TAXI, CHAUFFEUR & RIDE-HAIL
DIGITAL DRIVE
A new era of digitalisation could shine a light on the 'black hole' of taxi, chauffeur and ride-hailing spend
By Lauren Arena (published 21 November 2025)
By Lauren Arena (published 21 November 2025)
Awave of consolidation and integration is sweeping through the ground transportation industry, knitting together a patchwork of taxi, ride-hail and chauffeur providers and tools, and pushing the sector toward long-overdue digitalisation. For corporates, the shift promises to offer improved 'bookability' and visibility over what has long been considered the 'black hole' of travel spend.
Ride-hailing companies are driving this trend. In July, US-based specialist Lyft finalised a €175 million deal to acquire Germany’s Freenow, marking a strategic entry into the European market. That move was followed in October by its £83 million acquisition of Glasgow-based TBR Global Chauffeuring. While the three brands and their booking platforms continue to operate separately, further integration is expected.
For now, the Freenow app remains unchanged, but from 2026 corporate users will begin to see tangible benefits from increased interoperability with Lyft. David Koral, director of customer success and sales at Freenow by Lyft, says corporate customers will gain the ability to access ground transport services across the transatlantic – potentially under a single management contract.
“The intention is to simplify vendor management for big corporates. At the moment we are still two different apps, but we're willing to facilitate [a combined agreement] to make contracting easier for a corporation with operations on both sides of the ocean,” he says.
Corporate travel currently represents 10 to 15 per cent of Freenow by Lyft’s overall European business, rising to as much as 30 per cent in some markets. Koral expects these figures to increase following the Lyft deal, noting that “more companies are now interested in collaborating with us” because of new transatlantic management capabilities. Further European expansion is also planned.
“There will be growth in terms of the number of drivers and number of cities covered,” he says. “That's a constant process and that's increasing the value of partnerships between us and these big corporations.”
He added that the TBR acquisition is “very good news for us because that's the type of service a lot of companies are asking for”. Corporates can already embed policy controls within the Freenow app – such as restricting luxury vehicles to specific travellers or time windows – and Koral says increased supply will open new possibilities.
Freenow by Lyft is already integrated into multi-mobility booking tools such as HQ and Mobility IQ, with more integrations on the way. In November, the company launched an enterprise integration with Concur Expense that automates taxi expense management and gives travel managers a “centralised view” of bookings.
INCREASING COMPETITION
Photo by Pexel, Tima Miroshnichenko
Photo by Pexel, Tima Miroshnichenko
These developments place Lyft – and its recently acquired brands – on a more level playing field with ride hailing giant Uber. Rival Bolt also expanded earlier this year with its acquisition of Danish ride-hailing firm Viggo, while TBR – prior to being bought by Lyft – purchased London’s EuroChauffeurs in April and is “still keen” to continue M&A activity. Clearly, competition is heating up.
“Competition is good,” says Christophe Peymirat, head of Uber for Business EMEA. “It also shows that the corporate market is warming up to ride-hailing platforms and to the type of solutions that we are working on.”
Uber for Business has seen a “substantial” rise in corporate agreements across Europe in the past year, driven by what Peymirat calls “the consumerisation of the enterprise”.
“Companies want to meet the expectations of their travellers, who are already using Uber in their personal lives and on business trips,” says Peymirat, who spent more than 20 years with Egencia before joining Uber in 2018. “I see in ground transportation what I saw 12 to 15 years back in the TMC space, which is a big uptick in digitalisation, a big uptick in mobile/app bookings and also [a stronger focus on] reporting and policy.”
This shift is being driven by the need to reduce costs and implement duty of care policies, Peymirat says, noting that in Europe cost oversight now outweighs sustainability concerns.
“The ask is still there on the RFP,” he explains, referring to EV availability and emissions reporting, “but when we try to convince [corporates] that we're a good partner, the focus is really on savings.”
Uber’s global footprint has also been a gamechanger for travel managers who increasingly want to control spend on a global scale.
“The industry is consolidating at pace across new digital players and the legacy taxi and chauffeur companies,” says Daniel Price, CEO of corporate mobility platform Jyrney.
“This will advance digitisation since what held this back previously was an industry made up of fragmented small operators… [and] with the arrival of big global brands, travel managers have something to hang their hat on,” he says.
“The only negative outcome of the consolidation will be if the local providers are crowded out as then there is the potential for a few large players to control pricing while service declines,” he adds.
Platforms such as HQ, Mobility IQ and Jyrney aim to bring policy alignment and better content integration to a category that has historically sat outside well-established corporate travel workflows. While Jyrney and HQ collaborate with TMCs to integrate with existing booking and expense tools, Mobility IQ takes a direct-to-client approach, especially for large global enterprises.
DIRECT ROUTE
“The issue is that the majority of ground transportation is booked outside of the existing [corporate travel] ecosystem because the content isn't available, it's not bookable and the user experience is poor,” says Stuart Donnelly, president of mobility at The Miles Consultancy, which owns Mobility IQ.
He added that TMCs have limited incentive to invest in ground transport because revenue margins are low compared with flights. “And even if they did want to get involved in ground, the issue then becomes how they justify the investment needed to integrate the content and deliver it to the user in a consumer-grade technology platform,” he says.
According to Donnelly, Mobility IQ's "super app" integrates the capabilities of both a travel management company and an online booking tool, with artificial intelligence expected to accelerate new features from 2026.
One upcoming feature is ‘Ride Optimiser’, launching next year. “With a click of a button you will be able to book multiple car categories and suppliers at the same time and whoever accepts the booking first [will win the fare], and all other suppliers will be automatically cancelled,” he explains.
While pricing transparency with ride-hailing suppliers remains a challenge for corporates, Donnelly says Mobility IQ operates on a “transparent” subscription or transaction fee model, which he says allows clients to promote preferred suppliers and influence traveller behaviour through ‘nudging’.
IN PURSUIT OF INTEGRATION
Jyrney is tackling similar fragmentation issues, albeit through TMC partnerships. “Working with TMCs give us the opportunity to solve problems for many clients all through one integration or set up,” says Price. “These partnerships help put ground transport where it belongs – as part of the booking flow for air, hotel and rail, rather than an afterthought. In turn, this helps travel managers to track ground transport and keep it within their travel policy, with adoption easier to manage.”
A notable example is Jyrney’s integration with UK-based travel management company Inntel, whose online booking tool, Logic, now features an API integration that allows ground transport bookings to be made directly in the tool, as opposed to solutions that rely on external punchout processes.
“Inntel is the first [TMC partner] to use our API within their own environment,” says Price, who insists this is the first instance of truly integrated ride-hailing content within a TMC’s native stack.
Inntel CEO Douglas O’Neill called the integration “the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle” that delivers a “complete service configuration”. Since launching in April, more than half of Inntel’s clients have already activated Jyrney within the Logic OBT and mobile app.
“Traditionally, TMCs have overlooked it [ground transport] and I think they're foolish to do so,” says O’Neill. “We’re a test case for the industry [because] we've integrated [ground transport] into what is a realistic solution and our clients are endorsing it.”
Both Mobility IQ and Jyrney integrate taxi, ride-hail and chauffeur services, but
integration with Uber remains a challenge. Peymirat confirmed Uber’s priority is to work directly with corporates – “that’s how we cut costs and optimise the savings” – with no plans to integrate with aggregator platforms or TMC workflows.
CHAUFFEUR-DRIVE SOLUTIONS
Tech innovation is advancing in the chauffeur-drive segment as well. Carey International, acquired in 2024 by Najafi Companies, appointed Alexander Mirza as CEO in June 2025. Mirza is heavily focused on technology, and Carey's VP of international sales, Danny Chesworth, says AI will now play a key role in enhancing service consistency and personalisation.
“It's all about personalised mobility,” he says, adding that AI is now being used to match passengers with their preferred amenities and automatically pass this information to chauffeurs. The goal is to ensure consistent service worldwide.
Chesworth added that client demands are also shifting, with increased demand for online, instant book capabilities. “They want to go online to check availability, check cost and place the booking. We get very few bookings over the phone and via email. It’s now all coming through our platform and our API integrations with aggregators,” he says.
Cost savings are also a focus. “You've got to be competitive on cost whilst demonstrating value with everything else you're offering – such as safety and security, duty of care, insurance cover, vehicle quality and chauffeur quality.”
Blacklane is also investing in its corporate booking platform, piloting new capabilities such as single sign-on, enhanced dashboards and the ability to save frequent traveller profiles. “Corporates increasingly are investing in their travel technology tools and aligning with a supplier that understands their business holistically,” says James Dow, Blacklane’s general manager for the UK and Ireland.
“They want to know that we can support their people in multiple countries via one central support team rather than having different relationships across different territories,” he adds.
What lies ahead is a more connected, policy-aligned ecosystem and a sector finally ready to operate at the same standard as the rest of corporate travel. Ground transportation technology is coming of age but will only truly mature if everyone embraces it.
WHAT BUYERS REALLY WANT
Corporate buyers are paying closer attention to ground transport, but priorities vary across travel programmes.
Policy controls
Elisabetta Gibertoni, global travel and events category manager at medical device manufacturer LivaNova, oversees travellers across the US, Europe and Asia, where ground transport accounts for around 4 per cent of total T&E spend. After signing a global contract with Uber for Business and entering discussions with Lyft, both platforms are recommended within the company’s policy. Travellers are also encouraged use public transport, but to apply “common sense” if they choose to do so. Gibertoni says she is impressed by Uber for Business’ dashboard, which tracks costs and CO2 emissions. The rollout has been “smooth” and the uptake among travellers has also been positive. Ultimately, however, ground transportation choices remain at the traveller’s discretion.
Speaking at the GBTA Europe Conference in Hamburg in November, UBS global head of travel and expense management Mark Cuschieri said policy should support, not inhibit employees from doing “the right thing”. He continued: “It’s not necessarily a stick or a carrot, it’s how you apply policy in your programme that’s more important.” The UBS policy on ground transportation recommends public transport as the “primary” option, but it also covers the use of taxis (and when they should be taken), black cars and ride-hailing services. “Our policy is about creating a world of choice within a managed framework and bringing that content in our programme to enable that choice and steer the right behaviour,” he said.
Service quality
Travellers at London-based investment banking firm Trinity Group Limited spend half the year on the road, primarily for roadshows in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Managing travel for C-suite clients is also a big part of the company’s programme, so premium black car services are essential. Eleanor Pullen, Trinity’s executive director overseeing back office and compliance, recently shifted from hotel-provided cars to Blacklane for improved reliability and cost control. “We were finding that the cost, especially in Saudi, was going up and up and up, and sometimes we were spending £2,000 a day on a car,” she says. After signing with Blacklane in 2023, ground transport dropped from 25 per cent to 15 per cent of overall spend. Pullen’s focus is on service quality, while security and duty of care are also key priorities.
Admin efficiencies
Antonelli Simoncini, who manages corporate travel procurement for Ricoh in EMEA, has negotiated local taxi agreements with centralised billing in several countries and is now exploring ride-hailing partnerships for broader coverage. The goals: better spend visibility and streamlined payment and expense processes. Centralised agreements in Spain and Portugal have driven strong compliance. “When deployed well, this kind of service sells itself,” says Simoncini, citing reduced admin, instant VAT recovery – equating to a 10 per cent saving – and the elimination of traveller expense claims.
