Happy Friday! This week in mobility... Rivian’s new partnership with Mercedes-Benz could prove positive for the startup automaker, and more.

Need to Know

Last week, Rivian announced it entered a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz on electric van production. Now that the dust has settled, let’s look at what this all means for two automakers.

In this latest move from Rivian, they're coming together with Mercedes-Benz to produce large electric vans. While it may not seems monumental — Rivian has already worked with other big players like Amazon and Ford — it could be exactly what the struggling startup needs to expand its footprint into Europe, pairing Mercedes-Benz’s scale with Rivian’s tech. We’ll have to watch and see what happens…

In Other News

• 🏛️ Regulatory. The Biden Administration approved 35 states' EV charging infrastructure plans. California is considering a tax to fund EVs and charging infrastructure. And the California Public Utilities Commission also passed a new rule that should save EV owners money on charging.

• 🚘 Passenger Vehicles. Potential Motors, a Canadian EV startup, revealed its small $136,600 overlanding EV. Sekab and Polestar joined forces to start collaborating on a project to create the world's first climate-neutral car.

• 🚚 Trucks & Buses. Solaris unveiled its Urbino 18 hydrogen bus, the company’s second hydrogen bus in its zero-emission offering. Lightning eMotors is electrifying existing combustion transit buses with the same incentives as new electric models. Volvo Trucks started the series production of its heavy electric trucks. And Harbinger revealed its medium-duty electric truck chassis.

• 🚁 Air Mobility. United Airlines committed to drone taxis for short-distance passenger transport. Air Canada announced that it invested in Heart Aerospace, an electric airplane startup, ordering 30 units of a new version of its first electric aircraft.

• 🛞 Autonomous Tech. Argo AI unveiled a complete line of autonomous vehicle products and services to serve rideshare and delivery. Intel’s Mobileye is now testing its Level 4 autonomous vehicles in Detroit.

• ⚡ Mobility Ecosystem. Nissan approved the first bidirectional electric vehicle charger for use with the Leaf in the US. BMW’s upcoming Gen6 battery technology is slated to offer 620 miles of range.

• 📍Go to Market. Despite recent issues, Cruise plans to expand its robotaxi service to Pheonix and Austin in the next three months. Ford shared that it plans to release a test autonomous vehicle by the end of 2022. Einride, an autonomous electric truck maker, is rolling into Germany, its first market outside Sweden. And Uber is bringing its upscale electric car service to 25 more cities in North America.

• 💼 Business. GM is investing half a billion to upgrade its Indiana factory to support EV production. ioneer signed an autonomous haul deal with Caterpillar. Stellantis and Renault halted their Spanish assembly lines as the chip shortage persisted. And Uber is investigating a cybersecurity incident after a hacker breaches its internal network.

Interesting Reads

• Should there be a driving test for autonomous vehicles? This article explores the question.

• With more EVs in the market, this article explores whether the grid is prepared to handle them.