Following a troubled start, the e-scooter rental market is now booming. Once seen as the butt of a joke, scooting has become a popular alternative to driving, cycling, hailing a cab and even walking. The trend has captured the interest—and investment—of household names in the automotive industry.
In November 2018, Ford announced that it had acquired San Francisco start-up Spin, one of the more promising players in the sector. Despite conceding at the time that e-scooters were one of the more “novel approaches” to shared mobility, the automaker doubled down and has rapidly carved a leading position not only in the US and Canada, but also in a growing number of European cities.
Speaking to Automotive World, its co-founder and Chief Executive, Derrick Ko, outlined how the company has managed to build up its business even amid the pandemic, and why e-scooters too will soon adopt smart sensors and artificial intelligence (AI).
What advantages does an automaker-backed scooter service have over some of the other players in this space?
It’s all about shared values and vision. One of