Trucks | FoT: Horse, Smiths, Wayve

Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2025.10.20
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

Uber moves to give its drivers 'digital tasks' when they're not driving in order to earn more (link). The point of view on Uber's human drivers was historically that they were the company's 'front of house,' for tasks like turning the steering wheel and providing network capacity (aka vehicles). This pulls the driver pool into ‘back of house’ tasks that Uber needs for its data pipeline. Uber insists this isn’t just about preparing for driver displacement by AVs, though the subtext is there - in my view.

Tesla brings back ‘Mad Max’ FSD mode that ignores speed limits (link). Voltaire: 'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.'

WSJ's Dan Neil pilots Pivotal BlackFly eVTOL (link). 'What makes the BlackFly disruptively like an automobile isn’t the range (20 minutes) or top speed (55 knots, per FAA rules). It’s the accessibility. By virtue of its human-factors engineering and flight-control automation, the BlackFly can be mastered by almost anyone with a few days’ training, roughly comparable to the requirements for a driver’s license. Nor is age any barrier. The craft’s joystick controller is practically instinctive to game-trained teenagers. The oldest BlackFly-certified pilot is 88.'

Why India and China are the only countries where 'quick commerce' is working at scale (link). Via John F.

How Jefferies found itself at the center of auto parts giant First Brands’ collapse (link). 'In the marketing materials, Jefferies highlighted a financing arrangement for First Brands in which the company sold accounts receivable to financial institutions—but it didn’t spell out that in some of those deals, money flowed through First Brands before it was repaid to the institutions. Jefferies told lenders that these financing arrangements weren’t debt-like.'

Investors wonder if we're at the peak of a European defense start-up ‘hype cycle’ (link). One of the supertrends of 2025 has been the EU's sudden need to 'build the US DoD in under 3 years' -- and the companion funding availability for startups on the continent. There are probably too many, but by definition that is what hype cycles are -- and what these technology waves need. Related: can shotguns, spy planes and lasers protect EU from the next drone incursion? (link).

US-China trade dispute over a little-known Dutch chipmaker could halt car production (link). 'While Nexperia is little known outside the industry, its site says the company has more than 6,000 products qualified for use in automobiles, and shipments of 110 billion of its products annually.'

Spit on, sworn at, and undeterred: what it’s like to own a Tesla Cybertruck (link).

Video: Asianometry's take on America's semiconductor boom (link). Audio: the shift from 12v to 48v in automotive (link). Video: 'Knight Rider race' on a short track approximates the entry into F.L.A.G. (link). Via Ryan M. Video: skating down the escalator, over/under the turnstile, into the elevator (link). Via Jon P.

The Ford 'Truckle' keeps your key fob in your belt (link). Via Weans.

M&A / Deals / Changes:

'Horse' aims to become the world's top engine maker by 2035; joint venture between Renault and Geely (link). 'Betting that legacy carmakers pivoting to EVs will still need suppliers to make combustion engines for them as the energy transition stutters.'

Scottish luxury ridehailing network TBR Global Chauffering acquired by Lyft for $110M (link).

TrueCar to go private in $227M buyout led by former CEO and founder Scott Painter (link). The offer represents a 72% premium over the previous day’s total price.

Logistics startup FleetWorks raises $17M (link). Led by First Round.

In its forthcoming IPO, aviation startup Beta seeks up $825M in fundraising (link).

Ousted founder of Luminar looks to buy back the company (link).

Indian blended-wing drone startup Airbound raises $8.65M (link). Led by Lochy Groom.

Polaris to separate Indian motorcycles as stand-alone brand, majority stake to be owned by PE firm Carolwood (link).

UK AV startup Wayve reportedly in talks with Microsoft and SoftBank for $2B of new financing (link).

UK based Smiths Interconnect acquired by Koch-owned Molex (link).

Among other large changes at Porsche AG last week, Mate Rimac reportedly set to own Bugatti outright with potential buyout offer (link).

DoorDash will use Waymo’s robotaxis for delivery in Phoenix (link). Another layer experiment for Waymo as it figures out how the Taco Bell 7-layer burrito of AVs is made.

Skyryse partners with Dynamic Aviation to deliver fully autonomous aircraft, signs $112M agreement (link). 'Leveraging SkyOS™, its universal operating system for flight, the aviation technology company is set to provide fully autonomous King Air aircraft to the U.S. military.' Skyryse showing its full aviation autonomy capabilities.

Board & Executive Changes:

Cars dot com: Matt Crawford resigns as Chief Product & Innovation Officer (link).

Porsche: Michael Leiters, ex-McLaren CEO, to become CEO (link). Oliver Blume to step down as Porsche CEO, remains Volkswagen Group CEO.

Curated Jobs:

Senior Product Designer at Joby Aviation in San Carlos, CA USA (link).

Senior Electric Motor Engineer at Modal Motors in Farmington Hills, MI 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:

Visualizing ADS-B aviation data (link). Some particular beautiful examples (link).

Kodiak AV tech compared to humans in Nauto safety study (link). 'Based on a scale of one-to-100, the Kodiak Driver, earned a VERA Score of 98, tying for the top spot among the more than 1,000 commercial fleets in Nauto's network. All other commercial fleets in the evaluation were operated by human drivers. By comparison, the average VERA Score for a Nauto-equipped fleet is 78, while fleets not equipped with Nauto's AI safety technology average a VERA Score of 63.'

Waymo announces it will offer its AV service in London in 2026 (link).

Apple confirmed as F1’s new U.S. broadcaster (link).

American startup Vittori unveils $2.5 million v12 hybrid supercar (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Ford's patent application shows onboarding an AV onto a network using a unique flashing light code (link).

Rivian's patent shows a look-ahead drone for better off-road driving visibility (link).

Statistics / Projections:

EVs are depreciating much faster than gas-powered cars (link). Via RoW / KBB. 'For Tesla owners in the U.S., their 2023 Model Ys are worth 42% less than what they paid two years ago, while a Ford F-150 truck bought the same year depreciated just 20%. Older EV models depreciate even faster than newer ones.'

After installing speed cameras, San Francisco data shows 'speeding fell 72% in September compared with the previous year at the 15 camera locations it tracked last month' (link). Via SF Examiner.

Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit are de-orbiting and falling to Earth at the rate of 1 to 2 per day (link). Via Popular Mechanics.

Thank you:

Thank you to Aaron Nathan (link), Diego Rodriguez (link), Alex Roy (link) and Chris Thomas (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

Joby Aviation (link), Nauto (link), Skyryse (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

I would go out tonight but I haven’t got a stitch to wear (The Smiths),

Reilly Brennan