Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2026.11.09
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital

Notable

Waymo exec says their exclusive partnership with Uber is headed toward a conscious uncoupling; rider experience was a 'crapshoot' (link). Exclusive city-app partnerships (such as Austin and Atlanta) will end in January. This doesn't necessarily mean Waymos will be removed from the Uber platform, just that the exclusive aspect of their deal (in certain cities) is ending. Waymo and Uber will need each other well into the near future. Also I could argue the best take-public CEO for Waymo would actually be Dara Khosrowshahi.

Tesla's Cybertruck heads into a forced retirement (link). 'Tesla has sold just shy of 73,000 Cybertrucks since deliveries started in late 2023.' That said it was the best-selling BEV pickup in any one year. America will go through its EREV truck boomlet for a period, but eventually BEV trucks will be relevant (likely once we get China-speed chargers on American soil).

Valeo CEO looks to China as role model in reshaping auto-parts maker (link). 'Perillat says various processes Valeo has examined in China cost roughly 35% less than in Europe, and the company has sped up prototyping, optimization of parts and reduced layers of management.'

AV policy after the election? A common federal set of rules seems less likely now (link).

Who is using AI to book their Uber? Almost nobody (link).

US FAA says it will phase out floppy disks from air traffic control by 2028 (link). No rush.

Old jet engines find a new life powering data centers (link).

Volvo's plan: more heritage, more upscale (link). Via Diego.

Video: BYD EV hits 500 km/h, or 312 mph, on a road in Abu Dhabi (link). Video: what it feels like to light the fuse on a gasser (link). Video: Emily Chang interview with Waymo CEO Tekedra Mawakana (link). Video: slo-mo Trans Am at Sandown (link). Via Diego. Video: how one man built a slot-car empire (link). Video: Levi Farias's e moto stunts (link). Video: on Ethiopia's push for EVs (link). Via Jake.

A New York woman’s “BLANK” vanity plate became a catchall for unidentified vehicles, saddling her with $40,000 in parking tickets (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Synthetic fuel startup Circularity Fuels raises $7M (link). Led by Trucks and DCVC.

EV truck startup Harbinger raises $240M (link). Led by Tiger Global.

Underwater autonomy startup Corridian raises $38M (link). Led by Point72 Ventures.

Automated EV truck startup Humble raises $51M (link). Led by Obvious Ventures.

Satellite maker Cesium Astro raises $730M (link). Led by Janus Henderson.

Drone startup Zipline raises $1.5B (link). Led by Paradigm, WCM Investment Management, and Layer Global.

Board & Executive Changes:

Winnebago Industries: Stacy Bogart retires as Chief Legal Officer (link).

Toyota: Mark Templin to become CEO of America unit in March, replacing Ted Ogawa (link).

Deere & Co: Julie Boland joins board (link).

Frontier Group: Michael Delehant named COO (link).

Curated Jobs:

View over new 1389 active job listings from companies, including Neolix (link) and Harbinger Motors (link).

Sr. Manager, Market Operations at Gatik in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (link).

Staff Software Engineer, Collision Avoidance Testing at Waymo in Mountain View, CA USA (link).

New Stuff:

'Stay, Reposition, or Recharge: battery-aware operation of robotaxi fleets' (link). Via Greg F.

China potentially entering NASCAR is the pinnacle of the culture car wars (link).

TOMO is a simple, compact truck based on a Ford Ranger, with a 5x10ft steel bed and bio-based composite cab (link).

'I made a drivable 3D Ann Arbor from the city’s open data' (link). Via Rudi.

Patents & Patent Applications:

NVIDIA's patent application shows a way to turn detections from multiple cameras into one consistent track for each real-world object (link).

Statistics / Projections:

Human drivers are completing fewer trips per hour in cities vs AVs (link). Via Gridwise. 'Trips per hour decreased in four of the five AV cities and fell 3.1% across the five cities combined, compared with a 1.2% decrease nationwide. Phoenix was the exception, with trips per hour unchanged.'

Thank you:

Thank you to Anthony Elterman (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

Circularity Fuels (link) and Gatik (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

'People do not change, they are merely revealed' (Anne Enright)

Reilly Brennan