Notable reads and other tidbits
ADAS
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been tentatively ordered to testify under oath in a lawsuit that blames Autopilot for a fatal crash in 2018. Plaintiff attorneys want question Musk about recordings of him talking about the capabilities of Autopilot. His lawyers offered up an odd defense in their opposition to the request. They claim that Musk can’t recall the details of statements plaintiffs want to question him on, and that he is often the subject of “deepfake” videos. One of the recordings that plaintiffs are interested in is high-profile tech journalist Kara Swisher’s very real interview of Musk in front of a packed audience of real people in 2016.
Autonomous vehicles
Cruise continues to ramp up operations. Its fleet of robotaxis are now operating 24 hours a day throughout all of San Francisco, but only employees can access the expanded hours and service area for now. Like its previous rollouts, Cruise will first make this newly expanded service available to employees before opening it up to its so-called “power users” and then the general public.
May Mobility is launching an on-demand public transit service using AVs in Arizona in the retirement community of Sun City. Via, the transit tech company, is a partner in the venture and will provide its software to introduce dynamically-routed, shared AVs.
The Uber ATG safety driver who was involved in the first fatality connected to an autonomous vehicle will be tried in June on a negligent homicide charge. Rafaela Vasquez has pleaded not guilty to the charge. The March 2018 crash killed 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg as she walked a bicycle outside the lines of a crosswalk in Tempe, Arizona.
Electric vehicles, charging & batteries
Is it me or is everyone announcing plans to build new battery factories. This week, Hyundai Motor Group and GM made separate announcements about plans to build electric vehicle battery plants in the U.S. in partnership with South Korean battery manufacturing firms. Hyundai will set up a $5 billion battery cell production joint venture in the U.S. with SK On. GM will partner with Samsung SDI to jointly invest $3 billion in an EV battery plant.
Faraday Future — yeah, remember that company? — said it expects to receive a second 180-day extension to meet NASDAQ’s $1 minimum bid price requirement for 10 consecutive trading days if it continues to meet the continued listing requirement for market value of publicly held shares.
GM said it will stop producing its two top-selling EVs: the Chevy Bolt and its larger sibling, the Bolt EUV, by the end of 2023. Chair and CEO Mary Barra told investors during the company’s earnings call that its Orion Michigan factory, which currently assembles the Bolt, will be retooled for electric truck production. That also means the Chevy Bolt AV, the autonomous vehicle version used by Cruise, will not be produced either.
Honda plans to release its first e:Architecture-based electric vehicle in North America in 2025, a year earlier than the Japanese automaker originally said it would introduce EVs based on its in-house vehicle platform.
Lucid Group has started testing pre-production versions of its all-electric Gravity SUV on public roads in the United States.
Tesla has started producing a version of the Model Y at its Shanghai factory that will be exported and sold in Canada. Speaking of China, certain non-Tesla vehicles in the country can now charge at selected Superchargers.
Future of flight
Joby Aviation secured a $55 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense, a deal that will allow the company to put its aircraft into customers’ hands and start generating revenue before it has achieved Federal Aviation Administration certification. Separately, Joby also signed a new long-term agreement with Toyota to supply key components for Joby’s eVTOL aircraft.
In-car tech
GM created its own open-source software protocol called uProtocol to speed up development and notably, it wants other automakers to use it. GM also announced plans to join the open source software organization, Eclipse Foundation.
Mercedes-Benz has found another way to generate revenue via software updates. The company is giving owners of the new Mercedes-Benz EQE and EQS the option to unlock additional performance in their cars through an software updated called “Acceleration Increase,” which can be accessed via its Mercedes Me Connect Store online. The cost is $60 a month or $2,950 for the lifetime of the vehicle.
People
GM nominated Vice Admiral Jan Tighe, former U.S. Navy deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare and director of naval intelligence, for a board seat. Tighe will stand for election at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on June 20, 2023.
Revel has hired Robert Familiar, formerly of Stu Loeser & Co. Strategy, as senior communications manager and Jake Potent, formerly of Constantinople & Vallone Consulting, as director of policy and governmental relations.
Surf Air Mobility named Tyrone D. Bland to its board of directors. Bland currently serves as the head of government Aafairs for Creative Artists Agency.
Vroom, the online used car marketplace, is restructuring and laying off more people. This time (the company cut staff in January too) 120 employees were laid off, per a regulatory filing.
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