Trucks | FoT: Bedrock Materials, Gatik, Overland

FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

Cruise is returning to AV service, this time in Arizona and with human attendants on board (link). Related: Cruise reportedly settled with the pedestrian it dragged in San Francisco in 2023 (link). This is the first time we've heard confirmation that the pedestrian survived the incident.

Tesla must face class action vehicle owners' lawsuit over FSD claims (link). Via RH. 'The proposed nationwide class action accused Tesla and Musk of having since 2016 falsely advertised Autopilot and other self-driving technology as functional or "just around the corner," inducing drivers to pay more for their vehicles.'

Hybrid demand drives profits at Toyota and Honda (link). 'The world’s largest auto manufacturer recently reported annual operating profit of $32B, the first time any Japanese company reached that threshold, with an industry-topping margin of 11.9%. Hybrid sales jumped 32% to 3.59 million units, accounting for 1 out of every 3 cars Toyota sells.'

How Morocco went from zero auto exports to becoming Africa's largest in less than 20 years (link). 'It supplies more cars to Europe than China, India or Japan, and has the capacity to produce 700,000 vehicles a year.'

How many Tesla drivers are converting to paid subscribers after a free trial month of its FSD ADAS system? Yipitdata says the number is 2% based on a small sample (link), while Musk responded that 2% is incorrect (link).

A loss at Mercedes-Benz slows the U.A.W.’s southern campaign (link).

Interview with Tesla chair Robyn Denholm (link). 'If I had a magic wand, Twitter wouldn’t exist.' Via Charlotte.

Video: Danny MacAskill & friends ride Inverness, Scotland (link). Video: getting a sense of scale for a container ship on the waves (link). Audio: Croft's Isaac Holeman and Tarani Duncan discuss hydrogen systems and vehicles (link). Video: Matt Farah on the Cybertruck (link). Video: Chevrolet ad mistakenly pronounces the brand as ChevroLET at the end of the spot; perhaps an AI voice that didn't know better? One would hope (link). Video: 'Racer' is Airbus's new 'compound helicopter' (link). Video: Honda Civic drivers at 3AM, bass version (link). Via DFG. Video: Richard Petty shows Jackie Stewart the ropes at Darlington in 1973 (link).

'Trump who? California Republicans love electric vehicles' (link). 'California Republican voters are linked to 21% of EVs owned in the state, research from the Environmental Defense Fund and the data firm L2 found, just below their 24% proportion of state voter registration. That means hundreds of thousands of EVs are being driven by Republicans in a state where nearly 2 million have been sold.'

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Middle-mile AV startup Gatik raises $30M from Isuzu, announces vehicle partnership (link). 'The goal is to build this truck platform at a dedicated manufacturing facility established by Isuzu that will begin operations in 2027.'

Sodium-ion battery startup Bedrock Materials raises $9M (link). Led by Trucks, Refactor and Version One Ventures.

Off-road autonomy startup Overland raises $10M (link). Led by Point72.

Honda says it will double 10-year EV and software investment to $65B (link).

Freight logistics startup Goodship raises $8M (link). Led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

Indian EV component maker Matel raises $4M (link). Led by Transition Venture Capital.

Ann Arbor AI vision startup Voxel51 raises $30M (link). Led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

Board & Executive Changes:

Former Ford executive Scott Griffith named CEO and board member of Motiv EV trucks (link).

Didi co-founder Jean Liu steps down as President and board member (link).

Featured Jobs:

Senior Manager, Quality Systems at May Mobility in Ann Arbor, MI USA (link).

Technical Program Manager, Integrated Flight and Propulsion Control System at Joby Aviation in Santa Cruz, CA, USA (link).

Senior Electric Motor Design Engineer at Auriga Space in Long Beach, CA USA (link).

MobilityJobs is the No.1 job board for auto & transportation companies (link). If you are a startup you can use the job board for free standard listings — just enter 'Trucks' at checkout.

New Stuff:

Tesla will build a data center in China (link). 'Setting up a data center in China for FSD development would require Tesla to work with a Chinese partner, two of the sources said. There is also a potential hardware-sourcing challenge.'

Apple previews 'motion cues' for preventing motion sickness while looking at a device in a vehicle (link).

Chargepoint says the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) standard is coming to its Power Link 2000 stations, supporting 1.2 megawatts now and 3 megawatts in the future (link). Via Carl N.

Honda shows its new fuel cell system in Class 8 truck concept (link).

China asks carmakers to use up to 25% local chips by 2025 (link).

KeyState, CNX establish hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel hub at Pittsburgh International Airport (link). Via Myron.

Patents & Patent Applications:

GM's patent application shows occupant mental wellbeing assessment and countermeasures (link).

Statistics / Projections:

EV charger utilization rates have surged in the US, particularly for L3 (DCFC), marking a 58% increase in the last 11 months, growing from an average of 11.4% in April 2023 to 18.1% in March 2024 (link). Via Stable Auto.

JDPower survey data shows consumer interest in EVs just dropped for the first time in 3 years (link). 'The latest edition of the study revealed that 24% of respondents say they are “very likely” to consider purchasing an EV, down from 26% a year ago...According to the survey, the decline in enthusiasm for EVs can be traced to charging. Or a lack thereof.'

There are probably 36,000 floating chunks of space debris above earth right now (link). Via Sherwood / ESA.

Imports of Chinese-made EVs rise in Canada, where tariffs are set at a low 6% (link). 'Here you can buy a Tesla made in Shanghai and get a C$5,000 purchase incentive that is funded by Canadian taxpayers — including the Canadian companies who are competing with Tesla for that vehicle purchase.' What if all the cheap EVs were sold there new, then immediately remarketed as ‘used’ and brought across the border to avoid the US tariffs?

Thank you:

Thank you to Corey Clothier (link), Ryusuke Hayashi (link), Robin Hutcheson (link), Clare Jones (link), Alex Nesic (link), Karen Seitz and Lee White (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

Auriga Space (link), Bedrock Materials (link), Gatik (link), Joby Aviation (link), May Mobility (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

See you next week,

Reilly Brennan