Welcome to another edition of The Future of Automotive, with Steve Greenfield, Founder and CEO of Automotive Ventures, where I put recent automotive and mobility news items into context in terms of the broader thematic areas that will potentially impact the industry.
My first book, The Future of Automotive Retail, has been well received. I continue to be surprised by the number of people who reach out and who’ve found the content thought-provoking. Change across the automotive landscape is accelerating, and the timing of the book has facilitated healthy debate around how industry trends are likely to play out over the next 5 to 10 years.
My new book, The Future of Mobility, is almost complete – we’ve entered the near-endless cycle of edits and revisions.
The book will be available by the end of the year, to coincide with kicking off fundraising for Automotive Ventures’ Mobility Fund II.
In my first book, we focused on the challenges facing automotive dealers and OEMs.
This book takes on a far greater task, attempting to connect how future advances in mobility (defined by the ways in which we move humans and cargo via land, water, air, and eventually space) might help alleviate some of the largest challenges facing humankind.
We will reflect on what human beings have done, and are doing, to the planet, specifically from the perspective of mobility, and propose how technology and innovations in mobility may ultimately be what’s needed to help us get out of the mess we’ve created.
This book’s central thesis is that mobility startups span a continuum of how to remedy some of the Earth’s largest issues, driving efficiencies in the transport of both humans and cargo across different modalities: land, water, air, and space.
To address these topics, the book is structured into eleven chapters, into which we will weave these main themes.
We then wrap with a final epilogue where we align all of this content with Automotive Ventures’ investment thesis and present readers with options to guide their own mobility investments.
I’ve written the book so that you can skip around. Each chapter can stand on its own. So, if one chapter appeals to you, start there. If you want to read the book cover-to-cover in order, I’m confident you’ll get a lot out of it.
I truly hope that you enjoy the book as much as I did writing it!
If you’re interested in receiving an advance copy, please visit the book’s website at: www.thefutureofmobility.io.
I look forward to sharing the finished product with you at the end of the year!
Companies to Watch
Every week we highlight interesting companies in the automotive technology space to keep an eye on. If you read my weekly Intel Report, delivered to your email inbox at 7:00 AM on Mondays, I showcase a couple of companies to watch, and we take the opportunity here on this segment to share those companies with you.
JAPA Parking
JAPA provides management software custom-tailored for parking lots. The company’s management platform allows parking facilities to view lot inventory in real-time, see every lot information at every second, and make smarter pricing and staffing decisions.
The customer-facing app allows your users to see spot availability in real-time.
Japa brings your entire operation under control, giving you the power to set pricing, manage inventory, and report on everything from anywhere, anytime.
Their mobile app takes the guesswork out of parking with a space locator and availability of all your lots.
JAPA’s company-installed hardware currently includes parking occupancy sensors that are over 99% accurate and digital signage that helps parking garages accurately display available parking.
JAPA’s parking occupancy sensors have an accuracy rate of over 99% and a built-in battery life of up to 10 years.
If you’re interested in learning more, you can check out JAPA Parking at: https://parkjapa.com.
If you’re an AutoTech entrepreneur working on a solution that helps car dealerships, we want to hear from you. We are actively investing out of our new DealerFund.
If you’re a dealer who wants to invest in early-stage AutoTech companies that benefit your business, let me know. We are still accepting new investors into the DealerFund.
If you’re interested in joining our Investment Club to make direct investments into AutoTech and Mobility startups with small checks, join the Club. There is no obligation to start seeing our deal flow.
And don’t forget to check out my book, The Future of Automotive Retail, on Amazon.com. And keep an eye out for my new book, The Future of Mobility, which will be out at the end of the year.
Thanks as always for your ongoing support, and we look forward to working closely together with you to create the future of this industry.
Thank you for tuning into CBT News for this week’s Future of Automotive segment, and we’ll see you next week!
I’m glad that you could join us.
