Trucks | FoT: Waymo, one piece aluminum, AAM

Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2025.12.22
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

China's BYD debuts one-piece cast aluminum vehicle frame, a world first (link). 'Hantek overcame multiple technical challenges in low-pressure casting ultra-large, thin-walled structures, including controlling molten-metal filling and achieving gradient solidification across varying thickness sections. The result is a single, integrated aluminum frame that replaces traditional multi-part assemblies.'

Waymo suffers SF-wide network shutdown after power goes out in parts of the city (link). 'The company shut down its operation at around 8 p.m. because the cars were unable to operate without traffic signals. Residents shared footage of the Waymo vehicles parked with their hazards flashing.' Video of North Beach neighborhood traffic slowdown (link).

How young data journalists exposed Russian drones using shipping data (link). Via Diego.

Rivian's AI pivot is about more than chasing Tesla (link). 'Rivian is not fully committed to following Musk’s ceaseless, clout-chasing pursuit of robotaxis and humanoid robots — though Scaringe admits that both remain a possibility. The company spun off its own robotics division as Mind Robotics earlier this year, after all.'

Ford charts pivot away from BEVs into EREVs and energy storage (link).

California lays down the law on loose ADAS marketing language (link). 'The Department of Motor Vehicles gives Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company 60 days to change how it markets its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features or face a 30-day sales ban.'

With support from Trucks portfolio companies Joby Aviation and Skyryse, US DoT launches a national Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) strategy and 40-step action plan (link, link to PDF).

The heartland of lead recycling, Ogijo, Nigeria, stands up to the auto supply chain (link).

On Tesla's 'Mad Max' mode and the new customized settings for riding in ADAS and AV equipped vehicles (link). 'Mad Max mode is starkly different from other FSD settings like “Sloth” and “Chill.” Teslas using it will roll through stop signs and blast past other vehicles on the road. One driver posted a YouTube video showing his Mad Max-enabled Tesla hitting 82 mph while whizzing by a 65 mph speed limit sign. A social media user wryly suggested that Mad Max should just immediately write you a ticket when you turn it on.'

Video: Waymo's Vincent Vanhoucke on the Google Deepmind podcast (link). Video: building a power-over-ethernet driveway gate (link). Video: Looking inside a longtime Boeing engineer's toolbox (link). Video: Outofspec rides Rivian's Also bike (link). Video: Bloom's Chris Nolte on what's quiety changing for drones (link). Video: year end wrap up discussion with Joe White, Tu Le, Paul Lienert and Steve Levine (link). Video: gate-shifting bicycle (link). Video: Can a modified mega-pack Rivian beat the Cannonball EV record? (link). Via Patrick H.

Obituary for bicycle industry veteran Tom Franges (link). A wonderful tribute by Ted Costantino. Via Nick P.

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Trucking insurance startup Nirvana raises $100M (link). Led by Valor Equity Partners.

New York micromobility battery swapping startup Popwheels raises $4.7M (link).

Transportation planning startup Downtowner acquired by Via (link).

Rad Power's hurdle: $73M in debt, $32M in assets (link).

California AV startup Hypr raises $5.5M (link). Founded by Zoox cofounder Tim Kentley-Klay.

Waymo reportedly raising 11 figures at 12-figure valuation (link). I had also heard a bigger number on the raise earlier in the fall. However it works out, this will mean Waymo will likely be the third most valuable automotive company in the world, behind only Toyota and Tesla.

Joby and Metropolis announce partnership to develop 25 vertiports across the U.S. (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

SAFE: Avery Ash becomes CEO; founder Robbie Diamond moves into Executive Chairman role (link).

Qualcomm: Neil Smit to retire from board (link).

Delta Air Lines: Glen Hauenstein retires as President; Joe Esposito promoted to Chief Commercial Officer (link).

Ingersoll Rand: Jerome Guillen joins board (link).

Ryder System: Tammy Romo joins board; succeeds Abbie Smith (link).

Rivian Automotive: Rose Marcario resigns from board (link).

Cars dot com: Tobi Hartmann named CEO, joins board; succeeds Alex Vetter (link).

GM's new exec Sterling Anderson reportedly an option for company’s next CEO (link). Mary Barra's 13th year as company CEO begins in January. 'Anderson's ascension to the top job is not a done deal, and he faces challenges including rebuilding the vehicle software group and driving down costs of GM's electric vehicles.'

Curated Jobs:

Lead Project Manager at May Mobility, remote (link).

Backend Engineer at Ottometric in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (link).

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

Hunting? View all 320 postings on the MobilityJobs job board (link).

New Stuff:

If off-road supercars become a larger market than on-road supercars, Jamal Hameedi wants to be the next generation Ferrari (link). Via Ryan.

China's Chery plans to enter 24 Hours of Le Mans race within next five years (link).

Map of global contrail patterns (link). 'The CO2 emitted by aircraft only causes about half the climate impact of aviation. The other half comes from contrails— artificial clouds that are created by soot in the engine exhaust.'

California on the verge of AV trucking acceptance (link). Via Miguel. 'California may be close to allowing driverless trucks over 10,001 pounds onto its roadways, a former FMCSA administrator told Trucking Dive. The state’s department of motor vehicles is closing a 15-day public comment period on revised rule changes for testing and deploying autonomous vehicles.'

Kia and Hyundai will spend millions fixing old cars to stop ‘Kia Boyz’ thefts (link). 'The settlement with 35 states includes free installation of a metal sleeve around the ignition cylinder to prevent theft.' Kia Boyz documentary from 2022 (link).

A reporter's tour of China's experiments with flying cars and swappable batteries (link).

UK drivers wrongly fined by speed cameras to be refunded after technical fault (link). 'The defect caused cameras to be mistakenly activated by motorists after the speed limit had already been raised on certain motorways and A roads.'

Patents & Patent Applications:

Rivian's patent for various off-road trail camera viewing angles (link).

Waymo's patent application shows different ambient lighting for signaling for pickup, particularly in delivery (link). Starting to see more patents for Waymo related to goods delivery.

Statistics / Projections:

U.S. EV sales are estimated to fall by 2.1% in 2025 from 2024's numbers (link). Via Inside EVs / Cox Automotive.

Destination charges rising: 'Within the past year, the Detroit automakers have increased the destination charge across their pickup lineups for GMC, Chevrolet, Ford and Ram brands, from $1,995 in the past to $2,595 for 2026 models' (link). Via USA Today.

Europe battery industry capacity to reach 1.2TWh by 2030 (link). Via EVIN / New AutoMotive.

Thank you:

Thank you to John Casesa (link), Peter Gao (link) and Todd Graetz (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), May Mobility (link), Ottometric (link), Skyryse (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

Ho ho ho,

Reilly Brennan