CAPITAL NEWS
LONDON’S LARGEST CAB COMPANY WILL GO FULLY ELECTRIC BY 2023
London private hire and courier firm, Addison Lee, has pledged to convert its whole passenger car fleet to electric vehicles by 2023. While the company’s website says it has over 4,800 cars operating in the UK capital, its recent acquisition of black cab service, ComCab, will make it the largest taxi company in London with over 7,000 vehicles. It already has 650 zero-emission vehicles in its fleet after the acquisition, but to be able to fully switch over to electric, it has teamed up with Volkswagen. According to engadget, Addison Lee is investing £160m to replace its existing fleet with slightly larger Vol-
swagen ID.4 vehicles. The standard ID.4 has a 77 kWh lithium-ion battery pack and has a range of 250 miles, making it more suitable for city use than for long- distance driving.
It is capable of 201 horsepower and 229
pound-feet of torque, with speeds reaching 100mph. The firm will start by rolling out 450 EVs by the end of 2021, presumably in addition to the 650 electric cars it already has. Then, the company plans to add 200 electric cars per month until its whole fleet has been replaced within a couple of years. The firm also plans to set up charging infrastructure for its drivers using the new £3.5 million Future Mobility Fund it has established. If the company succeeds in transition- ing to electric by 2023, it’ll be ahead of its competitors, such as Uber, which previously pledged to replace its existing fleet with EVs by 2025.
TCS WINS 10-YEAR CONTRACT FROM TfL TO DESIGN AND OPERATE ADMIN SYSTEM FOR LONDON’S TAXIS AND PHVS
On Thursday 9 September, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd won a ten-year contract from Transport for London to design, implement and operate a cloud-based smart mobility system for administration of London’s taxis and private hire vehicles. Over the course of the contract, which the company has the opportunity for a five-year extension, TCS will digitally transform taxi and private hire licensing and administration, as well as implement continuous improvements and innovation, a statement said. TCS will design and launch the new system using its DigiGOV framework for rapid digital transformation, it added.
It will include an on-demand data and records management system that will enhance user experience by offering services such as licensing payments and refunds to vehicle operators and owners through digital channels. Streamlined workflows will link the
24
user-friendly front-end interfaces with back-end activities such as bookings, personal detail processing and vehicle inspections. This digital shift by design, will encourage a self-service approach among licensees, the statement said. Further, with data hosted on AWS cloud, the new solution will be scalable to accommodate future growth, and resilient so customers don’t face outages during operational hours, it added. The new system will be flexible and extensible to comply with evolving policy requirements and legislation. As part of the change management, TCS will conduct in-depth training as part of the onboarding process. TCS UK and Ireland Country Head, Amit Kapur, said: TfL is the foremost transportation authority in the world with its innovative approach in managing urban transportation with the use of technology and data.
“The new TCS designed technology system will meet TfL’s key objectives to enhance customer experience and enable future requirements including connected, shared, electric, auto- nomous vehicle registrations,” he added.
It will also allow TfL to access transportation data from taxis and private hire vehicles on-demand, and will be hosted on Amazon Web Services. “An efficient and effective licensing system is paramount for any regulator overseeing taxi and private hire operations in a world city,” said Graham Robinson, General Manager Taxi and Private Hire at Transport for London. “We are pleased to have signed this contract with TCS, as it ensures our business keeps pace with technological developments and gives the best possible service to licensees.” TCS said it is the largest IT service provider by revenue in the UK with roughly 18,000 employees.
OCTOBER 2021
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98
