Volume 35
| Welcome to the next edition of our bi-weekly recap of the latest and greatest in connected and on-demand mobility. If you’re not already receiving this email, you should be: Subscribe |
| Tesla launches Full Self-Driving (FSD) subscription service Inside EVs, July 17th Tesla has officially launched in the U.S. a subscription service for the Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance system, which was announced by Elon Musk in late 2020. |
| Robotaxis: have Google and Amazon backed the wrong technology? Financial Times, July 18th Since Google launched its self-driving car project in 2009, the biggest challenge has been one of technology: can it be safe enough to deploy at scale? |
| Uber expands grocery delivery to 400 cities, including NYC and San Francisco The Verge, July 19th Uber has more than doubled the number of cities where it delivers groceries, marking the first major expansion of the new service since its launch last year. |
| The shift to electric vehicles means training new auto suppliers Forbes, July 19th There have been lots of dire predictions about the impact on the auto supply chain as a result of the shift from internal combustion engines (ICE) to plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles (EV). |
| Delivery giants DoorDash and Grubhub are suing San Francisco over the permanent fee cap Eater, July 19th DoorDash and Grubhub filed a lawsuit on Friday, July 16, against the city and county of San Francisco, as first reported by Restaurant Business. In the lawsuit, DoorDash and Grubhub say that “imposing permanent price controls” is unnecessary, harmful, and unconstitutional. |
| Could Didi shake up the U.S. ride-hailing market? Business Travel News, July 9th The $4.4 billion China-based ride-hailing firm Didi raised in its initial public offering on June 30 could help support its goal of growth in more foreign markets, possibly including the United States. If Didi enters the U.S., some analysts suspect ride-hail prices could fall but wait times could worsen. |
| Toyota strengthens autonomous vehicle play with Carmera acquisition The Robot Report, July 15th Less than three months after acquiring Lyft’s autonomous vehicle unit for $550 million, Toyota subsidiary Woven Planet Holdings made another acquisition to strengthen its position in the market. Woven Planet is acquiring HD mapping startup Carmera for an undisclosed amount. |
| Amazon applies for patent on secondary delivery vehicle to carry packages from truck to doorstep Tech Xplore, July 16th Amazon Inc. has applied for a patent on a package delivery system that involves a primary vehicle for carrying packages destined for multiple drop-off points, and a secondary, much smaller, delivery vehicle that carries packages from the primary vehicle to the end-point destination. |
| Autonomous driving start-up Aurora plans to go public through SPAC deal with initial value of $11 billion CNBC, July 15th Aurora, a start-up developing hardware and software to enable vehicles to drive autonomously, is going public through a SPAC merger. |
| Honda is open for a new alliance to slash EV costs Inside EVs, July 18th Honda‘s CEO Toshihiro Mibe said at a recent press briefing that the company is open to form a new alliance to lower the costs of electrification and make electric cars profitable. |
| ‘No surprise pickups’: Lyft bringing back a version of shared rides ABC 7 Chicago, July 15th Shared rides were a key part of how the founders of Uber and Lyft envisioned disrupting transportation. Back in 2014, the companies raced each other to be first to announce their carpooling options, with the promise of creating a more efficient service that’s also more affordable for riders. |
