Avis Budget Group announces today it is one of the founding partners behind Urban Movement Labs, a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership to accelerate transportation innovation launched by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. This venture will focus on developing, testing, and rolling out innovative transit solutions and addressing core challenges around climate change, technology and workforce development in Los Angeles.

Urban Movement Labs (UML) brings together the diverse players needed to successfully implement the next generation of mobility solutions to ensure a sustainable, equitable and accessible future for transportation in Los Angeles, and to generate learnings to be replicated in urban environments around the world. Within Los Angeles alone, Avis Budget Group touches two million travelers each year and is committed to working in partnership across the mobility spectrum to offer citizens more access to the right type of transport.

In addition to Avis Budget Group, the other founding partners behind the launch of this new initiative include Garcetti’s Office of Economic Development, Lyft, Verizon, Waymo, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, Los Angeles World Airports, the Port of Los Angeles, and the L.A. Cleantech Incubator (LACI).

In its first year, UML will work with local communities across L.A. to confront major issues affecting daily life, including the design of city curbs, connecting people to public transit, and providing better transportation options to L.A.’s 50 million annual visitors.