From EV Fleets to Autonomous Mobility: How Weeve Is Shaping the Future of Professional Mobility

Mathieu Courtat, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Weeve, in conversation with Geraldine Priya A, Research Manager, Shared Mobility at Frost & Sullivan.

Download this Transformational Growth Leadership Discussion with Mathieu Courtat

For professional drivers, fuel is often the largest operating cost. Weeve offers electric vehicles (EVs) at a fixed weekly rate that includes safety certification and roadside assistance. The innovative business model supports nearly 1,000 cars across four Canadian cities and gives drivers a simpler, more predictable way to stay on the road.

In this Transformational Growth Leadership discussion, Geraldine Priya A speaks with Mathieu Courtat, CEO of Weeve, about the economics of ride-hailing electrification, Canada’s varied regulations, and the company’s ambition to support autonomous vehicle infrastructure.

“The professional driver of 2026 wants a single fixed weekly number that includes everything, the freedom to stop, and someone to call at eleven at night. Ownership is being unbundled into access, and once someone has stopped thinking about tires, insurance renewals and oil changes, they do not go back.”

— Mathieu Courtat, CEO, Weeve

Beyond Vehicle Access: Delivering Driver Uptime

Geraldine Priya A: To begin, could you give us a clear picture of Weeve today? How has the company evolved over the past few years, and what do you see ahead as fleet operations consolidate globally?

Mathieu Courtat: Weeve provides EVs to people who drive for a living. A fixed weekly rate covers the vehicle, safety certification, insurance, unlimited kilometers, and roadside assistance. That matters because many self-employed drivers cannot easily finance a new EV or manage several separate operating costs. We give them one predictable payment and a team that keeps the vehicle working.

Our biggest change was realizing that we do not simply sell access to a car; we sell uptime. That insight reshaped our operations. Today, we run one of Canada’s fastest-growing commercial EV fleet businesses, with nearly 1,000 vehicles across four cities and more than 115 million all-electric kilometers driven. Five Canadian winters have also taught us practical lessons about batteries, road salt, parts, and service that newer entrants still need to learn.

The Mobility Shifts Redefining the Industry

Geraldine Priya A: The mobility market is changing quickly. Which three trends do you believe are reshaping the mobility industry most significantly, and why do they matter now?

Mathieu Courtat: First, driver economics have shifted toward EVs. Uber has committed to zero-emission rides in Canada by 2030. Even when policy changes, the operating-cost advantage remains. For drivers covering high daily kilometers, lower energy and maintenance costs make electrification a business decision, not only an environmental one.

Second, the vehicle is becoming a service. Drivers increasingly want one weekly payment, predictable support, and someone to call when a problem occurs. Once they experience that simplicity, they are less interested in managing tires, insurance renewals, servicing, and unexpected repairs themselves.

Third, autonomy is turning into an operations challenge. In a Canadian winter, an autonomous vehicle is a complex computer exposed to salt, slush, and cold. Dirty sensors can become a safety issue. Robotaxis will need cleaning, calibration, charging, repairs, and rapid turnaround. That is the same ground infrastructure we already use for human-driven fleets.

Turning Regulation into a Competitive Advantage

Geraldine Priya A: Those shifts create clear opportunities, but they also raise the operational bar. How are they changing the way Weeve works, and where are you seeing the most important opportunities and pressures for the business?

Mathieu Courtat: They all depend on the same capability — operating a safe, regulated electric fleet at low cost and high availability. We did not need a major pivot; we needed to improve the EV fleet operations discipline we already had. If a vehicle is in the shop, a driver is not earning. Parts availability, preventive service, and swap readiness therefore matter as much as customer acquisition.

Regulation is another huge opportunity. We work in four cities with four different rulebooks. British Columbia requires a commercial license and hours-of-service limits; Quebec requires 15 hours of training; Toronto has a shorter program; and Ottawa has no equivalent requirement. Learning to operate well in each market creates a repeatable playbook and lowers the cost of entering the next city.

Building the Operating Backbone for Canadian Mobility

Geraldine Priya A: What is the larger ambition for Weeve? Where would you like the company to be five years from now, and what needs to be in place for that vision to become real?

Mathieu Courtat: We want to become the operating layer beneath professional mobility in Canada, keeping vehicles moving regardless of who owns or drives them. That requires national coverage with consistent pricing and service; support for ride-hailing, corporate fleets, insurance replacement, delivery, and taxis; and depots capable of servicing autonomous fleets as they scale.

Autonomous vehicles will still need people and facilities for maintenance, cleaning, charging, and calibration. We intend to provide that backbone for the Canadian mobility industry.

Where Weeve Sees Its Next Growth Opportunities

Geraldine Priya A: To achieve that ambition, where do you see the strongest growth opportunities? Are they likely to come from new markets, adjacent customer groups, new business models, or capabilities that support autonomous vehicle infrastructure?

Mathieu Courtat: We see four practical paths.

1. Geographic expansion: Experience in four cities has shown us what can be standardized and what must be adapted locally. A fifth market is now an execution challenge, not an experiment. Toronto’s zero-emission vehicle exemption on model-year limits also supports growth.
2. Adjacent customer groups: The same certified vehicle, service network, and telematics platform can support ride-hailing drivers, corporate fleets, and insurance-replacement customers. Their demand peaks at different times, which improves fleet utilization.
3. Autonomous vehicle infrastructure: The industry still needs a reliable ground-service layer. We already operate sensor-equipped EVs on Montreal streets, giving us early insight into the cleaning, charging, calibration, and maintenance needs of autonomous fleets.
4. A path from renting to owning: A driver who has maintained a vehicle well for two years has demonstrated reliability in a way a credit score may not capture. We are developing this option carefully because offering ownership involves a different regulatory model.

The Challenges Behind the Next Phase of Expansion

Geraldine Priya A: What do you see as the biggest roadblocks to achieving the aforementioned growth?

Mathieu Courtat: Capital is the first constraint. Every new driver requires us to put a vehicle on the road before we earn revenue, so growth depends on disciplined financing. It is a balance-sheet decision, not simply a marketing decision.

The second constraint is EV fleet maintenance talent. Canada has many technicians who can diagnose combustion engines, but fewer who can work on high-voltage battery systems. Manufacturers and dealerships compete for the same people. If growth is capped, technicians are more likely to be the reason than customer demand.

Accidents also affect more than insurance costs. They interrupt a driver’s income and test trust. We therefore include driver education in the service. Winter adds another layer by reducing range, hardening tires, and covering sensors. It raises costs, but mastering winter operations also creates a durable advantage.

Competing on Uptime, Not Discounts

Geraldine Priya A: Now, turning to competition, how does Weeve plan to differentiate itself and overcome the increasing competitive intensity as ride-hailing electrification accelerates?

Mathieu Courtat: Competition comes from three groups: global rental platforms entering EV fleet operations, peer-to-peer marketplaces such as Turo, and local operators that mainly rent gasoline vehicles. We also study companies that failed. Many treated the car as a listing and the driver as a transaction, without building the service system required to protect earnings.

Our strategy has three parts:

1. We are all-electric by design, which keeps the cost per kilometer structurally lower.
2. We own the service loop because fleet uptime cannot be outsourced completely.
3. We build for Canadian conditions, where winter experience shapes decisions about vehicles, parts, charging, and response times.

These capabilities matter as competitive intensity increases across ride-hailing electrification.

Leveraging AI as an Operational Advantage, Not a Replacement for People

Geraldine Priya A: AI is being presented as both a breakthrough and a risk across the mobility sector. Where is Weeve using it today, which applications are delivering practical value, and where do you believe human involvement must remain central?

Mathieu Courtat: We use AI in practical areas including predictive maintenance through telematics, customer-service triage in two languages, and matching vehicles with the right city, plan, and season. These applications help us make faster decisions and prevent small issues from becoming lost shifts.

We do not use it to remove people from important moments. If a driver’s car will not start, that person needs a clear answer and a replacement vehicle, not a chatbot loop. Our rule is simple. AI should handle routine work so our people can focus on service that drivers remember.

A Disciplined Approach to Growth and Mergers & Acquisitions

Geraldine Priya A: As you consider future expansion, how do you balance organic growth with mergers and acquisitions?

Mathieu Courtat: Our growth is overwhelmingly organic. Acquiring a traditional fleet operator could mean buying combustion vehicles, aging assets, and a culture focused on rental days rather than uptime. Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) make sense when they add a specific capability, such as a maintenance operation, technician team, or fleet-customer portfolio that we can electrify. We also separate vehicle financing from the operating business, so each new asset is underwritten carefully, and capital remains a strategic choice.

The Pit-crew Mindset Behind Fleet Uptime

Geraldine Priya A: Culture can sound abstract until it shapes a customer experience or an operational decision. How would you describe Weeve’s culture in practical terms?

Mathieu Courtat: We describe ourselves as a pit-crew. The driver takes the risk and earns income on the road; our job is to return the vehicle to service quickly and safely. Three values guide us: Deliver with Care, Build Together, and Execute Accurately. They turn tasks such as a 30-minute vehicle swap into a repeatable process. That reliability supports both driver and employee retention.

The Next Mobility Battle Will Be Won At the Depot

Geraldine Priya A: To close, what is the one change you expect to transform mobility over the next five years? And what is the central message you would like industry leaders to remember as they plan for that future?

Mathieu Courtat: Within five years, competition in mobility will shift from the driver’s seat to the depot. The autonomy race is measured today through software and vehicles, but commercial success will depend on cost per available vehicle-hour. Cleaning, charging, calibration, repairs, and uptime will determine that cost. The first Canadian city to operate autonomous vehicles year-round will be the one that solves winter operations.

The larger message is about professional drivers. Millions of people carry vehicle costs and risks themselves. Electrification can improve their earnings, yet many cannot finance the transition alone, and fleet operators often fall outside consumer subsidy programs. Build a system that keeps drivers earning today, and you also build the system that autonomous fleets will need tomorrow.

Closing Perspective: Uptime is the Latest Growth Model

Weeve’s growth story is not only about adding EVs. It is about keeping each vehicle productive across four cities, different regulatory systems, and demanding winters. Mathieu Courtat’s comments position EV fleet operations as the core product, with uptime as the measure that matters most to drivers.

That focus shapes the company’s choices. Driver education is part of the service, acquisitions are selective, and AI is used for practical operational gains. As autonomous vehicle infrastructure expands across the Canadian mobility industry, Weeve is building expertise in commercial EV fleet management, EV fleet maintenance, and fleet uptime that can support both human-driven and autonomous operations.