Organizing Connected Transportation
One of the markets we’re covering at Venture Scanner is Connected Transportation. At the time of writing this post, we’ve been able to identify 369 companies which have collectively raised $3.15B, and organized them into 11 different categories.
The “cheat sheet” below just highlights some of the companies we’re tracking, check out our total coverage at Venture Scanner’s Connected Transportation scan.
Here’s a quick description on the categories:
- Automotive Telematics: Telematics provide car owners with better access to specific information about their car. Examples include sensor reading histories (telemetry), diagnostics, and enhanced safety features (such as road-side assistance). Includes both integrated and after-market solutions.
- Ride Hailing & Scheduling: Enable consumers to schedule a ride either in real time or for the future. Usually integrated with user profile and mobile payment options and sometimes including ranking systems.
- Fleet Management:Solutions for professional owners of large fleets of vehicles, enabling them to better optimize their total cost of ownership (tracking, servicing, fueling, etc.).
- Mapping, Location, and Route Optimization: Understanding where a consumer is and providing recommendations based upon that. Examples include providing local maps, localized advertising, and directions.
- Intelligent Transit Systems: Intelligent Transit Systems (ITS) share information between cars and infrastructure, enabling collision avoidance, metering, and traffic management. Sometimes referred to Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) or Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) systems.
- Car Sharing: The collaborative consumption option for cars, enabling consumers to share the cost of auto ownership. Business models range from centrally administered micro-rentals through peer-to-peer shared ride arrangements.
- Automotive Infotainment: Communication and entertainment services that are integrated/streamlined into an automotive experience. Examples include music libraries, voice activation, telephony, and voice-to-text. Includes both integrated and after-market solutions.
- Auto Clean Tech: Next-generation solutions seeking to increase fuel efficiency, lower emissions, and/or take advantage or renewable fuels.
- Enhanced Auto Ownership: New methodologies to buy, rent, or insure cars. Also includes social networks dedicated to cars and car culture.
- Public Transit Enhancement: Public Transit Enhancements aim to encourage the use of public transit options. Examples include real-time tracking of buses, loyalty programs, and information.
- Smart Parking Technology: Smart Parking solutions make it easier to manage parking space inventories, usually enabling consumers to find open space in-real-time or to pay for parking via mobile payment options.