Skip to main content

Ridesharing market attracts investors in Europe and North America

Investors are racing to claim a stake in the potential multibillion-dollar ridesharing market. Advances in Technology that aid in the adoption of ridesharing, while governmental policy support, such as high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and toll-fee waivers, are bolstering market evolution, says Frost and Sullivan. The North American and European ridesharing market will see strong growth, with rideshare operators rolling out new business models to target niche customer segments. And in the European marke
December 16, 2016 Read time: 3 mins
Investors are racing to claim a stake in the potential multibillion-dollar ridesharing market. Advances in Technology that aid in the adoption of ridesharing, while governmental policy support, such as high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and toll-fee waivers, are bolstering market evolution, says Frost and Sullivan.

The North American and European ridesharing market will see strong growth, with rideshare operators rolling out new business models to target niche customer segments. And in the European market a fixed ridesharing is expected to dominate by 2025, although dynamic ridesharing is also picking up pace.

2097 Frost & Sullivan’s Automotive & Transportation Growth Partnership Service program, which offers, among other things insights into powertrains, carsharing and smart mobility management has recently released two analyses of ridesharing,  North American Ridesharing Market Opportunities and  European Ridesharing Market Opportunities

“Ridesharing has emerged as a smart, clean and powerful tool to deal with the fallouts of urbanisation and the development of mega cities,” said Mobility Research Analyst Albert Geraldine Priya. “Ridesharing can reduce the number of cars needed on urban roads globally by up to 2.49 million vehicles, decrease vehicle kilometres travelled by 40.19 billion and lower the corresponding end-of-life (EOL) emissions by 15.9 megatons.”

As business models continue to evolve in this new market, the most popular ones like RidewithVia and Matchrider combine the benefits of ridesharing and taxi hailing activity in this space, vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are interested in partnering with or in investing in ridesharing ventures. Some prominent deals in the ridesharing market include BMW’s investment in Scoop, GM’s investment in Flinc and Daimler’s investment in Via. Technology companies have also joined in Facebook, for example, recently announced plans to add a ridesharing option to its events page.

In Europe, France is the biggest market for ridesharing, holding almost 26 per cent of it though this spot may well be relinquished   to Germany by 2025.  Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain together make up 85 per cent of the ridesharing market.

The largest player in France is BlaBlaCar, serving almost 10 per cent of the population. New dynamic ridesharing operators like Heetch, Karos, Citygoo are testing the waters in major countries like France and Germany only. With support from local governments other players such as Carma are also expanding their presence.

Corporate ridesharing is the most popular in the UK. The country boasts major corporate ridesharing players like Liftshare and Faxi. Corporate ridesharing is also picking up in  other countries with players such as  Wayzup and Twogo offering customised solutions to corporate.

However, large sections of prospective users are still relatively unaware of the ridesharing concept or the actual differences between ridesharing, hailing and carsharing.

“Nevertheless, the growing synergies among various ridesharing stakeholders will bring about a sea change in the shared mobility ecosystem,” noted Priya. “Ridesharing is expected to become a mainstream mode of mobility in cities by 2025 and is likely to expand to include different models on the same platform. Autonomous vehicles are expected to disrupt ridesharing models by merging ‘self-driven’ and ‘to-drive’ options beyond 2025.”

Related Content

  • December 18, 2013
    Fleet management market worth US$30.45 billion by 2018
    MarketsandMarkets recently conducted a study on the "Fleet Management Market (Fleet Analytics; Vehicle Tracking & Fleet Monitoring; Telematics; Vendor Services) By Vehicles (Trucks; Light Goods; Buses; Corporate Fleets; Container Ships; Aircrafts) Worldwide Market Forecasts and Analysis (2013 - 2018)", which analysed and studied the major market drivers, restraints and opportunities in North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. The study indicates that the fleet manageme
  • November 14, 2014
    Vision 2020: Car sharing drives towards new heights
    Frost & Sullivan's is holding an online complimentary Analyst Briefing to shed light on the key factors influencing car sharing growth in cities and the market size potential. The briefing starts at 0400 GMT on 20 November. Speakers are Frost & Sullivan Industry Principal (Mobility) Martyn Briggs and Zipcar general manager (UK) Mark Walker.
  • March 11, 2015
    Need for real-time traffic information systems on the rise
    New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Strategic Analysis of Real-time Traffic Information Market in Europe and North America, finds that the number of real-time traffic information subscribers in North America stood at 1.9 million units in 2014 and estimates this to reach 14.2 million in 2021. In Europe, the number is expected to go up from 2.2 million in 2014 to 10.2 million in 2021. With traffic expanding at three times the rate of the economy, the research says the need for intelligent systems like real-ti
  • March 9, 2017
    Daimler invests in ChargePoint
    Daimler is ramping up the expansion of its network for electric cars by making a strategic investment in American charging solutions provider ChargePoint. ChargePoint already has a large customer base in North America and is planning expansion into Europe, which will be supported by the Daimler investment. Daimler’s investment in ChargePoint enables it to move forward with its corporate strategy on electric mobility and its new electric vehicle brand, EQ. The company is also focusing on expansion of its