Zag Daily

Zeabuz has signed a Letter of Intent with Haugesund kommune to deliver Norway’s first zero emission autonomous city ferry. The Norwegian start-up is tapping into the largely unexplored market for inland waterway transport to reduce traffic congestion, emissions and noise pollution. A two-year pilot will get underway in 2025 connecting Haugesund Center with the city islands of Risøy and Vibrandsøy. “As the project progresses, we will see a significant shift in the captain’s role onboard the ferry,” Erik Dyrkoren, CEO of Zeabuz, told Zag Daily. “The ferry’s autonomous systems already navigates the vessel with limited need for interference from the captain. Going forward the system will gradually move towards taking all of the captain’s onboard responsibilities. From next year on we expect to conduct the first journeys with the captain in a Remote Operations Center on land, overseeing safe and efficient operation and intervening if necessary. This step-by-step approach allows us to safely integrate advanced self-driving capabilities while maintaining the highest standards of safety and operational reliability.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/eaVnnjZ6

Archer Aviation raise $220 million in latest funding round, bringing total funding to $1.5 billion. The California-based eVTOL manufacturer is also expected to receive a $10 million committed investment from Stellantis, as well as $400 million of capital funds in return for Archer equity at future stock prices. “Stellantis will contribute up to approximately $400 million to help scale Archer’s Midnight manufacturing to 650 aircrafts annually through an obligation to cover manufacturing labour costs as well as certain capital expenditures at Archer’s Georgia manufacturing facility through 2030.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/eukgx8Cu

The UK dominates the mobility headlines in today's newsletter - we got the green light for our first flying taxi base, plus an “unprecedented” investment into active travel, how drones could soon serve the NHS, and more Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/eid8KXUt

Gouach is making what it describes as its fireproof e-bike battery directly available to consumers and manufacturers so customers can safely service their own e-bikes A dead battery can result from just one failing cell in a pack. The Gouach Infinite Battery lets customers directly access the battery pack to replace those failing cells instead of needing to replace the whole unit. “We have made this battery available to the public so that those who want to assemble or maintain their own batteries can do that,” Gouach Founder and CEO Alexandre Vallette told Zag Daily. “However, since we are selling directly to customers, we must ensure that there is no risk of fire, even if they make an error or use failing cells for example.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/dv-zh9xW

The UK cycling sector has joined forces in an e-bike battery educational campaign to boost safety knowledge and combat misinformation. Key alliance members include Cycling UK, The Bicycle Association of Great Britain, the Association of Cycle Traders and Bosch eBike Systems. It comes after a study found that 23% of the UK are hesitant to buy an e-cycle after reading about battery fires. “The main cause of e-bike and battery fears is the increasing coverage - both in the media and online social channels - of fires linked to unsafe e-bike batteries and chargers, which has the overall effect of damaging the reputation of all e-bikes,” Association of Cycle Traders Director Jonathan Harrison told Zag Daily. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e_jRAw_T

Three UK aerospace innovators have partnered to design and build a cutting-edge drone delivery system for the NHS in Wales. Under a Memorandum of Understanding, Bristol-based technology company SLiNK-TECH will integrate its automated vertiport system with Aerovolt’s electric aircraft charging network at Snowdonia Aerospace Centre. “There are many examples of drones being used to support healthcare around the world today, helping to transport vital supplies such as medication, blood, or life-saving devices,” SLiNK-TECH CEO John Goudie told Zag Daily. “We’ve been working closely with Welsh Ambulance Service University NHS Trust to envisage ways in which drones might be used to restock ambulances, enabling skilled crews to focus on their lifesaving work.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/gWavf3GY

Three companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a network of 100 vertiports across the Maldives for drones and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts. With around 200 resorts and 18 airports spread out across approximately 1,200 islands, the Maldives exemplifies the potential for Island Air Mobility (IAM). "We at Air Chateau envision building 100 vertiports including floating Hybrid Vertiports across the Maldives by 2030 with an initial approach of building 50 in a hub-and-spoke fashion by 2028 that covers the most densely populated atolls," Wassaf Akhtar, the firm's Chief Strategy Officer, told Zag Daily. "Currently we have identified about 16 initial locations at the local domestic Airports and 12 islands for landings which are imminent for operations upon approvals." Read more: https://lnkd.in/gpURznxP

The UK government is to invest “unprecedented levels of funding” in active travel to improve health, combat climate change, and reduce pressures on the NHS. Transport Secretary Louise Haigh MP said it will be “essential” to develop a national integrated transport strategy which includes long-term funding settlements that improve walking and cycling routes. “Providing local authorities with easy-to-access capital and revenue funding to deliver packages of improvements would be a great start,” James Dyson, Principal Active Travel Consultant at consultancy firm Steer told Zag Daily. “Interventions such as fixing tactile paving, implementing dropped kerbs, and extending pedestrian green times at junctions are often overlooked in favour of big-ticket schemes, but would benefit most people on a daily basis.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/eW5tW2rb

Exclusive: Delivery Mates completes 1.2 million sustainable deliveries in the last six months, a 15% year-on-year increase. While deliveries have gone up, the last-mile logistics company has reduced its miles travelled by 45%. COO Kevin Savage tells Zag how these efficiency gains have been made possible by introducing hyperlocal microhubs that bring cargo bike delivery riders closer to the customer’s door. “If we can cut the distance travelled for our deliveries, then we need less time on the roads and have more time to make more deliveries and meet market-competitive rates.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/eGTKWgYC

Urban Sharing launched a full product rewrite of its ‘Urban Crew’ task-based fleet optimisation tool this month which supports shared micromobility operators with on-street operations. Today, we explore the benefits Version 2.0 brings for the operator, rider and city. Built by a former operator for operators, Urban Crew aims to increase operational efficiency by incorporating Service Level Agreements and local knowledge into the platform. This means advanced algorithms and task priorities can be customised according to an operator’s goals, which streamlines redistribution, maintenance and battery management of vehicles. Urban Crew also allows operators to use the same truck to carry out multiple tasks for multiple vehicle types - bikes, ebikes, and scooters. The platform can use multiple feeds from different operators and combines systems and tasks for third party logistics providers. Rather than using a black box, the data can be exported via API. For the rider, operational efficiency means improved vehicle availability of fully charged, cleanly maintained vehicles. Zag is told that no training time is needed to use Urban Crew, and the platform can be launched in three days. For cities, the platform aims to support the modal shift to micromobility by demonstrating the ease of managing a bikeshare system. Cities can benefit from enhanced connectivity and supply at key locations like transportation hubs and places of interest. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eMxQcKHd