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A bit of housekeeping before jumping into the news. I’ve been putting up a few weeks with “Wheels of the Week” as I enter more EVs, hybrids, e-bikes and Robotaxis. stay tuned!
Little bird
Waymo has signed a contract with the San Francisco Airport Commission and, by extension, the city, to use the vehicles to map roads at the airport. The news has received extensive coverage as the city could ultimately grant permission to expand Waymo’s Robotaki service to the airport. For now, this only covers mappings and the vehicle is driven manually.
Some small birds shared terms with us of the agreement, including two important points. One source described these as “concessions.” And these terms could appear in future contracts.
According to the agreement seen by TechCrunch, Waymo agreed to share data after each mapping session per vehicle. This “data interface agreement” requires Waymo to track the vehicle as it enters the airport and exits and provides time, geographic location, identification, trip identifier, transaction type, unique driver-based identifier, and vehicle license plate number.
The agreement also prohibits Waymo from using self-driving vehicles to move commercial goods. Certainly, Waymo does not have an autonomous truck program, but such languages are important for groups like Teamsters.
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Great deal!
Just a few deals this week…
Battery materials startup Coreshell has raised $24 million in the Series A2 round led by Ferroglobe, a silicon supplier for Coreshell. Asymmetric Ventures, Estrada Ventures, Foothill Ventures, Helios Climate Ventures, Lane Ventures, Translink Investment, Trousdale Ventures and Zeon Ventures.
Swedish driverless truck startup Einride is discussing applying for an IPO that could value the company for over $5 billion, the Financial Times reported.
French EV subscription startup Evera has raised 2 million euros from Groupe Magelim and Newfund Naeh Innopy, McApital, AstoryAvc and Business Angel Eric Ibled.
Leta, a service provider as logistics software in Africa, has raised $5 million in seed funding, led by European VC company SpeedInvest. Google’s Africa Investment Fund, the equator and Africa-centric Climate Tech Fund also participated.
Battery technology startup Pulsetrain has secured €6.1 million in seed rounds co-led by Vsquared Ventures and Planet. Climate Club also participated.
Seadronix, a South Korea-based autonomous ship navigation company, has raised $11.3 million in a Series B funding round, which includes new investors LB investment, KB investment and the Korea Development Bank. The fund included existing backers Wonik Investment Partners and Lighthouse Combined Investment.
Notable readings and other information
Self-driving cars
What do you think Nvidia encouraged people to go “everything” with self-driving cars? Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sneaks into history lessons during his GTC keynote speech. Speaking of Nvidia’s GTC conference, there were a lot of AV-related announcements. Check out this summary of Gatik, GM, Torc and more.
Zoox issued a voluntary recall of 258 vehicles due to issues with autonomous driving systems that could cause unexpected hard braking.
Electric cars, charging, batteries
BYD has announced new EV charging technology. If that were to happen, it announced it would blow away the competition and be as fast as fueling a gas-powered car.
Honda and its luxury and performance brand Acura will have access to the Tesla Supercharger Network in June. Dive in: Here’s a handy summary of all the brands you can access.
Tesla and Libian are nailing the EV charging experience. According to a survey by Consumer Reports, both companies have the fewest problems. Worst: Shell Recharge Network, EVGO, and Blink.
Meanwhile, Tesla hasn’t done much with CyberTruck. The automaker has issued a recall of around 46,000 cyber torques on sale so far, as the outer steel trim panels peeled off on the sides of the windshield are peeling off.
And finally, and still on the Tesla front, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives begged Elon Musk in a memo released Thursday to reduce cooperation with government efficiency. He said Musk is facing a “moment of truth” at his EV company due to the “crisis” created by spending so much time in the Trump administration.
The future of flights
Joby Aviation partners with Virgin Atlantic to launch an electric aviation taxi in the UK, marking the seventh country that startups hope to commercialize one day. Reminder: Last year I first reported on this potential partnership in the “A Little Bird” section.
In-car technology
Well, I think this is a technical story inside and outside the car. We are talking about the expanded collaboration between GM and Nvidia. This was announced at the GTC conference. TL;DR: GM will work with NVIDIA to build custom AI systems using several Tech Giant products. The idea is to bring AI to the physical world of GM factories, robots and cars. More details can be found here.
Tesla received permission from the California Public Utilities Commission. This is news that some news has been confused or reported inaccurately. Here’s what Tesla can and cannot do with this transport charter permit: