Trucks | FoT: WeRide, Tive, Kodiak

FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

Automakers brace for impact of looming Mexico and Canada tariffs (link). 'About $150 billion worth of vehicles move annually from Canada and Mexico across the border into the United States. Vehicles sometimes go back and forth between the United States and Canada several times in the course of manufacturing.'

Uber denies implementing phone model-based pricing in India (link). 'Uber said it does not set ride prices based on a user's phone model, shortly after an Indian government body alleged that the ride-hailing giant and its domestic rival Ola use differential pricing for Android and Apple phones.'

US NHTSA upgrades probe into 129,000 Ford vehicles over BlueCruise ADAS system (link). 'Specifically, due to the potential for false detection of stationary objects at long distances, Ford designed Adaptive Cruise Control to inhibit any response to reported stationary objects when the subject vehicle’s approach speed is at or above 62 mph.'

Despite new US rules around Chinese connected and automated products, Waymo says its Chinese-made Zeekr is a go (link). In my view those Hyundai models can’t come online soon enough.

WeRide's global AV aspirations (link). Market cap about 1/10 Waymo's valuation, but already in 9 countries and 30 cities. 'Like many of its peers, WeRide has been burning cash. Its net loss in the first three quarters of 2024 widened 20% to 1.92 billion yuan ($265M USD) compared with the same period a year earlier, while its top line fell 14% to 220.3 million yuan ($30M USD).'

Trump's executive orders end (his idea of an) EV 'mandate' (link).

Subaru's security whoops: access to millions of cars and their location (link). Via Johnny. 'Now-fixed web bugs allowed hackers to remotely unlock and start any of millions of Subarus. More disturbingly, they could also access at least a year of cars’ location histories—and Subaru employees still can.'

Ford's Jim Farley wants the brand to be the 'Porsche of off-roading' (link). 'Off-roaders accounted for 20% of Ford's global sales in 2024.'

Video: rogue curb painters in SF aid (or confuse) California's new daylighting laws (link). Video: the designs of narco submarines (link). Commenter: 'Net zero emissions is even a goal for narcos.' Video: riding over a destroyed bridge in Peru (link). Via Diego. Video: wingsuiter flies through bridge uprights (link). Video: 'I built an omni-directional ball-wheeled bicycle' (link). Video: 1000 frames per second view of the F22 Raptor (link). Video: Is the next Lucid SUV an amazing sports car trapped inside a minivan? (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Used retail financing app AutoAcquire raises seed round (link).

Sonic wave battery startup Sonocharge Energy raises $23.5M (link). Led by Cycle Capital.

Asset tracking logistics startup Tive raises $40M (link). Led by WiL (World Innovation Lab) and Sageview Capital.

German battery startup Alteva raises $1.8M (link). Led by HTGF.

Shares of truck startup Nikola drop after rumors of potential sale (link).

Boston robotics firm Symbotic to take over Walmart's automation business (link).

Mitsubishi opts out of Honda/Nissan merger (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

Blue Bird: John Wyskiel named CEO, joins board (link).

Featured Jobs:

Senior/Staff System Engineer at Gatik in Mountain View, CA, USA (link).

Hardware Product Manager at Aperia Technologies in Detroit, MI 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.

New Stuff:

Skyryse targets potential Black Hawk helicopter applications in U.S. Army partnership (link).

Kodiak has made its first driverless truck deliveries, to customer Atlas Energy (link).

Visualizing how far can you get in 40 minutes from each subway station in New York City (link). Via Rex S.

Rivian's ADAS plan: hands-free driver assist in 2025, ‘eyes-off’ 2027 (link).

Waymo suffers another vandalization, this time in Los Angeles near Grove shopping mall (link). Via Weans.

Statistics / Projections:

Are US consumers approaching 'peak truck?' Survey shows 3-point greater interest in sedans this year vs. last (link to PDF, page 14). Via Cantin Group 2025 Market Outlook report.

The cost of high-power EV chargers has fallen an estimated 26% in two years (link). Via Bloomberg. 'The price of a 300 to 400 kilowatt chargers averaged $58,100 in 2024, according to BloombergNEF’s latest survey. That’s $163 per kilowatt of power, a 26% drop from when the survey was last completed two years ago.'

Surveyed Brits say they would rather buy a Chinese EV than a Tesla (link). Via The Times. ‘59% of both electric car owners and those who said they intended to buy one agreed with the statement that Musk’s influence would deter them from choosing a Tesla.’ Related: 3 in 10 surveyed Tesla owners in The Netherlands plan to sell their cars after recent behavior of company’s CEO (link). Via New York Post. ‘Participants admitted feeling embarrassed to own the brand due to Musk’s behavior.’

Thank you:

Thank you to Horace Dediu (link), Kaleb Dumot (link), Brad Farris (link), Louis Garoz (link), David Ketsdever (link), Jim LoGerfo (link), Daniel Lyons (link), Mariano Menkes (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:

Aperia Technologies (link), Gatik (link), Skyryse (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

Dare to be naive (RBF),

Reilly Brennan