Car, e-bike, e-scooter: How mobility data can be used
Learning from millions of vehicles
Scramble for data
Treasures in the internal market for data
Data must be harmonized
Mixed prospects
Read article in MIT Technology Review 5/2023
The courtship dance of the systems begins at first pointer. Would you like a taxi? Tap the “Order” button in the app and data streams race back and forth to find the perfect match for the passenger.
Location, time, distance, traffic jams, diversions, available vehicles and their drivers: who is nearby? Who has time and accepts the order? At what price? All of this – and more – is negotiated by the computers at the Freenow transport service provider in order to bring supply and demand together. In seconds, as precisely as possible.
“The most important moment for us is the moment of mediation. That’s where everything stands and falls,” says Michael Thüne, Director of the Data Center of Excellence at the Hamburg-based company, which operates as a joint venture with BMW and belongs to Mercedes.
On average, Freenow arranges around 1.2 million taxi inquiries per month; plus 24,0000 orders for e-scooters, e-bikes or car sharing. Whether a scooter, a rental bike or a car trip is booked – there is always a complicated dance of data taking place in the background.
This is only possible because Freenow always knows where vehicles and drivers are, which scooters are nearby when there is a request and whether the battery charge level is sufficient to take customers to their destination. “Data,” says Thüne, “are a very important part of our product.”
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