate themselves as uncomfortable using completely automated systems and sitting in autonomous cars.
Gallup

London's response to tech. The London Transport Committee is encouraging shared mobility models while being cautious on the impacts of AVs and app-based services.
City of London

The Citymapper minibus. Citymapper reflects on their smartbus trial in London and plots their next move. 
Medium
New sheetmetal / New tech

BMW's F90 M5 is the quickest sedan Car & Driver has ever tested, crushing the quarter-mile in 10.9 seconds at 129 mph. Here it is not roasting its rear tires, thanks to an new AWD system:



To be fair C&D has not yet tested the Tesla P100D (only the P90D), but hey, any excuse to feature a four-door with 600 hp.

In sensor tech, Engadget looked at AdaSky's thermal camera and vision solution for AV applications:



(See Brad Templeton's handy explainer on thermal cameras and other emerging sensor tech; also, if you're a CBI client check out our rundown of lidar and advanced radar startups.)
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