Intel Report: The Weekly Mobility News That Matters

BY AUTOMOTIVE VENTURES | AUG 18 2025 | VIEW ONLINE

What We're Reading:

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Automotive

Last year, Ford CEO Jim Farley commuted in a car that wasn’t made by his own company. In an effort to scope out the competition, Farley spent six months driving around in a Xiaomi Technology SU7. The Chinese-made electric sedan is one of the world’s most impressive cars: It can accelerate faster than many Porsches, has a giant touch screen that lets you turn off the lights at your house, and comes with a built-in AI assistant—all for roughly $30,000 in China. “It’s fantastic,” Farley said about the Xiaomi SU7 on a podcast last fall. “I don’t want to give it up.” Farley has openly feared what might happen to Ford if more Americans can get behind the wheel of the Xiaomi SU7. Ford was able to import a Xiaomi from Shanghai for testing purposes, but for now, regular Americans cannot buy the SU7 or another one of the many affordable and highly advanced EVs made in China. Stiff tariffs and restrictions on Chinese technology have kept them out of the U.S. If things changed, Ford—along with all other automakers in the U.S.—would be in serious danger. Chinese EVs can be so cheap and high tech that they risk outcompeting all cars, not just electric ones. In the rest of the world, traditional automakers are already struggling as Chinese cars hit the market. In Europe, Chinese brands now have roughly as much share of the market as Mercedes-Benz. “We are in a global competition with China,” Farley said earlier this year. “And if we lose this, we do not have a future at Ford.” It might sound a bit overblown. American auto executives delivered similar warnings about Japan in the ’80s—and Ford’s still standing today. But this week, Ford signaled, in unusually clear terms for the auto industry, that it sees China as an existential threat. | The Atlantic ($)

Automakers collectively sold about 35,000 electric pickups to US drivers in the first half of 2025, down 4% from the year before. Meanwhile, 1.6 million gasoline-powered full-size pickups flew off lots during the same period, according to market research firm AutoForecast Solutions. Now automakers who rushed to invest billions of dollars to build plug-in pickups can’t help but wonder how they overestimated interest from their most loyal customers so badly. | Bloomberg ($)

Ford plans to start selling a midsize electric pickup for about $30,000 in 2027 that can be built up to 40% faster than vehicles today.The truck will use a new EV platform that executives say is as revolutionary as the product itself. The automaker on Aug. 11 revealed its Ford Universal EV Platform that’s expected to underpin as many as eight models, starting with a pickup that will be closer in size to a Maverick than a Ranger. Ford says the truck will have more interior space than a Toyota RAV4, plus a front trunk and a truck bed for cargo. The platform will utilize a new “assembly tree” process where three sub-assemblies — the front, rear and the battery platform — will run down their own lines at the Louisville Assembly Plant simultaneously before being joined together. It’s similar to Tesla’s gigacasting process. The platform reduces parts by 20% versus a typical vehicle, Ford says, with 25% fewer fasteners and 40% fewer workstations. | Automotive News ($)

Ford will invest $2 billion to transform its Louisville Assembly Plant into a factory capable of making a new generation of affordable EVs, starting with a mid-sized pickup truck with a base price of $30,000 that is slated to launch in 2027. The end result is what Ford calls the “universal production system,” which changes its single conveyor line into a three-branched assembly tree. Ford has also developed a universal EV platform that will use lithium iron phosphate batteries using tech licensed from China’s CATL - Energy Storage Solution Provider and manufactured at its new $3 billion BlueOval Battery Park factory in Michigan. That factory, which is expected to come online in 2026, will employ 1,700 hourly workers. The new EV platform will consist of large single-piece aluminum unicastings that uses far fewer parts and will allow the front and rear of the vehicle to be assembled separately on two of the branches. The third branch is perhaps most notable; this is where the structural battery will be assembled with seats, consoles, and carpeting. The three components will come together at the end of the line to form the vehicle. The end result is an EV that has 20% fewer parts, including 50% fewer cooling hoses and connections, and 25% fewer fasteners, according to Ford. The first EV off the line will be a mid-sized pickup that’s is about the same size as a Ford Maverick, but roomier on the inside. Unlike a traditional assembly line, where the workers move along adding the wire harness and other parts to the frame, the EV platform will consist of three kits. Within that kit, all fasteners, scanners and power tools required for the job are included – and in the correct orientation for use, according to Ford. The system also reduces the number of dock stations by 40%. The EV platform will be produced 15% faster, the company said. | TechCrunch ($)

Doug Field sounded a lot like Elon Musk when unveiling Ford Motor Company’s strategy to compete against the rise of Chinese electric cars. At an event this week in Louisville, Ky., Field detailed the thinking behind Ford’s affordable electric vehicle program, which promises a midsize pickup priced at around $30,000 in 2027. His ambitious plan boils down to implementing hardcore engineering to take down costs, while keeping performance; and upending 100 years of manufacturing practices to go faster, including through more automation. All of which rang familiar to anyone following Tesla’s announcement in 2023 to slash the cost of building its next-generation cars by 50%. “Physics isn’t proprietary,” Field, Ford’s EV chief, told me after his event Monday when I noted the similarities. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

Joe White shares the new Vehicle Performance Tracker data from auto industry consultant Warren Browne of RFQ Insights. Warren has run the numbers on the cost of President Trump’s tariffs on automakers in the U.S. market. It’s not a pretty picture for industry executives, shareholders or car shoppers. When a new vehicle has an average price of $49,000+, $2,200 may not look like much. But it’s more than 40% the average profit per vehicle at the best-performing Detroit automaker. The industry will not eat that for long. | Joe White

Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes on average between 2017 and 2022, sealed court records show, a level far more pervasive than what the company has disclosed. Publicly, the ride-sharing service proclaimed it was one of the safest options for travel, with aggressive media campaigns and polished reports on its website about the rarity of serious attacks. Inside Uber, teams of data scientists and safety experts spent years studying the problem. The company tested tools that proved effective at making trips safer, including sophisticated matching algorithms, mandatory video recording and pairing female passengers with female drivers. Still, Uber delayed or did not require its drivers to adopt some of the most promising programs, nor did it warn passengers about factors it linked to attacks, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees, internal documents and court records. Hundreds of the records have been under seal as part of large-scale sexual assault litigation against Uber. Uber’s decisions about safety came as it prioritized growing its user base, avoiding costly lawsuits and protecting its business model, which classifies drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, the records show. The distinction is important to Uber. Contractors are much cheaper than employees because the company does not need to pay benefits or overtime, and it also means drivers are minimally supervised and not subject to the same labor rules as traditional employees. | The New York Times ($)A lot has changed in Formula 1 since 1950. Today's cars, full of advanced aerodynamic and safety tech, are unrecognizable from the originals. So, too, are the speeds, which now approach 230 mph. The 2025 season, F1's 75th anniversary, presents an opportunity to look back on the sport's evolution, progress charted in some of the most iconic cars in racing history - before the rulebook changes again in the months to come. | ESPNKoenigsegg's Jesko Absolut has just thrown down a new statement run in one of the most hardcore hypercar feats of acceleration and braking, blasting from a dead stop to 400 kilometers an hour (248 mph) and back to a standstill in just 25.21 seconds. This factory-backed effort nudged the bar a fraction ahead of Rimac Automobili's recent Nevera R-based assault on the same record. What's arguably most impressive though, is just how differently these two road-going weapons manage the feat ... and, to a certain extent, that the Jesko Absolut is in this conversation at all. On paper, the margin we're talking about is quite small. The Jesko Absolut's 0-400-0 km/h time of 25.21s beats the Nevera R (25.79s) by a little over half a second. The story behind those figures is wildly asymmetric though — because in theory, it should be nearly impossible for the Swede to beat the Nevera R despite the latter weighing over two tons. After all, the Croatian car leverages four motors to make a combined 2107 horsepower and 1726 lb-ft of torque. That might sound like an impossible amount of power to control, but Rimac manages it through clever engineering and putting that power down through four tires. The Koenigsegg has equally impressive engineering, but it's missing some big advantages that Rimac has. First, it leverages a twin-turbo V8, not hyper-responsive electric motors; second, it routes all of its 1600 horsepower through the rear tires. | Road & Track

In all, just 417,000 new cars and vans were built in the UK in the first six months of 2025, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) - the lowest for that period since 1953. Output for the year is expected to be around 755,000 vehicles — lower even than during the Covid-19 pandemic. The SMMT's chief executive, Mike Hawes, described the situation as "depressing". The sector contributes some £22bn a year to the economy, according to the SMMT, and as recently as 2023 automotive manufacturing employed some 198,000 people in the UK. Andy Palmer, who was previously chief executive of Aston Martin, believes the ecosystem - and the sum it contributes to the economy - can only survive if the industry maintains its current scale. | BBC

Pham Nhat Vuong spent billions of dollars on an unsuccessful push to turn his upstart electric automaker VINFAST into a major player in the U.S. and Europe. Now, Vietnam’s richest man is changing tack after VinFast had deep losses and is instead focusing on Asian markets such as India, Indonesia and the Philippines. It’s the latest twist in an against-the-odds quest by the 57-year-old property tycoon to build a global carmaker. At least $14 billion has already been poured into VinFast, including funding from Vuong’s conglomerate Vingroup JSC, its affiliates and external lenders — as well as more than $2 billion of his own fortune. He says he’s willing to support VinFast until his money runs out. Vuong’s commitment has kept the company afloat even as losses mount. Last year it booked $1.57 of costs for every $1 of sales and logged a $3.2 billion loss. It’s a race against time, said Tu Le, founder of Detroit-based auto consulting firm Sino Auto Insights. While VinFast is now gaining traction in Vietnam, it’s unclear whether it can build a presence in Asia quickly enough to compete against rivals from China and elsewhere. | Automotive News ($)

⚡️

EVs

Optimistic EV adoption forecasts were off the mark. Over the last decade, a steady stream of forecasters offered rosy views on EV adoption that simply haven’t come to pass. Worse, many of them were never revisited, leaving lessons unlearned. | Bloomberg ($)

The Trump administration has finally issued new guidance that states can use to dole out $5 billion in funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, after spending months withholding the money. A coalition of states sued over the funding freeze in the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, which was one of the administration’s many attempts to stop funding appropriated by Congress at the start of Donald Trump’s second term. A judge ruled in June that those states were likely to succeed and issued an injunction against the administration’s spending freeze. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), led by former MTV personality Sean Duffy, has criticized the states for taking too long to spend the money. As of May, around 84% of the $5 billion (authorized as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) was still waiting to be obligated and only a few dozen chargers had been built. Duffy and the DOT also claimed the funding was only halted while a “review process” was performed to ensure the NEVI program aligned with the administration’s priorities. A new press release issued Monday reveals what that entails. | TechCrunch ($)

Golf carts are becoming street legal in one community after another as families ditch their minivans and SUVs when they want to run a quick errand or ramble around town. But with the boom has come a backlash. Some residents of cart-friendly towns say slow drivers are clogging the streets and reckless ones are making them unsafe. They grumble about cart drivers, including tweens and young teens, speeding, swerving and treating the road like their own private parade route. The momentum, however, belongs to the carts. Golf carts designed for the road have been around since the early 2000s, but demand has soared in the past five years. Mark Rickell, a sales executive at cart maker Club Car, estimated the total U.S. market for the vehicles at $5 billion, up from $1 billion before the pandemic. Many of today’s carts have little in common with old-school fairway ramblers. Street-ready versions usually come with seat belts, headlights and turn signals, and can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to more than $25,000. Manufacturers typically cap their speed at 20 or 25 miles an hour, though some owners say that can be boosted with a little tinkering. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

🇨🇳

China

A bold prediction by Michael Dunne at Dunne Insights: Look for President Trump to announce a <grand deal> in Q4 featuring multi billion dollar china automaker investment into a southern state. | Dunne Insights

BYD is now building its own tablets in-house, adding to its arsenal of self-developed tech. The new full-stack tablet shows that BYD is not just dominating the EV market, but is also out to reshape the industry. The new tablets will be the first made in-house by BYD as it expands into new spaces. BYD is best known for its low-cost electric cars and “Blade” EV batteries, which are used by several major car makers like Tesla, Ford, BMW, Toyota, and others. BYD has been building batteries since the ’90s. Initially used to power cellphones, they are now used to power electric cars around the world. And that’s just scratching the surface of it. BYD’s in-house capabilities extend far beyond that. It builds nearly every component used in the Dolphin, BYD’s popular electric hatch, except the tires and windows. That’s pretty impressive. The company has also grown to become one of China’s largest contract manufacturers. BYD’s subsidiary manufactures smartphones, laptops, vehicle electronics, and more. It’s also a major supplier for Apple, assembling iPads and iPhones. | Electrek

Last year, Chinese automaker BYD put the world on notice with its all-electric Yangwang U9 supercar. The 1287-hp dual-motor monster managed to hit a top speed of 244 mph on an oval test track, setting a new high point for Chinese automakers. Then the brand took the car to the Green Hell, where it managed to post an impressive 7:17.900 lap around the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Now, thanks to a report regarding filings with the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, word is that a more potent four-motor model is coming — one with more than 3000 hp on tap. According to Car News China, the filings with the MIIT feature an upcoming Yangwang U9 Track Edition model, which adopts a four-motor powertrain in place of the standard car’s dual-motor setup. The agency filing states that each wheel will feature a 555-kW motor, the report says, which work together to produce 3019 hp. | Road & Track

When the history of the early twenty-first century is written, it will surely focus on the war for global supremacy between two great nations: China and the United States. It’s a war playing out in countless arenas, and all the signs point to America falling behind. China is hoarding rare earth minerals, building batteries, dominating drones (the ones deciding the fate of Ukraine), controlling critical supply chains, and stealing intellectual property. Oh, and they’re also coming for America’s electric cars. Tesla, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company, was once a potent symbol of America’s technological supremacy: a reminder that this country has the best ideas—and the will to make them happen. But, in a sign of the times, America’s EV pioneer now faces a growing threat from Chinese companies that have studied American inventions, replicated them, and arguably surpassed them, selling them—at scarily cheap prices—around the world. Last year, China’s leading EV company BYD—it claims the initials stand for Build Your Dreams—sold 4.3 million vehicles, overtaking reigning EV champion Tesla as the world’s largest EV maker. In Germany, China has over 40 percent of the EV market. In Mexico, it’s 70 percent. In Brazil, it’s an astonishing 89 percent, the vast majority of which are BYD autos. “It’s the most humbling thing I’ve ever seen,” Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford Motor Company, told Musk’s biographer Walter Isaacson. “We are in a global competition with China,” he went on. “And if we lose this we do not have a future at Ford.” | The Free Press ($)

The Trump administration’s approach to the AI revolution is detailed in a 23-page report it released last month. Its plan focuses on slashing regulation to accelerate domestic innovation; building data centers and otherwise strengthening America’s AI infrastructure; and on using export controls and other measures to buttress Washington’s global lead and influence. The goal, says Trump, is to ensure “unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance” for years to come. Beijing begs to differ: Just three days after the US released its report, China released its own 13-point plan. China has long made AI central to its economic and industrial strategies. Its plan focuses more on AI diplomacy — on shaping the global environment in which that technology will be developed and employed. Taken together, the dueling plans are a revealing window into the strengths and weaknesses the two powers bring to the AI fight. | Bloomberg ($)

Soon after the blockade started, the panic began. When China choked off the export of rare-earth elements in April, producers and politicians around the world were quick to sound the alarm. China provides over 90% of the world’s supply of refined rare earths, which are used to make the strong magnets inside almost anything with an electric motor, from vacuum cleaners to cars, and which also appear in high-tech products from smartphones to fighter jets. Some carmakers curtailed production; the industry is in “panic mode”, said one boss. Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, thundered against China’s “dominance” and “blackmail”. At first glance the use of rare earths as a weapon is working—and Xi Jinping, China’s president, is getting what he wants. After the flow of rare earths resumed, America’s president lifted controls on the sale of some Nvidia chips, and delayed a hefty increase in import duties; on August 11th America and China further extended their trade truce. In July Mrs von der Leyen went cap-in-hand to Beijing, seeking looser restrictions. But in the long term, China’s rare-earths weapon will backfire. Confronted with a ban, companies and entrepreneurs find ways around the shortage. China’s dominance in rare earths stems not from exclusive control of the world’s deposits, nor from the technological sophistication of the refining process, but instead from efficiency and scale. And the more it uses rare earths (or indeed other commodities) as a weapon, the more it will encourage others to find alternatives—weakening its future firepower. | The Economist ($)

The United States needs to study China if it’s going to remain a superpower, Dan Wang argues in his new book, Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future. But it needs to learn the right lessons — including, most importantly, how to build. In Breakneck, Wang argues that the key difference between the two giants is that China is run by engineers — in 2002 all nine members of the Politburo standing committee had engineering backgrounds — whereas the U.S. is run by lawyers. China prioritizes building colossal public works such as bridges, dams and airports, as well as products like toys and iPhones. The US excels at making and enforcing rules. | Bloomberg ($)

🤖

Autonomy, Robotics & AI

General Motors is seeking to lure back some former employees of its defunct Cruise autonomous-vehicle business as part of a renewed push to develop a new driverless car, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. This time around, the project would be focused on autonomous cars for personal use, rather than a robotaxi service, these people said. The first step is development of hands-free, eyes-free driving with a human in the vehicle, with the ultimate goal being a car that can drive with no one at the wheel, they said. | AutomotiveNews ($)

As other companies begin to master autonomous vehicle technology, Uber’s new strategy is to make deals with as many of them as possible. It offers them an immediate way to access passengers at scale by allowing customers to book robotaxi rides through the Uber app. Its partners so far include Volkswagen, a carmaker that will start offering a robotaxi service in Los Angeles next year; WeRide, a Chinese startup that will collaborate with Uber in 15 cities worldwide over the next five years; and Apollo Go, the autonomous-vehicle (av) arm of Baidu, Inc., a Chinese tech giant, which offers trips in Asia and the Middle East and hopes to do so in Europe. Uber has also been putting capital to work. Last year it invested an undisclosed sum in Wayve, a British av startup, and in June announced that together they would begin trialling robotaxi rides in London next year. Reports have also emerged that Uber may help Travis Kalanick, co-founder and former boss of Uber, finance a deal to buy the American operations of Pony.ai, another Chinese AV firm with which it already has a deal to deploy robotaxis in the Middle East. | The Economist ($)

Revel has shut down its ride-hailing service in New York City, in yet another pivot for the company that started out by renting electric scooters in 2019. Moving forward, Revel will instead focus on its nascent EV charging business, which includes operating five stations in New York and one in San Francisco. A visit to Revel’s app on Monday showed a message thanking users for “riding with us the last 4 years!” and announcing it has “permanently closed our rideshare service.” Revel’s website echoed the same message, adding: “Moving forward, Revel will continue to grow our Fast Charging business with more sites and cities opening soon.” “We have made the difficult decision that the best way we can keep the EV transition moving forward is by ending our rideshare service and focusing on building the fast charging infrastructure our biggest cities need to keep going electric,” Revel co-founder and CEO Frank Reig said in a statement to TechCrunch. | TechCrunch ($)

SemiAnalysis introduces their industry-first “Robotics Levels of Autonomy,” which classifies robotics into 5 distinct Levels:Level 0: Scripted Motion – Robots are pre-programmed entirely, requiring static environments and tasks to function. Level 1: Intelligent Pick and Place – Robots can identify items in various positions and pick them for sorting.Level 2: Autonomous Mobility – Robots can understand the open world, navigate, and traverse various terrains.Level 3: Low-skill Manipulation – Robots can perform basic, noncritical, low-skill tasks.Level 4: Force-dependent Tasks – Robots can perform delicate tasks that require force and weight understanding, e.g. finding a phone in a pocket, driving a screw on the correct threads, etc.Each Level of Autonomy is defined by the capability unlocked, and each builds sequentially on those before it to enable new applications. To ground these Levels, we provide data-driven analysis of current deployments, use cases and economics, current challenges, and active areas of progress. The Levels provide a type of task segmentation in which progress is additive — robots may target one Level of tasks and still benefit from capabilities developed in other Levels. | SemiAnalysis

Last year, Google introduced “AI Overviews,” a feature that displays an artificial intelligence-generated result summary at the top of many Google search pages. This feature is available to millions of U.S. Google users. Online publishers recently have attributed declining web traffic to these summaries replacing traditional search results, claiming that many users are relying on the summaries instead of following links to the publishers’ websites. A Pew Research Center report published this spring analyzed data from 900 U.S. adults who agreed to share their online browsing activity. About six-in-ten respondents (58%) conducted at least one Google search in March 2025 that produced an AI-generated summary. Additional analysis found that Google users were less likely to click on result links when visiting search pages with an AI summary compared with those without one. For searches that resulted in an AI-generated summary, users very rarely clicked on the sources cited. | Pew Research Center ($)

Tomasz Tunguz at Theory Ventures believes that AI systems disintermediate the user/publisher relationship. Users prefer aggregated AI answers over clicking through websites to find their answers. Most websites should expect less traffic. Pew Research Center’s July 2025 study reveals users click just 8% of search results with AI summaries, versus 15% without = a 47% reduction. Only 1% click through from within AI summaries. Cloudflare data shows AI platforms crawl content far more than they refer traffic back : Anthropic crawls 32,400 pages for every 1 referral, while traditional search engines scan content just a couple times per visitor sent. | Tomasz Tunguz

📡

Connectivity

The Volkswagen ID.3, a Golf-like electric hatchback not sold on the American market, is not particularly powerful outside of its performance-focused GTX trim level. Like many EVs, the basic ID.3 can be optioned with more horsepower without any actual change to its hardware change. Unlike most of those cars, however, British-market buyers can now opt to pay a monthly fee for that horsepower increase. Engine power is 148 hp as standard, 168 hp if you activate the optional power upgrade for a fee. Choice of one-month free trial or subscription (one month, one year or outright purchase for lifetime of car). Auto Express UK reports that the fee is equivalent to $22.50 per month, $225 for a year, or a one-time purchase of $878. At that rate, the one-time purchase is priced the same as 39 months of monthly subscription or just under four years of the annual subscription. | Road & Track ($)

Software is expected to be the main revenue growth driver for automakers by 2030. As the industry shifts toward software-defined vehicles, which automakers are racing ahead —and which have more work to do? Tesla is the closest, at 80% to 85% of the way toward offering SDVs, Gartner Vice President of Research Pedro Pacheco told Automotive News Europe. Software-defined vehicles have an electronic architecture that allows changes and upgrades throughout their lifetime, primarily over the air. It allows the integration of new applications to enhance vehicle operations and functions. Trailing Tesla are China startups NIO and XPENG as well as U.S. EV makers Rivian and Lucid Motors, according to Gartner’s 2024 Digital Automaker Index, which reflects progress in hardware, firmware update capabilities, rollouts of over-the-air updates, and use of AI in vehicle software. | Automotive News ($)

A security researcher said flaws in a carmaker’s online dealership portal exposed the private information and vehicle data of its customers, and could have allowed hackers to remotely break into any of its customers’ vehicles. The flaw he discovered allowed the creation of an admin account that granted “unfettered access” to the unnamed carmaker’s centralized web portal. With this access, a malicious hacker could have viewed the personal and financial data of the carmaker’s customers, track vehicles, and enroll customers in features that allow owners — or the hackers — control some of their car’s functions from anywhere. | TechCrunch ($)

✈️ Aviation & Space

Nearly 20 years after the first commercial flight powered partly by biofuels made the short hop from London to Amsterdam, Reuters found that the airline industry’s plans to go green before regulators start penalizing them are little more than a pipe dream. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a global body that represents 340 airlines, forecasts SAF will account for 0.7% of total jet fuel this year, up from 0.3% in 2024. Air passenger traffic, meanwhile, is expected to rise 6% this year, IATA says. IATA has set a goal of net zero emissions by 2050, a target that would require airlines to ramp up SAF use to 118 billion gallons annually, a more than 300-fold increase from current production. Airline industry leaders point to a wave of new SAF initiatives they say will spark a boom similar to the rapid rise of electric vehicles and solar energy. However, the aviation sector has yet to publish a comprehensive roadmap or a transparent database of upcoming SAF projects that would allow regulators and the public to assess the credibility of these projections. | Reuters ($)

With more than 8,000 Starlink satellites in the sky today, low Earth orbit may seem like the place to be to connect the next generation of Internet and cellphone customers. However, some players are placing their bets slightly closer to the ground. Starting next year, Tokyo’s SoftBank Group will be beaming a prototype 4G and 5G phone and broadband service from the stratosphere to Japanese end users. Floating 20 kilometers above the Earth, the company’s airship-based mast will be using energy-regeneration tech and newly allocated spectrum. And the tech could ultimately pose a real, competitive threat to satellite-based platforms like Starlink. The Japanese telecom giant announced last month it had secured exclusive rights to deploy stratospheric, lighter-than-air craft over Japan. SoftBank’s pre-commercial airship “tower” delivering 4G and 5G cellphone service, the company said, will be coming in 2026. | IEEE Spectrum

🚂 Rail

Researchers hope they may have solved the “tunnel boom” problem as they prepare to roll out China’s latest prototype magnetic levitation train. The newest version of the maglev train is capable of travelling at 600km/h (about 370mph). However, the train’s engineers have wrestled with the problem of the shock waves that occur as the train exits the mouth of a tunnel. When a high-speed train enters an enclosed space such as a tunnel, air in front is compressed, like in a piston. The resulting fluctuations in air pressure coalesce at the tunnel mouth, generating low-frequency shock waves. These are colloquially known as a “tunnel boom” – a related, albeit different phenomenon to the “sonic boom” heard as aircraft pass the speed of sound. Tunnel booms pose serious challenges to operational safety, as the shock waves can disturb humans and animals nearby, as well as causing structural damage. Now, however, researchers have discovered that placing innovative soundproofing buffers at tunnel mouths can reduce shock waves by up to 96%. This promises improvements in operational safety, noise pollution and passenger comfort, as well as safeguarding animals in the vicinity of future lines. | The Guardian

⚓️ Marine

American shipbuilders are playing catch-up after decades of maritime-industry decline, though President Trump’s ambitious plans to revive American shipbuilding have hit snags recently. In the shorter term, Trump’s threat to impose higher fees on ships made in China is giving South Korean and Japanese rivals an opening to win back market share. | The Wall Street Journal ($)

📚 Investing

Peter Walker from Carta analyzed 12,258 U.S. seed-stage startups and shows just how rare it is to reach Series B, even in peak markets. In the frothiest conditions, ~35% of seed companies make it to Series B within seven years. In more typical markets, it’s closer to 16–20%. | Carta

🚘 Car of the Week

Our Automotive Ventures "Car of the Week": a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Bianco Speciale. | Mecum Auctions

Have a great week,Steve Greenfield

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📺 In The News

📢

Thanks to Kristen Strakalaitis at Automotive News for featuring Automotive Ventures portfolio company Go Eve. | Automotive News

📢

On this week's "Future of Automotive" segment on CBT News, we are excited to see both Ford and Toyota challenging their business models to compete with the Chinese automakers. | CBT News ($)

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