Trucks | FoT: Point One, Zoox, CVC survey

Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2025.11.24
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

Do you work at a CVC? Last week I opened up my 2025 sentiment survey for transportation CVC and M&A teams. So far over 100 have responded and we have some great data to share in the coming month. If you make investments at a corporate and haven't yet taken the survey, respond to this email and I'll send you the link.

Europe banned new gas cars after 2035 — now it’s reconsidering (link). 'At their October summit, European leaders called on the Commission, the bloc’s executive body, to reopen the ICE car ban and present proposals by the end of the year to slow Europe’s once brisk march to a carbon-free future.'

Sim racing to be counted toward testing requirements for Nurburgring Nordschleife driving license (link). Via Adam H. Perhaps one of the clearest signals yet that driver training will (should?) have a parallel virtual path, whether in motorsports or normal driving.

Forecasting labor impacts of AVs in China (link). 'The scenario that could threaten the jobs of more than 7.5M drivers working for ride-hailing services — mostly DiDi, China’s version of Uber — as well as millions more driving scooters, vans and trucks as part of the country’s massive ecommerce and logistics sector. According to Caixin, a Chinese business news service, delivery drivers from just two companies, Meituan and Ele me, totalled more than 11M. Many such people are internal migrant workers who lack the same job and social security as white collar and state sector workers.'

How Nigeria’s lead crisis feeds the world’s car batteries (link). Via Carlos J. 'As the United States tightened regulations on lead processing to protect Americans over the past three decades, finding domestic lead became a challenge. So the auto industry looked overseas to supplement its supply. In doing so, car and battery manufacturers pushed the health consequences of lead recycling onto countries where enforcement is lax, testing is rare and workers are desperate for jobs.'

Amazon's Zoox opens up SF AV rides to members of the public (link). For a demand kick-start, what if your Prime membership includes one free Zoox ride per month?

Why your speedometer is lying to you (link). 'In most of the world, vehicle speedometers are legally required to never display a speed that is lower than your actual speed.'

Video: Drifting wheelchair (link). Via Weans. Video: Horace Dediu returns to the Micromobility podcast (link). Video: miniature city scene (link). Via Jeff H. Video: why we shouldn't tear down old factories (link). Video: finally, the Grumman LLV appears to be headed toward the end of its life (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Navigation and positioning startup Point One Navigation raises $35M (link). Led by Khosla.

German EV charging startup Pionix raises $8M (link). Led by Ascend Capital Partners.

Aluminum sorting startup Sortera raises $45M; $20M in equity and $25M in debt (link). Led by VXI Capital.

JPMorgan shuts down mobility payment platform it purchased from Volkswagen, named VW Pay at the time (link).

Uber partners with Starship for sidewalk robot deliveries in Europe (link).

Volvo terminates its deal with LiDAR maker Luminar (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

GM: Burak Turovsky departs as Chief AI Officer (link).

Allstate: Gregg Sherrill, Richard Hume retire from board (link).

Eaton Corp: Olivier Leonetti to depart as CFO (link).

Sirius XM: Zachary Coughlin named CFO (link).

Curated Jobs:

Technical Product Manager at Edge Case Research, remote (link).

Business Development – Defense & Space (All Levels) at Auriga Space (link).

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

Hunting? View all 370 postings on the MobilityJobs job board (link).

New Stuff:

Ford will offer pre-owned cars through Amazon Autos (link).

Emily Sneddon's Fran Sans type mimics SF's Muni train displays (link). Via Ed A.

Waymo announces upcoming AV service in Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando (link).

Kathleen Ryan’s engines as peach pit sculpture (link). Via Weans.

Tesla receives ride-hailing permit in Arizona for upcoming robotaxi service (link).

Einride sues Maersk over U.S. rollout of EV trucks (link).

Joby lawsuit accuses VTOL rival Archer of using stolen information to ‘one-up’ deal (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Ford's patent application shows user-configurable mini truck (link). A Dearborn Slate?

Statistics / Projections:

Slower EV adoption translates into slower EV charging infrastructure forecast (link). Via S&P Global. 'We expect the number of annual EV charging station installations throughout this decade—especially in the public/semi-public domain—to be 8-10% lower than the 2024 forecast.'

Nearly all major memory chipmakers are running at or near full capacity, with 2026 production slots almost 'sold out' due to AI demand (link). Via Nikkei.

Thank you:

Thank you to Vanessa Trinh Keeling (link), Amy Maguire (link) and Alex Roy (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), Edge Case Research (link), Joby Aviation (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

Everybody in Casablanca has problems; yours may work out (Bogart),

Reilly Brennan