Musings from MOVE America 2024
La Honda Advisors attended the MOVE America conference in Austin, a top annual mobility event. We met companies ranging from established players to emerging startups and obtained valuable insights all around.
- Expansion of Autonomy into New Use Cases – Although autonomous technology is still relatively new, it is rapidly expanding to a wide range of applications. Beyond well-publicized advancements in robotaxis, autonomous technologies are coming to food delivery, household robots, tractors, cargo drones, etc. As these innovations continue to develop and evolve, it is likely that autonomy will play a dominant role in our everyday life.
- The Regulatory Environment Matters – The importance of establishing standardized regulations is often overlooked but remains vital to creating predictable markets and maintaining a competitive edge. Some countries such as China and South Korea have already implemented unified standards (or been clear on minimal standards). Complicated by local and national entities, the U.S. has yet to develop a cohesive framework and risks falling behind.
- Startups Battle for Success – There are an enormous number of startups competing to make their mark. Present at the conference were startups ranging from EV charging software to household robots to AI-based geolocation services. Universally though, there seems to be a heightened focus on accurately identifying customers’ immediate needs and use cases, rather than focusing on future theoretical markets.
- Services Companies Fuel Autonomy – Alongside the many technology startups, we witnessed a surprising number of professional service providers, such as parking consultants, utility services, air mobility advisors, IT consultants, et al. This ecosystem is rapidly scaling to support product and technology companies in the autonomy sector.
- Lack of Big Auto – Though there were several Big Auto companies present at the event; they were less visible. We found ourselves wondering if Big Auto has become timid about Autonomy, while smaller players continue to expand in various niches.
- Shift in Mobility Industry – There has been a noticeable shift in the types of attendees compared to last year, particularly among EV players. While there were still a substantial number of EV-centric companies, Autonomy companies had a much stronger presence overall.