Trucks | FoT: Metropolis, Waymo highways, Harbinger

Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2025.11.17
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

Waymo announces its highway AV service is ready for customers in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles (link). In order for the company to go public, it needs to unlock highways and airports at a national scale. This is a big development and one that came on the earlier part of the estimate (had been anticipated for early 2026).

EVs are so fast, China looks to limit 0-60 performance (link). Acceleration 0 to 100 km/h (0-62 mph) would be limited to 5 seconds or longer.

Toyota plans lifecycle change to 9 years (up from 7), but with more frequent software updates (link). Success-based planning: 'Toyota is experiencing a high volume of orders, resulting in extended delivery times and order suspensions. Its Land Cruiser SUV takes years from order to delivery -- and by the time the vehicle is delivered, the next iteration may already be out. A longer sales cycle will increase opportunities to purchase popular models and also increases the likelihood of selling them used at higher prices, as their value is less likely to depreciate.'

Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite network gets a rebrand as Leo and drops its affordability pitch (link). Via Carlos.

The US didn't get the EV chargers that taxpayers thought they were getting, but EVs have grown regardless (link). 'The program’s real achievement — forcing reliability standards — could have been accomplished through simple federal mandates rather than a $5 billion spending program.'

Unintended consequence of AVs: intentional long route + solo ride = new low-cost hotel room? (link).

The high end of the car market is softening on BEVs (link).

Video: Uber COO Andrew MacDonald in discussion with Bloomberg's Craig Trudell on AVs (link). Video: BezawadaArts is a hand-painted truck painter in India (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Parking platform startup Metropolis Technologies raises $1.6B (link). $500M in equity led by Liontree; $1.1B in debt led by J.P. Morgan.

Teleoperation startup Vay raises $60M strategic round from Grab (link).

EV truck startup Harbinger raises $160M (link). Led by FedEx and Thor Industries.

French ebike refurbishment platform Upway raises $60M (link). Led by A.P. Moller.

Positioning startup Inertial Sense acquired by positioning giant Hexagon (link).

Canadian battery startup Lithion files for creditor protection (link).

SUV startup Ineos cuts several hundred amid US tariff conflicts (link). Ineos always seemed like a valiant effort but without a durable strategy beyond the initial demand, it felt thin beyond ‘let’s hope our benefactor remains committed to this permanently.'

Auto fintech startup Motorefi raises $45M (link). Led by Goldman Sachs.

Swedish AV trucking startup Einride plans to go public through $1.8B SPAC reverse merger (link, link to presentation).

Sensor startup Teradar raises $150M (link). Led by Capricorn Investment Group. 'A solid-state sensor that sees the world using the terahertz band of the electromagnetic spectrum, which sits between microwaves and infrared.'

RV Tech, the joint software venture between Rivian and Volkswagen, considers licensing deals to other automakers (link).

Micromobility startup Rad Power Bikes reportedly on the verge of closing down (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

Motorcar Parts of America: Jack Liebau resigns from board (link).

Waymo: Steve Fieler named CFO (link).

Cox Automotive: Jonathan Smoke named Chief Strategy Officer, replacing Amy Mills who is retiring (link).

Curated Jobs:

Senior Software Engineer at Token Transit, remote (link).

Wireless Network Deployment Engineer at Teleo, remote (link).

Tesla has updated all 'Vehicle Operator' roles to 'AI Safety Operator' roles across all 11 cities (link).

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

Hunting? View all 384 postings on the MobilityJobs job board (link).

New Stuff:

Converting old VanMoof electric bikes to pedal power (link). Like the Bob Lutz Destino project for bikes.

Waymo previews its sixth-generation AV robotaxi using Hyundai's Ioniq 5 (link).

Joby tests its turbine-electric hybrid powertrain (link).

As India's Ola Electric plans a small car, the crowds say 'fix your scooter first' (link).

China cracks down on exports of used cars that are actually new (link). 'Companies that want to export cars that have been registered for fewer than 180 days need to show proof that they can provide after-sales services at their destination and have the approval of the vehicle’s manufacturer.'

Tesla reportedly looks to add Apple CarPlay functionality to its cars to boost sales (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

GM's patent application for an ADAS gaze-tracking timer (link).

Statistics / Projections:

Ridehailing's impact on car ownership in the US? Negligible (link). Via Glenn Mercer / The American Community Survey from the Census Bureau.

Thank you:

Thank you to Sam Baker (link), Sebastiaan Quint (link), Stef Roefs (link) and Flavio Vogel (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), Teleo (link), Token Transit (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it's unbelievable (R. Dahl),

Reilly Brennan