Leading policy for DoorDash is no mean feat; the globe-spanning 3PD often finds itself interfacing with cities across all sorts of issues: traffic / road safety, merchant relationships, courier behavior and more (and as the company continues to push into new territory — like drones or its in-house delivery bot — the regulatory interactions will only grow.)
That’s why I was delighted to sit down with Max Rettig, Vice President, Head of Global Public Policy at DoorDash, to understand how the company views the policy landscape. Under his leadership, DoorDash has advanced some quite interesting policies — including portable benefits — that have the opportunity to ensure gig workers receive health and safety net contributions that stay with them even as they hop between competing platforms.
Also on the pod… I chat with Athena Browning about driverless trains, the latest spac-tacular startup, Telo trucks, the state of micromobility in the UK and more. Listen in!
HOT INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP
More money for more AVs: Autonomous trucking startup Einride just raised $100M, led by EQT Ventures. On the smaller side, Serve Robotics has expanded into Chicago (where Coco also operates.) Zoox just began testing its robotaxis in D.C., while Waymo has received permission to extend its pilot in New York City.
Sounds like we’ll have plenty to discuss at our Urban Autonomy Summit — convening October 8th in Brooklyn, NY. We’re excited to announce our latest speakers: Aparna Paladugu — VP of Policy & Government Affairs, Via Transportation and Ben Mandel — VP Market Development, L-Charge.
Lé transit troublés: Public transport cut backs aren’t siloed to the United States; European operators are having some trouble too: the Nightjet sleeper train between Paris and Germany/Austria has been cancelled due to France’s budget crunch. In other francophone news, Montreal’s REM extension to West Island has been delayed until next year, although a few new stops will open next month.
Goodbye EV tax credits! It’s now early October, which means the feds’ $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles has officially expired. That certainly incentivized plenty of buyers to push-forward their purchases: Tesla sales spiked 29% from the previous quarter, giving them a new sales record. Rivian sales were up too, although the company is still projecting that overall sales will fall 16% for the year. And California has dashed any hopes that the state will look to backfill those missing subsidies at the state level.
SPAC splat: AV trucker Kodiak Robotics went public via a special purpose acquisition corporation. While the company was briefly valued at $2.5B, in true SPAC fashion the stock has since gone into free-fall. Hope it was worth it!
With small power comes small responsibility? New research by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP, ouch!) finds that injuries tied to golf carts are on the rise. That’s no surprise, as “golf carts” now encompass all sorts of LSVs / NEVs, often toting around neighborhoods at fairly high speeds, while often lacking doors and airbags. Also not shocking: 90% of those injured are boys. The commensurate rise in over-powered e-bikes (oftentimes essentially electric motorcycles) is also injuring inexperienced riders; Connecticut looks to be the latest state to attempt to crack down on the phenomenon.
Wrongthink? “Please ensure that every member of your team is aware that this is the latest list of words to avoid.” said Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy special advisor Rachael Overbey. The list of naughty words includes: emissions, climate change, green, decarbonization, carbon, CO2, energy transition, sustainability, sustainable, subsidies, tax breaks, tax credits, and carbon footprint. I guess there won’t be much left to talk about!
Last swipe: NYCMTA is in the final stages of sunsetting MetroCard, its iconic magnetic fare media, as part of its overdue transition to its OMNY tap-card successor. MetroCard sales will officially cease on December 31st. Straphangers will celebrate by seeing their subway and bus fares go up to $3.
Let the branding games begin… Highland has been selected as the “Official Electric School Bus Provider of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Team USA.” While Olympians will get to experience plenty of new train lines in time for the games, the humble (and repurposable bus) will certainly be doing lots of heavy lifting…
Shut down: The federal government shut down is already starting to bite. On the transit side, it’s resulted in the freezing of $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects. On the private side, it also means no companies can IPO while the SEC is furloughed.
Big in Turkey: Marti, Turkey’s homegrown ridehailing app, released its financial results for the first half of the year. Revenue was up 70% YoY, while riders and drivers essentially doubled. The company looks to be Adjusted EBITDA positive in the very near term.
Design-build-gouge: LAX’s new automated people mover is now $880 million over its original $1.9 billion price tag, while running three years behind schedule. “LINXS was not following the approved submittals,” one city official told the authors of a report looking into the situation, referring to the consortium of ACS, Alstom, Balfour Beatty, Fluor, Hochtief, HDR and Flatiron West. “They did what they wanted and treated the work as if the contract were a design-build, redesign, build redesign.” Given that the system is just 2.25 miles long, the cost per mile is egregious even by America’s poor standards…
Big cash for tiny trucks: Telo Trucks just raised a $20M Series A to bring its MT1 to market. The electric pickup, about the size of a Mini Cooper, sports a 350 mile range and full-size bed. Prices start around $41k.
What about big electric trucks? Well, those are all made in China, my dear. Of the 55,000 light, medium and heavy electric trucks sold worldwide in 2023, a whopping 73% were sold (and largely made) in China.
A few good links: DoorDash’s VP of Autonomy talks Dot delivery bot. DOE cancels clean energy projects exclusively in blue states. Culver City nears completion of nice protected bike lanes and enhanced sidewalks near its LA Metro station. Uncontrolled descent — Hyundai’s AAM project loses more execs. EchoTwin raises $8M for civic-scale AI. The nitty-gritty governance and code-regulation details that have hampered LA Metro’s “tap-to-exit” program. Good news for Portland transit as Oregon passes $4.3B transport packages. Rising labor / material costs escalate price tag for SoCal-to-Vegas HSR to $21.5 billion. NTSB urges SEPTA to pull and overhaul fire-prone rail cars from fleet; this’ll be a big problem given the agency’s existing financial woes. New memo from HUD essentially okays banks to redline neighborhood lending practices. Bolt brings its ridehailing platform to Taiwan. UK gov bails out JLR. With federal cash not likely any time soon, St. Louis downgrades new light rail line to BRT (expect to see more of this.)
See you in NYC?
- Jonah Bliss & The Curbivore Crew
