Smart mobility start-ups tout their wares

Companies on a mission to make parking forgettable, roads safer and travelling seamless were voted the top three start-ups at Smart Cities World’s Road to More Liveable Cities future of mobility event, held in association with Amey and Ferrovial Services’ Centre of Excellence for Cities.

Accelerating intelligent mobility

Eight start-ups from the Intelligent Mobility (IM) Accelerator, a partnership between Transport Systems Catapult and Wayra UK, a Telefónica company, were invited to present a three-minute pitch and answer questions from an audience of public and private sector organisations, which included a number of local authorities.

The top three were:

AppyParking, which provides a connected car and kerbside management platform that bridges the gap between big data, traffic management order mapping, the Internet of Things and frictionless pay-as-you-park technology.

Dazzle Technologies, a natural language global ticketing platform which works across voice, chat and instant messaging which operators can integrate into their systems.

Predina Tech, which uses deep learning to dynamically predict and prevent the risk of road accidents in real-time, based on contextual data.

Raphael Ani, head of intelligent mobility at the accelerator, Wayra UK, which works with start-ups to develop innovative solutions for Telefónica’s customers, asked the audience to consider which start-ups are most relevant to their organisations from the point of view of “collaboration”.

"We always approach things from a technology perspective so it was good to get the feedback from cities and understand some of the complexities they face”

Dan Hubert, CEO and founder of AppyParking, said he was “elated” at the response to the platform. “The audience understood what we are trying to do and it was a great fit for us. I’ve already had some councils requesting extended conversations with us,” he said. Hubert was formerly a creative director at a top London advertising agency where his skill was turning complicated briefs into consumer-friendly messages and now wants to use these skills to transform the parking industry.

His sentiments were echoed by Dazzle Technologies’ CEO, Ed Hodges, who welcomed the opportunity to hear the councils in the audience and on the panels talk so openly about the future. “I’ve spent my life in the private sector so it was great to hear the council’s thinking and it’s starting to re-shape some of my own,” he said. Predina co-founder and CEO, Bola Adegbulu, added: “It was very valuable for us. We always approach things from a technology perspective so it was good to get the feedback from cities and understand some of the complexities they face.”

The start-ups in the IM Accelerator are supported by a wide range of high-profile companies including Amey, Hyundai, Stagecoach, Ferrovial Services, Network Rail and Thoughtworks.

“Our aim is to support innovation and entrepreneurs to achieve their aims,” said Ani, who added that the accelerator is looking for more start-ups and local authorities with whom to work. “It is all about collaboration.”

A full report of Smart Cities World’s Road to More Liveable Cities mobility event will be published soon.