Tech. Cars. Machines.

Episode 52: Building the Future of Electric Trucking with Anja Van Niersen Anja Van Niersen, CEO of Milence, discusses plans to establish a charging network for European long-haul trucking. Milence is a 500MM Euro joint venture amongst Daimler, Traton and Volvo trucks. 00:00 Introduction to Milence 03:04 Anja’s background and career 03:10 Milence’s mission and operations 12:41 The profile of a charging hub 16:47 Future of heavy-duty/long-haul trucking 23:15 Geographical footprint and infrastructure development 30:00 Future enablers 37:26 The role of consumers and market demand 40:03 Optimism for adoption

Live from Anaheim! I was at the world’s premier event for sustainable commercial transportation. Here’s a brief ~10-minute recap of key trends regarding China, electrification, sustainability’s future, and regulation. The highlight for me was driving a massive “day cab,” the driver part of a semi-truck.  You can see the video at www.gtkpartners.com/act25

Episode 50: Building the Future of Electric Trucking with Patrick Macdonald-King of Greenlane In this milestone 50th episode of Tech. Cars. Machines., Patrick Macdonald-King, CEO of Greenlane, discusses plans to establish a charging network from the port of Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Greenlane is a $650MM joint venture amongst Daimler Trucks North America, NextEra Energy Resources, and BlackRock, and a leading, if not the leading, charging network for medium- and heavy-duty trucks.  00:00 Welcome to Episode 50: Milestone Celebration  03:28 Interview with Patrick Macdonald-King 04:27 Greenlane’s Nationwide Network and Strategy  05:29 Patrick Macdonald-King’s Career Journey  08:11 The Role of OEMs in Charging Infrastructure  18:50 Hydrogen as a Future Path  25:47 Mapping Out Deployment Strategies  26:22 Greenlane’s Charging Infrastructure  32:29 Future-Proofing with Scalable Solutions  35:49 California’s Role in Electrification  37:25 Technological Needs and Industry Partnerships  41:06 Long-Term Vision and Industry Predictions

Lux Capital General Partner Shahin Farshchi, PhD, talked with me about his background, Lux’s history, and how the firm came to position itself as the leading investor in hard-tech. A focus on outstanding teams, market readiness, patience and taking the lead from entrepreneurs on the “next great sector” has led to investments such as Anduril, Aurora, Databricks, Hugging Face, Matterport, Nirvana, Planet Labs, Zededa and Zoox. Note the “skip to” audio time stamps below.  You can read the related article here in 3 minutes. Links to Lux Capital and Shahin.  Host: Ali Tabibian of GTK Partners. On some podcast players you can click to jump to the timestamps below. (1:44) Introduction to Lux (6:14) Shahin’s background and initiative in managing your career (20:49) Investment selection process (34:30) Focusing on the long-term (37:33) The next big things

Mark Papermaster, CTO and EVP at AMD, shares insights about his engineering journey and the company's evolution from a component supplier to a key player in semiconductors. He discusses AMD's diverse portfolio tailored for AI, including CPUs and GPUs, emphasizing their commitment to performance and openness. The conversation also covers their innovative DeepSeek AI technology and the importance of balancing investment in innovation and profit margins. Mark's experiences from Apple products like the iPhone enrich the dialogue on teamwork and leadership in tech.

Steve Patton shares EY’s perspective on how consumer demand and regulations shape the automotive landscape.  We touch on Chinese car makers, sustainability, electrification, autonomy and logistics.  Is sustainability self-sustaining, or does it still need regulatory incentives?  Steve explains.   Note the “skip to” audio time stamps below.  You can read the related article here in 3 minutes.      EY Transportation group is here.  Host: Ali Tabibian of GTK Partners.   On some podcast players you can click to jump to the timestamps below.  (0:00) Introduction to Steve and EY  (5:42) Sustainability, regulation  (16:37) Supply chain and fulfillment    (20:32) Connectivity, especially in industrial applications  (31:27) EVs and Chinese car companies  (45:18) Predictions and hopes 

With the advantage of letting a few days pass before collecting my thoughts, two themes came into focus.  First, the rise of Chinese auto companies, and the mainstreaming of electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles and IoT were starkly clear.  Second, I explain why there seems to me to be a correlation between exhibitor behavior and their business prospects.  This isn’t investment advice, of course.   Host: Ali Tabibian of GTK Partners.   Other posts regarding CES: Chris Stallman, VC; Marc Amblard, Mobility Adviser.       

Has any company made a bigger impact on the automotive sector in the last decade than Tesla? Love them or hate them, in electrification, auto dealership structure and passenger car autonomy Tesla has masterfully used the extraordinary latitude it’s been afforded by investors to disrupt of the industry.  We revisit and offer updated commentary from our original Everybody Hates Tesla episodes of a few years ago.   Note the “skip to” audio time stamps below.  You can read the related article here in 1 minute.       Host: Ali Tabibian of GTK Partners.   On some podcast players you can click to jump to the timestamps below.  (0:00) Updated introduction  (4:41) Beginning of “Everybody Hates Tesla, Part 2”   (5:08) Supply chain  (17:41) Dealerships  (21:39) Self-driving  Link to Ben Thompson’s Stratechery article on Waymo vs Tesla approaches to self-driving.  

Has any company made a bigger impact on the automotive sector in the last decade than Tesla? Love them or hate them, Tesla has masterfully used the extraordinary latitude it’s been afforded by investors and customers to disrupt the profit, supply and dealership structure of the industry.  This latitude is also potentially the Company’s biggest weakness, contributing to Groundhog Day execution problems and unnecessary “self-driving” claims. We revisit and offer updated commentary from our original Everybody Hates Tesla episodes of a few years ago.   Note the “skip to” audio time stamps below.  You can read the related article here in 3 minutes.      Host: Ali Tabibian of GTK Partners.   On some podcast players you can click to jump to the timestamps below.  (0:00) Updated introduction  (6:27) Beginning of “Everybody Hates Tesla, Part 1”   (10:00) Electrification  (15:40) EVs are inherently premium vehicles

Can your AI make life-and-death decisions? Mercedes-Benz’s Drive Pilot can.  Does your AI vendor take legal responsibility for those life-and-death decisions? Mercedes does.  Drive Pilot is the only certified Level 3 passenger car system globally.  Georges Massing, global head of the company’s automated driving and cabin technologies, tells us how.  We hear his thoughts on how the technology ecosystem can work with Mercedes. You can read the related article here in 3 minutes. Mercedes-Benz’s global website is here.  Host: Ali Tabibian of GTK Partners. On some podcast players you can click to jump to the timestamps below. (0:00) Introduction to Mercedes (4:05) Introduction to Georges Massing (12:50) The Mercedes brand (17:42) The user interface (23:25) Autonomy (44:38) Mercedes & the ecosystem