Trucks | Future of Transportation for 2026.03.30
FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital

Notable

California lawmaker's new idea: all remote operators for AVs in California need to be located within the US, hold a California driver's license, and adhere to rule of 1 person controlling no more than 3 vehicles (link, see bill). This will curtail Waymo's current use of operators located in the Philippines, at least for CA deployments.

'I'm running Tesla Model 3's computer on my desk using parts from crashed cars' (link). In another time this would be a psalm.

Direct car sales in the US get another victory as Rivian breaks open Washington state (link). ‘Rivian threatened to take its case to voters with a ballot measure to permit direct sales. The dealers blinked. The state’s dealer lobby not only dropped its opposition to a sales loophole for Rivian and rival EV-maker Lucid, but also encouraged lawmakers to approve one. The measure became law this month.’

When Waymos can't drive themselves, sometimes the police get behind the wheel (link). 'Roughly 30 minutes after Waymo called 911, a CHP officer got behind the wheel and drove the robotaxi to a park-and-ride lot near the highway, a CHP incident report obtained by TechCrunch shows.' This seems like a good thing to me, and one we lose when we remove the steering wheel. The smartest robot cars will realize they are imperfect.

In a pivot to defense, VW considers making Iron Dome air defense components for Israel (link).

Nissan's new CEO: Self-driving will not make us a commodity (link).

BYD's 'God's Eye' is a false god, claim disgruntled consumers (link). Via Bo. 'BYD's God's Eye driver-assistance system is generating widespread complaints about steering, navigation and acceleration malfunctions. The issues compound BYD's sales slump, which fell 36% in early 2026 as Geely claimed China's top spot.'

Are new manufacturers facing a branding risk by making whitelabel robotaxis? (link).

A 2-seater robotaxi is probably the right configuration for most trips (link). I would argue that a coupe shape is more fun for a designer to sketch than for a rider to use.

Video: driving Xpeng VLA 2.0 ADAS through Chinese traffic (link). Video: the 4 elements of a great walk (link). Via Diego. Video: Why nearly every micromobility startup went under (link). Video: towing (or pushing) a car with a 2-wheeler (link). Video: cute little window smashing sidewalk robot (link).

Antimatter moves 5 miles by truck, of course (link). Via Weans.

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Global positioning startup Xona raises $170M (link). Led by Mohari Ventures Natural Capital.

Rivian gets another $1B investment from VW (link).

Sony and Honda abandon their EV joint venture 'Afeela' (link).

Drone startup Zipline raises $200M (link). Led by Paradigm.

AI traffic management startup No Traffic raises $90M (link). Led by PSG Equity.

Verne, Pony.ai, and Uber partner to launch commercial robotaxi service (link). Starting in Zagreb soon.

Chinese AV firm Momenta files for IPO in Hong Kong (link).

Battery management startup Scalvy raises $13.9M (link). Led by an unnamed strategic and Silicon Badia.

Bollinger Motors founder buys back EV startup's assets for just $250K (link).

Simulation startup Aechelon acquired by Shield AI, who raises $2B (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

CNH Industrial: Asa Tamsons, Rich Kramer to leave board (link).

American Airlines: Mary Dillon joins board (link).

Transportation Channel: Selika Josiah Talbott joins as President (link).

Curated Jobs:

Director, Customer Success at Gatik in Mountain View, CA, USA (link).

View all 210 postings on the MobilityJobs job board (link).

New Stuff:

Starting this summer, the US federal government will allow more stations to blend gasoline with ethanol (link).

Israeli VTOL startup Air books $1b in orders (link). Via AJ.

GM begins supervised public-road testing of next-generation ADAS (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Ford's patent application shows adjustable pedal for optimal left foot braking control (link).

Statistics / Projections:

Waymo announces it is doing 500k AV rides per week (link).

The average cost of a gallon of diesel in the United States was $5.38 on Friday, up nearly 45% since the start of the war. Gasoline, by comparison, has climbed about 33% (link). Via NYT / AAA.

More than 50% of Chinese domestic car dealerships became unprofitable last year (link). Via China Automobile Dealers Association / Automotive News.

Thank you:

Thank you to Corey Clothier (link), Loan My Descourvieres (link) and Thomas McCloskey (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

Gatik (link), Xona (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog (Matilda / Roald Dahl),

Reilly Brennan