Trucks | FoT: Also, May, Ride Conf

Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2025.10.27
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

EPA's looming removal of federal 'endangerment finding' could translate into state-level ruling and a new kind of patchwork (link).

Ex-Stellantis CEO: Stellantis probably has too many brands (link). Special delivery from the 'now you tell us' department. 'With me gone, I am not sure that the French interests that I always had at heart — whether you believe it or not — will be as well defended.'

This ticket link is from my friends at Ride AI, who are doing their next AV conference on April 15, 2026 in San Francisco (link). Tickets aren't on sale yet - other than this link for FoT readers - and this is the lowest-price ticket that will be offered. I receive no financial benefit by sharing this link, I just like the event and organizers (and will be attending) and they have been reading FoT for a long time. See you there!

As airplanes age, the profits move to parts and service (link). 'Engine makers have seen strong demand for spares and parts as airlines fly older planes for longer, due in part to congestion at maintenance centers and delayed jet deliveries from Airbus and Boeing.'

Waymo under federal investigation for driving around stopped school bus (link).

What if, after all, car buyers just want real buttons and gas engines? (link). 'When buyers were told the Italian carmaker is moving away from finicky touch-sensitive controls on the steering wheel and going back to buttons there was big, big applause, said Chief Executive Officer Benedetto Vigna.'

Europe forms a satellite ‘champion’ to counter Starlink (link). Airbus, Thales, Leonardo to merge satellite units to potentially reshape Europe’s space industry.

Video: Chinese robot firm Direct Drive's modular robo dogs (link). Video: Boyz-n-the-Hood homage 88 Hyundai heritage (link). Via TO. Video: Aussie supercars riding dirty over the curbs (link). Via Clay. Video: Scout Motors video about its new $2B manufacturing facility in South Carolina (link). Video: Michigan town is regulating a golf cart boom (link). Funny how the mayor only views the safety of golf cart vs big car, but not pedestrian vs big car. Audio: GM's Mary Barra and Sterling Anderson on the company's push to put AI into its cars (link). From this interview we learn GM will remove CarPlay and AndroidAuto from not only its BEV cars but also its ICE ones too. Video: 60 Minutes Australia on Tesla's ADAS system (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Texas-based AV firm Avride raises $37M from Uber and Nebius (link).

Ann Arbor-based AV startup May Mobility raises strategic round from SE Asian ridehailing firm Grab, will enter SE Asia market in partnership (link).

Canadian rare earth-free motor startup Enedym raises strategic round from Honda Xcelerator Ventures (link).

Recycling and supply startup Redwood Materials raises $350M (link). Led by Eclipse.

Chinese robovan startup Neolix raises $600M (link). Led by Stone Venture of UAE.

Bidirectional Energy and Wallbox launch North America’s first multi-state bidirectional charging program (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

Hertz: Piero Bussani joins as Chief Legal Officer (link).

Dana: Hanna Olivia Nelligan joins board (link).

WEX: activist investor Impactive selects Ellen Alemany, Ken Cornick, Jim Fox, Kush Saxena as directors on its path for its coming proxy fight (link). Related: see Lauren Taylor Wolfe's presentation on why WEX is undervalued from a few months ago at Sohn Conference (link). Via JT.

Curated Jobs:

Senior CV&AI Engineer at Ottometric in Novi Sad, South Bačka District, Serbia (link).

Staff Data Scientist at Nauto in San Francisco, CA, USA (link).

Hiring? Post a job (link). If you're a startup, use code 'Trucks' for free standard listings.

Hunting? View all 456 postings on the MobilityJobs job board (link).

New Stuff:

Rivian's spinoff micromobility brand Also shows its first production vehicles: an ebike, a four-wheel platform van and a helmet with integrated sound (link). 'The mid-drive system, which Rivian calls “Dream Ride,” also looks like something out of a science fiction movie from the ’80s, with its smooth edges and translucent purple housing. Dream Ride is an innovative pedal-by-wire system, which means there’s no mechanical connection between the pedaling and the movement of the bike. Instead, the rider pedals a generator motor on the crank, which replenishes the battery; a separate traction motor at the rear wheel is software-driven via a Gates Carbon belt drive.' I asked my partner Puneeth Meruva for his take: 'This bike feels like the most significant evolution of ebikes we’ve seen in the last 5 years. Drive-by-wire, true Rivian/EV style vehicle OS, and a modular frame that lets you convert the bike from a commuter to a cargo bike or bench seat are standout features. I think the price is actually surprisingly low given all the industry firsts on this ebike, but I’m not sure how much demand there is for a $3K+ D2C ebike in the US these days that doesn’t have the benefit of access to traditional bike shops and incumbent suppliers (i.e. Bosch) for maintenance. The Quad variant feels much more competitive in commercial applications since there still isn’t really a good commercial four-wheeler in the market for last-mile delivery.'

Turo's new flexible leasing program offers rentals on a month or more basis (link). 'Reflecting this trend, trips lasting three or more months are Turo's fastest growing segment January to September 2025 with triple digit year over year growth.'

Toyota's new range-topping brand is Century, set to debut as a luxury level above Lexus across all markets (link).

Uber will pay drivers $4,000 to switch to EVs (link).

Nexar's 'Beyond ADAS' shows its prediction model with a game you can play on your device (link).

Local news station fooled by AI video of race track power outage causing huge crash (link). Video here (link).

Defense startup Shield AI shows blended wing X-Bat autonomous aircraft (link).

Rivian agrees to pay $250M settlement in lawsuit brought by investors 'over claims that the startup knew it would cost far more for it to build each R1T electric truck and R1S electric SUV than the advertised $67,500 and $70,000 prices' (link).

Total bill for JLR's hack to be an estimated $2.5B (link). Via Weans.

Amazon shows its Blue Jay and Eluna projects for logistics and delivery (link). Related: Amazon plans to replace more than 500,000 jobs with robots (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Porsche's patent application shows three-turbo W-18 engine (link). Via Clay.

Statistics / Projections:

Tesla's take rate for customers opting into its FSD ADAS system is 12% (link). Via Business Insider. 'Tesla also reported that revenue from Full Self-Driving in the third quarter decreased compared to the same period last year, when the company raked in $326 million.'

US auto delinquencies have jumped 50% from 15 years ago (link). Via Bloomberg.

Thank you:

Thank you to Claude Colabella (link) and Andrew Savage (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

Bidirectional Energy (link), May Mobility (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

The way we are living, timorous or bold, will have been our life (Seamus Heaney),

Reilly Brennan