??????? MOBILITY BRIEF - November 23rd

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• ???? Volkswagen delays its major Trinity EV project due to software and Mercedes-Benz starts to follow BMW's way by proposing a new car feature through subscription
• ???? The ambivalent AV saga continues : Nuro lays off 20% of its workforce while Stellantis acquires aiMotive and Zeekr unveils its vehicle specifically designed for Waymo
• ???? The EV truck party is just starting : Tesla (finally) teases the Semi launch and Volvo Group reaches 1000 kWh capacity
• ?? ?? As scooters are threatened in some cities due to security concerns, some operators like Pony are innovating to reassure municipalities

???? Legacy of the Herbert Diess era, the Trinity EV project was expected to put Volkswagen ahead of the field from 2026, delivering a state-of-the-art EV sedan on both front and backend : range and software on the first end, supply and manufacturing processes on the other end. But as CARIAD struggles on the software side, the whole Trinity project is being jeopardized and VW's CEO Oliver Blume is planning to postpone it until 2030, including the $2bn EV factory project near the company's HQ. No postponing on Mercedes-Benz side but an early Christmas for its Chinese customers : the German manufacturer slashed its price by up to $30k on both its EQE and EQS following a market misread which led to disappointing sales. But Mercedes-Benz sales team are already putting their hopes on the subscription sales, as they follow the trend from BMW by offering subscription for car features. "Acceleration Increase" is coming soon in the US for Mercedes EQs, and increase by up to 24% the engine output and decrease by up to 1sec its 0-60mph. That'll be 1200$ per year please.

???? Don't tell us you thought it would be a low week for AVs ? Nuro, the robo-delivery company, announced it would lay off 20% of its workforce, as a consequence of the current degradation of the funding environment. For aiMotive, its funding environment is now way more secure as Stellantis integrated the Hungarian start-up in order to use both of its technologies (from SW stack to simulation stack through simulation solutions) and competencies (200+ people) for the development of STLA AutoDrive platform. Stellantis, which is now longer sharing with Jaguar the exclusivity of providing Waymo with vehicles : Zeekr, the Geely subsidiary, has unveiled its custom-made vehicle to the Alphabet's subsidiary, based on its platform SEA-M, featuring a wheel-less interior, many features for the passengers and yet no information on its release date nor detailed specifications. Beyond cities, AV have a role to play in suburban and rural areas and French insurer Macif understood it well, as it announced its investment in Beti, a French AV operator specialized in those areas which experimented AV shuttles in mountain resorts and rural lines, but also a strong advocate of AV development in France.

???? As Kearney and Zenon Research told us through their study a few weeks ago : battery electric trucks will be key to decarbonizing heavy duty road transport, which represents 1% of the traffic in Europe, but 26% of road transports emissions. Well good news : long haul battery electric trucks are arriving ! The first one was introduced in 2017 but was yet to be delivered : the long wait may come to an end as Tesla will hold a dedicated event on December 1st. Many questions arise : with the infamous 4680 battery cells? Which final specs for the soon to be delivered units? Will we have the pleasure to see even bigger, heavier and deadlier vehicles carry the Autopilot technology? Will it warn other Teslas to avoid it when it pulls a white trailer? Truck incumbents are also on it as Volvo Group's subsidiary DesignWerk unveiled its first truck with 1000kWh battery capacity, enabling a range up to 600kms with a loaded truck. First trucks equipped to be seen on the roads in a year. Last but not least, Sono Motors, the German start-up who created the solar-powered Sion car, partnered with Pepper electric bus, to equip them with solar panels providing up to 3.3 kWh/day.

?? ?? Paris has been leading the way on the micromobility field, with bold infrastructure investments and the definition of a regulated environment for free-floating operators in the city. But following many accidents mostly involving scooters, the city has been increasing the pressure on them, from speed regulations to...threats of a global shutdown on scooter sharing next February. Scooter operators are now doing as much as they can to reassure the Parisian authorities, but also keep convincing new cities to host them (Lille for example) : identity checks at account creation on Dott side, petitions sent to their users to reverse the pressure, but also through technological innovation on the vehicle itself. Pony, a French scooter operator, may not be one of the permit holders in Paris, but is showing it cares about safety by developing a technology detecting when two people are riding on the same scooter. Their "Solo" technology is currently being patented, following a similar initiative from Bolt in Berlin last year.

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