Trucks | FoT: NHTSA on Tesla, A2RL, Lotus Ring

FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

US NHTSA finds Tesla Autopilot has a critical safety gap linked to hundreds of collisions (link, link to NHTSA PDF). It's possible that Level 4 becomes ubiquitous in our lifetime while Levels 2 and 3 become illegal. View UVA's Noah Goodall's thread on the NHTSA release here (link).

Volvo's upcoming cheap EV for the US undercuts Tesla Model Y by $8,000 (link). 'The competitive price reflects an unusual combination of Geely's China-specific cost advantages and Volvo's ability to skirt U.S. tariffs on Chinese cars because it also has U.S. manufacturing operations.' Said an FoT reader and former Big 3 exec: 'loopholes only last a few years, but use them if you have them.'

Mexico is reviving a 100-yr old rail line between the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific, hoping it can one day rival the Panama Canal (link).

A deeper look at Apple CarPlay after the fall of the Apple Car (link).

Behind the numbers of Hertz's departure from its big EV bet (link). 'Hertz said its monthly depreciation costs soared to $592 per vehicle, an unusually high amount in the rental business. Part of that is because used-vehicle prices rose so much in the comparable period last year when the company made money on some sales. Hertz said the $119 of the monthly per vehicle depreciation was related to the additional EVs that are held for sale...[the company] is now trying to sell 30,000 EVs by the end of the year.'

BYD's ultimate goal: energy ecosystem giant (link). 'Analysts say that one of Wang’s most important achievements came in 2022 when BYD cracked “cell-to-body”, or “cell-to-chassis”, technology. This fuses together the battery cell with a vehicle body and can be applied not only to cars, but to buses, trucks and other commercial vehicles.'

Why are American cars so big? The policies behind our mega big gulp luxo-barges (link).

Broken and unreliable chargers are the big opportunity for LA's ChargerHelp (link). 'EV charger field technicians earn $20 to $60 an hour, concentrated in the $35 to $40 range. Certified electricians make even more. So far, ChargerHelp has trained 1,000 workers and recently began a program to train the trainers for other companies and workforce development organizations.'

2024 Perception Industry Market Map (link). Via Tangram.

Video: Xiaomi's remarkable accessories that add to its SU7 interior experience (link). Video: Marshall Manuel's 'coffin' ride and more on SF hills in deepfried (link). Video: Lotus Evija X record-setting (for BEVs) Ring lap (link). via Damon L and Chris H. The sounds and speed in that video feel frightening the whole time. Video: O'Reilly Auto Parts DJ remix (link). Via SVIV. Video: Xiaomi and BYD execs are celebrities in China now (link). Video: the art of Pepita, the fabric that become a Porsche interior classic (link). Video: Waymo traveling on wrong side of road in SF (link). It's interesting how the one-wheelers are trying to coax it back into the right lane. Audio: Bedrock Materials's Spencer Gore discussing sodium-ion batteries on the Battery Technology podcast (link). Video: running up the 33-degree banking at Talladega (link). Via Rudi. Video: Wendy's is using AI to automate their drive thrus (link). Video: the first Zeekr vehicles used for Waymo's fleet arrive in San Francisco (link).

The first Autonomous Racing League race was a struggle (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Vinfast founder reiterates commitment with an additional $1B of funding (link). Related: what's going on with Vinfast? (link).

Satellite imaging company Iceye raises $93 million (link). Led by Solidium Oy.

Valeo establishes a new power division, merging its thermal and powertrain activities (link).

CNH names Gerrit Marx as CEO (link).

Gatik names Philip Reinckens at SVP of Commercialization and Operations (link).

Board Changes:

DoorDash: Jeffrey Blackburn joins board (link).

Arrow Electronics: Fabian Garcia to leave board (link).

Spirit Airlines: Dawn Zier to leave board (link).

New Stuff:

May Mobility announces new AV service in Detroit for seniors and people with disabilities (link).

Japan's Turing plans to 'overtake Tesla' by 2025 (link). Via Rohit.

FDNY makes first ever criminal arrest of e-bike shop owner for unsafe storage of batteries (link).

Lawsuits test Tesla claim that drivers are solely responsible for crashes (link).

Preview of Tesla's ridehailing app (link).

A wrestling match forms over who should control robotaxis is playing out in California (link).

​​​​​​​Aurora trucks without drivers reach highway speeds on test track (link). 'Testing reached 75 mph at a facility in Ohio.'

Absent government improvments, urban safety often takes a DIY approach (link). Via Rasheq Z.

CATL's new LFP battery pack: 372 miles from 10-min charge (link).

Construction on America's first high-speed rail has begun between LA and Las Vegas (link).

Amazon ends drone program in California, plans to start deliveries in Arizona later this year (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Google's patent application shows scouting objectives for vehicles to improve its mapping data (link).

Ford's patent application for an aggregated common package over-the-air broadcast (link).

Featured Jobs:

Data Scientist at Stable Auto, remote (link).

FPGA Engineer at Quadric in Burlingame, 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.

Statistics / Projections:

Auto insurance costs were up 22.2% last month over the same period from last year, the biggest increase since the 1970s. (link). Via Reuters / CPI.

Where people are using Waymos in San Francisco, visualized (link). Via SF Chronicle.

The world’s electric car fleet continues to grow strongly, with 2024 sales set to reach 17 million (link). Via IEA.

Consumer Reports ranks the least expensive car brands to own over 10 years of maintenance: Tesla, Buick, Toyota, Lincoln, Ford (link). 'CR found 10-year maintenance costs as low as $4,035 (Tesla) and as high as $19,250 (Land Rover).'

More US car buyers are aware of Chinese brands (link). Via Automotive News / AlixPartners. '58% of buyers in the U.S. who were very or moderately likely to make an EV their next vehicle purchase were aware of Chinese brands such as BYD, Leapmotor, Nio and Hozon. That share jumped to 76% for those buyers ages 18 to 25 and 73% for those 25 to 35.'

Thank you:

Thank you to Menno Axt (link), Lauren DeLuca (link), Hetav Muni (link), Sunil Nagaraj (link), Henrique Oliveira (link), and Damien Scott (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

ChargerHelp (link), Gatik (link), May Mobility (link), Quadric (link), Stable Auto (link), Tangram Vision (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

See you next week,

Reilly Brennan