Ride AI

By Oliver Bruce and Horace DediuBusiness Technology Investing

Ride AI episodes

September 08, 2022148: Talking Cities, Tranformation and Micromobility with Rocky Mountain Institute's Julia Thayne Demordaunt
This week Oliver interviews Julia Thayne Demordaunt, Principal of Urban Transformation at the Rocky Mountain Institute. Oliver is a massive fan of RMI - they’ve been advocated for market based climate solutions for years and have some of the most in depth research on the pathways required to help us meet our climate goals. Julia is leading the research at RMI about the potential for micro to contribute. She came onboard as one of the hosts for the Micromobiltiy Europe show and the team had an absolute blast meeting her and talking about her work. In this conversation they talk about the opportunities and pitfalls of micromobility in all it’s forms, and how they intersect with cities.
Specifically they dig into:
Her background and how she got to Rocky Mountain Institute

What RMI does around urban transport / electrification

Why Micromobility is important in the overall mix, and why it’s different from other options (especially around funding/infrastructure)

What steps we need to take to accelerate adoption
53 min
September 01, 2022147: Not Just Bikes: Why Many Cities Suck (But Dutch Cities Don't) With Jason Slaughter
This week we share another interview from Micromobility Europe - This time it is the timeless interview of Jason Slaughter, creator of the largest urban planning YouTube Channel - Not Just Bikes being interviewed by Julia Thayne DeMourdant from the Rocky Mountain Institute, about why many cities suck, but Dutch cities don’t.
Our host Oliver has often joked that if you spend enough time talking about Micromobility, you end up falling backwards into discussions about urbanism, space allocation and what makes for great cities. Jason nails why that is in this interview, and being in the Netherlands for this conference we can see what he was referring to. The intersection between transport, vehicles, felt experience and finances are all laid to bear.
This was also released on our YouTube channel that has turned out to be our most popular ever with more than 100,000 views on You Tube.
Specifically they tackle:
The origin of Not Just Bikes and Jason's background

Why car dependency creates sprawled suburbs

How urban planning and design can determine if a city will suck or not

A city that is built for cars is not built for people

We need to move away from building car-centric cities, and instead build people-friendly cities with walkable neighbourhoods and good land use.

Any micromobility solution needs to be compatible with walking

If you like this, you’ll love Micromobility America coming up in San Francisco on the 15th and 16th of September 2022. We are expecting 1000 people from hundreds of companies to talk about the latest on Micromobility technology services companies and more, as well as the wider implication for micromobility in climate, transport systems and cities. I will be up there and would love to see you there – please come and join us by getting your tickets at micromobility.io

Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you.
Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team!
We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.
23 min
August 25, 2022 146: A micromobility performing car - Marcus Li from Eli
This week Oliver is joined by Marcus Li the founder of Eli who are building a lightweight electric vehicle similar to a Smart car but a bit smaller and selling into the European and American markets. This is possibly one of the most interesting interviews Oliver has done with an early stage founder of a hardware company – They get really into the nitty-gritty details of how Marcus has funded the company to date and the challenges and opportunities that exist in the space.
They also discuss the Chinese micro electric car industry to date which is an area that is desperately undercovered here in the West.

Specifically they tackle:
- How Marcus got to starting Eli
- Why there is a big opportunity in this space for small vehicles
- The specifications of the vehicle itself
- How Eli is handling manufacturing, Chinese design and supply chains and transport
- The fundraising journey for the company
As you’ll hear at the end, Marcus will be one of the companies that is presenting at Micromobility America on the 15/16th of September in the Bay Area. He’ll be joining the Micromobility team, and about 1000 others to talk about the latest in micromobility and lightweight electric vehicles. He’ll be a part of the pitch competition that will happen on the stage on the 16th alongside amazing other companies such as Taur Scooters, Bo Mobility, BiMotal, Weel and more. We’re expecting this to be our best event yet. Get your tickets now at micromobility.io
You can find out more about what is happening with Eli on their website

Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you.
Micromobility Europe is coming to San Francisco in September 2022! Learn more and get tickets here.
Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team!
We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.
50 min
August 18, 2022145: A family focused micromobility offering - the wonderful story of Whee! with founder Kari Anne Solfjeld Eid
This week Oliver interviews Kari Anne Solfjeld Eid from Whee!
Whee is a cargo bike subscription service based in Oslo Norway. Kari Anne won this years inaugural Micromobility accelerate pitch competition that we had at the Micromobility Europe conference in June. She was selected by a group of judges as the best presenter on the day for a new Micromobility service or product. The judges noted her quirky style but also a really solid business under it.
One thing not covered in this episode was Kari Anne's low cost of acquisition and very low levels of churn that they’ve had with their subscription businesses.
Specifically they dig into:
The backstory of Whee! and why it exists

How the service has grown, customer expectations and unpacking ‘there is a lot of money to be made from taking women seriously'

The subscription model and why it holds promise

The fundraising/company building experience they’ve had to date

Oliver really enjoyed this conversation and has enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Kari Anne over the last couple of months/ He has come to the realisation that we don’t include enough conversations here about Micromobility for families or women, something that we plan to do better on - If you have any ideas please message Micromobility on Twitter.

If you’ve not yet heard, Micromobility America is coming up in San Francisco on the 15th and 16th of September 2022 and we are expecting over 1000 people from hundreds of companies to talk about the latest on Micromobility technology services companies and more. The Micromobility team will be up there and would love to see you there – please come and join us by getting your tickets at micromobility

Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you.
Micromobility Europe is coming to San Francisco in September 2022! Learn more and get tickets here.
Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team!
We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.
43 min
August 11, 2022 144: Azeem Azhar and Horace Dediu on Future of Cities
This podcast was first published on our sister podcast, Infinite Block

This week we're releasing a talk from our recent Micromobility Europe Conference, with Horace interviewing Azeem Azhar.
Azeem is one of the great thinkers in the space of smart cities, the importance of exponential technologies like Micromobility and how they relate to governance and the social contract.
You may recall that we interviewed him earlier this year. Both Horace and Azeem are big fans of each other and at the recent conference they got to sit down and really nut out the importance of the city and how it relates to Micromobility.
These are the sort of conversations that we want to be having on the Infinite Block so if you have any suggested guests, please reach out to us on Twitter or email [email protected] with ideas. We'd love to hear from you.
Find out more about Azeem and his involvement in micromobility here.
35 min
August 05, 2022143: The incredible economics of Last Mile Micromobility Delivery with Adam Barmby, founder of EAV
This week Oliver interviews Adam Barmby from EAV, the electric cargo bike manufacturer based in the UK.
When Amazon launched their 'micromobility hub' in the UK recently, an EAV bike was the pictured bike used in promotional material for the announcement.
Micromobility for freight hasn’t been discussed a lot on the podcast, and it was really exciting to unpack the implications of Micromobility and see how it conforms to the thesis that Horace and Oliver have been weighing out of the last couple of years.
It is especially exciting to hear that EAV is fundamentally changing the business model of last mile delivery, where interestingly more than half of the cost of delivery is incurred. Adam was part of the Micromobility Accelerate pitch contest that in the recent Micromobility Europe conference in June.
Specifically they tackle:
The background for EAV and how it came to be founded

What EAV builds, and why it matters impact of cargo vans in cities

Their traction to date including recent business development deals and the sales pipeline to operators working for large ecommerce platforms.

The fundraising journey so far
See more of what Adam is doing within the micromobillity industry here.
You can view the EAV website here
Micromobility America conference coming up on the 15th and 16th of September in the Bay Area. We will have over 1000 guests from hundreds of companies talking about the future of Micromobility and how it can simultaneously help us with climate change while, disrupting the urban transport economics of cities. It’s going to be a wonderful reunion for the industry to all get together with incredible vehicles, including the Nimbus which Oliver covered in episode 141, as well as the new autonomous bike from Weel which we will be covering on a future podcast , as well as a whole heap of other really cool product announcements. Learn more and get tickets here.
42 min
July 28, 2022 142: Lawrence Leuschner - The Tale of TIER
This week is the release one of the episodes from recorded at the recent Micromobility Europe conference in Amsterdam in early June.
This episode is the story of TIER with Lawrence Leucshner, and interviewed by Julia Thayne DeMordaunt from The Rocky Mountain Institute.
TIER is now the worlds largest micromobility operator. Lawrence was a guest on the podcast very early on, back in episode 37, in August 2019. A lot has happened since then, and it really is a fascinating take with Lawrence this episode.
Specifically they tackle:
- How Tier started out with much less money than their competitors
- The importance having a mission
- How the industry has evolved and what is done well and what it hasn’t done well.
You can learn more about Lawrence here and learn more about TIER on their website
If you like this you will probably also really like the Micromobility America conference coming up on the 15th and 16th of September in the Bay Area. It’s going to be a wonderful reunion for many of us in the industry to all get together with incredible vehicles, including the Nimbus which Oliver covered in episode 141, as well as the new autonomous bike from Weel which we will be covering on a future podcast , as well as a whole heap of other really cool product announcements.
27 min
July 14, 2022 141: How tilting unlocks micromobility for the mainstream - the story of Nimbus with CEO Lihang Nong
This week Oliver is excited to share an interview with Lihang Nong, CEO and founder of Nimbus. Nimbus recently went public with their vehicle, the Nimbus One, in a Techcrunch article.
Oliver has been talking to Lihang for years and was excited to be able to interview him and bring a bit more of the story for you. We think what Nimbus is building is really really important - as you’ll hear hear, in an era of climate change, high costs of travel and urbanisation, we need lightweight electric vehicles more than ever, and what Nimbus is proposing solves a lot of the issues that folks have levelled at micromobiility to date.
Specifically they tackle:
- The latest announcements from Nimbus - prototypes, fundraising etc.
- The history of Nimbus
- Why this space is compelling.
- Why small electric vehicles like Nimbus creates haven’t had a breakout hit yet
- The next steps for manufacturing/scaling
Learn more about Nimbus and the exciting developments they have planned on their website (try.nimbus.com)
Disclosure: Oliver is an advisor to Nimbus.
41 min
July 13, 2022 141. How tilting unlocks micromobility for the mainstream - The story of Nimbus with CEO Lihang Nong
This week we share an interview with Lihang Nong, CEO and founder of Nimbus. Nimbus recently went public with their vehicle, the Nimbus One, in a Techcrunch article. Oliver has been talking to Lihang for years and was excited to be able to interview him and bring a bit more of the story for you.
41 min
June 29, 2022 140: What is Micromobility and why does it matter? (2022 edition) with Horace Dediu
This week Horace and Oliver were together in person for the first time in nearly two and a half years as they got ready for the Micromobility Europe conference. One of the things that they love to do every so often is to revisit the Micromobilty thesis.
They want this to be the episode you share with everyone who is perhaps interested in what all the fuss is about. If you’re a first time listener, Horace Dediu is the creator of the term Micromobility, and this podcast was where he and Oliver first started talking about it.
They’ve now done over 140 episodes, covering all manner of lightweight electric vehicles including interviewing CEOS/founders in this space from companies like Vanmoof, Cowboy, Onewheel, Unagi, Segway, Arcimoto and more, while also talking to shared operators such as Tier, Lime, Bird, Dott, Revel and Beam.
They try to focus on the intersection between the new vehicle tech, cities and consumers, using the disruptive innovation framework developed by Clay Christensen to ask what jobs are being solved, why these small and low cost vehicles are interesting, and what the implications will be on wider society.
Specifically they tackle:
- Where the insight for micromobility came from
- The core tenets of what it is - electric, lightweight, utility
- Why it matters including how the world is urbanising, how we need to radically reduce emissions per vehicle, how most trips are short trips and how small vehicles evolve faster than small vehicles etc.
- Why it is significant to transport systems in terms of enabling point to point transport in dense urban areas
- What we got wrong in the last four years
1 hr 24 min

About Ride AI

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The Ride AI podcast presents cutting-edge insights and meaningful conversations with the world’s top mobility technology leaders so that you learn hard-won lessons of investment and innovation.