World shaper of tomorrow: Bestmile orchestrates the transportation revolution

Bestmile develops and provides a software platform that enables transportation companies to automate and optimize dispatching and routing to maximize the efficiency of on-demand autonomous and human-driven mobility services. Bestmile co-founders Anne Mellano and Raphaël Gindrat spoke to us about their company’s pioneering journey to accelerate the future of transportation.

Urbanization, population growth, and aging are changing our mobility needs. Lausanne-based Bestmile provides a smart and sustainable solution to solve the transportation challenges of our time: “We develop a ‘fleet orchestration platform.’ Managing fleets of vehicles is similar to conducting an orchestra: You have all the different instruments—the vehicles—and you need the conductor, Bestmile, to make sure things run smoothly,” explained Anne. In the public transportation system that we know, drivers have predetermined routes and schedules. With many cities and businesses moving toward on-demand transportation, supply must adapt in real time. “You need a system that builds vehicle lines in real time and determines when to pick up and drop off people,” continued Anne. Bestmile’s software platform enables fleet operators to deploy and manage these new mobility services and reduce urban congestion and pollution by moving more people with fewer vehicles. 

The EPFL spin-off takes off
Anne and Raphaël met at EPF Lausanne in 2012, where they managed one of Europe’s first fleet of autonomous vehicles as part of a European-funded project. Even though the shuttles could navigate and recognize obstacles, a major issue was the lack of coordination between the vehicles—until Anne and Raphaël’s technology made the fleet more intelligent and enabled vehicles to collaborate. “For the first two years, 2014 and 2015, EPFL was our main customer. We used this opportunity to develop, test, and implement the early version of the Bestmile software,” said Raphaël. The two took their mobility solution global by establishing a presence in the United States in 2015. With Swiss Post, Bestmile got its first commercial customer in 2016. Since then, the company has raised USD 31 million, built partnerships with global companies, such as Keolis and Beep, and has established additional presences in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. But even with a solid foundation and resources, Bestmile has not quite been able to go full speed ahead. 

Expanding their expertise
“We realized that it will take more time than expected for autonomous vehicles to materialize in large deployments and that we needed to extend our platform to grow,” explained Anne. Since 2018, Bestmile has been supporting human-driven fleets—such as microtransit, ride-hailing, and taxi services—which allows the team to expand their expertise in managing on-demand systems on a larger scale. “We can ensure some revenue and build relationships with operators to help them transition toward autonomous vehicles when the market is ready,” said Anne.

“Believe in your vision and your plan. Be prepared that everything takes longer than expected. But even if it takes a little longer, it doesn’t mean the plan is wrong.” – Raphaël Gindrat

The best is yet to come
COVID-19 slowed down mobility innovation even more, and the transportation industry came to a halt. But it also accelerated Bestmile’s business—at least on paper: “Our customer’s innovation projects have stopped because many transit companies need to focus on their core business, transporting passengers safely,” explained Anne. “However, businesses also had time to think about the future of their services, and, in 2020, we signed some of our biggest contracts ever. Now we just need to wait for the economy to restart.” Achieving the vision of making autonomous, shared, on-demand mobility accessible to all might take a few more detours than expected, but the Bestmile team is on the road to success.  



 

About World shapers of tomorrow: Startups building our future

The TOP 100 book World shapers of tomorrow: Startups building our future shows the impact of the TOP 100 Swiss Startups over the last 10 years. On 100 pages, the publication features the facts and figures about the startup ecosystem in Switzerland, shows the sectors and geographic distribution, and lists the investors behind Swiss deeptech startups. The book also highlights disruptive companies that changed their industry: Beekeeper, Bestmile, Climeworks, Covagen, DeinDeal, Doodle, GetYourGuide, MindMaze, Scandit, and Piavita. The founders of these startups share anecdotes and discuss their successes, lessons learned, and visions for the future. A selection of 10 verticals illustrates how Swiss deeptech startups transform our lives and help us build a better and more sustainable future in relation to health, longevity, digitalization, and decentralization.
Learn more and download your copy at www.top100startups.swiss/10years.

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