Moovit (Hebrew: מוביט) is an Israel-based mobility as a service provider and journey planner app. It is owned by Mobileye and was acquired by Intel in 2020 until Mobileye's IPO in 2022. Moovit uses both crowdsourced and official public transit data to provide route planning to users as well as transit data APIs to transit companies, cities, and transit agencies. Because Moovit integrates crowdsourced data, it can provide transit information for areas where no data is officially available.
 | |
| Developer(s) | Moovit Inc |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 5.118 (iOS) 5.118 (Android) 5.0 (Moovit on Web) |
| Operating system | Android, iOS, Mobile Web |
| Type | GPS navigation software |
| License | Software: Proprietary Maps: Proprietary & OpenStreetMap data. |
| Website | moovitapp.com |
History
editOriginally named Tranzmate, Moovit was founded as a startup in Israel in 2012 by developers Nir Erez, Roy Bick, and Yaron Evron. The company raised $3.5 million in its first round of funding from Gemini Funds and BRM Capital.[1] By the beginning of 2013, the company launched worldwide. In 2013, Moovit went on to receive $28 million of funding from venture-capital Sequoia Capital, BRM Group, and Gemini Funds.[2]
In March 2014, Moovit launched a "community editor" allowing volunteer editors to generate schedule and map data, providing transit data for areas where no data is officially available to app developers.[3]
In January 2015, the company raised $50 million in its Series-C funding round from new and previous investors.[4]
In 2016, Moovit was awarded The Atlas Award by the think-tank Ayn Rand Institute.[5][6]
In February 2018, Moovit raised another $50 million in its Series-D funding round. The funding was led by Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of Intel, with additional participation by former investors. As part of the round, Amnon Shashua, vice president of Intel, joined Moovit's board of directors as an observer.[7]
In December 2017, the app reached 100 million users. It provided service in 1,500 cities in 78 countries.[8] In August 2019, Moovit announced that it is used by over 500 million people around the world and is available in more than 3,000 cities across 92 countries around the world.[9] In February 2020, the app reached 720 million users and provided service in 100 countries,[10] and by May 2020, when Intel acquired Moovit, it had 800 million users.[11]
In May 2020, Moovit was acquired by Intel for $900 million to enhance Intel's purchase of another Israeli mobility tech firm Mobileye.[12] In October 2022; Intel took Moovit's unit public as part of Mobileye's IPO.[13]
Partnerships
editMoovit has been named the official mobility partner for several sporting events and sports teams. The company was the official mobility app for the 2016 Olympic Games,[14] UEFA Euro 2016,[15] and the 2018 Asian Games.[16] In 2018, the company partnered with Unipublic to provide mobility services for the multi-stage bicycle race Vuelta a España.[17] Moovit has also been named as the official mobility app of AS Roma,[18] Inter Milan,[19] and Olympique de Marseille.[20]
In November 2018, it was announced that Moovit and Microsoft entered into a partnership to provide Moovit's public transit data to Azure Maps to provide transit data and APIs to developers.[21]
In February 2019, Moovit, TomTom, and Microsoft announced a multi-modal trip planner, combining driving, parking and taking public transit.[22]
In October 2019, Moovit began collaborating with Waze to integrate Waze's carpooling service into Moovit's service in the US, Brazil, Mexico and Israel.[23][24]
In January 2020, Moovit and Cubic Transportation Systems announced that they entered into a partnership to incorporate Moovit's Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) functionality with Cubic's Traveler App.[25]
In September 2021, Moovit and Arriva announced that they entered into a partnership to launch in the Netherlands a nationwide Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) app named 'Glimble' powered by Moovit that enables travelers to plan journeys and pay for them on any public transport operator, shared transport or micromobility provide.[26]
Product
edit Sample screenshot of Moovit for iPhone, ver 5.36 | |
| Original author(s) | Moovit |
|---|---|
| Initial release | February 9, 2012 |
| Operating system | |
Moovit offers a real-time journey planner mobile and web app to navigate public transit networks with GPS navigation across transit modes, including buses, ferries, rapid transit (metro/subway/underground, etc.), trains, trams, trolleybuses, ride-hailing, shared bicycle, car sharing, and scooters. Users can access a live map and view nearby stops and stations based on their current GPS location, as well as plan trips across transportation modes based on real-time data.[27]
The application differs from traditional public transit applications as it integrates official public transit data from transit operators with real-time data collected from users via crowdsourcing.[28] In addition to passively sharing data, users can actively send reports, including reasons for delays, overcrowding, satisfaction with their bus driver, and Wi-Fi availability.[29]
Services
editIn June 2017, Moovit announced a new tool for city authorities and transport agencies called 'Moovit urban mobility analytics' that uses population movement data and analytics to provide visual insights on public transport.[30]
In January 2019, Moovit announced TimePro,[31] a cloud-based GPS-based AVL solution for transit agencies. TimePro provides users with real-time bus arrival and a web dashboard displaying information for all running vehicles.
Moovit's Transit APIs are used by Uber[32] and Lyft[33] for public transit options.
In October 2019, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that a mobility app would be developed by Moovit, offering autonomous vehicle rides for attendees of the 2020 North American International Auto Show in Detroit in June 2020.[34]
In December 2020, Moovit and SmartBus announced the launch of the Quick CONNECT service in Detroit, powered by Moovit On-Demand technology.[35]
In July 2022, Moovit announced the launch of its location-based advertising platform.[36]
Controversy
editIn January 2021, it was publicly condemned after a historic Nova Scotia Black community was labelled using a racist slur. The area it referred to as "Dartmouth-Preston" appeared as the N-word followed by "ville" in its listings. The area indicated on the app's map was in the general area of the Prestons.
The Preston area is a historic Black community on the outskirts of Dartmouth, N.S., made up of neighbouring North Preston, East Preston and Cherry Brook. The app indicated it was last edited on Jan. 19, meaning the offensive term could have been there for two weeks.
Moovit publicly apologized and maintained that its team works hard to filter out and remove inaccurate information "as soon as we become aware of it".[37]
Moovit and public transport (transit)
editSantos and Nikolaev (2021) explore the association between the popularity of searches in Google using the term "Moovit" and the share of workers who commute by public transport. They focused on metropolitan areas in the United States from 2010 to 2019 and found a positive correlation. They speculate that metropolitan areas with pre-existing higher shares of workers commuting by public transport tend to be metropolitan areas where use of Moovit is more likely.[38]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Hoffman, Tzahi (2012-04-18). "Public transport trip planning co Tranzmate raises $3.5m". en.globes.co.il. Globes. Archived from the original on 21 February 2020.
- ^ Rao, Leena (2013-12-18). "Moovit Raises $28M From Sequoia And Others To Be The Waze For Crowdsourced Public Transit Data". Techcrunch. Archived from the original on 22 December 2013.
- ^ Ghoshal, Abhimanyu (2015-10-19). "Moovit brings its crowdsourced public transit mapping service to India, starting with Bangalore". The Next Web. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016.
- ^ Burcher, Mike (2015-01-14). "Moovit Raises $50M To Scale Its Public Transit App, Goes Up Against CityMapper". Techcrunch. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
- ^ "In spirit of Ayn Rand, Israeli entrepreneurship to get a boost". The Times of Israel. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
- ^ Elis, Niv (19 May 2016). "Ayn Rand-inspired start-up award debuts in Israel, but carries controversy". Jpost. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
- ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2018-02-21). "Moovit raises another $50M led by Intel for its urban transit app, plans Mobileye collaboration". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2020-02-21. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ^ Ohnsma, Alan (2017-12-19). "Moovit Is On A Mission To Speed Up The Bus Ride For Commuters Worldwide". Forbes.
- ^ "Moovit reaches half a billion users in 3,000 cities around the world". Mass Transit Magazine. 2019-08-30.
- ^ Mehmet, Sam (2020-02-21). "Moovit now operational in 100 countries". Intelligent Transport.
- ^ Martin, Ken (2020-05-05). "Intel buys Moovit app for $900M to boost bet on robotic cars". FOXBusiness. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
- ^ Szymkowski, Sean. "Intel boosts mobility, snaps up Moovit platform in $900M deal". Roadshow. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
- ^ "Intel's Mobileye self-driving tech unit files for an IPO in what may be among this year's biggest market debuts". Fortube. Retrieved 2022-10-01.
- ^ Rocque, Melony (26 September 2016). "When the Olympics came to town". Smart Cities World. Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 2018-09-03.
- ^ "Transit Israeli App Moovit's Collaboration with the UEFA EURO 2016 Fan Guide App Will Help Football Fans Get Around During EURO Competition". Israël Science Info. 2016-06-01. Archived from the original on 27 April 2018. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ^ "Moovit is Asian Games official mobility app". Free Malaysia Today. 2018-08-13. Archived from the original on 2020-02-21. Retrieved 2018-09-03.
- ^ "Unipublic y Moovit se unen para impulsar la movilidad sostenible durante La Vuelta" (in Spanish). Europa Press. 2019-08-13. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ^ Holmes, Elena (19 February 2018). "AS Roma score Moovit deal - SportsPro Media". SportsPro. SportsPro Media. Archived from the original on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ^ Cohen, Andrew (February 1, 2019). "Inter Milan Partners With Moovit to Help Fans Navigate Public Transit". www.sporttechie.com. Archived from the original on 2020-02-21. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ^ Dixon, Ed (3 September 2019). "Marseille and Moovit in fan mobility team up - SportsPro Media". www.sportspromedia.com. Archived from the original on 2020-02-21. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ^ O'Brien, Chris (2018-11-06). "Moovit partners with Microsoft to provide public transit data for Azure Maps". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ^ "Microsoft, Moovit, and TomTom team up for multi-modal transport platform". VentureBeat. 2019-02-12.
- ^ Sawers, Paul (2019-10-30). "Moovit adds Waze carpooling to its public transit app". VentureBeat.
- ^ Moon, Mariella (2019-10-30). "Moovit adds Waze carpooling to its public transit app". Engadget.
- ^ Reid, Carlton (2020-01-09). "Oyster Card Supplier Cubic Signs Integration Deal With Transit App Maker Moovit". Forbes.
- ^ Dyson, Lauren (2021-09-01). "Arriva and Moovit partnership brings MaaS to The Netherlands". Traffic Technology Today.
- ^ Kim, Ryan (2012-12-27). "Transit App Moovit Takes a Page from Waze's Crowdsourcing Playbook". GigaOm.com. Archived from the original on 2012-12-30. Retrieved 2013-01-01.
- ^ Gannes, Liz (2012-12-29). "Moovit Powers Public Transit App with the Wisdom of the Crowd". AllThingsD.com.
- ^ Velazco, Chris (2012-12-20). "Social Transit App Moovit Launches in New York City Just in Time to Help All Those Hapless Tourists". TechCrunch.com.
- ^ "Moovit's tool for better urban mobility". Smart Cities World. 2017-06-20.
- ^ "Moovit expands MaaS offerings with live transit location and Uber integration". Traffic Technology Today. 2019-02-04.
- ^ "Uber adds public transit to app as it expands transportation beyond traditional rides". USA TODAY. 2019-03-04.
- ^ "Transit Information at Lyft". Lyft Blog. 2019-08-27.
- ^ "Governor Whitmer announces providers selected for NAIAS 2020 Michigan Mobility Challenge". Michigan.gov. 2019-10-22.
- ^ "Moovit app launching in metro Detroit, teaming with SmartBus". wxyz.com. 2020-12-03.
- ^ "Location Data Is The Main Driver For Transit App Moovit's New Ad Platform". adexchanger.com. 2020-07-26.
- ^ "Moovit transit app blasted after racist slur used to identify historic N.S. Black community | CBC News".
- ^ Santos, G, Nikolaev, N. (2021-03-25). "Mobility as a Service and Public Transport: A Rapid Literature Review and the Case of Moovit". Sustainability. 13 (7): 3666. doi:10.3390/su13073666.
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