Intel Report: Mobility News

BY AUTOMOTIVE VENTURES | NOV 20 2023 | VIEW ONLINE ➡️

Introducing Our Latest Investment: Auriga Space (Link)

What We're Reading:

Hyundai will begin selling vehicles via Amazon in January, enabling consumers to complete the full car-shopping and buying experience online and have the vehicle delivered to their driveway. (💲Link)Watch the Hyundai launch event with Amazon at the LA Auto Show. (Link)Electric vehicle (EV) market share rose to 7.4% of the U.S. market through Q3 of this year. A year earlier, EV share was 5.2%. At the time, Tesla had nearly two-thirds of the EV market as legacy brands and startups were still ramping up production. Tesla's share fell to 57.4% through September of this year as EV rivals chipped away at the leader. (💲Link)Whether or not adoption of EVs in the U.S. is actually stalling—the jury is out—it is clearly weaker than manufacturers were anticipating. (💲Link)Wall Street is making millions of dollars selling auto loans that borrowers often can’t afford. Lenders charge as much as 29.99% interest, but the industry says it’s throwing a lifeline to customers who need transportation. If many of these borrowers can’t repay, it hardly matters to investors. Multiple layers of protections all but guarantee they’ll get back their principal with interest. (💲Link)Cliff Banks reports on the status of the Illinois Ford dealership protest against Ford. (Link)Over the course of 48 hours, The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern examined more than 120 non-Tesla EV fast-charging stalls across Los Angeles, battling out-of-order signs, payment issues and bad “handshakes.” (💲Link)For the first time in at least 30 years, if ever, the personal auto insurance line’s combined ratio is 112.2, according to AM Best. That means for 2022, insurers saw an underwriting loss of $12 for every hundred dollars they collected in premium. In response, insurers are raising rates quickly by double-digits and pursuing undesirable options to reach equilibrium and return to profitability. (Link)A new study found engineers should make roads narrower to reduce car crashes. Such improvements would also come with environmental and economic benefits. (Link)Lukasz Krupski became so frustrated with Tesla that he handed over reams of data from the carmaker’s computer system to a German newspaper. The data contained thousands of accident reports and other internal Tesla communications that Handelsblatt used as the basis for stories about flaws with the company’s Autopilot driver-assistance software. (💲Link)Great post from David Cummings on focusing AI to help individual job functions become 10x more productive. At Automotive Ventures we'd like to identify entrepreneurs focused on doing this for roles at car dealerships. (Link)EV repair costs are 29% higher than ICE repair costs, globally, on average; EV parts costs are 48% higher, on average, per estimate. (Link)Can the best-selling sedan in the U.S. maintain its dominant position if it transitions to become a hybrid? (💲Link)Tesla did not violate U.S. labor law by prohibiting workers at its flagship Fremont, California, assembly plant from wearing pro-union t-shirts, a federal appeals court has ruled. (💲Link)Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway shed its holdings in GM. Buffett has long been loyal to the Detroit 3 and was known for driving a Cadillac. In 2012, Berkshire acquired 10 million shares in GM. (💲Link)Electric vehicles (EVs) lack an industry-standard onboard diagnostic system. Starting with 2026 model vehicles, all that changes. California regulations, part of the state's Advanced Clean Cars II program, require automakers to phase in a standard EV diagnostic system similar to the onboard diagnostic system II (OBD II) found in combustion engine vehicles. (💲Link)Some have suggested that low repairability of Gigacasted vehicles may well be in the interests of automakers. (Link)GM's bet that its Cruise robo-taxi unit will deliver $50 billion in revenue by 2030 is facing its toughest test. GM Chief Executive Mary Barra has stuck with Cruise in the face of skepticism from investors, arguing that Cruise technology will save lives - and become a significant source of new profit for the automaker in the future. But right now, the unit's operations are shut down as regulators investigate the safety of Cruise's self-driving vehicles. Cruise has nine months of cash left, and one major investor, Honda, does not plan to put up more money. Layoffs have started as Cruise reviews its operations and management. Cruise has lost more than $8 billion since 2017, including $728 million lost in the third quarter of this year, according to GM financial disclosures. (💲Link)Reuters documented at least 600 previously unreported workplace injuries at Elon Musk’s rocket company: crushed limbs, amputations, electrocutions, head and eye wounds and one death. SpaceX employees say they’re paying the price for the billionaire’s push to colonize space at breakneck speed. (💲Link)

CB Insights reports that private tech company valuations are on the rise, especially at later stages. (Link)SpaceX is discussing an initial public offering for its fast-growing Starlink satellite business as soon as late 2024, in a bid to capitalize on robust demand for communications via space. (💲Link)An F1 racecar’s intimidating steering wheel, explained. (💲Link)BrightDrop, the commercial EV subsidiary of General Motors that launched in 2021, is being swallowed up by its parent company. GM also had ambitious goals for BrightDrop, stating last November during its investor day that the subsidiary was on track to reach $1 billion in revenue in 2023. It’s unclear if BrightDrop met that target as GM has not broken out its financials. (Link)Arrival, the EV startup that went public via a merger with a blank check company, has secured a $50 million bridge loan, funds that will keep it afloat long enough to explore a potential sale. (Link)The National Transportation Safety Board has concluded that intelligent speed-assist technology (ISA) should be standard equipment in all new vehicles to prevent needless deaths from speeding. (Link)Oliver Wyman has published their Shared Mobility Global Impact report. "Shared Mobility" — defined as everything from ride-hailing and car-sharing to e-bike and e-scooter sharing — has emerged as a potential solution offering sustainable, efficient, safe, and affordable transport on demand. Shared mobility is projected to continue its rapid growth, more than doubling its share of the urban transport mix by 2030 — moving up from 3% today to an estimated 7%. By then, its total market size is expected to reach close to $400 billion. (Link)Sending robots to the sea floor to mine for rare minerals needed for the shift to electrification seems like a panacea. What are the promises and risks of deep-sea mining? (💲Link)

A 1962 Ferrari 330 LM / 250 GTO by Scaglietti, the coveted Italian coachbuilder, sold for $51.7 million at an RM Sotheby's auction Nov. 13 in New York City. It was the most expensive Ferrari ever to sell at auction and the most expensive classic car sold publicly anywhere in the world this year. A spokesperson from RM Sotheby’s did not identify the new owner. (💲Link)

Have a great week,Steve Greenfield

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Notable & New

📢 Scott Case from Automotive Ventures portfolio company Recurrent was featured in Automotive News. (💲Link)

📢 Andrea Amico from Automotive Ventures portfolio company Privacy4Cars is interviewed Global Fleet. (Link)

📢 Privacy4Cars announced new features and the expansion into Europe of its groundbreaking Vehicle Privacy Report™ tool. (Link)

📢 On this week's Automotive Ventures Future of Automotive segment on CBT News, we're excited to announce our first Space-related investment in Auriga Space. (Link)📢 Auriga Space is hiring a Director of Electromagnetic Engineering. This individual will lead and oversee the design, development, and implementation of electromagnetic systems for advanced space technologies. (Link)

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Companies to Watch

🌟 KIT-AR is focused on leveraging augmented reality to improve manufacturing quality. They are on a mission to accelerate human-centered manufacturing companies through digital transformation. (Link)

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