Look To The Skies

Look To The Skies

For most of us, the concept of air-taxies sounds as much like the stuff of science fiction as the over-committed and not-yet-delivered promise of autonomous vehicles.

This week, US regulators made a huge step forward, finalizing "powered lift" vehicle regulations and opening the door for commercial flying taxi services. techxplore.com, theverge.com

The significance of this needs to be called out. This is the first time in the better part of a century that the FAA has formally recognized a new category of aircraft. washingtonpost.com (paid subscription required)

Free Think put together a decent YouTube video last year to demonstrate what this flying car future might look like. youtube.com

When will you have your first ride in an autonomous, probably electric, vertical take-off air taxi? It depends a bit on where you live.

Joby Aviation is working on raising some new capital. They are testing in and around New York and LA airports. They inked a partnership with Uber. They signed an agreement with the Dubai government to begin operating air taxis in the United Arab Emirates in 2026. fastcompany.com, techcrunch.com

In 2023, flying car company Alef Aeronautics was granted legal permission from the FAA to test run the vehicle on the road and in the sky. usatoday.com

Meanwhile, there are a lot of ups and downs in the air taxi space.

German air-taxi maker Lilium's units to file for insolvency. reuters.com, techcrunch.com, cnbc.com

As this 2022 Wall Street Journal article points out, the biggest problem with flying cars might be figuring out where to land them. wsj.com (paid subscription required)

It might be a while before your Jetsons or Fifth Element flying car dreams become a reality. bbc.com

If you’re willing to risk it and you’ve got a few hundred thousand dollars burning a hole in your pocket, you could consider ponying up the cash to buy your own flying machine today.

Companies like Jetson, Pivotal, and China’s Xpeng have air-worthy vehicles you can buy or pre-order now. Happy landings!

Scout, Scout, Let It All Out

The Scout is back and looking great (albeit a little too much like a Rivian for some folks’ liking). caranddriver.com, theverge.com, techcrunch.com, autonews.com, motortrend.com, arstechnica.com

Routinely mistaken for a modified Ford Bronco, originally produced by International Harvester and accidentally purchased by Volkswagen when they looked to expand commercial trucking operations — the IH Scout was a classic vehicle that still surfaces in many films and television shows. imcdb.org

This week, VP candidate Tim Walz explained on the Smartless Podcast that he’s a Scout fanboy and owns an original 1979 Scout that was given away as a BOGO when someone bought a tractor. smartless.com

Unique to the new Scout variations is a hybrid ERVE powertrain called the “Harvester” (I’ll talk more about EREVs in a future newsletter). techcrunch.com

However, with all of VW’s financial troubles, threats of factory shutdowns, job cuts, and struggles with a half-a-million vehicle sales shortfall, the future of the Scout is in jeopardy before it even begins. bnnbloomberg.ca, reuters.com, theguardian.com, teslarati.com, autoblog.com

It might be a difficult uphill climb for this off-road EV. autonews.com

Regardless, in my opinion, all versions of the Scout are fantastic and will live on as iconic vehicles even if their business does not. caranddriver.com

China’s Automotive Expansion

The Changan collaboration with Mazda produced a 1,301 km range hybrid. carnewschina.com

Great Wall Motors plans to expand Russian operations in 2025. reuters.com

WeRide IPOs on the Nasdaq. reuters.com

Forvia says it’s been selected to supply parts to BYD’s factory in Turkey. reuters.com

The EU and China agreed to talk more about trade and tariffs. reuters.com

Must Know Musk News

Elon has been in regular contact with Putin since late 2022. Conversations included topics like Vlad asking Elon not to enable Starlink over Taiwan and broader discussion around geopolitics, business and personal matters (whatever the fuck that means). theguardian.com, wsj.com (paid subscription required)

Elon is now Trump’s second-largest campaign donor after Timothy Mellon. forbes.com

Tesla earned $2.2 billion in profit during Q3. arstechnica.com

Tesla unveiled a new Supercharger project called ‘Oasis,’ which includes 168 Superchargers, a solar farm, and a Tesla-built Megapack battery system. electrek.co

Tesla still plans to launch a cheaper EV in 2025 (time will tell). mashable.com

Tesla teases Robotaxi wireless charging tech and claims it is faster than charging at home. thedriven.io

Cybertruck outsold Ford’s Mach-E in the US. techcrunch.com

However, Cybertruck has also expended the reservations on the original order list, suggesting that hundreds of thousands of those reservations were cancelled. qz.com

Tesla gets a little pushy over robotaxis. reuters.com

A US court ruled that the NLRB went too far by ordering Elon to delete a tweet stating that Tesla employees would lose stock options if they unionized. reuters.com, bloomberg.com

Elon’s million-dollar voter giveaways might be illegal. nbcnews.com

Rise Of The Machines

Unitree’s G1 humanoid robot set a new record for the standing long jump. interestingengineering.com

LimX Dynamics launches a new multi-modal biped robot called the TRON 1. youtube.com

Latvian startup Origin has a new ruggedized flying military drone. techcrunch.com

Maybe one day, a robot will put dishes in your dishwasher more reliably than your teenager. youtube.com

Energy

Renewable energy sector growth is faster in the global south than in rich countries. ft.com (paid subscription required)

The US grid is now more dependent on fossil fuels than China’s. reuters.com

Regulatory review of Three Mile Island restart kicks off. reuters.com

US approves new lithium mine in Nevada. electrek.co

Canadian Natural Resources agrees to use the Trans Mountain Pipeline capacity created by PetroChina’s cancelled agreement. financialpost.com

But Wait, There’s More

Hyundai’s funky new EV, the Casper, was spotted in the US. theverge.com

Stellantis finally does something the Italian government is happy about by bringing Lancia production to southern Italy. reuters.com

GM shuts down cold-weather testing facility in northern Ontario. sootoday.com

Mercedes might have found a way to make EVs exciting to drive. arstechnica.com

Porsche will pare back its dealership network in China due to demand declines in the world’s largest vehicle market. reuters.com

Rolls-Royce has a new head of their North American division. autonews.com

Honda has a fuel pump problem. reuters.com

Waymo closed its $5.6 billion Series C funding round led by parent company Alphabet and a whole whack of other Silicon Valley venture investment. techcrunch.com, autonews.com

Electric motorcycle company Zero is closing a new funding round for around $120 million. techcrunch.com

The Donald is making the German OEMs nervous. dw.com

UK startup RBW is building replicas of classic-style cars on an EV skateboard. techcrunch.com, rbwevcars.com

Boeing considers spacing out. theverge.com

And one of Boeing’s satellites fell out of the sky. US Space Force is now tracking the resulting debris. theverge.com

Good Questions

Do bike lanes cause more traffic congestion? cbc.ca

How did oil-rich Texas become a leader in renewable energy? theglobeandmail.com

How many hydrogen transit failures are required before we reconsider? cleantechnica.com

WTF happened at Stellantis? businessinsider.com

Why has Ford CEO Jim Farley been driving around a Chinese car for the last six months? businessinsider.com, businessinsider.com

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