Happy Friday! This week in mobility... Uber recorded record revenue, automakers asked Congress for a helping hand, BYD ramped up its global ambitions, and more.
Need to Know
The cover story for this week goes to Uber, which made headlines as the company seems to be successfully driving its business towards a brighter future…
Uber recorded record revenue — a beacon of hope for the sector. Along with the news came several announcements, including bettering the driver experience by allowing them to see destinations and rates ahead of time, expanding into multimodal travel planning via a partnership with Omio in the UK, and selling off its 7.8% stake in lossmaking food delivery company Zomato for $390 million. While one quarter isn’t a tell-all, the tech giant seems to be walking the walking in more ways than one. All a good sign that Uber may be on the right track for the long run.
Other notable highlights included reports that global automakers made a last-ditch lobbying effort to change Congress’s proposed spending bill over concerns that they may stand to lose out from strict new limits on EV tax credits and a continuation of BYD’s global expansion — this week in Isreal (with the help of Shlomo Motors), Germany, and Sweden.
In Other News
🚘 Passenger Vehicles. SONDORS is prepping for delivery of its low-cost electric motorcycle. And Halo.Car, a Las Vegas-based startup, launched a transportation service that allows customers to rent electric vehicles piloted by a remote driver.
🚛 Trucks & Buses. Kodiak Robotics, an autonomous trucking startup, expanded its autonomous services to Florida. Suzuki and Daihatsu are working together to create a mini-commercial electric van. And Blue Bird is working with Lightning eMotors to offer an electric repower option for gasoline- and propane-powered school buses.
🚁 Air Mobility. Drone Delivery Canada was approved to transport dangerous goods in Canada. And Volkswagen China unveiled its “Flying Tiger” eVTOL passenger drone.
🛞 Autonomous Tech. Innoviz, an Israel-based Lidar company, will supply all Volkswagen group vehicles with automated driving capabilities with lidar sensors and perception software. And Tesla applied for a patent for a more precise multi-band GPS antenna for self-driving and navigation applications.
⚡ Mobility Ecosystem. Geometry, Geely’s EV brand, will use Huawei’s HarmonyOS to power its cockpit in a new model as the tech giant ramps up its presence in the automotive industry.
📍Go to Market. Pony.ai, an autonomous driving company, is working with Caocao Mobility, a Chinese online ride-hailing platform, to deliver urban robotaxi services. GM is expanding its Super Cruise network in North America, doubling the number of roads where drivers can activate the hand-free automated highway driving feature. UFODrive, a Europe-based EV rental company, landed in San Francisco this week, marking the startup’s expansion into the US. Finally, Lordstown Motors reaffirmed that it expects to deliver a limited number of electric pickups in 2022.
💼 Business. Nissan launched a sustainable finance framework to fund electric vehicles and sustainable technologies. And Rivian laid off 6% of its workforce to streamline future growth.
✨ Investment. Nikola acquired Romeo Power, the battery pack supplier the company is using for their vehicles. IM Motors, a joint EV brand between SAIC and Alibaba, closed its Series A as its cumulative deliveries exceeded 1,000 units. e.GO Mobile, a German EV startup, went public at a $913 million valuation. Avatr closed a ¥5 billion Series A funding round, seeing NIO’s stake in the company diluted to less than 1%. And Toyoda Gosei invested in Global Walkers, an AI image analysis startup.
Interesting Reads
A white paper examines how autonomous vehicles could impact last- and middle-mile delivery.
An opinion piece explores the roadblocks ahead of Tesla’s dream of L4 autonomy and robotaxi deployment by 2024.
A report captures how high demand may prevent California’s EV incentives program from reaching those who need it most.