
Ride AI
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.
Ride AI is hosted by Ed Niedermeyer an American author and analyst who focuses on the automotive industry and mobility innovation. Co-hosts include Horace Dediu, Oliver Bruce and James Gross.
Latest episodes

Aug 10, 2023 • 21min
Pod with Micah Toll: The New York Times attacks ebike riders and misses the story
James Gross and Micah Toll discuss Micah's latest article on Electrek:
The 'New York Times' attacks e-bikes while ignoring the real danger all around us
The New York Times published a pair of articles this weekend highlighting the rising number of deaths of cyclists riding electric bikes. However, in one of the most impressive feats of victim-blaming I’ve seen from the publication in some time, the NYT lays the onus on e-bikes instead of on the things killing their law abiding riders: cars.
By all accounts, the e-bike rider was correctly and legally using the roadway in the only way he could. In fact, according to eye-witnesses of the car crash that killed the e-bike rider, he “did everything right,” including signaling his turn.
The article goes on to detail how just three days later another teenage e-bike rider was pulled out from under a BMW – thankfully still alive – and taken to the same emergency room where the previous boy had been pronounced dead. Apparent praise is lauded on Encinitas for soon afterward declaring “a state of emergency for e-bikes,” which is a bit like saying we could just solve the school shootings crisis if kids would stop walking into all of those damn bullets.
Two other points that the NYT didn't do research on:
El Camino is the most dangerous road in Encinitas.
We also had a pedestrian fatality this year of a young man at another area of high crash count in Encinitas.
The Encinitas City Council in 2020 voted out speed cameras on El Camino Real, which is one of the biggest deterrents to speeding and distracted driving. It also set a terrible precedent that we don't believe in enforcing traffic laws and using technology to help create a consistent standard that we won't tolerate dangerous and illegal driving in our city. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/encinitas/story/2020-05-10/encinitas-pulls-the-plug-on-red-light-camera-program
This quote should have led the NYT piece with some more research: “Nothing has changed, and hundreds of people are still getting these ridiculous fines,” Mosca said, referring to the $490 court-set cost of a ticket.
Credit to Mayor Kranz and Councilmember Hinze for both voting against taking out the speeding/RL cameras.
Finally, a 56 year old woman was killed and a 32 old man is in critical condition from car violence while on bikes this week in San Diego. One was hit by a Chevy Silverago and the other a F-150. Can you guess which two cars are responsible for killing the most Americans every year? Imagine if we looked to regulate safety for those vehicles? I know that is not going to happen anytime soon, in the meantime we can make our streets safer through slower speeds, traffic enforcement and safety education for riders (and drivers) and not through victim blaming. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/e-biker-dies-after-collision-with-pickup-in-gaslamp-quarter-san-diego-police/3272854/
Micah on Electrek: https://electrek.co/author/micahltoll/
Micah's ebike school channel: https://www.youtube.com/@EbikeSchool

Jul 30, 2023 • 50min
Ride On! #24: Linus' new electric bikes | California wants an ebike license for kids | Lyft bails
We announced the Ride Expo in the San Francisco Bay Area on October 20th! Register now for a $5 ticket. https://lu.ma/yvv4158o
Ride On! is now in Audio! Subscribe to Ride On!:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ride-on-by-micromobility-industries/id1434457337
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1G2fPNzUw5mo5asaCoH7O0
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:13 California announces new ebike license bill
10:08 Is Lyft quitting bike share?
18:58 Bolt still growing
22:54 Craig Mod essay on riding an ebike
25:33 Vehicle Launches
31:38 Meet Adam McDermott, CEO of Linus Bikes and their new electric bike line!
Show Notes:
eBike Bill
Some state lawmakers in California want to require unlicensed ebike users to get a special “ebike license” (online test + written test) and undergo a training program (with DMV and State Highway Patrol). The bill is targeted at teenagers who do not have a regular driver’s license. It would also ban children under the age of 12 from riding ebikes.
Assembly Member Tasha Boerner explained that the creation of a driver’s license for previously unlicensed e-bike riders is a matter of safety (represents Encinitas)
Lyft Gives Up
Lyft (“a taxi company” - what a dig!) is looking to quit bike- and scooter-sharing and seeking buyers. Despite being the largest bike-share operator in North America, Lyft’s CEO recently said the company isn’t doing a good enough job directing bikeshare riders to taxi trips.(Who writes shit in blog posts anymore?)
“If what is in that WSJ story is true,” said David Zipper, a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School who studies urban mobility, “it suggests there may be a conflict of interest that is irreconcilable between bikeshare and ridehail.”
Bolt still growing
Estonian TNC Bolt is beefing up its scooter fleet, increasing its spending on new vehicles by 10x between 2020 and 2022. 200k vehicles in 200 cities. Avg. life of vehicle is 1 year(!). Spent 28% of revenues on maintenance of rental vehicles. Made most of its money in Europe (1B), but interestingly, Africa was its second largest market (226.5M). Spent 5% of revenues on payment processing (WTH?!)
Electric Bike, Stupid Love of My Life,
Great essay by Craig Mod
https://craigmod.com/essays/electric_bikes/
French startup La Rochelle just released a new catamaran called the IZIBoat, which is designed to collapse down and be towed by an ebike.
Meet the Hupi: a Finnish-designed, solar powered camper that’s towable by an electric bike. Not only can this camper power itself, the solar cells can also be used to recharge an ebike.
The Barbie film made its blockbuster debut this past weekend, and it included a surprise cameo from Super73.
Speaking of moto-inspired ebikes, QuietKat just revealed their new Lynx ebike, which includes two speed settings and a powerful 1000 watt rear hub motor.
The Iris etrike is a three-wheeled enclosed EV designed by a legacy inventor and tested by astronauts. Check out inventor Grant Sinclair’s interview explaining this vehicle’s vetted design process, before its upcoming release.
UBCO just launched their first rental hub in Portland, Oregon, which allows riders to try out vehicles through various rental plans.
My Boo just released their new My Akorta electric mountain bike, which includes front suspension, a high-performing Shimano EP8 motor, and a frame made entirely of bamboo.
Meet Linus Bikes
Co-Founder Adam McDermott founded Linus Bike. The company is based in Venice, California. Check out their 2 new electric bike modes at: https://www.linusbike.com/

Jul 24, 2023 • 52min
Small vehicles for the military? Paris fat shames cars | Meet the McLaren of Scooters
We are giving away a Vela 2, comment on this video, subscribe and enter your email here: https://ridereview.com/giveaway/vela-2-giveway
We announced the Ride Expo in the San Francisco Bay Area on October 20th! Register now for a $5 ticket. https://lu.ma/yvv4158o
Ride On! is now in Audio! Subscribe to Ride On!:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ride-on-by-micromobility-industries/id1434457337
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1G2fPNzUw5mo5asaCoH7O0
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:17 Vela 2 giveaway, Ride On! on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, Ride Expo date announced
05:45 Vanmoof Updates
10:40 City of London, bikes are bigger than cars
12:24 Prince William is scooting
14:55 Law says auto-besity is out of control
17:13 Small vehicles for the military?
24:00 Vehicle Launches (Tesla, Velotric and more)
29:13 Meet Eliott Wertheimer, CEO and Founder of LAVOIE, part of McLaren Applied
Biking is taking over in London
New data from the City of London reveals an important mobility milestone for the U.K. capital - bicycles now represent a larger portion of city traffic than cars.
Prince William has bought an electric scooter to travel around the Windsor estate
Paris City Hall signed a new measure that will charge larger/heavier vehicles a higher fee for city parking. The law is aimed at discouraging so-called “auto-besity” and incentivizing the use of smaller vehicles.
Officials say the number of SUVs in the city has increased by 60% over the last four years and they now make up 15% of the 1.15m private vehicles parked in Paris every evening.
British soldiers may adopt electric bikes fitted with rocket launchers
Military contracts will be a big win for micromobility companies, wen?
Vehicle Launches
Tesla’s interest in ebikes is all speculative for now, but their Cyber Truck-inspired kids’ four wheeler is very real and arguably much cooler. The tiny quad is now going on sale in China after selling out in the U.S.
French tech company Cixi recently showed off their new chainless drive system through a collaboration with LOOK bikes. Cixi says the drive system can propel a vehicle up to 74.5 mph, so it’s no surprise that Cixi plans to use the system for higher-speed vehicles such as motorcycles too.
Borealis also just released their first electric mountain bike, the Keystone, which comes with a full suspension frame as well as 5” fat tires that are capable of handling just about any bump is divot with ease.
Velotric has revealed their Go 1 compact utility bike (pictured), as well as the Packer 1, a longtail cargo bike. Both bikes tout a max payload of 440 lbs. The main differences between the two are power and frame size, with the Packer offering more torque while also being slightly larger.
Skateboard company Traqpod just released their first electric model, which is designed to offer the a similar carving experience to a snowboard, minus the snow of course.
Meet LAVOIE
We have Eliott Wertheimer, CEO and Founder of LAVOIE, part of McLaren Applied

Jul 20, 2023 • 59min
Why did Vanmoof go under? SF city officials caught lying about traffic collision data, Vela 2 Giveaway and Eli Electric Interview with CEO Marcus Li
We are giving away a Vela 2. To enter to win, subscribe to our channel, comment below, and submit your email here: https://ridereview.com/giveaway/vela-2-giveway
Vanmoof goes Poof.
Cult ebike brand VanMoof has paused sales and some of its top execs are departing or taking lower roles. The company has yet to release an official statement on the abrupt changes, but sources say that they are trying to secure a bridge round to keep the business afloat.
After several bouts of layoffs and lawsuits, US-based D2C ebike seller Rad Power has announced that it will be pulling out of the European market by 2024, opting to focus its efforts entirely on North America.
Lectric might have overcome market share in the US…but RadPower does better with accessories and customer repair centers.
A comeback in Shared?
“We are aiming for sales of $100 million this year.” How Swing's franchise model allowed it to become one of the few profitable shared micromobility companies in the world, with over 100,000 vehicles in South Korea.
By contrast, CEO Wayne Ting says Lime’s pathway to profitability involved investing in more durable, modular scooters as well as better technology for operational crews. Won tenders 90% of the time.
Amsterdam’s city leaders say they want to see more shared cargo bikes, mopeds, and cars on the street in an effort to reduce car usage.
The Truth and Lies About Driverless Cars in SF Garry Tan exposes some wild accusations against the city of San Francisco MTA that appear to be true!
Launches
Last month on Ride On! We talked to Chris Rey of Apollo Scooters about the fast and powerful Apollo Pro. The innovative new two-wheeler has since launched on Indiegogo, and is receiving rave reviews- check out some here
Parkour! BMW just released their new CE 02 electric two-wheeler, which they say is neither an emotorbike or emoped - it's an “eParkourer.” Despite the confusing semantics, its performance capabilities are clear: the CE 02 tops out at respectable 59 mph and claims 55 miles of range.
The Brits at The Little Car Company typically deal in downsizing famous cars into small electric vehicles (see Bughatti Baby II). Now they’ve done something of the opposite, taking inspiration from the 1980s Tamiya Wild One RC car and turning the toy into a full-sized 37 horsepower electric dune buggy.
The new Ago T ebike is now available from Tenways, which features a comfortable step-through frame as well as an Enviolo Stepless Shifting Hub, a cool feature which allows riders to shift gears while at a stand still.
Eli Electric
We have Marcus Li, CEO and Founder of Eli Electric Vehilces with us

Jul 20, 2023 • 40min
192: Electrifying the workplace with Roman Meliska
This week we release another session from the recent Micromobility Europe conference - this one on Electrifying the Workplace - e-bikes as an employee benefit, hosted by none other than podcast superfan and overall mensch Roman Meliska.
Roman was joined on stage by folks from the Walmart, the European Cycling Federation, Safran and Zenride to talk about how e-bike as an employee benefit works in different markets, what models exist to incentivise them, the players in the market, and the impact on employees and on the wider company. It’s a great session.
Of course, if you like this material, you’ll love Micromobility America, which is coming up on October 19-20th in Richmond in the Bay Area. We’re expecting hundreds of the top thinkers and builders in the space. Please come and join us, and check it out!
Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you.
Our https://micromobility.substack.com/ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Jul 13, 2023 • 33min
191: Ebike Revolution with Cannondale, Cowboy, Vanmoof, Ampler and Lekker
This is this week we are releasing another session from the recent Micromobility Europe which we had in June.
This one is the ebike revolution which was hosted by Micah Toll from Electrek who is in our minds one of the best micromobility journalists out there.
Please go and check his stuff out if you haven’t already. He was joined on stage by former guests of the podcast Taco Carlier from Vanmoof and Tanguy Goretti from Cowboy, as well as folks from ebike brands Lekker, Cannondale and Ampler which have coverage across Australia, Europe and the US.
They talk a lot about the global market and what hasn’t hasn’t worked, especially in the owned bike space. We thought it was a really good discussion and we're stoked to be able to share it.
If you like the session you also really like our Micromobility America, which is coming up on the 19th/20th in Richmond in the Bay Area. Come and join the top thinkers and builders in the micromobility space in North America and further afield.
And with that, here’s Micah and the team!
Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you.
Our https://micromobility.substack.com/ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Jul 6, 2023 • 48min
190: The exploding world of micromobility-first freight with Finmile CEO Rich Pleeth
This week Oliver managed to catch up with Rich Pleeth while he was passing through London.
Rich is the founder of Finmile, a micromobility first freight company in London using four wheeler cargo e-bikes to deliver for companies such as HelloFresh and some very large global companies that unfortunately we can’t name but who Oliver was very impressed with.
They are expanding very quickly and have a relevant and replicable model for a lot of cities around the world. We encourage you to particularly listen to the section where we talked about what the model offers in terms of labour and increasing the throughput of deliveries relative to existing encumbrance.
It feels to us, very disruptive to the existing freight delivery incumbents. So! Enjoy!
Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you.
Our https://micromobility.substack.com/ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Jun 29, 2023 • 29min
189: Global shared Scooter Operator CEO panel from Micromobility Europe
This week we release another episode from the recent Micromobility Europe event.
This one is the shared scooter CEO’s talking about the state of their business which was a very popular session on the Friday.
Ben Hubbard From Zag Daily had the leaders from some of the top operators from all over the globe on the stage – we had Henri Moissinac, Dott in Europe, Tomás Martin from Tembici in Latin America, San Kim from Swing in South Korea and Jaideep Dhanoa from Fenix in the Middle East.
So! Quite a global coverage, and lots of really interesting parallels between all operators.
We hope you enjoy this episode!
Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you.
Our https://micromobility.substack.com/ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Jun 22, 2023 • 27min
188: Founder Roundtable: The Rise of Subscription from Micromobility Europe 2023
This week we are releasing a session from our recent Micromobility Europe show held in Amsterdam on June 8/9th.
This one is the rise of the subscription panel that was hosted by Jon Woodruff from Twotone with some of the titans of the e-bike sharing world including Eric Quidwenus-Wahlforce, founder of Dance, Karianne Solfjed Eid, from Whee! and Richard Burger from Swapfiets (all of whom we've had on the podcasts) being joined by Teet Praks from Comodule.
This was an excellent session covering the dynamics of this part of the industry, what's working and what's not and where these folks think that the industry is going.
And with that, here's the panel!
Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you.
Our https://micromobility.substack.com/ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Jun 16, 2023 • 1h 1min
187: Spatial computing and what it means for micromobility with Horace Dediu
This week we have been in Amsterdam at our Micromobility Europe conference and Oliver had the chance to sit down with Horace who had just flown in from seeing the Apple vision pro at the WWDC unveil.
We have talked on the show for years about how augmented reality would benefit micromobility, and so we wanted to take this opportunity to unpack a little bit more about what he saw, the idea of special computing, and how it could impact how we think about Mobility.
We had an amazing show – our biggest yet, with more than 60 startups pitching in our award series and the most incredible bike rave at the end through the streets of Amsterdam with DJ Dom Whiting.
We’ll be sharing more content over the coming weeks but in the meantime, thank you to all who attended and hope that you had a blast.
We certainly did.
Specifically they dig into:
- Horace’s experience of the Vision Pro and why Apple has chosen to make a ‘spatial computer’
- The implications for the general mobility market, and especially the difference between visions of the future based on autonomous or micromobility
- Horace’s predictions for spatial computing
And with that, here’s Horace.
Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you.
Our https://micromobility.substack.com/ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.
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