Notable reads and other tidbits
ADAS
Zeekr, the Chinese performance EV brand owned by Geely, has added Mobileye’s SuperVision ADAS to 110,000 of its vehicles through an over-the-air update. New features include point-to-point automated highway navigation, lane changes, automated on/off-ramp assist and intelligent traffic safety functions in “identified operational design domains.”
Autonomous vehicles
Cruise made lots of news this week. First up, protesters gathered outside the company’s headquarters in San Francisco after reports of one of its robotaxis blocking an ambulance with a patient on board who later died. Despite the San Francisco Fire Department’s claims about the Cruise robotaxi blocking the ambulance, video footage says otherwise.
A few days later, CEO Kyle Vogt said during an interview at the Goldman Sachs Tech Conference that the company is close to getting approval from federal regulators to mass-produce robotaxis with no steering wheel or pedals. It’s worth noting that Vogt and Cruise have remained steadfast (and vocal) about the benefits of self-driving cars to reduce crashes. That stance hasn’t converted opponents. If anything, the anti-robotaxi group in San Francisco seems more motivated than ever.
Deeproute.ai, the Shenzhen-headquartered robotaxi startup backed by Alibaba, plans to open an operations center in Germany in 2024.
TuSimple finally filed its Q4 and full year 2022 earnings report. Yes, you read that correctly. The company was on the verge of being kicked off the stock market for its tardiness but got a temporary reprieve in May. TuSimple still needs to file Q1 and Q2 2023 reports before its deadline of September 30.
The tl;dr: TuSimple continues to shift away from the United States and toward Asia. The company noted that it has shut down U.S. operations and doubled down on APAC operations. On the money front, TuSimple brought in revenue of $1.9 million in Q4 and $9.4 million for the full year 2022. The company’s net loss for Q4 was $138 million and for FY 2022 was $472 million. TuSimple closed 2022 with $615.4 million in cash and cash equivalents.
The company said it would focus on testing and R&D while trying to get a handle on its loss-making revenue operations. TuSimple doesn’t expect to generate significant revenue in 2023, “given its change in the U.S. fleet operations.”
Electric vehicles, batteries & charging
Honda confirmed it will use Tesla’s EV charging port from 2025.
Lotus revealed its flagship all-electric and super-fast sedan, the Emeya.
Munich’s IAA Mobility 2023 event highlighted how far Chinese EV makers have come. Check out our roundup of the European and Chinese vehicles that debuted.
Tesla’s yet-to-be released Cybertruck was spotted in a regular ol’ parking garage in San Francisco and new photos of the interior were shared.
In-car tech
BMW realized what everyone else already has — charging for heated seats isn’t cool.
Google’s quarterly Android updates include Zoom and Webex support in cars.
The Polestar 4 will launch in China with its own smartphone.
People
Flexport founder Ryan Petersen is back in the CEO spot after his handpicked successor — Amazon’s former consumer chief Dave Clark — was pushed out. The sudden ousting wasn’t the end of the drama. Petersen took to social media to announce the company would rescind dozens of employment offers and take other measures to get costs under control. Petersen and the board had bought into Clark’s big vision for growth, but that confidence lasted about (checks notes) one year.
Woven by Toyota, the mobility tech subsidiary of the automaker, is shuffling its executive decks. James Kuffner will be replaced by Hajime Kumabe as CEO. Kuffner will now be a “senior fellow” at Toyota, where he will manage the professional development of software engineers.
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