Launch Mobility drives the future of sustainable transport with BlinkID

Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) provider Launch Mobility is on a mission to revolutionize how people drive, ride and cycle for work or leisure.

The US-based startup works with companies, both big and small, to deliver custom tech solutions that bring the right mobility services to the right communities.

‘’Nowadays, there are a lot of different ideas on what mobility should look like and everybody is trying out different things,‘’ Sergio Acevedo, Account Director at Launch Mobility, says.

‘’One day we’re working with a local startup that’s experimenting with electric car share in residential buildings. Another day, it’s a global car manufacturer looking to rent its vehicles to ride-hailing drivers.

‘’Naturally, the two will have a very different set of requirements. We’re here to deliver a platform that’s unique to their needs, and Microblink’s technology is an integral part of it.‘’

Getting gig workers out on the road

Companies come to Launch Mobility when they want to rent out and manage their fleet of vehicles – be it electric scooters, trucks or anything in between.

Toyota, for example, recognized a growing shift from car ownership to on-demand usership and decided to enter the mobility field with its own brand, Kinto, which Launch Mobility supports with their technology platform.

‘’If you want to drive for Uber but you don’t have a car, you can book one with Kinto, on an hourly, daily or weekly basis,’’ Mr. Acevedo says.

‘’You sign up with your email, scan your driver’s license, confirm you’re eligible to drive and wait for approval. The whole process can be done very quickly.‘’

‘’Our goal was to keep the onboarding experience nice and smooth while at the same time establishing trust right from the get-go. We use all the information we get from BlinkID to make sure a user holds a valid driver’s license and has a clean criminal record. It’s important to us this information is correct.‘’

Once approved, drivers can book and pay for an available car in the area, get support on the road, and even lock and unlock a vehicle using the app.

On the backend, Kinto team keeps the whole operation in check with Mission Control, a command center Launch Mobility has built to make fleet management and customer interactions easier for operators.

Redefining vehicle ownership

Carsharing apps are Launch Mobility’s forte, but different ways to access mobility are cropping up at a rapid pace.

Lately, some companies have been taking a page from Netflix by starting to offer subscription models for personal transportation.

One of them is Pico, a pay-as-you-go service that lets city-dwellers in Los Angeles book an electric motorbike for as long as they like, with an option to pause or cancel their membership at any time.

Pico trusted Launch Mobility to build an end-to-end app with all the steps a user has to take before scheduling the bike’s delivery or pick up. This includes the reservation process, complete with contract signing, checkout and user onboarding.

‘’When you lower the barriers to entry this way, more people are inclined to sign up and use the service,‘’ Mr. Acevedo says.

‘’Again, we can take the data we collect from an ID scan and use it to simplify the user experience even further. For example, we can populate the delivery address at checkout or even set pricing dynamically based on the user’s credit rating tier.‘’

Shaping the future of mobility, together

‘’Working with Microblink has been a very positive experience,‘’ Mr. Acevedo says.

‘’Both our engineering teams are working well together to understand and meet our clients’ needs, whether that’s adding support for new documents or polishing up the UI.

‘’As for what the future holds, we believe in a sustainable way of getting around – one that’s connected, electrified and shared. Through integrations with the right technology providers, we’re able to empower companies which share that vision with us.’’