Notable reads and other tidbits
Let’s get to it.
Autonomous vehicles
Aurora is embarking on an autonomous trucking pilot with Covenant Logistics, a U.S. freight carrier.
Some police departments are using the recordings taken by autonomous vehicles like Cruise and Waymo for intel on investigative leads.
Kodiak Robotics publicly demonstrated its so-called “fallback” system, which is mean its self-driving truck can pull itself over to the side of the road in the event of a failure. The
“To launch an autonomous vehicle without a human driver, you must ensure the vehicle will protect motorists in the case of a truck or autonomous system failure,” Kodiak founder and CEO Don Burnette said in a statement, adding the feature is a fundamental necessity to achieving that level of safety.
Moovit, the Israel-based trip planning app owned by Intel through its Mobileye subsidiary, is integrating with Orlando-based autonomous shuttle startup Beep. The integration will allow riders to view options for taking Beep shuttles alongside other forms of transit, like buses or trains.
Electric vehicles & batteries
Batteries have become VC and PE’s most electric investment opportunity, from TC+ reporter Tim De Chant.
Elon Musk gave a wide-ranging interview at FT’s Future of the Car event in London. We provide a roundup of some of his most interesting comments on the transportation front, including that Tesla could stop taking orders for its cars until it works through current orders.
Ford gave access to a bevy of reporters to its new all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck. TechCrunch couldn’t attend, but luckily many others were.
Harley-Davidson unveiled a second electric motorcycle called the Del Mar. The launch edition of the Del Mar has already sold out.
McLaren Racing confirmed it will compete in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship next season, which is the start of the Gen3 era of the all-electric racing series. The McLaren Formula E Team will be formed through the acquisition of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team. Ian James, team principal of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, will continue to lead the team.
Rivian’s first-quarter losses widened nearly fourfold as the EV maker burned through cash battling supply chain constraints and production bottlenecks to bring its electric vehicles to market. Despite missing analysts expectations, shares popped, likely in response to the company sticking to its production guidance for the year and CEO RJ Scaringe’s insistence that the company has the cash needed to execute on its future plans.
Tesla is punting on plans to build EVs in India, Reuters reported.
VW Group’s supervisory board approved plans to launch a new EV brand in the U.S. called Scout that will produce a rugged SUV and a pickup truck. TechCrunch had the scoop, including some leaked renderings, which have since been released by the company. There is a lot of important details in the story, including that these EVs will not be built on VW’s underlying MEB platform.
Also, there will be another VW factory coming to the states; we just don’t know where yet. My bet? Well, it won’t be at its existing Chattanooga factory.
In-car tech
Google gives Android Auto a major update, including a refreshed UI.
Mercedes-Benz will start offering its Level 3 automated driving system approved for public roads in Germany, beginning May 17. The Drive Pilot system will be offered as an option on S-Class and EQS models and will cost 5,000 euros ($5,300) on the S-Class and 7,430 euros on the EQS in Germany.
Seeing Machines will be delivering its Driver Monitoring System to a “leading Japanese carmaker.” Three guesses who!
Ride-hailing
Uber shareholders voted against a proposal that would have required the ride-hailing company to fully disclose its direct and indirect lobbying activities and expenditures. While the measure has been proposed and rejected by shareholders before, this year’s results show a growing number of shareholders are keen to require full disclosure. About 45% of shareholders voted in favor of the measure as opposed to around 30% last year. Two-thirds of shareholders need to vote in favor for a proposal to be approved.
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