Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2026.07.27
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital

Notable

The US NTSB is investigating the role U.S. military GPS jamming may have played in the fatal crash of a civilian medevac plane in New Mexico in May (link). 'Shortly after takeoff from Roswell airport, one of the pilots reported to an air traffic controller that they had lost their GPS capability. Three other aircraft crews also reported problems. This prompted an air traffic controller to ask the military at nearby White Sands Missile Range to halt its GPS interference testing. The military paused jamming for a few minutes but resumed it after the flight controller reported that the plane had a visual fix on its destination. The aircraft crashed 5 minutes later.'

The Uber - Waymo partnership was our Bennifer, once the most powerful teamup in AVs but now likely destined for a breakup (link). 'With almost every new Waymo announcement without Uber, Uber’s stock has taken a hit on fears that Waymo’s growth will eventually erode the ride-hail company’s business, which reported an annual profit for the first time only in 2023. Even as Uber has announced partnerships with other driverless car companies on planned service in the US, Middle East and Europe, Wall Street has remained unconvinced. The stock has fallen almost 20% so far this year.'

Sam Schwartz Transportation Research Program pulls its safety analysis from its anti-robotaxi report after data discrepancies are found (link to PDF, note on P15). 'As of July 23, 2026, we have temporarily removed our safety analysis from this report, as well as relevant references to the analysis throughout the report (denoted in-text by a reference to this section). We were made aware of data discrepancies between City agency data for New York City for-hire vehicle crashes with serious injuries or deaths, as well as City agency data definitions related to such crashes.' Before the update, a number of journals used the data as the basis of their reports that 'Waymo’s autonomous cars cause crashes that result in serious injuries or death at a rate 1.5 times that of the city’s for-hire fleet.' The journals that used the Schwartz report for their stories have not yet provided corrections.

SpaceX won't accept launch rideshare customers on Falcon 9 rocket beyond 2028 as it prepares for Starship (link). 'SpaceX has publicly stated that it intends to offramp its Falcon 9 rocket for Starship, but has not disclosed a timeline. When the company does take the step, it will mark one of the most significant strategic shifts in its launch business in decades. It’s also a major undertaking, requiring SpaceX to push through development setbacks and cement the technology leaps needed to bring the long-delayed vehicle to market in the span of about a year and a half.' Related: SpaceX launches massive Starship rocket in first test flight since IPO (link).

In 1976, researchers at UMass Amherst turned an old Ford truck axle into a wind turbine, kickstarting the US wind industry (link).

Space race with China drives antenna-building boom in Arctic (link). 'As the US, China and others compete in space, the need for fast and frequent communication links with satellites orbiting near the North Pole is making Arctic ground stations a hot commodity...Far north, you can see a satellite 14-plus times a day, whereas if you’re at a mid-latitude, you may only see that satellite 4 times a day.'

Chinese consumers discover car camping with their spacious EVs (link). 'By 2030, China’s camping market is expected to double from 2024 to roughly $72 billion, according to iiMedia Research. Car camping has also spawned a lucrative accessories industry. A search on Taobao returns thousands of listings for window curtains, steering-wheel trays for dining and working, and privacy tents that attach to cars for outdoor bathing. Custom car mattresses that create a completely flat sleeping surface have become a must-have accessory: On JD, one best‑selling budget model, priced at just 109 yuan ($16), has sold more than 600,000 units.' Once the Chinese consumer discovers Bob Seger, flannel shirts and cornhole, we will have achieved global peace and understanding.

Xona celebrates 1 year in orbit with Pulsar-0, plans constellation of 258 low Earth orbit satellites to provide stronger and more accurate navigation signals than GPS (link).

Insurers make more money per Uber trip than Uber itself (link). 'Insurance accounts for 21% of the average Uber or Lyft fare, according to Gridwise’s analysis, compared with 14.9% for the platform fee. Driver base pay is 53.3%, with bonuses and other driver pay making up the balance. Put another way, more than 1 out of every 5 dollars that a rider spends is put towards insurance before the driver or platform gets its cut.'

Video: the Unitree 'Super Athlete' is either/both the answer to $1 burrito deliveries and/or World War III (link).

Open-source researchers sleep peacefully after discovering original location of Pontiac Bonneville photoshoot (link, link). Via James H.

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Physical AI conglomerate Atoms, founded by Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick, raises $1.7B (link). Led by A16Z. Atoms has various vehicle-focused divisions, including their AV truck mining group (formerly known as Pronto) as well as efforts to build L4 vehicles for on-road use mentioned in job descriptions (eg link). Video of the founder talking about the company's vision (link).

Charging software startup Flipturn acquired by Einride in $38M stock transaction (link).

Penske Automotive Group taken private in $4B deal by Mitsui and Penske (link).

German used vehicle retail startup Aampere raises $4.8M (link). Led by Trind Ventures.

Japanese AV truck startup T2 raises $30M (link).

Sila Nano raises $300M for factory expansion in WA state (link).

Israeli chip startup Hailo acquired by Microchip (link).

Auto service chain Pep Boys sold to Mavis for $700M (link).

Ford partners with Apple Maps for ADAS and AV positioning (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

Mobileye: Founder Amnon Shashua announced he will retire as CEO, his departure will come after naming a successor (link).

Valvoline: Katherine Fogertey, Scott Mezvinsky join board (link).

Curated Jobs:

View over new 1371 active job listings from companies, including Manna (link), Mercedes-Benz R&D North America (link) and Slip Robotics (link).

Quality Engineer - Metrology at Joby Aviation in San Carlos, CA USA (link).

New Stuff:

Estes Energy unveils Levius, a full-stack magnesium processing platform, and announces the first commercial delivery of their Magnus battery platform now in customer hands (link).

'Uncertainty-aware camera-LiDAR fusion': accounting for how each sensor fails differently in fog, rain, and snow, improving 3D object detection reliability in adverse conditions (link). Via Pete N.

AV startup Aurora launches its second-generation system (link).

Volkswagen engineers charged with insider trading tied to Rivian joint venture (link). 'The indictment alleges that Michael Stamp and Marcus Plank made more than $300,000 by using confidential insider information. Stamp and Plank allegedly bought Rivian stock and options after learning that the EV maker and Volkswagen planned to form a joint venture — internally codenamed “Project Climb” — but before the companies made any public announcements.'

Kenyan EV bus manufacturer BasiGo opens up its EV charging network to outside customers (link). 'BasiGo’s charging network was initially only serving its fleet of electric buses and vans. The company seeks to diversify its revenue streams by opening it up to other EV users amid increased demand for charging services.'

Airlines and other aircraft operators will get up to $5.7 billion in rebates to offset the cost of installing altimeters that can withstand 5G interference (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Ford's patent application shows gantry system in delivery vehicle for moving bins and packages (link).

Statistics / Projections:

Hybrids accounted for almost 1 in every 4 automobiles registered in California in the second quarter, outpacing sales of EVs (link). Via Bloomberg. 'Soaring demand for hybrid cars is putting them on pace to surpass annual EV sales in the state for the first time since 2020.'

Indian EV two-wheeler startup River crosses 50,000 unit production milestone (link).

Chinese brands have together grabbed a 9% share of new car sales in Europe and 15% in the UK during the first six months of the year (link). Via FT. 'In May alone, 1 in 10 new vehicles sold in Europe was Chinese for the first time.'

Waymo’s driverless cars crash less often than people (link, link to study). Via IIHS. 'Waymo L4 vehicles in driverless operation had police-reportable crash involvement rates 68% lower than human drivers in the same areas and years. Waymo’s rate of rear-ending another vehicle was 91% lower; its vehicles’ rate of being rear-ended was 40% lower. These results apply only to the L4 vehicles in driverless operation that were studied.'

Thank you:

Thank you to Brett Jackson (link), Tapan​ Kataria (link) and Liam Wrixen (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

BasiGo (link), Estes Energy (link), Joby Aviation (link), River (link), Xona Space Systems (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

‘Laughter is carbonated holiness.’ (Anne Lamott)

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