Trucks | FoT: BYD, Gatik, May

FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

BYD's new 'super e' platform is the auto industry's 'DeepSeek' moment: 1000V architecture, 5-min charge times, $35k pricing (link). The next performance leaps for EVs aren't really about speed or range (fast, and good enough), but fast charging times. These new BYDs don't actually have enormous batteries, which will become a bit unneccessary if you get charging times down to a few minutes. This requires the union of high-voltage vehicle architectures, batteries and megawatt chargers. If you can't do all three you are going to be behind the leaders. Related: In each of the 10 markets where both Tesla and the Chinese carmaker BYD list prices online, BYD’s lowest-cost option is cheaper than Tesla (link).

Dr Missy Cummings puts forward a taxonomy for AI hazard analysis (TAIHA), introducing layers focusing on the oversight, design, maintenance and testing of AI (link, link to PDF). Via Phil K. 'This lack of AI testing standards is an emerging responsibility gap for some regulatory agencies at the state and federal levels.'

GM blocks dealership from installing Apple CarPlay retrofit kits in EVs (link). Captain Bligh: 'The beatings will continue until morale improves.'

Inside Trump's call with automaker leaders; 'the line fell silent' (link). Related: Why some automakers see tariffs as their biggest threat yet (link).

Ghosn: 'All my work was wasted at Nissan' (link).

A week after Mark Rober's viral video about fooling a Tesla by running into a fake wall, some of the followups: Brad Templeton's (link), Kyle Paul's (link).

Unsold GM Brightdrop vans highlight the price demand curve for work truck EVs (link). 'Before incentives, the (GM) vehicles cost about $74,000. Ford's E-Transit van with extended battery range, for example, is $51,600 — more than $20,000 cheaper — even before applying incentives...Chevrolet, the brand under which BrightDrop is now sold in the U.S., is reportedly offering rebates that add up to a 40% discount on the larger van.'

Video: Tesla all-hands meeeting broadcast (link). Video: hand-making the world's most widely deployed drone, the Shahed 136, from popsicle sticks (link). Video: slow-mo close approach at St Barth's airport (link). Video: driving the legendary Heigo Porsche 911 rally car (link). Video: behind the scenes of Chris Burden's Metropolis II kinetic sculpture at LACMA (link). Video: CBS Sunday Morning looks at McPherson College's auto restoration program (link).

Looking back on 50 years of BMW art cars (link). Via Tony F.

M&A / Deals / Changes:

May Mobility announces Lyft partnership for AV rollout in Atlanta (link).

Kenyan logistics startup Leta raises $5M (link). Led by SpeedInvest.

Indian EV two-wheeler startup Aether moves closer to IPO (link).

GM, Hyundai in talks to share pickups and EV vans in North America (link).

Gatik announces NVIDIA/Isuzu partnership (link). 'Gatik will develop and deploy NVIDIA DRIVE AGX in-vehicle compute architecture across its fleet of class 6 and class 7 Freight-Only (driverless) vehicles. This collaboration will accelerate the deployment of Level 4 autonomous trucks at scale across new markets for Gatik’s Fortune 500 customers including Walmart, Kroger and Tyson Foods.'

Uber to explore acquisition of BluSmart EV cabs in India (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

FMCSA: Acting Administrator Adrienne Camire steps down (link).

Cerence: Marion Harris joins board (link).

Amtrak: CEO Stephen Gardner to depart (link).

Curated Jobs:

Customer Success Manager at Token Transit, remote (link).

C++ Software Engineer, Teleoperation, Optimus & Robotaxi at Tesla in Palo Alto, CA USA (link).

Licensing and Brand Activation Manager at McLaren in Indianapolis, IN USA (link).

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

Hunting? View all 385 postings on the MobilityJobs job board (link).

New Stuff:

Cummins debuts its first gasoline engine (link). 'The B6.7 Octane has diesel power characteristics—up to 300 horsepower and 660 pound-feet of torque—but it runs on gasoline.'

Waymo starts SFO mapping routes (link). Precursor to a full (airport, highways) Bay Area launch later in 2025.

One of the country's first 'airport hotels' gets a much-needed renovation (link).

Zoox's recall over braking reveals the company's total fleet size: 258 (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Ford's patent application shows a 'manual shifter' for EVs (link). This brings to mind Alex's Roy's prescient '2036 Porsche 911E' fantasy review (link).

GM's patent application shows a projected security zone around a vehicle (link). Figure 9 shows codifying an A-ok sign.

Statistics / Projections:

Tesla trade-in numbers spike: Tesla cars from model year 2017 or newer accounted for 1.4% of all the vehicles traded in until March 15, up from 0.4% in March last year (link). Via Reuters / Edmunds.

Tesla and Rivian's charging networks have the lowest amount of reported problems per station (link). Via Consumer Reports. 'Drivers using the EVgo network had problems during 43% of their charging sessions, and Blink network users experienced problems during 41% of their charging sessions. By comparison, the networks with the least number of reported problems were operated by Tesla (4%) and Rivian (5%).'

Cadillac estimates that 1/3 of all its vehicle sales will be EVs this year (link). Via CNBC.

Thank you:

Thank you to Igino Cafiero (link), Gagan Dhillon (link), Julie Lein (link), Elliott Smith (link) and Maggie Szaszko (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

Gatik (link), May Mobility (link), Token Transit (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

Believe that a further shore is reachable from here (Heaney),

Reilly Brennan