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Hello readers: Welcome to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of transport of people and parcels from point A to point B.
Your usual host, Kirsten Korosec, is on a well-deserved vacation in the great outdoors, so I’m taking over this week to bring you the news and wish you a happy new year and a quick recovery from your hangover.
It’s officially 2022, but let’s take a quick look at the past year. To sum it up in a nutshell – everyone bought e-bikes; Robotaxis and autonomous trucks are approaching commercialization; teleoperated robots for street delivery are growing in popularity; National Highway Traffic and Safety Association keeps an eye on Tesla and Chevy; pretty much every OEM invests a lot of money in electrification, including battery joint ventures; and eVTOLs have required a tremendous amount of investment.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the last one. My colleague Aria Alamalhodaei wrote a two-part series about the trends that are shaping the eVTOL space. The first part looks back on 2021highlighting trends like:
- SPACs have caught on and helped pump a stupid amount of money into the industry with companies like Archer aviation, Joby aviation, Lilium and Vertical aerospace all merge with blank check companies.
- The on-site infrastructure, such as Vertiports and chargers, is developing into a business unit in its own right, and companies like Archer, Hyundai and Volocopter are looking for ways to integrate air mobility into a city’s existing transport networks.
- There were increased orders for eVTOL aircraft, starting with United Airlines $ 1 billion order from Archer.
- Automakers – like Hyundai, Honda and Xpeng – invest resources in building their own flying cars.
All of these movements set the stage for what is to come in 2022. Some of Aria’s predictions are:
- “The main story of 2022 will definitely be certification,” said Sergio Cecutta, founder and partner of SMG Consulting. “It is the year of standing up or keeping silent.”
- Other automakers will get involved in this area. This is shown by large investments by Toyota and Stellantis into it Joby and a manufacturing agreement with Archer, or.
- More SPAC offers. Aria writes that this cannot be taken for granted, “but the high capital requirements of aviation could mean that more and more startups are looking for a huge injection of money via the public markets.”
If you have any thoughts, criticism, tips, or opinions that you’d like to share, you can email me at rebecca.techcrunch@gmail.com.
Micromobin ‘
Since we are making predictions, I would be remiss if I didn’t share a few thoughts about it 2022 could apply to the world of micromobility. I’ve spoken to some experts and found some interesting and even crazy answers.
Crystal ball says …
- More e-bikes will reach the common micromobility space.
- Fresh VC money is running dry and there will likely be no more new entrants to the market. Those who made it this far are likely to stay here, and they will become more mature and efficient.
- That said, the ride-hail company (aka Over and elevator) could come back to play says Segways Tony Ho, based on orders and requests for vehicles he sees arriving.
- All that ADAS scooter We started seeing last year? Yes it is here to stay and will only increase. But that’s not all! Buckle up for smarter vehicles that not only impact the way you drive, but also give operators more monetization opportunities. Data. Is. Everything. Operators will look for ways to sell sensor data.
- Horace Dediu, industry analyst and co-host of the Micromobility podcast, assumes that there will be a far greater integration of micromobility options with traffic planning apps such as Google Maps.
- He also said we can expect a link between micromobility and the metaverse. The f &% !, you might be thinking. Wait for it. Imagine a smart helmet with an augmented reality-capable visor that gives you directions or lures you to the nearest café with a floating coupon!
- New, heavier form factors. Personally, I would like to see a small vehicle with a roof! We all don’t love getting caught in the rain.
- Better integration of micromobility offers in local public transport.
In other news …
butter just got a $ 115 million Series D. collected in what is known as an oversubscribed round of financing that will help her expand into new markets. As scooter companies consolidate their power, such a large increase this late in the game definitely matters.
Wind mobility, which has sold Italian and Israeli businesses in the last few months, is now equipping its e-scooter fleet in Nottingham and Derby in Great Britain with LINK e-scooters from. on Super pedestrian. Users now need to download the LINK app in order to continue using Wind’s service. So is it really still the service from Wind?
Superpedestrian has also launched 150 seat scooters in Baltimore to provide safer and more comfortable transportation for people with disabilities and older drivers.
offer of the week
As for the holidays, there weren’t too many offers, but I noticed the AI chip maker Knorons Raise $ 25 million. The Chinese startup will use the funding to begin manufacturing chips for autonomous driving applications. This move comes as the company may prepare to go public in the US over the next several years, and with an increasing number of AV companies looking to scale up over the same period, Kneron could be kept an eye on.
The other deal I noticed is that of South Africa Planet42, a car subscription company that buys used cars from dealers and rents them to customers who just raised $ 30 million in equity and debt. The round is a bridge round, a precursor to a Series A, and will help the company expand into the Mexican market.
Planet42 has an interesting business model that it calls “socially inclusive”. As a company providing services in emerging markets, it helps people with potentially unstable incomes or poor creditworthiness access vehicles that could potentially change their lives.
Notable news and other goodies
Autonomous vehicles
Waymo cooperates with Chinese automaker Geely to build a fully electric, self-driving ride-hailing vehicle. The companies will be Waymo Driver, Waymo’s AV system, in Geelys Seekr Vehicles for use in US markets “in the coming years”.
TuSimple has completed its first autonomous truck run on public roads without a person in the vehicle or any human intervention. Its autonomous driving system has fully completed an 80-mile run on paved roads and highways between Tuscon, Arizona and Phoenix.
Iveco joined plus to start a pilot project in Europe and China aimed at validating and integrating Plus’s autonomous truck technology in the latest generation S-Way heavy-duty trucks from Iveco.
AutoX built a level 4 robotax manufacturing facility in China to manufacture its Gen 5 vehicles, which it claims can be operated in the vehicle without a safety driver.
Electric vehicles
FedEx got his first five GM-built Brightdrop Electric delivery vans from an order of 500. The move marks an important milestone for FedEx in its stated goal, a fully electric delivery fleet and be climate neutral worldwide by 2040.
Heaviness launched a fleet of all-electric yellow cabs in NYC that includes: Ford Mustang Mach-E cabs.
Nikola has reached a solution with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, ready to pay $ 125 million to settle allegations that it defrauded investors by misleading them about its products, technological advances, and commercial prospects.
arrival has started testing its Arrival Bus at a test facility in the UK, where it will conduct rigorous testing to obtain approval for use on public roads.
Other
Israeli Driver Monitoring Systems Company (DMS) Cipia will integrate its technology with the Chinese automaker SAICs Roewe RX5 MAX Auto to detect when a driver is distracted or drowsy.
Reporter Rita Liao wrote an in-depth look at the Chinese internet giant Meituans Dominance of the drone delivery room in Shenzhen. In the past two years, the company has flown 19,000 meals to 8,000 customers in seven parts of the city. Now the company is preparing to double its air delivery ambitions. Meituan recently applied for a permit to operate a commercial drone delivery service across Shenzhen, which is expected to be approved in 2022. Meituan’s competition, backed by Alibaba Ele.me and e-commerce powerhouse JD.com, have also invested in similar drone delivery services in recent years.
