Multinational UK oil and gas company BP and USA-based RocketSpace, founders of the Mobility Tech Innovation Collaborative, have selected four startups from around the world to work on paid, real-world proof-of-concept (PoC) projects in collaboration with global mobility and smart transportation industry leaders.
Four startups from Israel, the UK and the USA have been selected to test and explore partnerships with Avis Budget Group, IBM and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi during the Mobility Tech Innovation Collaborative’s 12-week program.
The initiative’s incoming cohort of startups represent a technologically diverse group of advanced mobility technologies, from advanced parking solutions to artificial intelligence-driven fleet management, electric vehicle fleet planning and simulated reality.
There will be multiple real-world PoC opportunities to test these products with corporates that could lead to expanded pilots, future partnerships or investments. BP recently invested US$5m in FreeWire, manufacturer of mobile rapid charging systems for electric vehicles (EVs), following its participation in the Mobility Tech Innovation Collaborative.
After reviewing hundreds of startups from around the world, the startups selected to pursue PoCs with the industry leaders are:
• Immense Simulations (Milton Keynes, UK) – A software company enabling intelligent mobility that has developed a platform that revolutionizes how transportation stakeholders use simulation to make fast informed decisions associated with the movement of people and goods around the transport system (below);
• Parkofon (Alexandria, Virginia, USA) – A pioneering automated parking payment and guidance platform based on innovative GPS-based technology and big data analytics (below);
• Spark (Cambridge, UK) – The company’s AI-based journey prediction software uses machine learning to help EVs go further between charges using live data from the vehicle, driver and atmospherics. These more accurate predictions help overcome ‘range anxiety’ and therefore drive greater adoption of EVs by both businesses and consumers (top image);
• Fleetonomy (Tel Aviv, Israel) – The company offers artificial intelligence-based solutions to enable fleet owners, OEMs and mobility service providers to maximize their fleets by enhancing efficiency, generating more insights from their data, and creating new revenue streams by operating new smart mobility services (above).
New, tested solutions from the program will be presented at a Demo Day in December.
“I see RocketSpace as a win-win for everyone involved,” said Roy Williamson, vice president of BP’s advanced mobility unit. “For start-ups, it provides the opportunity to work with BP to test their products and services in our environment. For BP, we get to experiment with new products and services that could help us transform mobility and ensure we are positioned to meet the needs of customers now and into the future.”
Robin North, CEO of Immense Simulations, noted, “This PoC helps us demonstrate the value of our Simulation-as-a-Service and enables technical due diligence of our capabilities. It also gives us a chance to develop a longer term strategic partnership with BP, whilst understanding their business drivers, requirements and key success factors.”
Justin Ott, CEO of Spark Technology (top), commented, “The Mobility Tech Innovation Collaborative program is the perfect fit for our technology and aims, helping us put our technology in the hands of leading companies, show real world benefits and extend our network, driving our growth. By collaborating with BP and other industry leaders we can accelerate development and adoption of our AI-based technology to ultimately help drive greater EV adoption.”
