Trucks | FoT: CES, TTTech, NVIDIA

FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

CES automotive roundups from Techcrunch (link, link), Car and Driver (link), Automotive News (link), Chris Stallman’s (link). I was at CES for a few days and other than the classic hits of the week (the Autonocast party, the transportation vc/cvc dinner), I was once again reminded how CES continues to be one of the most important auto and transportation shows in the world -- and caught off guard how a lot of OEMs still send dozens of people but don't want to have a presence on the show floor.

High-visibility safety clothing for pedestrians can make them less visible to some automotive safety systems (link). 'The placement and motion of reflective strips on the joints and limbs of pants and jackets allows drivers to quickly recognize the pattern of movement as a person...Unfortunately, the moving strips didn’t have the same effect for the pedestrian AEB systems we tested and probably confounded their sensors.'

How Republicans can slow but not stop EVs (link). 'Analysts note that sales of electric vehicles in Germany plunged 27% last year after the country’s government slashed incentives for car buyers.' Related: These EV ‘Battery Belt’ towns are betting Trump won’t ditch them (link).

The 1965 Spirit of America Sonic I, longtime at the Indy Museum, going up for auction (link). 'Developed by land speed record legend Craig Breedlove and driven to a remarkable, record-setting 600 mph in 1965 on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats.' The photos of this thing will make your internal Bruce Springsteen flare up.

Video: incredible low-pass firefighting airplane in Los Angeles, below the treeline as it drops its Phos-Chek (link). Video: Sebastian's Stumpf's artform is sliding under garage doors at the last second (link). Video: Sophia Tung's deep dive into the Chinese robotaxi scene (link). Video: Chris Harris's love letter to the Porsche 959 (link). Via Diego. Video: how the 'super scooper' airplane was made to fight fires (link). 'Literally a boat with giant wings.' Video: Dimo co-founder talks unified mobility data with Packy McCormick (link). Video: Jonathan Schipper's 2009 simulation of a head-on collision at the rate of one millimeter per hour (link). Video: bicycle with highest handlebars and lowest utility (link).

For sale: 2-ton chunks of the Mackinac Bridge road (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Austrian safety software firm TTTech Auto acquired by NXP for $625M (link).

NVIDIA reveals partnerships with Toyota, Continental and Aurora for vehicle computing (link). 'Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, will build its next-generation vehicles on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin™, running the safety-certified NVIDIA DriveOS operating system...Aurora, Continental and NVIDIA this week also announced a long-term strategic partnership to deploy driverless trucks at scale, powered by NVIDIA DRIVE. NVIDIA’s accelerated compute running DriveOS will be integrated into the Aurora Driver, an SAE level 4 autonomous-driving system that Continental plans to mass-manufacture in 2027.'

Supply chain visibility startup Overhaul raises $55M (link). Led by Springcoast Partners.

Hydrogen fuel cell startup Hyzon to shut down (link).

Sidewalk robot company Serve Robotics raises $80M via direct offering (link).

May Mobility partners with Tecnobus for new EV shuttle (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

Winnebago Industries: Michael Pack joins board (link).

Southwest Airlines: Tammy Romo resigns as CFO (link).

Featured Jobs:

Field Operations Manager at Treehouse in Chicago, IL USA (link).

Master Technician at Verne in San Francisco, 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:

Skyryse unveils new SkyOS cockpit, to work with any aircraft (link).

Ferrari's upcoming EV spotted with fake exhaust tips, generated ‘engine’ sounds (link).

Kid's scooter parking stand (link).

Riding along in a Zoox toaster in Las Vegas (link).

Hyundai launches $18,000 EV in Japan (link).

Garmin launches radar for 2-wheeled applications (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Ford's patent application shows vehicle feedback collection via voice in cabin (link).

Apple's patent application shows voice-enabled final positioning of AV (link). 'Park over there' commands, etc.

Statistics / Projections:

Japan EV sales fall 33% in 2024, first decline in four years (link). Via Nikkei.

About 75% of US new-vehicle buyers surveyed said they were highly satisfied with their overall shopping experience, the highest in the study’s history (link). Via Automotive News / Cox Automotive.

1 Chinese Yuan rise (equavalent to $.14 USD) in gasoline prices correlates with a 4.67% rise in EV sales, saves 1.97 million tons/year of CO2 (link). Via Science Direct / Energy Economics.

About 45% of EV purchases in the third quarter of 2024 were leases, compared with 24% for the industry as a whole (link). Via WSJ / Experian.

Thank you:

Thank you to Pete Bigelow (link), Stonly Blue (link), Jamie Gull (link), William Morgan (link) and Selika Talbott (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

May Mobility (link), Skyryse (link), Treehouse (link), Verne (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

The end is nothing; the road is all (WSC),

Reilly Brennan