A step closer to critical mass

October 03, 2019

This week, Italy sours on its most famous brand of moped, Germany digs scooters, and New York wants its ebikes back, but first…

It’s Official

Micromobility Europe was our biggest conference yet. Hundreds upon hundreds of visitors packed into Berlin’s Radialsystem on Tuesday for a day of thought leadership, networking opportunities, vehicle demonstrations, and more.

In the coming weeks, we will have lots to share from #MME, including photos, videos, and select presentations. But for now, allow us to circulate a few highlights.

  • Nearly 50 presenters, hailing from 15 countries, spoke on a wide range of relevant topics, including cities, policy, capital, parking, infrastructure, hardware, software, and robotics. More than 450 companies attended as sponsors, speakers, and attendees.

  • #MME was the sixth most popular hashtag in Germany on Tuesday.

  • Horace Dediu galvanized the audience with a keynote address entitled “The Smartphone on Wheels,” the content of which was captured real-time in sketch form by the extraordinarily gifted Julia Steier.

  • James Gross unveiled the Micromobility Landscape, the first-ever comprehensive map of the industry and its key players, in his introductory remarks. (You can learn more about the report—and how to add your company to it—here.)

  • Journalist Tim Bradshaw of the Financial Times acted as lion tamer for the Micromobility Executives Roundtable, the largest-yet gathering of scooter top brass, featuring Caroline Hjelm of Voi, Lukasz Gadowski of Circ, Lawrence Leuschner of Tier, Ben Bear of Spin, Beriana Mendoza of Grow, and Eric Wang of Wind. (Hat tip, again, to Julia Steier.)

  • Eighteen of the leading mobility and tech companies showcased their solutions to interested attendees in the Expo Hall.

  • Joe Kraus, president of Lime, delivered an impassioned plea for the micromobility industry to unite around safety, sustainability, and equity, and work together to grow the pie.

  • We debuted a rousing new animation.

  • Tony Ho of Segway remotely teleoperated a semi-autonomous scooter in Beijing from the main stage. And on the Test Track, Tortoise demonstrated its automated repositioning technology live. (Both firsts for Europe.)

  • Horace entered the pantheon of fashion icons with #thejacket

There were so many magic moments, we could never hope to recap them all in an email.

But ultimately what we really want to say is thank you to those who came and helped us take this movement to the next level. You are the visionaries and dreamers who are going to break us free from car dependence and chart a safer, cleaner future for mobility. We exist to be a platform for your ingenuity and ideals.

Auf Wiedersehen for now.

Want More Micromobility?

You don’t have to wait until the next conference.

Join our subscription service, Triple M, and you will gain access to mMeetup, our monthly call in which Horace Dediu answers premium members’ pressing questions about the future of transportation live.

Triple M members also receive a $50 discount to all of our conferences, access to our private Slack channel, and exclusive swag at events.

For the next edition of mMeetup, Horace will recap his keynote from Berlin, “The Smartphone on Wheels,” and afterward take your questions. This is an excellent opportunity for those who were not able to make it to #MME—or for those who did and have followup questions—to pick Horace’s brain.

The details of the next mMeetup call, including time and dial-in, will be shared with Triple M members soon.

What You Need to Know This Week

  • Jump unveiled new swappable batteries for its ebikes and scooters; kiosks will follow in 2020. The company also announced its robotics division is exploring sidewalk detection. | TechCrunch

  • Noting the preponderance of Apple employees at #MME, one reporter asked: What does the Cupertino tech juggernaut see in the micromobility space? “The ‘Post PC’ model of iPhones and iPads that Apple created to intentionally work differently—and far more efficiently—than the similarly complex and excessive, over-serving nature of PCs has a lot in common with modern micromobility vehicles.” | Apple Insider

  • Spin has opened the application process for nonprofit safe-streets advocates to access their treasure chest of data on how pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, and cars interact. | City Lab

  • Donkey Republic, a European bike-share operator that offers dockless pedal bikes through virtual parking stations, officially announced that it is introducing ebikes at—where else?—Micromobility Europe. | Donkey Republic

  • Our own Horace Dediu sat down with journalist Megan Rose Dickey for an interview about the trajectory of the micromobility business. | TechCrunch

  • When does Lyft-owned Motivate plan on replacing all of the ebikes it recalled from New York’s Citi Bike fleet in spring? No comment, says the company. | Gothamist

  • Genoa has banned older, two-stroke Vespa mopeds from its city center to curb air-pollution problems. | Sunday Times

  • Unagi, a startup that sells critic- and celeb-adored portable scooters, has raised $3.15 million in seed funding from Menlo Ventures. | TechCrunch 

  • Walmart has launched its own high-end bicycle manufacturer called Viathon. | Digital Trends

  • A survey finds that more than half of Germans feel that scooters are a “great” addition to the country’s transportation network. | The Local 

  • Washington, D.C. is considering capping its number of scooter providers and vehicles at four and 10,000, respectively. | Curbed

  • Think tank and city coalition Agora has released a good overview of scooter regulations in Germany. | Agora

  • Last but not least, Bird has raised $275 million in Series D funding at a $2.5 billion valuation. The company credits its new, longer-lasting scooters for wooing investors. | The Verge

Goings On

Micromobility Europe may be over but there are plenty of other excellent transportation events to attend this fall. Here’s what you should check out next.

  • VERGE 19: Greenbiz’s annual summit on electrified transportation returns to Oakland, California, from October 22-24, and this year, we are curating the micromobility workshop ourselves. Join us on Thursday, October 24, from 1:30pm to 4pm, for bonus #MME-style content covering the unbundling of the car. Use code V19MM for 10% off registration.

  • The Urban Mobility Summit: Ticket sales are now open for Autonomy’s flagship conference, taking place from October 16-17 in Paris. The annual sustainable mobility event will feature over 250 exhibitors, 8,000 delegates, and a program focusing on topics such as shared mobility, micromobility, and electrification. Book your tickets now.

  • Art Walk and Roll Festival: Have a Go is hosting its second-ever electric ride festival in Culver City, California, on October 12. The open streets festival will feature artists, artisan vendors, live music, food trucks, wine and beer gardens, and more. Plus, they have a dedicated test track for micro-vehicles. Register on Eventbrite. (It’s free and you’ll be automatically entered to win a Micro Kickboard Merlin.)

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