Urban Mobility
a Chicago startup believes it’s found a way to bring air travel to the sharing economy by connecting passengers to licensed, professional pilots. And it just launched its on-demand service nationwide. FlyOtto allows travelers to find, book and pay for regional flights on privately chartered aircraft from their phone or computer. The service, which was born out of Chicago startup OpenAirplane, a company
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MUNICH — Austrian contract manufacturer Magna Steyr will be producing six models for four different automakers at its plant in Graz, Austria, starting in 2018, Automobilwoche has learned. In addition to the Mercedes G-Class, the redesigned BMW 5 Series and the BMW Z5, Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover models will also be built there. Automobilwoche, a business and trade newspaper
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Car-sharing service Zipcar is partnering with a bike-share company called Zagster to launch bike-sharing services on 15 college campuses, the companies announced Thursday. They’re calling it “the first national sponsored mobility solution designed for universities.” Dubbed Zipbike, the new program won’t officially launch until January 2017, starting with 10 schools and then spreading to a total of 15 by the
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A ride-sharing service app called See Jane Go for women drivers and passengers launched recently in southern California. See Jane Go has started operating in Orange County, California but plans aggressive nationwide expansion, according to Tech Crunch. See Jane Go meets the demand for women-only ride-sharing which was highlighted in informal surveys. As Tech Crunch noted, “…I found that women are uncomfortable as
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Self-driving shopping carts may eventually show up at a Walmart near you. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently granted Walmart a patent for shopping facility assistance systems, devices, and methods, according to CNN Money. The patent details how the facility assistance systems could be implemented. The shopping carts would work with detachable motors, which would be equipped with multiple sensors and
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Ford Motor Co. made its latest plea for investors to view the auto maker more like a Silicon Valley company, promising lofty returns on future ventures while warning near-term profit will be pinched by deep investment. The car maker told investors that its new business services unit eventually will deliver 20% margins, two-and-a-half-times its core auto-making operation. It updated its
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On Thursday, Google announced it is adding additional ride hailing partners to its Maps feature. Previously, only Uber was included in Maps, but now Lyft and Gett (in New York City) will appear side by side with Uber information. Now ride hailing customers will be able to see quotes from other services and choose the one that costs less. Until
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Yesterday, American EV manufacturer Proterra debuted its Catalyst E2 series, complete with nominal range of between 194 and 350 miles, meaning it could serve almost every US mass transit route on a single charge. The company has dubbed it the first “direct replacement” for fossil-fuelled transit vehicles. The new vehicle joins Proterra’s two other mass transit models, the Catalyst FC
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George “Geohot” Hotz launched his self-driving car startup, Comma.ai, a year ago out of his garage at the “Crypto Castle” in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood. A year later, he said he’s ready to start shipping. At the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, Hotz announced a self-driving car kit, called Comma One, that he promises will start shipping before
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General Motors Co. said its coming Chevrolet Bolt electric car will travel 238 miles on a single charge, giving GM a key marketing claim over Tesla Motors Inc. as the nation’s largest auto maker prepares to begin deliveries of the first long-range, affordable electric vehicle this year. The range advantage could be an important selling point for GM as it
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