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Fireside chats
Hi there,
Alyce here filling in for Kerry!
At our A-Ha! Conference this past week, we revealed the 40 startups for our Demo Day, and unveiled the 2018 AI 100, a list of pioneering companies using artificial intelligence to change their industries.
Among our lineup of speakers was Waze founder and CEO Noam Bardin, who sat down with us to discuss the company's new focus on carpooling, its potential impacts on transport, and the challenges to surmount.
We also chatted with Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt, who confirmed the company is on track to launch robotaxis in 2019, and Waze founder Noam Bardin.
Lots more recaps here (and see our conference portal to download presentations and videos from the conference (or, if you prefer looking ahead, register and nominate speakers for Future of Fintech 2018)
The battle for the center stack
In the addition to the auto commerce elements of Ford and Alibaba's three-year agreement from last week, the partners will also collaborate on the use of Alibaba's AliOS infotainment system (rebranded from YunOS in October).
Unlike rivals' vehicle-specific solutions, this open-source platform intends to be an industry-agnostic general operating system for IoT products. Outside of Ford cars, AliOS will also be launching in SAIC and Dongfeng-PSA cars starting next year (four years after the initial launch of Apple's CarPlay).
It's interesting to Ford and Alibaba partnering with each other instead of seeking out market leaders. Ford has a mixed record of deploying user-friendly infotainment, most recently with its Sync system (first developed with Microsoft, now BlackBerry QNX).
Here, the automaker is choosing to gamble on pre-production software. Using the CB Insights trends tool, compared vehicle OS platforms jockeying for pole position (Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Baidu CarNet):
Clearly, the move is meant to establish a stronger presence in China and modernize existing product lines (per Hackett's 6-point plan), but will AliOS be the best option available?
In addition to vehicle infotainment, Apple and Alibaba are also going head-to-head in the final four of our bracket of the best company to invest in for 10 years. Cast your vote here.
Truckin' electric
In the month following Tesla's semi-truck unveiling, major fleet buyers have announced pre-orders and pilot plans for the trucks, including Anheuser-Busch, Walmart, and now Pepsi.
This PR play is classic Tesla - following the launch of the Model 3, Tesla publicized the nearly half-million pre-orders for the sedan, which has faced difficulties in its mass-market production ramp. Less publicized have been the 60,000+ cancellations to date as delays have mounted.
Tesla has a long history of aggressive deadlines and questionable timeliness (its enhanced Autopilot and self-driving features are another recent example). As of this week's announcements, there are orders for 165 trucks, and there will undoubtedly be more, but keep an eye out for any cancellations as well.
Have a great week!
Alyce
@alyce_ge
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Noam Bardin spoke about the implications of carpooling — from reduced car ownership to lowering congestion and transportation costs. See the recap.
Kyle Vogt weighs in on the self-driving company's progress and relationship with parent GM 18 months post-acquisition. Check out the talk.
Startups in the auto commerce space are changing the way cars are sold, leased, and financed. Check out the market map.
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This Week in Auto Tech
A curated mix of recent articles on auto tech financings, exits, announcements, hirings, partnerships & perspectives.
Deals & Funds
Ouster raises $27M. Cox Enterprises, the parent company of Cox Automotive, led the Series A into the affordable lidar company.
TechCrunch
Alibaba invests in Xpeng Motors. The e-commerce giant took a minority stake in the EV maker for an undisclosed amount.
China Money Network
Upstream Security reels in $9M. CRV led the Series A into the connected car security platform.
TechCrunch
Reachda raises $9.1M. Honda took a minority stake in the Chinese car-sharing service.
Caixin
FreightHub scores $20M. Northzone led the Series A into the Berlin-based digital freight forwarding company.
TechCrunch
LocoNav nabs $3.4M. Sequoia Capital India led the Series A into the online trucking marketplace.
CB Insights
Fastlane garners $1.5M. Eagle Venture Fund led the seed round into the auto e-commerce company.
Auto Remarketing
BMW i Ventures invests in GaN Systems. The Canadian semiconductor company raised another round of venture funding from Delta and BMW iVentures, capital to be used for international expansion.
FinSMEs
Denso acquires InfiniteKey. The Dutch startup, which writes software to turn smartphones into key fobs, was acquired for an unknown amount.
Crain's
News
OEM AV roundup. Ford is bucking the trend of launching all-electric AVs, developing a hybrid model instead. Volvo's public Drive Me program is less ambitious than originally presented, rolling out with driver-assistance systems rather than autonomous vehicles.
Car and Driver (Ford) / The Drive (Volvo)
Samsung, powered by Renovo. Samsung has partnered with Renovo Auto for to develop its AV product line.
Fortune
BlackBerry, Qualcomm partner. The partnership will enable BlackBerry to put parts of its QNX Hypervisor 2.0 operating system on Qualcomm Snapdragon automotive chips.
Fortune
Toyota, Panasonic to jointly develop batteries. The two Japanese conglomerates will cooperate more closely to develop next-generation EV batteries.
Reuters
Lyft goes international. The ridesharing company launched in Toronto as its first destination outside the US.
Reuters
Uber refocuses. Uber is selling a majority stake in its Singapore car rental business to ComfortDelGro, the country's largest taxi company. Head of driver product, Aaron Schildkrout, has departed the company.
Axios (Singapore) / Recode (Schildkrout)
Uber espionage, bribery, hacking allegations. The judge presiding over the Uber-Waymo suit released a former employee's letter alleging a division of Uber was responsible for corporate espionage, trade secret theft, and other illegal activities.
TechCrunch
Maps protectionism. The Chinese government is preventing foreign companies from mapping its roads in detail.
The Drive
Apple demo at NIPS. Apple's AI group demoed its latest SLAM algorithms for autonomous vehicles at the major AI conference.
MIT Technology Review
Articles, Perspectives, & Studies
Higher density Li-ion batteries. Researchers at Stanford used several imaging methods to show that altering the way atoms are arranged in batteries could improve performance.
Nature
AutoMobili-D pitch finalists. Ted Serbinski of Techstars Mobility shares the 19 mobility startup finalists for the Detroit Auto Show competition.
Medium
Fuel cells vs. batteries. Nicolas Stecher from The Drive pens a few reasons why Toyota's fuel cell semis are already ahead of Tesla's semis.
The Drive
Industry vs infrastructure. Quartz profiles the Chinese EV maker BYD's ambitions to run and support public monorail systems throughout China. Meanwhile, Mudassir Sheikha, CEO of Middle Eastern unicorn Careem, believes ride-hailing will best road investments.
Quartz (BYD) / Bloomberg (Careem)
REDSPACE REDS. Designer Chris Bangle debuts his new concept for car design in the age of autonomy and connectivity.
YouTube
Faraday burns out. Sean O'Kane of The Verge chronicles Faraday Future's recent nosedive and how it got to its current state.
The Verge
An autonomous future. Bill Meahl, Chief Commercial Officer of DHL, gives his take on how the logistics industry should approach an autonomous future.
Delivering Tomorrow
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