FRANKFURT: US ride-hailing company Uber is launching a freight platform in Germany, taking on local technology startups in a race to grab a share of Europe's US$500 billion trucking market.
Under Kalanick's successor, Dara Khosrowshawi, Uber has consulted German officials and industry to win support for its freight business, said Daniel Buczkowski, Uber Freight's head of European expansion. "The key to getting a lot of value out of this industry is understanding how to use those empty kilometers," said Nicolaus Schefenacker, a co-founder of sennder, which was set up in 2016.
Given the fragmented nature of the freight forwarding market, a single player was unlikely to dominate but regional players might emerge, said one investor who backed sennder.