Ground Transportation

PhocusWire's in-depth coverage of the ground transportation sector, featuring news, analysis, interviews, research and more on car rental, ride-hailing, taxis and rail.

News / Distribution

MakeMyTrip boosts distribution with Flipkart partnership

By Mitra Sorrells | April 5, 2018

Less than a month after buzz circulated that Amazon could make a move into travel – again – one of its biggest e-commerce competitors is doing just that. Read More

Interview / Online

In The Big Chair - Jens Wohltorf of Blacklane

By Kevin May | April 5, 2018

Since Jens Wohltorf co-founded the private car company in 2011, Blacklane has grown its reach to 250 cities and has raised $85 million. Read More

News / Technology

China's Meituan acquires bike-sharing platform Mobike

By Mitra Sorrells | April 4, 2018

Chinese e-commerce platform Meituan has acquired Mobike, one of the world's largest smart bike-sharing companies. Read More

Interview / Online

Phocuswright Europe 2018 Preview: Q&A with Rome2rio's Rod Cuthbert

By PhocusWire | April 3, 2018

Ahead of the event, Rod Cuthbert discusses the evolution of multi-modal booking, how Google is changing travel and why he's publicly called out TripAdvisor. Read More

Interview / Distribution

Phocuswright Europe 2018 Preview: Q&A with CarTrawler's Bobby Healy

By PhocusWire | March 30, 2018

Ahead of the event, Bobby Healy discusses the major opportunities in mobile, what's wrong with Google and why it's crucial to stay ahead of the competition. Read More

News / Startups

Venture capital investments in travel tech could hit record highs in 2018

By Mitra Sorrells | March 28, 2018

Startups creating solutions to make travel more efficient, frictionless and interconnected received a record amount of venture capital funding in 2017 – at $25.45 billion it was a substantial 32%... Read More

News / Distribution

Hotelbeds offloads destinations services to TUI for €110M

By Kevin May | March 28, 2018

Hotelbeds has ended its interest in providing incoming services to travel agencies by selling its Destination Management division to TUI for €110 million. Read More

News / Technology

IBM enters voice assistant market with Watson Assistant for businesses

By Jill Menze | March 27, 2018

IBM is throwing its hat into the voice assistant ring, but with what could be a key differentiator over Amazon and Google. Read More

News / Online

Uber offloads Southeast Asia wing to Grab, will now focus on organic growth

By Kevin May | March 26, 2018

Uber claims consolidation is not the "strategy of the day" after seeing another part of the business heading to a competitor. Read More

News / Startups

Tourlane raises $8.5M to expand custom trip-planning platform

By Mitra Sorrells | March 23, 2018

Berlin-based Tourlane has secured $8.5 million to expand its service that combines the customized offerings of a traditional travel agent with the ease of online booking. Read More

News / Online

Amazon’s multifaceted – and likely inevitable – path into travel

By Mitra Sorrells | March 21, 2018

It’s becoming clear that it’s no longer a question of “if” but rather of “when” and "how” Amazon will try to disrupt the travel industry.... again. Read More

News / Technology

Voice tech in travel, part 2: UX and design

By Mitra Sorrells | March 12, 2018

The days of typing search terms into a browser or clicking through drop-down menus may be fading. Rising in their place is a much more natural interface: voice. Here are the characteristics of an... Read More

News / Technology

Trainline creates rap duet to promote its voice app

By Mitra Sorrells | March 9, 2018

Trainline has created a two-minute film with showing what it calls a “voicebot duet” to promote its voice app for Google Assistant. Read More

News / Online

Facebook launches new targeted ad strategy for travel brands

By Mitra Sorrells | March 8, 2018

Facebook is using its knowledge of consumers’ online behavior to help brands market their deals and destinations to travelers earlier in their planning process. Read More