Fly to work with Uber
Uber is looking at further ways to progress in transportation, this time by means of airborne passenger drones. They are now working on technology to make this possible. The company wants to manufacture drones that will enable passengers to travel short distances around cities. The aim is to offer customers as many means of transportation as possible, impacting lives for the better and improving how we get around. In addition to all of this, such an innovation would help with congestion problems and decrease travel times.
The vision is to use ‘vertical takeoff and landing’ technology (VTOL), which enables silent flying and ease of landing, not too different to planes. The hope is to have this technology ready to be of use by 2026. However, there are many skeptics to the idea. The amount of money that will have to be invested to create the drones and thorough-testing to ensure safety will be main factors that will delay production. In addition, the new regulations that will have to be put in place to allow the testing and development of the drones will cause conflicts. Other companies, such as Google, are also looking into this form of transport, with Google’s founder investing $100 million of his money into start-ups that are developing the VTOL technology.
Check out more details on the development here.
Stamping on the competition
The world’s largest mail and logistics group, Deutsche Post DHL, has announced its plan to purchase the British postal operator UK Mail. It will make a cash offering of £243 million. This will strengthen the company’s position in the U.K parcel market, building on the launch of its hub in Coventry last year. It will also secure DHL’s hold in one of Europe’s three largest e-commerce markets: Britain, Germany and France. The 3 countries, in fact, account for over 60% of online retail in Europe. The purchase will help grow the company’s on-going expansion of its parcel network in Europe, enabling a quicker reaction time to the current growth of the e-commerce market.
UK Mail will benefit greatly from Deutsche Post DHL’s acquisition due to DHL’s financial status and operational resources. UK mail believes it will improve the development of its products and mail businesses. It will create significant synergy benefits, said Deutsche Post DHL. The two companies will therefore be better prepared to compete against other companies such as FedEx and UPS.
Read more information on the acquisition here.
Indian investment for Wal-Mart
Yet again, Wal-Mart is in discussions to invest in a startup. The company in question is Flipkart Ltd., the largest e-commerce company in India. Negotiations are underway for the company to invest as much as $1 billion; however, the deal is still not complete. The investment could improve Wal-Mart’s foothold in India, which the company has struggled to do since backfired operations in 2013. Recently Walmart has focused intensely on improving its e-commerce strategy, to help compete against companies it is trailing behind, such as Amazon. This has been Walmart’s weakness in the market over the previous years, after struggling to increase its online growth.
Flipkart has had great success, growing from a small online bookstore to the largest e-commerce company in India. From the investment, Flipkart will benefit from Wal-Mart’s capital and expertise, to help the company finally become the number one online retailer in South Asia. Its main competition is Amazon, who plans further investments in India for the coming year of up to $3 billion. The investment will benefit both companies and help take advantage of the potential that India holds.
To find out more on the investment click here.
Have a nice weekend!
