Trucks | FoT: US Kei Cars, Ultraviolette, Autolane

Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2025.12.08
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

NHTSA will lower CAFE targets from 50.4 mpg to 34.5 mpg by 2031 (link). Wells Fargo's Colin Langan: 'At the start of the year, automakers faced regs from CARB, EPA & NHTSA. By the end of the year, it's likely only NHTSA will be left.'

In one of the more unexpected vehicle regulation twists, Trump talks about legalizing small Japanese kei cars for US sales (link to video, link). If this happens, what becomes of Slate's product plan? Having $15k Honda pickups in the US will be a fascinating competitive set.

NYT opinion: early AV safety data is too striking to ignore (link). David Zipper in response to author: 'In your op-ed, you wrote that expanding AVs is "a public health imperative." Would you say the same about bike lanes? Automatic traffic cameras? Speed humps? Because interventions like those have been proven to reduce crashes (with data collected and validated by unaffiliated researchers, unlike Waymo's). And the cost of pursuing them is far, far cheaper than adopting fleets of AVs' (link).

Are connected vehicle assumptions a bit optimistic? (link). Sample numbers from the report: 80% connected vehicle penetration by 2030, >50% take rates in premium segments, $100-$1000 / vehicle / year average revenue.

Pop-up in-vehicle ads: Will other carmakers follow Stellantis down this seductive, brand-eroding path? (link). Via Diego.

Tesla struggles to course correct from sales skid (link). Joe White from his newsletter (link): 'Tesla was once the pioneering Model T-era Ford of electric vehicles. Suddenly it looks like the 1980s General Motors of EVs - dominant, but steadily losing market share as its products stagnate.'

In upcoming Grand Theft Auto video game, 'KnoWay' AVs cause havoc (link).

Porsche is adding fake gear shifts to its EVs (link). Nearly 7 years ago, Alex Roy called this (link).

One man is fighting for our right to control our garage door openers (link). Via Weans. Link to product page (link). From the chat: 'We need 10,000 people like this guy to fix our enshittified world.'

Video: Copenhagen's bicycling chef + kitchen (link). Video: CityBikeBoyz ride Westfield Mall (link). Video: double road gap motorcycle jumping in the burbs (link). Video: Waymo drives into police standoff (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

German data startup Quality Match acquired by UK AV startup Wayve (link).

Indian EV two wheeler startup Ultraviolette raises $45M (link). Led by Zoho and Lingotto.

Reuters publishes, then retracts, its stories about Chinese AV startup Momenta filing for IPO on Hong Kong exchange (link).

Trucking compliance startup Haul acquired by Fleetworthy (link).

AV coordination startup Autolane raises $7.4M (link). Led by Draper Associates and Hyperplane.

Board & Executive Changes:

Boeing: Bradley Tilden joins board (link).

Deere & Co: Brian Sikes joins board (link).

Aptiv: Hakan Agnevall joins board (link).

Harley-Davidson: Jonathan Root promoted to Chief Commercial Officer, continues as company CFO / Jagdish Krishnan; Luke Mansfield to depart as Chief Digital & Ops Officer and Chief Commercial Officer (link).

Curated Jobs:

Director/Sr. Manager, Customer Experience at Gatik in Mountain View, CA, USA (link).

Editor in Chief at Ride AI & Alephic Media properties (link).

Senior Software Engineer, Full Stack at Edge Case Research in Pittsburgh, PA, USA (link).

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

Hunting? View all 366 postings on the MobilityJobs job board (link).

New Stuff:

Tesla on the verge of rolling out eyes-off ADAS? (link). Probably not.

Porsche will sell some of its iconic seat fabrics as textiles (link).

Waymo to issue software recall over how robotaxis behave around school buses (link).

BYD's engine flexes between ethanol, gasoline, and electricity (link).

Moondream AI demo parsing parking sign instructions (link).

A Chinese AV run by Hello (formerly Hellobike) using Baidu software struck two pedestrians, one trapped under car (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Ford's patent application shows a dual-mode, dual-angle display (link). Conceivably to have unique display outputs for passengers in different locations in a vehicle.

Statistics / Projections:

Toyota, Subaru, Lexus and Honda took the top four spots in Consumer Reports' annual brand reliability rankings (link). Via Detroit News / Consumer Reports.

44% of US trucking schools don’t comply with government rules (link). Via AP / US DoT.

Thank you:

Thank you to Mamatha Chamarthi (link), John Rossant (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:

Edge Case Research (link), Gatik (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

When you come right down to it, how many people speak the same language even when they speak the same language? (R. Hoban)

Reilly Brennan