Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2026.06.15
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital

Notable

Waymo launches its $30/month 'Premier' membership (link). Core benefits: priority pickups, 10% credit back on each ride, early access for new cities, 5 free cancellations per month. It's a market signal that we need demand tiers to placate customers. I hope this is a physical card so I can carry it around like my Costco membership.

Researchers test the feasibility of remote driving by measuring latency times (link). Video pipeline measured 168 milliseconds on average latency, with most around 141-194 milliseconds. I remember many years ago at Stanford, researchers were hoping latency was going to be under 100ms consistently over the coming decade.

It’s nearly impossible to build a robot without China now (link). 'China has been making and installing factory robots at a pace unmatched by any other country. In 2024, more than two million robots were operating in Chinese factories, and another 300,000 were installed — more than in the rest of the world combined. Industrial robot installations declined in each of the next largest markets: Japan, the United States, South Korea and Germany.' This is one of the core drivers behind new companies like Westmag.

License plate reader firm SignalTrace says it will add MAC address sniffer to pick up cell phone IDs (link). Via Weans. Philip K. Dick: ‘Strange how paranoia can link up with reality now and then.’

The US adds BYD, Nio and battery maker CALB to Chinese military company blacklist (link, link to notice). 'The updated Section 1260H list also includes Alibaba, Baidu, battery maker EVE Energy, lidar makers Hesai and BYD-backed Robosense, WuXi AppTec, TP-Link, and robotic startup Unitree, according to a Federal Register notice scheduled for publication this week. Nvidia announced a partnership with Unitree at the beginning of June. Eve Energy supplies batteries to Tesla, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.'

GM makes its energy push through sodium ion battery plans for data centers (link). 'GM said it will produce its first sodium ion cells by 2028 at its new Battery Cell Development Center in suburban Detroit. A high-volume production site will be announced later.'

Rand Corp on China’s techno-industrial strategy in the Xi era (link). 'Structural global friction: Depreciation of China’s real effective exchange rate since 2021, driven by comparatively weak domestic inflation, has compounded the competitive advantages generated by industrial policy and scale.'

NYer cartoon: 'Remember, it's illegal to use your phone while driving. Instead, use the giant iPad built into the car' (link).

Video: building a gyro stabilized hyperlapse drone boat (link). Video: Mitsubishi Delica marker light side table (link). Via Hartmann. Video: a mini electric rail car camp explores old railways (link). Via JF. Video: Catchpole drives the HWA EVO 190 E 2.5-16 (link). Video: inside an Uber / AV Ride crash in Dallas, which seems to have been triggered by a (human) piloted car blowing a stop sign (link).

For sale: UAW leader Walter Reuther's mid century home in Oakland Township, MI (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Dana to combine with Eaton's mobility business in $5.1B deal (link). 'Byron Foster, who ​will ⁠join as Dana CEO on July 1, and current CFO Timothy Kraus will continue to reprise their respective roles in the merged company.'

German humanoid startup Neura Robotics raises $1.4B (link). Led by Tether, Qualcomm, Amazon and Nvidia.

Electric RV startup Evotrex raises $30M (link). Led by GSR United Capital.

Finnish observation startup Iceye raises $1B (link). Led by General Atlantic.

Apple’s vehicle testing ground in Arizona purchased by Waymo for $220M (link).

Hybrid electric aviation startup Maeve files for bankruptcy protection (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

Openlane: David Hult joins board (link).

Wizz Air: Brian Franke joins board; succeeds Andrew Broderick (link).

FedEx: Mark Edmunds joins board; succeeds Silvia Davila (link).

Curated Jobs:

View over new 1141 active job listings from companies like Aeva (link), Xpeng Motors (link) and Humble Robotics (link) on MobilityJobs. Post your own jobs for free.

Director of Navy Programs at Havoc AI, remote (link).

AI Kernel Engineer at Quadric in Burlingame, CA USA (link).

New Stuff:

BYD to spend $2B on European charger network build out (link). 'The group plans to roll out 20,000 flash chargers in China by the end of this year and 3,000 in Europe by 2027, including 600 in the UK.'

GM's new 'Energy Pass' will have coverage of 70% of EV chargers in the US, including stations from IONNA, Electrify America, Tesla, EVgo, and Chargepoint (link).

AI startup Decart showed its world model that can generate photorealistic driving environments in real time (link).

Researchers showed that LLMs can automatically tune vehicle motion planning from plain English instructions (link). Typing "drive more conservatively in rain" directly changed the vehicle behavior parameters, collapsing a manual, expert-intensive calibration process into natural language.

Xiaomi unveils home charging robotic arm, targeting Q4 2026 launch (link).

After too many accidents, Brussels outlaws shared scooters from 2027 onward (link).

Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor in Berlin‑Marienfelde (link).

'Road Trip' game sends torrents of cars smashing down into a field of cows (link). Via Carly N. 'Don't worry, you can't hit the cows.'

Patents & Patent Applications:

Ford's patent application shows hidden compartment with RF-blocking material (link).

Statistics / Projections:

The most dangerous US cities for pedestrian deaths: Memphis, Albuquerque, Bakersfield (link). Via SmartGrowthAmerica.

Despite tens of millions of residents and millions of cars, less than 3% of parking spaces on New York City streets have paid meters (link). Via NYT.

US freight rates are finally moving up again (link). Via WSJ/MSN/FTR. 'Dry-van spot rates for the week ended June 5 were up about 52% year-over-year excluding fuel surcharges.’

Thank you:

Thank you to Bernard Bourgeois (link), John Casesa (link), Richelle du Toit (link), Addy First (link), Ralph Gilles (link), Patrick Hunt (link), Chris McNally (link) and David Wendel Thoms (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

Havoc AI (link), Quadric (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

The voice of sanity is getting hoarse (Seamus Heaney),

Reilly Brennan