This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for January 14, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Telemetry has published its first automated driving systems (or ADS) scorecard report. This report evaluates and ranks the leading companies developing Level 4 ADS for robotaxis, roboshuttles, and middle-mile and long-haul deliveries based on criteria such as vision, go-to-market strategy, production strategy, technology, safety strategy,

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for January 13, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Yesterday in Detroit, General Motors CEO and Chair Mary Barra took part in what has become something of an annual tradition, a fireside chat with the president of the Automotive Press Association, who this year is Kalea Hall from Thomson Reuters. This year, the event moved from its usual December timing to early January to coincide with t

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  January 7, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   While there are a lot fewer automakers officially participating in CES 2026 than in the past decade, that doesn't mean there isn't still an auto industry presence, especially when it comes to sensors. There are multiple lidar vendors showing off their wares in Las Vegas this week, including Hesai, Innoviz, and Microvision. Hesai is by far

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for January 6, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   During a keynote presentation at CES 2026, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang again focused on his company's efforts around artificial intelligence, including the announcement of a next-generation Rubin GPU chip. But a significant portion of the event was dedicated to automated driving. This included a discussion of how Nvidia has built t

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  January 5, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.  Kodiak AI is one of two companies currently operating driverless tractor-trailers in the U.S., with the other being Aurora. Last May, Aurora launched driverless over-the-road long-haul freight operations in Texas. While Kodiak and several other companies are also testing automated trucks across the American south, Kodiak was the first to a

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  December 22, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Automated vehicles have a lot of theoretical advantages over human drivers. They don't get drunk or drowsy or distracted. They can, in theory, see obstacles sooner than humans and in conditions where humans might not be able to see. They should be able to drive closer together without colliding. All of these factors should eventually le

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for December 17, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   In March 2023, General Motors upset a lot of Apple iPhone users when it announced that it would not include support for smartphone projection, including CarPlay, on its new electric vehicles. These vehicles all use Android Automotive with Google Automotive Services for their infotainment. This allows drivers to use Google Maps and Assist

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  December 16, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   In the late 2010s, as the automated driving startup segment was booming, so too were related businesses like lidar. At one stage, there were upwards of 100 lidar startups vying to help enable automated vehicles, and one of the most promising of the lot was Luminar. However, just as most of the companies developing automated driving syst

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for December 15, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Ford announced another major restructuring of its electrification plans that will include $14 billion in non-cash charges and $5.5 billion in cash charges this quarter. The changes include the cancellation of an electric truck that was to have been produced at the new BlueOval City factory in Tennessee, ending production of the current F

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for December 11, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   At its first-ever AI and Autonomy day in Palo Alto, Rivian announced that it will be launching major updates beginning with its upcoming R2 midsize electric SUV that aim to bring automated driving to the platform. Rivian launched a major update to its existing R1 models just over 18 months ago that adopted a new zonal electronic architec

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for December 10, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Nissan has announced that it is the first automaker to partner with Wayve, a UK-based developer of software for assisted and automated driving systems. Wayve was one of the first companies to rely on an entirely artificial intelligence-based software stack. In addition to being AI-based, the Wayve system doesn't use any HD maps and doesn

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for December 9, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Today, Ford and Renault Group announced a new alliance to develop electric passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles. The initial goal is two new Ford-branded electric cars using the platform from Renault's Ampere unit. Ampere was established as a business unit to focus on developing and manufacturing software-defined EV platforms. The a

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  December 8, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Hybrids have never been a significant part of Nissan's overall powertrain strategy, with the automaker focusing more on battery electrics with the launch of the original Leaf in late 2010. But even with the initial success of the Leaf, Nissan did little to expand its EV lineup in the 2010s. Meanwhile, Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai Motor Gro

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  December 1, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Much has changed at Stellantis in the past 12 months. Exactly one year ago, Carlos Tavares was ousted as CEO at the automaker that he formed from the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA. Over the preceding four years, over 50,000 jobs were eliminated at the company, many of them in North America, where spending was being sla

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for November 25, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   When BMW launched the i3 Rex back in 2013, it was just the second extended range electric vehicle or EREV produced following the Fisker Karma. EREVs differ from plug-in hybrids in that the torque output of the engine only drives a generator to charge the battery and has no direct path to drive the wheels. The vehicle is exclusively drive

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  November 24, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Anyone who has paid any attention to the history of the automotive industry is well aware of the fact that the vast majority of the automakers that have ever existed have gone out of business. This was especially true in the early decades of the industry in the late 19th and early 20th century when there were thousands of startup automa

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  November 19, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show, Jeep has finally launched its first fully electric off-road SUV, the 2026 Recon. The Recon, along with the Wagoneer S, was actually first shown in images back in 2022, and it got quite a bit of interest. Since then, the media have seen it in physical form at private events, and prototypes have been sp

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  November 18, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Nissan was the pioneer in bringing a relatively affordable electric vehicle to market when it launched the Leaf back in 2010. However, since then, its electrification efforts have remained relatively modest, especially in North America. Prior to the 2023 debut of the Ariya, the only electrified models sold besides the Leaf were an Altim

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  November 17, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   Back in 2006, when Tesla emerged from stealth mode to reveal the original Roadster, there was a key differentiator that helped establish the brand and start to convince people that electric vehicles could be appealing on their own merits. It was fast, in fact, it was very fast for the time, with a 0-60 time of just 4 seconds while also

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for  November 13, 2025, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.   This week, Toyota officially inaugurated its first North American lithium battery production facility. Toyota initially announced a $1.29 billion investment in the North Carolina facility in 2021, but that eventually grew to $13.9 billion as the scope and the capacity increased. Most of the battery production facilities announced by aut