Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2026.02.09
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital

Notable

Now that we know that Waymo has remote teleoperators in the Philippines, should we know more about them and their process? How much of the tasks for these remote workers contribute to what the vehicle does on the road? (link). This was discovered during Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña's testimony during a US Senate hearing this past week, something that hadn't been publicly disclosed before. I don't have a problem with Waymo having teleoperation control centers all around the globe (they are building a global business, eventually), but it seems fair to understand the training and certification and expectations of those workers. For example, do they have a US drivers license (in the Philippines, I would imagine no)? Perhaps have they taken exams equivalent to US driving exams? The concept of who is 'driving' is up for debate, largely because of the new blended reality in special situations where an AV needs to phone for help. Phil Koopman's writing on who's 'in charge' is another valuable read on this topic (link).

How Uber outlived its own autopsy (link). Critics said Uber would never make money, until it did: 'Uber has achieved sustained operating profitability across its core businesses for 10 consecutive quarters.'

What AV operations can teach us about incorporating AI into weapons systems (link, link to PDF report). 'By far the largest category of crashes is due to possible false detections by the perception system. In these crashes, self-driving cars are struck from behind when they execute an emergency braking manoeuvre because they see a non-existent obstacle, catching following drivers by surprise.'

Video: winged bicycle seat (link). Video: automatic road paving machine (link). Video: Are we closer to Kessler's Syndrome (the density of space objects could become so high that a single collision triggers a chain reaction of further collisions, creating an exponential cascade of space debris)? (link). Video: walk-through of the Rivian R2 prototype with company CEO RJ Scaringe (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Universal flight operating system startup Skyryse raises $300M at $1.15B valuation (link). Led by Autopilot Ventures and Fidelity Management & Research Company.

Waymo raises $16B at $126B valuation (link). Led by Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital.

Construction AV startup Bedrock Robotics raises $270M (link). Led by CapitalG.

Communication aerospace startup CesiumAstro raises $470M (link). Led by Trousdale Ventures.

Trucking intelligence platform Genlogs raises $60M (link). Led by Battery Ventures.

Off-road autonomy startup Overland AI raises $100M (link). Led by 8VC.

Indian commercial mobility platform Drivn raises $80M (link). Led by Nomura.

Battery testing startup Twaice raises $28M in venture debt (link). Led by European Investment Bank (EIB).

Swedish AI startup Sightic Analytics to be acquired by DMS company Smarteye for $7M (link).

African flat-pack truck startup Ox closes, heads into liquidation (link).

UK and Africa based auto financial services platform GoCab raises $45M (link). Led by E3 Capital and JANNGO Capital.

Another EV write-down: Stellantis books $28B charge for EV reset (link).

Ford and Geely reportedly in manufacturing and technology partnership talks (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

JetZero: Scott Henry joins as Chief Corporate Officer (link).

Toyota Motor Corp: Kenta Kon to become next CEO, replacing Koji Sato, who will become vice chairman (link).

Asbury Automotive: Chris DiSantis joins board (link).

Cox Automotive: Jeremy Robb named Chief Economist (link).

Curated Jobs:

Sr. Director, Federal Affairs at Skyryse in Washington, DC (link).

Senior Product Manager, Fleet Software at Gatik in Mountain View, CA, USA (link).

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

Hunting? View all 281 postings on the MobilityJobs job board (link).

New Stuff:

A printed sign can hijack an AV and steer it toward pedestrians (link).

Apple plans to open CarPlay to third-party AI chatbots (link).

China bans 'Tesla-style' hidden car door handles (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Hyundai's patent application shows automatically adjusting side mirrors when you look at them (link).

Statistics / Projections:

There are now over 600,000 EVs in the US that can send power back to the grid (link). Via Bloomberg. '1 in 5 EVs purchased in the past quarter had so-called V2H — or vehicle-to-home capabilities — and analysts say the feature will soon be table stakes for those hoping to sell an electric car.'

Minivan sales in the US were up 20% in 2025 (link). Via Headlight News / Ryan. 'While the U.S. minivan market has lost about 70% of its volume since hitting a 1.3-million peak at the dawn of the New Millennium, demand rebounced by 20% in 2025, far faster than the overall market’s growth.'

Thank you:

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

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

JetZero (link), Skyryse (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

Consider everything an experiment (C. Kent),

Reilly Brennan