Thanks to the explosive growth of scooter companies during 2018's "Year of the Scooter," a lot of the American public's understanding of Micromobility seems to begin and end with tiny-wheeled, semi-disposable Limes and Birds.Outside the US, however, eBikes are booming and companies like Karmic Bikes see an opportunity to blur the lines between eScooters and eBikes. This week, founder Hong Quan joins MergeNow to talk about Karmic's just-revealed Oslo eBike/eScooter hybrid and the evolution of Micromobility more broadly. &nbsp;

Episode #12: Hong Quan of Karmic Bikes on the eBike Business and Micromobility's Future

As autonomous drive development marches forward and collaboration accelerates, a new need is emerging: a language that can standardize descriptions of driving scenarios. Not only is such a language important for inter- and intra-team collaboration, but it will someday make it possible for regulators to develop a "driver's test" for self-driving cars. Jon Mullen, CTO of the simulation company Righthook, recently created an open scenario language for precisely these reasons and joins MergeNow to discuss his creation and its applications.

Episode #13: Jon Mullen of Righthook, Introduces his Open Scenario Language

Thee "Year Of The Scooter" brought cheap little Xiaomi and Ninebot standup scooters to cities around the world, opening the public's eyes to the joys of micromobility in places where the concept of lightweight, shared electric vehicles had never been considered. In the nine months since, however, the first wave of shared scooters has proven to have real issues with durability, operational efficiency, the perception that they are "littering" cities and massive cash burn. Tarani Duncan of Shared has a deep background in the space, which she's leveraging into a company that seeks to offer a more sustainable and usable alternative to the ubiquitous stand-up scooters. Ed caught up with her at Shared's Portland HQ, to discuss what went wrong with "Scooter 1.0" and how to build a better micromobility business for the movement's next wave.

#14: Tarani Duncan of Shared on "Scooter 2.0"

I first discovered the Arc Vector in a series of intriguing patent filings that led first to a story about the high-end electric motorcycle's mind-blowing tech, and then to an episode of MergeNow with the founder Mark Truman. Today Mark is back on the show under difficult circumstances: a major investor has failed to deliver on their commitments, and Arc is in administration (bankruptcy). With one week to get financing together, Mark explains the situation and appeals to investors to help bring his stunning vision of the future of motorcycling into reality. &nbsp;

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