You can find the episode on Urban Mobility and all other episodes of our podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Deezer, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Breaker, Overcast, Castbox, Podcast Addict and Anchor.
To get you started, the Munich Startup team has selected two event announcements for you: First, the awards ceremony for all Phase 1 winners of the Bavarian Business Plan Competition will take place on Monday, March 8th. Our second announcement concerns STEP USA's virtual bootcamp. This four-day workshop, which also starts on March 8th, prepares companies for their expansion into the USA.
Urban Mobility: Driving through the city
Globally, cities continue to grow – we had already seen this in Episode 5 Munich has been grappling with the topic of urbanization – and Munich is no exception. The state capital itself reports that the city's population is growing by approximately 0.75 percent per year. With a good 1.5 million people currently living in the city, that equates to just under 12,000 new residents per year. The city administration expects the population to reach 1.85 million by 2040.
For many of these people, the car is a popular way to get from point A to point B within the city. The problem is that cars take up space when parked. And if too many of them are on the road at the same time, they clog the streets. The Munich-based startup Peter Park is addressing these problems by digitizing parking spaces. This allows access to parking spaces and parking garages to be managed more effectively and reduces traffic searching for parking spaces. We introduce the startup in more detail starting at minute 3:35.
Another way to reduce car traffic is Ridebee (from minute 7:15). The startup is developing a carpooling app for commuters that allows them to find each other and organize their journeys. Ridebee is aimed directly at companies, who are then expected to cover the costs for their employees. Users don't necessarily have to be direct colleagues: It's sufficient if their workplaces are close to each other, as the startup has demonstrated with customers such as the Business Campus in Garching and the Regensburg Industrial Park.
Public transport and bicycle
In addition to cars, many people naturally use public transport to get around the city. The startup Golane wants to make this significantly easier for them. It's working on a solution that calculates the cheapest price based on the departure and destination stops and automatically calculates the fare. This means passengers no longer have to deal with the fare system. Ticketing will also be extensively digitized with the solution. You can find out how far Golane has progressed with this development starting at minute 9:40.
Those who prefer to travel by bike, however, could benefit from the developments of Upride in the future. The startup, which we introduce you to starting at minute 12:50, uses a dedicated bike tracker to collect the status quo of cycling infrastructure, its usage, and road safety data. This should help with infrastructure expansion.
Intermodality and visions of the future
Many people combine several options when they travel: For example, they drive to the S-Bahn, then change to the U-Bahn and book a bike or scooter for the last few meters. This intermodal transport Veomo (from minute 15:00): With its solution, the startup gives users the opportunity to find out about and compare all mobility options in one place at a glance, without having to search through various smartphone apps for the best deal.
With the last startup, Dromos (starting at minute 15:35), we take another look into a possible future. The startup is working on a fully automated public transport system in the form of individual vehicles for one or two people. These will travel on their own lanes at very short intervals, achieving the capacity of a tram or subway despite their size. The robotaxis, which can be summoned on demand, will be electrically powered.
Retorio and Basinghall Partners
Part 2 of this podcast episode (from minute 21:40) is dedicated to the HR startup RetorioWith its video platform, which creates personality profiles of applicants based on their behavior during interviews and is intended to determine whether they fit into the company, the Munich-based company was able to convince the investor Basinghall Partners We introduce both in more detail. In this article, they reveal how Retorio fared during the Corona crisis and what the founders are planning for the future. Video of our series #TheWorldAfterCorona.
