Trucks | FoT: Lucid, Painter's ADS, Miru

FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

US reportedly moves to limit Chinese software inside vehicles sold within US (link). First it was full vehicle tariff increases, up next is what a friend in Washington says is an effort to track and block the 'blood and guts' of smart vehicles from China. As cars become a locus for software and automation, we are headed toward vehicle purity tests. 'The restrictions, which would be enforced by the Commerce Department, are meant to keep Chinese companies from collecting data on US drivers and sending it back to China. The rules would also effectively keep Chinese suppliers from establishing a bigger foothold in the US, giving the American auto industry time to build its own supply chain for connected vehicles.'

What triggers buyers into purchasing more advanced ADAS (and eventually full AV) features? It starts with the frequent use of adaptive cruise control, or ACC (link). 'Those who currently use ACC would be willing to pay more for automated vehicles.'

After updates, widespread Kia/Hyundai car thefts drop by 50% (link).

Unpacking Cruise's new safety plan (link).

How China won in batteries: chemistry classes and research labs (link). Via Diego. 'A majority of undergraduates in China major in math, science, engineering or agriculture...and three-quarters of China’s doctoral students do so. By comparison, only 1/5 of American undergraduates and half of doctoral students are in these categories.'

Ford Mustang Mach-E breaks Guinness World Record after 569 mile-trip on a single charge (link). Via Clara. 'Mach-E averaged 6.25 miles per kWh on public urban and rural roads in the UK.'

As AVs grow on China's roads, the country's 7 million ride hailing drivers anticipate a loss of revenue (link).

Video: F1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr at the go-kart track (link). Video: Inside the most expensive motorhome in the world (link). Video: understanding car aerodynamics through just 1 image (link). Video: police officers in SF turn to drones to stop car thieves (link). Video: disguising at high-top van with a faux lumber pile (link, link). Via TO. Video: the 'hypercasket' for the true Tesla fan (link), now with self-burying (link). Audio: Alex Roy on the Bloomberg Hot Pursuit podcast (link). Video: ultimate land yacht drift (link).

Shenzhen is using main rail lines to transport parcels, then moving them into small AV delivery vehicles to distribute them; thread provides some video and context (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Lucid Motors raises $1.5B in stock offering (link). Via RJ. Led by Saudi Arabia's PIF.

Autonomy Data Services, or ADS, launches as a spin-out of sorts from Autonomy, the car subscription service (link). 'The company will provide a software platform and data to automakers who want to operate their own subscription services for electric, gas, new, or even used cars.' In 3 billion years when our sun's hydrogen supply runs out and the earth goes blank, I'm confident that Scott Painter will still be here, raising money for a new vehicle retail finance startup.

Ghosn: Nissan-Honda-Mitsubishi deal a ‘disguised takeover' by Honda (link).

Canadian smart window startup Miru raises $20M (link). Led by BDC Capital and Angelo Paletta.

Auto warranty startup Fair Warranty raises $1.5M (link). Led by Redbud.

Germany car technician startup DC Connected raises $2.1M (link). Led by Venpace.

Texas transportation infrastructure firm Iteris acquired by Italy's Almaviva for $335M (link).

Conversational AI startup Amelia acquired by voice data firm Soundhound for $80M (link).

Utah vehicle software startup Carketa raises $4.4M (link). Led by Capital Eleven.

Texas auto warranty startup Chaiz raises $3.7M (link). Led by Resilience.

Board & Executive Changes:

Samsara: Alyssa Henry joins board (link).

Johnson Controls: George Oliver to retire as CEO, continue as Chairperson; Patrick Decker joins board (link).

Featured Jobs:

Power Electronics Engineer at Auriga Space in Garden Grove, CA USA (link).

Vehicle Dynamics Manager at River in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (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:

Waymo expands San Francisco area coverage to include portions of neighboring towns such as Daly City and Colma (link). Via JFR.

Chargepoint's new 'Omni Port' 'automatically installs an adapter (or excludes one) to the tip of the connector when you’re ready to charge, which means Tesla owners won’t need to bring out their adapter' (link).

Rain's helicopters are designed to fly into wildfires, drop water buckets, and return -- all without a pilot (link).

Los Angeles plans 'no car games' for its 2028 Olympic year (link).

CargoB opens cargo bike sharing in Boston (link).

Ford partners with ebike maker N+ for new line of bicycles (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Ford's patent application shows modular vehicle HMI (link).

Statistics / Projections:

EV chargers often over-estimate their uptime status, by roughly 10% (link, link to report). Via ChargerHelp's 2024 EV charger reliability report.

Rail ridership in the US rises: Amtrak served 24.1 million riders since the beginning of its fiscal year in October, up 18% from a year earlier (link). Via WSJ / Amtrak.

With regional differences highlighted, 49% of surveyed US car dealers say they aren't enthusiastic about selling EVs (link). Via CDK Global.

China's sales of EVs, hybrids surpass conventional cars in July, marking the first time ever (link). 'Sales of EVs and hybrids rose 37% from a year earlier to 878,000 units in July, while that of conventional cars dropped 26% to 840,000 units, the CPCA said.'

Thank you:

Thank you to Josh Berg (link), Julia Grinshpun (link), Nicole Martinez (link) and Rudi Pica (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), ChargerHelp (link), River (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

See you next week,

Reilly Brennan