Trucks | FoT: Beta, $1T, Fujian

Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2025.11.10
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

If the US leads in AV technology, China leads in global AV commercialization (link). 'Autonomous-driving technology is considered a strategic sector by Beijing, which has set out a policy that aims for China to become the world leader in driverless vehicles by 2035.' No such global ambition exists for the US. Should it? Related: Riding in a Chinese AV is pretty smooth; that's a problem for Waymo (link).

If your vehicle software is made in another country and you are not best friends with that country, do you have a software problem? (link). It does feel like we are headed toward source knowledge about software like foodies do for farm-to-table.

What if 'self driving' actually just meant self driving? That would be real innovation (link). Author Bryant Walker Smith: 'I did not want to write this article, and I am sorry you may now be reading it.'

On executive pay: Tesla shareholders approve nearly $1T Musk compensation package (link); Rivian board files compensation package for founder Scaringe close to $5B (link). Well timed; everything under a trill does seem like a discount now, doesn't it?

US airspace throttled by 4% due to government shutdown, with 10% coming Nov 14 and potential 20% after that (link). 'During the record 38-day government shutdown, 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security screeners have been forced to work without pay, leading to increased absenteeism. Many air traffic controllers were notified on Thursday that they would receive no pay for a second pay period next week.'

Video: Nikita Merkushin's projection horse by bicycle (link). Video: washing an abandoned NASCAR racer, in miniature (link). Video: Poseidon founder discusses unmanned cargo planes (link). Video: Lyft CEO David Risher on the Decoder podcast (link). Video: 'I fell off my imaginary bike six times just watching this' (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Los Angeles area Hawthorne Airport acquired by Archer Aviation for $126M (link).

Rivian creates industrial AI spinoff called Mind Robotics, raises $115M (link). The macro question about Rivian for me remains: what if they just focused?

Hybrid RV startup Evotrex raises $16M (link). Led by Anker.

VW starts development of its own AI chip, in collaboration with Horizon Robotics, for the China market (link).

Aviation startup Beta raises over $1B on its initial public offering (link).

Indian maintenance startup GoMechanic acquired by Indian retail startup Spinny (link).

GM and Allison Transmission are ending their longtime partnership (link). Wasn't aware of this: 'The rollout of GM's 10-speed automatic in 2020 marked the end of actual Allison-built transmissions in GM trucks, but the badging remained.'

City data platform startup Populus acquired by IPS Group (link).

Auction for assets of the closed Natron Energy in Holland, Michigan (link).

Ford reportedly considers cancelling Lightning BEV pickup (link).

Kodiak AI and ZF Partner on steering for AV trucks (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

GM: Software VP Dave Richardson departs (link). From a GM exec and FoT reader: 'It's Sterling's org now.'

Lucid: Chief Engineer Eric Bach departs; Emad Dlala to lead all engineering and digital groups (link).

CarMax: William Nash departs as CEO (link).

SES AI: Jang Wook Choi resigns from board (link).

Allegiant: Robert Neal promoted to president, continues as CFO; succeeds Gregory Anderson who continues as CEO (link).

Curated Jobs:

Product Manager at Xona Space Systems in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (link).

Software Engineer, Frontend at Treehouse in San Mateo, California, USA (link).

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

Hunting? View all 424 postings on the MobilityJobs job board (link).

New Stuff:

Toyota's bubble car for kids (link).

Omni-directional bikes using spheres (link).

The Chinese AV players are coming to the US: Pony AI to launch service in Irvine, California (link).

Tesla Cybercab expected to begin production in April 2026 (link).

These GM vehicles can no longer download apps through their infotainment system (link).

China's new Fujian aircraft carrier: (link). 'The Fujian skips past the steam catapult technology used on most American carriers to employ an electromagnetic launch system found only on the latest U.S. Navy Ford-class carriers. The system causes less stress to the aircraft and the ship, allows for more precise control over speed and can launch a wider range of aircraft than the steam system. Compared to the ski-jump system, it gives China the ability to launch heavier aircraft, with full fuel loads, like the KJ-600 early warning and control plane, which it successfully tested during its sea trials.'

Patents & Patent Applications:

GM's patent application shows a 'windshield lens' that expands a LiDAR's transmitted beam (link).

Statistics / Projections:

In the US, 28% of survey respondents who own ICE or hybrid vehicles say they would never switch to a BEV (link). Via BCG. 'But when we look at respondents by age group, we see that only 10% of US 18- to 30-year-olds are “never BEVers.” In contrast, 39% of US respondents aged 61 or older said they would never buy a BEV.'

EV and hybrid sales climb in Australia, as internal combustion cars fall below 70% market share for first time (link). Via The Guardian.

A total of 243,000 franchise EV leases will come to an end in 2026, more than 3x the volume of EV lease returns in 2025 (link). Via JD Power. 'Based on the behavior of returning franchise EV lessees in 2025, 62% replace their vehicles with new EVs. Among current EV owners, 94% say they “definitely will” (79%) or “probably will” (15%) consider an EV for their next purchase or lease.'

China’s Baidu says weekly robotaxi rides hit 250,000 (link). Via CNBC. 'The same as Alphabet’s Waymo this spring.'

Thank you:

Thank you to Laura Fox (link), William Knapp (link) and Pietro Varagnolo (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

Treehouse (link), Xona Space Systems (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

If it costs you your peace, it's too expensive (Paulo Coelho),

Reilly Brennan