Daimler acquires transportation apps RideScout and myTaxi
Daimler moves ever deeper into software and tech for urban mobility with its acquisition of these two startups.
A Digital Life: I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I want a car
People my age are driving less than they ever have before. Sometimes I want a car, but that’s partly because car-sharing startups haven’t yet taken off in my neighborhood.
Mercedes and Bosch push for new ideas around connectivity and big data
Mercedes-Benz, Bosch and the industrial insurance firm HDI have partnered up with European accelerator network Startupbootcamp. With names like that on the roster, it’s a fair bet that connected car technology will be a focus.
MyTaxi rides into U.S. market with a trick up its sleeve
Taxi-hailing apps are already starting to crowd the U.S. market, but the German myTaxi may just have an edge. It already has 2.3 million users, for one thing, but it also has a clever plan in mind.
Today in Green IT: Zipcar finally profitable
Our GigaOM Pro Green IT analyst Adam Lesser reports: Zipcar reported its third quarter after the bell yesterday and finds itself getting hammered this morning, down 5 percent. Sadly, the street is missing the story. Zipcar is finally profitable. Period.
BMW Rolls Toward Zipcar’s Turf With Hourly Rentals
BMW Group is breaking into car sharing with a new pilot project in Munich that will let customers rent any current BMW model by the hour. It fits into much larger trends of innovation around providing mobility as a service — and growing competition for Zipcar.
Zeitbyte Streams NY Fashion Week Online and On Mobile
Zeitbyte is having its biggest week ever, as it has been chosen to distribute live and on-demand video streams of more than 100 runway shows during the week-long New York Fashion Week. Those runway shows are being made available both online and on mobile devices.
Daimler to Launch the Twitter of Ride Sharing
What’s a German car company doing getting into social networking and tech-enabled carpooling? Trying to figure out new business models for an era of accelerating urbanization, declining car ownership and expanding access to the mobile web.
Lessons for GM from Google, Intel’s Venture Capital Arms
A look at the strategies employed by the venture arms of Intel and Google provide some lessons for where General Motors’ new GM Ventures should go from here.
How Zipcar Can Scale Car-Sharing Tech On the Cheap
Four years after setting up a car sharing service in London, England, Zipcar announced today that it has acquired the UK’s largest car sharing provider, Streetcar. Now Zipcar faces some questions about how to bridge technology gaps between different models.