Trucks | FoT: Toyota/Pony, Saab, CPUC again

FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital.

Notable:

EPA's auto regs: too much or not enough, depending on who you are (link). 'The council has calculated that carbon dioxide pollution from passenger vehicles would have to drop to 57 grams per mile by 2030 to reach the Paris goals. The EPA’s preferred regulation would cut those emissions to 102 grams per mile by 2030 and to 82 by 2032.'

EV range is highly weather dependent, with some models more truthful than others (link). Via Meg. 'We found that cold weather saps about 25% of range when cruising at 70 mph compared with the same conditions in mild weather...Tesla stands out for coming up short of claimed range no matter the weather.' Related: Recurrent discusses Tesla range in its recent post (link).

Heavy equipment maker JCB's Bamford: We’re too mesmerized by Musk — here’s why I’m building a hydrogen JCB (link). 'Our machines in India are running for 5,000 hours a year on average. There’s only 8,000 hours in a year, so they’re working more than half of the time. That means they cannot be sitting idle while batteries recharge.'

A new standard for vehicle event data recorders, ratified in late June 2023 by IEEE, updates the 'what happened' and 'why it happened' framework for black boxes (link). Via John G.

California's Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will (likely) host its delayed vote on Thursday of this coming week to define how and when AVs can operate, effectively setting the market size of robotaxis in California (link to PDF schedule). This is the most significant (rescheduled) regulatory moment for autonomous vehicles in the US over the last/next 3 years. Related: America’s most tech-forward city has doubts about AVs (link).

Deep interview with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (link). Notable here is when the journalist, Steven Levy, asks the executive to guess the price of his 2.95-mile commute to the interview. The CEO's answer of $20 was off by a large margin (actual cost: $50), to which the Khosrowshahi exclaims: 'Oh my God. Wow.'

Where does all your vehicle data go? California agency zeroes in on ambiguous privacy policies from auto companies (link). Vehicle data was once said to be the new oil, but maybe it is the new radioactive fuel rod.

Former NHTSA senior safety advisor Missy Cummings's 5 practical conclusions for vehicle regulation in the era of AI (link). '1. Human errors in operation get replaced by human errors in coding; 2. AI failure modes are hard to predict; 3. Probabilistic estimates do not approximate judgment under uncertainty; 4. Maintaining AI is just as important as creating AI; 5. AI has system-level implications that can’t be ignored.'

Why a new mapping project by Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon is disruptive to Google (link).

Video: railroad-mounted office (link). Video: Evgeny Chebotarev's very unsafe 'throughing' videos (link). Via JR. Video: Chris Harris drives Hoonigan's Subaru Huckster (link). Video: replacing a tire and wheel on an Airbus A321 (link). Video: archival Porsche 993 promotional video (link). Via KL.

Mexican cartels fight the drug war with 'monster trucks' (link). 'Modifying their pickups with gun turrets, steel armoring and battering rams.'

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Toyota, Pony.ai and GAC-Toyota plan new joint venture with $140M funding to produce robotaxis in China (link).

EV charging management startup Ampcontrol raises $10M (link). Led by Westly Group.

Nikola names former GM board member Stephen Girsky as CEO (link). Having Girsky in charge is Nikola's best chance of getting back on track.

Phoenix trucking aerodynamics company Truck Labs raises undisclosed Series B (link). Led by Blue Bear Capital.

Lyft's bike-sharing business is reportedly up for sale (link).

Uber makes first operating profit after racking up $31.5B of losses (link).

Board Changes:

Rivian: former Waymo CEO John Krafcik joins board (link). Fast forward 12 months: is Krafcik also on the executive team?

Deere & Company: Neil Hunn joins board (link).

Faraday Future: Lev Peker joins board (link).

New Stuff:

Detroit City Council approved a $2.5 million contract with May Mobility to provide free autonomous rides for people 65 and older and those living with disabilities (link).

Fisker shows off a portfolio of future EV products (link).

Automakers face a labor showdown as the EV era looms (link). 'The U.A.W. presented the automakers with a list of demands, including a 40% wage increase — premised on the compensation gains that the union says the companies’ chief executives have made over the four years since the last contract talks.'

Waymo looks to Austin as its next robotaxi deployment city (link).

Swedish OEM Saab reportedly set for comeback with new Swedish-built EV (link).

Taiwan breaks ground on self-driving car testing facility (link). 'When finished, it will provide testing and identification services for products such as smart vehicles, automotive electronic systems, and sensor systems under different weather conditions, such as rain or fog, or during the sunrise or sunset or at night.'

Las Vegas approves 68 miles of Boring Co's underground transportation tunnels (link).

Automated Bus Consortium to update RFP to procure full-size highly automated transit buses (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Mazda's patent application shows hot-swappable, hand-carryable battery modules for a new form of hybrid Miata sports car (link, link to article about the patent).

Featured Jobs:

Product Marketing Manager (Remote) at Denim (link).

Charging Infrastructure Engineer at BasiGo in Kigali, Kigali, Rwanda (link).

MobilityJobs is the No.1 job board for auto & transportation companies (link).

Statistics / Projections:

US new vehicle incentives averaged $2,151 per vehicle last month compared with $1,174 in July 2022 (link). Via Automotive News / Motor Intelligence. 'EV startup Lucid Motors led the way with $12,907 [of incentives] on the Air sedan.'

US intercity bus travel is back to 80% to 85% of pre-pandemic levels, suggesting it is bouncing back at the same rate as airlines and Amtrak, as opposed to intracity public transit which is still down by 1/2 in some US cities (link). Via Metro Magazine.

Reducing the speed limit to 20 mph in Edinburgh, Scotland cut road deaths by 1/4 (link). Via NIHR / Edinburgh University.

Thank you:

Thank you to Henry Choi (link), Gabriel Scheer (link) and Jason Townsend (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

BasiGo (link), Denim (link), May Mobility (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

See you next week,

Reilly Brennan