Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2026.03.02
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital

Notable

Chinese regulations push L3 ADAS vehicles closer to L4 capabilities (link). The Chinese appear to be arriving at the ‘23 paradox' sooner than the US regulators: that the only viable SAE levels are 4, 1 and 0 -- and that levels 2 and 3 are eternally problematic (and nobody even mentions L5 anymore). Related: BMW will scrap Level 3 ‘eyes-off’ driving in face-lifted 7 Series (link).

Uber unveils their Autonomous Solutions group (link). In short, this is a portfolio of services to make further inroads with nearly every AV player on earth. Uber's hospitality strategy for AV firms would remind you of your aunt's Irish kitchen with Céad Míle Fáilte sign carved over the door. The big macro here is that Uber needs to stay in an AV leadership role and be seen as such. I listened to the Q4 earnings call a few weeks back and 5 of the 7 analyst questions during the Q&A were AV related.

After its stock fell off a cliff due to a theoretical ‘what 2028 is like’ AI report by Citrini, Doordash CTO posted this response (link). Link to Citrini report (link).

The world is going electric, even if America isn't (link). 'Detroit’s retreat from EVs is the result of a spectacular cascade of failures: by automakers who never took the transition seriously, dealers who actively undermined it, and a political environment that turned the simple act of buying an electric car into a toxic political statement.'

BYD's new 'flash EV chargers': for capable vehicles, adding 2km of range in 1 second (link). Faster charging times are ultimately a low-mass and low-cost reward for consumers: If you drive charging times to gasoline-refuel parity you can spec much smaller battery packs. Colin Chapman: ‘low mass is its own reward.’

'Space awareness' has turned into a commercial product, no longer the sole responsibility and control of large governments (link). 'The people who see [an object'] first won’t just be generals, they’ll be anyone with the right subscription.'

American bus stops are probably too close together (link). 'American bus stops are often significantly closer together than European ones. The mean stop spacing in the United States is around 313 meters, which is about five stops per mile. However, in older, larger American cities, stops are placed even closer. In Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, the mean spacing drops down to 223 meters, 214 meters, and 248 meters respectively, meaning as many as eight stops per mile. By contrast, in Europe it’s more common to see spacings of 300 to 450 meters, roughly four stops per mile. An additional 500 feet takes between 1.5 and 2.5 minutes to walk at the average pace of 2.5 to 4 miles per hour.'

Why humanoid hands aren't good enough yet: high-ratio gearboxes (often 100:1 to 288:1) are the core reason robots cannot achieve human-like dexterity (link).

Video: Norfolk Southern's 'super inspector': 38 cameras take 1000 photos per rail car for defects and inspection (link). Video: CitiBikeBoyz ride NYC snowfall (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

UK AV startup Wayve raises $1.2B (link). Led by Eclipse, Balderton and SoftBank Vision Fund.

Swedish trucking startup Einride raises $116M PIPE ahead of public listing (link).

Parking app SpotHero acquired by Uber for (link). The company, which has 13,000 locations across 400 cities, was last valued at $290M. Will SpotHero lots become waiting areas for AVs during low-demand times?

AV startup Phantom AI acquired by trucking startup Harbinger (link).

Volkswagen quietly pushes forward its robotaxi plans for Europe (link). In partnership with Apex. 'The carmaker’s robotaxi unit, MOIA, has 100 test vehicles on the road in Germany, Norway and the US, of which 30 are in Hamburg. MOIA is in talks with cities in Europe where its service will be rolled out next year after its LA launch, and is aiming to have 100,000 vehicles on the road by 2033.'

Irish drone startup Manna partners with Uber for European deliveries (link).

After acquiring road-monitoring startup Roadbotics in 2022, Michelin shut down the division last month (link).

Uber adds Joby air taxis to its app ahead of Dubai launch (link).

Toyota and Lexus partner with residential electrification startup Treehouse (link).

Inside the rise and fall of America's 3D printing startups (link). 'Desktop Metal’s competitors, Markforged and Velo3D, also went public with SPACs. All three companies were valued at well over $1 billion in 2021, only to run into financial trouble. Desktop used investors’ capital to snap up 11 other companies, but it collapsed last year when it was forced to file for bankruptcy. Its core business sold for $7 million, a brutal reckoning not just for the company, but for the sector as a whole.'

Board & Executive Changes:

Rimac Technologies: Mate Rimac steps down as CEO; Nurdin Pitarević becomes CEO (link).

Aurora Innovation: Claire D’Oyly-Hughes Johnson departs board; David Wehner to join (link).

Ambarella: Gregory Bryant joins board (link).

Curated Jobs:

2026 Product Design Summer Internship at JetZero in Long Beach, CA, USA (link).

UI/UX Designer at Rimac Group in Kerestinec, Zagreb, Croatia, Hybrid (link).

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

Hunting? View all 209 postings on the MobilityJobs job board (link).

New Stuff:

SpaceX's new ‘Stargaze’ system is a Starlink-based traffic control system (link). 'Stargaze utilizes the existing hardware on the Starlink constellation to track thousands of objects in near real-time, offering a significant upgrade over traditional ground-based radar systems.'

'Where Now?' is an iOS app for keeping track of where you've been either manually or automatically using background activity with fine-grained controls (link).

How May Mobility is expanding its AV services in Japan (link).

VTOL startup Archer filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Vertical, alleging the latter’s Valo design is a copy of its Midnight aircraft (link).

How China is regulating AVs (link). 'The ratio of robotaxis to remote operators cannot exceed 3:1, and operators need to pass certain skill tests.'

A visual guide to the industrial processes you can no longer permit in the state of California (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Toyota's patent application for whole-body teleoperation of a humanoid robot (link).

Statistics / Projections:

What U.S. consumers and dealers think of Chinese auto brands: 38% extremely/very likely to consider them for purchase, with 69% of Gen Z more likely (link). Via Cox Automotive.

America’s ranks of immigrant truckers find a roadblock: English tests (link). Via WSJ. 'Over the past year, more than 10,700 truckers failed an English test, disqualifying them from driving.'

Oil prices jump 10% after Iran attack, crossing $80/barrel (link). Via NYT / LSEG.

Thank you:

Thank you to Hannah Friedman (link), Tops Kataria (link), Greg McGuire (link), Cristian Palmeiro (link), Ameet Shah (link), Sean Simpson (link) and
Matt Soule (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

JetZero (link), May Mobility (link), Treehouse (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

If you wait, all that happens is that you get older (M. Andretti),

Reilly Brennan