Andrew J. Hawkins

Transportation editor

Rival air taxi startups Wisk and Archer settle their trade secret theft lawsuit

Andrew J. HawkinsAug 10, 2023

The future of self-driving cars in California will be decided today.

The California Public Utilities Commission will hold a hearing at 11AM PT on whether robotaxi companies like Cruise and Waymo will be allowed to charge for their rides and operate their service 24/7. Some San Francisco officials are urging the panel to vote no, citing blocked roads and traffic caused by robotaxis.

The vote was supposed to be held last month, but was delayed amid rising opposition, including a protest movement to put orange cones on the hoods of the autonomous vehicles.

On the cusp of 24/7 service, robotaxis face pleas and protest in San Francisco

Andrew J. Hawkins

Jul 10

Andrew J. HawkinsAug 10, 2023

Turns out pivoting your 114-year-old business is hard.

General Motors has made gas-powered vehicles forever, so of course the transition to zero-emission is going about as terribly as can be expected. The latest excuse for its struggles to increase EV production is battery module assembly, GM’s chief financial officer said at a conference.

Last year, GM projected it would build 25,000 Cadillac Lyriqs. The actual number it has delivered so far this year is 2,400 — so less than 10 percent of that original prediction. Not great!

GM still struggling to build EVs, sees margin growth ahead for Cruise-CFO

[Reuters]

A friendly reminder that bigger is not always better when it comes to EVs

Andrew J. HawkinsAug 9, 2023

It’s Tesla versus everyone else in the race for EV dominance

Andrew J. HawkinsAug 9, 2023

Andrew J. HawkinsAug 8, 2023

VanMoof’s future is narrowing down.

micromobility.com (formerly Helbiz) won’t be acquiring the bankrupt Dutch e-bike company, after the trustees in charge of VanMoof’s future turned down the company’s bid, according to a tweet from CEO Salvatore Palella. (He also suggested VanMoof’s founders may be trying to purchase the company through a shell company.) And Taiwanese bike manufacturer Giant also said it wasn’t in the running.

The trustees say there will be more news later this week. Previously, they said they’d select a single company and hammer out the final terms before announcing anything.

VanMoof niet overgenomen door Micromobility: 'Ons bod is afgewezen'

[www.bright.nl]