Nästa kapitel för Smart Mobilitet: Allt handlar om pengar

After years of VC-backed growth, micro-mobility and ride-hailing firms are showing significant profitability improvements. Lime has increased its profits and is once again cashflow positive. Consolidation appears to be a key factor—Bird and Spin, now operating as a single entity, reported their first-ever profitable year. Meanwhile, the recently merged Dott & Tier have yet to release results, while Sweden-based VOI has also achieved its first-ever positive figures. 

Among the leading global ride-hailing players, both Uber and Lyft continue to show financial strength. This appears to bolster their confidence in the next step—removing the driver and eliminating one of their biggest cost components. Since divesting its own AV development unit, Lyft has kept a relatively low profile in the robotaxi space. That now seems set to change, as the company recently announced a long-term partnership with Mobileye, with operations set to launch in Dallas next year. Japanese conglomerate Marubeni will serve as the third partner in this new venture, providing essential fleet management and financing services.

This setup with a fleet partner mirrors a recent partnership between Waymo and Nigeria-based Moove, in which Moove will offer similar fleet support for Waymo’s newly announced Miami expansion, as well as its existing Phoenix operations. While Waymo has not confirmed whether the African company will support additional markets, the company has stated that its Waymo Driver is now also being trained in areas such as New York, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, and San Diego.

While Waymo—undisputed leader in the robotaxi space—along with Uber and Lyft continues to expand their partner networks for large-scale deployment (and even collaborate to some extent), Tesla maintains its ‘keep-it-in-house’ approach. During its recent earnings call, Elon Musk announced that the first iteration of Tesla’s previously teased Cybercab service will launch in Austin, TX, as early as June. Whether Tesla will meet that timeline remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Texas is shaping up to be the next battleground for robotaxi competition. Following announcements from Tesla, Waymo/Uber, and Lyft/Mobileye, the Lone Star State is emerging as the key proving ground for autonomous mobility —one that will test not just the technology, but also the financial viability of these services.

This shift may come at the expense of California, where officially reported AV testing miles dropped significantly in 2024. Whether this decline is solely due to Cruise’s shutdown or if companies like Waymo are now prioritizing markets outside California remains uncertain.

Finally, since we’re focusing on financials, it would be remiss not to mention an important announcement from the world’s largest EV producer, BYD. The company revealed that its advanced ADAS system will now come standard in car models priced as low as $10,000. Even if this system—modestly dubbed “God’s Eye”—is not close to match the capabilities of today’s robotaxis or even Tesla’s similarly misleadingly named “Full Self-Driving [Supervised]”, it signals a clear direction where the AV market is heading.