Taiwan’s Gogoro unveiled its electric scooter rideshare app, as it seeks to keep its position as the country’s leader amid intensifying competition from larger competitors and overall weakness in the market.
Called GoShare, the platform coordinates Gogoro’s network of seated scooters with AI-based support that integrates battery-swapping, payment and reservations.
- While single passenger-standing scooter leaders including Lime, Lyft, and recently Uber have similar services for paying for and booking scooters, Gogoro says it can track vehicle performances, fine-tune the system and incorporate feedback into new designs for its platform.
- The GoShare platform may add ease and convenience, but that might not be enough, said Sharmila Chaterjee, academic head for the MBA Track in Enterprise Management at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
- “Gogoro will see that in the long term competitors like Lyft and Lime will have longer lasting batteries and better technology. It’s hard to be on top and stay ahead of the pack with tools like battery sharing,” she said.
- Gogoro has to find a sustainable business model in a cutthroat industry, said Sergio Avedian, The Rideshare Guy blog writer. “The scooter business has high costs for short trips, and not necessarily a high utilization rate. Venture capital dumps money in hopes for long-term profits but currently it is just a trend.”
- Karma Takeaway: Gogoro’s new platform, despite being unveiled in Taiwan’s “Smart Community of the Year,” may not help it leap the hurdles of increasing competition in a nearly-profitless market.
