Happy Sunday! This week in mobility... just in time for the holidays, the Tesla Semi officially hits the open roads, and more.
Need to Know
This week, Tesla unveiled the production version of its Tesla Semi class 8 electric truck. At its Tesla Semi Delivery Event in Nevada on Friday, the company showcased the vehicle and delivered the first unit to PepsiCo, a long-time reservation holder.
The company is touting the Tesla Semi as a disruptive vehicle for the trucking industry. That said, the price and weight of the truck are still unknown — these will ultimately be major drivers of adoptions as firms consider the cost of operation and vehicle efficiency compared to what the current market has to offer. While all signs point to positive marks for these areas, as we have more details, it’ll be exciting to see how these vehicles start to impact the industry.
In Other News
🏛 Regulatory. Stateside, Seattle, WA, launched a permit system for companies testing self-driving vehicles on city streets, and Colorado launched their first EV education campaign to accelerate adoption. In Europe, Germany’s KBA approved Mercedes-Benz and Bosch’s automated parking system for commercial use at Stuttgart Airport, and the Mayor of London expanded the city’s Ultra Low Emission Zone rules across all boroughs for large and heavy vehicles.
🚘 Passenger Vehicles. Lordstown Motors started customer deliveries of the Endurance electric pickup truck. Stellantis revealed the Abarth 500e, the brand’s first EV.
🚲 Micromobility. Polestar shared its plans to launch its own e-bike. Angell, Ossby, and Pragma Mobility launched new e-bike models.
🛞 Autonomous Tech. Tesla made its Full Self-Driving Beta available to everyone in North America. NIO and Tencent entered a partnership to work on autonomous driving and high-definition mapping. Baidu and Pony.ai were issued enhanced permits by Beijing, allowing them to offer a test service without a safety monitor in the front seats. WSJ reported that Cruise applied for a test license for their Origin vehicle in San Francisco.
⚡ Mobility Ecosystem. Stellantis and Qinomic teamed up to develop electric retrofitting of light commercial vehicles.
📍Go to Market. Uber and Aurora expanded their driverless truck pilot program in Texas to meet increased holiday delivery demand. Canoo delivered its first electric Light Tactical Vehicle to the US Army. Baidu announced plans to build a fully driverless ride-hailing service area in 2023. BYD plans to sell EVs in Mexico starting next year, with aims for a 10% share in the long term. Autoblog reported that Volkswagen may be in talks with Foxconn and Magna to build their Scout vehicles.
💼 Business. Motional, the Aptiv-Hyundai joint venture developing autonomous vehicle technology, cut its workforce. Regarding leadership updates, May Mobility named a senior Intel executive as COO, Faraday Future appointed its China head as global CEO, and Tesla’s senior director of engineering returned to Volvo.
💰 Investments. Nissan signed a ¥200 billion green loan for zero-emission mobility investments. RYVID received a $20 million grant from California to increase jobs and contribute to the state’s climate goals. SemiDrive, a Chinese auto chip maker, closed a $140 million Series B+ financing round. Hyperview, a Chinese autonomous driving startup, announced that it closed a Series B financing round. QCraft, a Chinese autonomous driving startup, announced the close of its Series B1 financing round. NopeaRide, Kenya’s first EV taxi service, shuts down due to a failure to raise additional funding.
Interesting Reads
Research from Carnegie Mellon details how Uber and Lyft are transforming our cities.
An article looking at how vehicle-to-grid solutions could help enable a net-zero future.
A look at how autonomous trucking software startup Embark went from being valued in the billions to now being far short of that.
A feature on Zoox, its robotaxi ambitions, and its CEO, Aicha Evans.