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Before diving into the news, a quick note: “This week’s wheels” will be on hiatus for a few weeks as we explore more EVs, hybrids, e-bikes, and robotaxis. Stay tuned for updates!

A little bird

Waymo has reached an agreement with the San Francisco Airport Commission, which also involves the city, to map the airport’s roadways using its vehicles. Although this agreement only covers mapping and the vehicles will be manually driven, it has garnered significant attention due to the potential for the city to eventually grant Waymo permission to expand its robotaxi service to the airport.

Sources have shared the terms of the agreement with us, which include two key points that can be described as “concessions.” These terms are likely to appear in future agreements. According to the agreement, Waymo has agreed to share data after each mapping session per vehicle, which will include information such as the time, geographic location, identification, trip identifier, transaction type, driver-based unique identifier, and vehicle license plate number.

The agreement also prohibits Waymo from using autonomous vehicles to transport commercial goods. Although Waymo no longer has a self-driving trucks program, this language is significant for groups like the Teamsters.

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Deals!

We have a few deals to share this week. Coreshell, a battery materials startup, has raised $24 million in a Series A2 round led by Ferroglobe, its silicon supplier. Other participants include Asymmetry Ventures, Estrada Ventures, Foothill Ventures, Helios Climate Ventures, Lane Venture, Translink Investment, Trousdale Ventures, and Zeon Ventures.

Einride, a Swedish driverless truck startup, is in talks to file for an IPO that could value the company at over $5 billion, according to the Financial Times.

Evera, a French EV subscription startup, has raised 2 million euros from Groupe Magellim and Newfund NAEH Innopy, MCapital, AstoryaVC, and business angel Eric Ibled.

Leta, an African logistics software-as-a-service provider, has raised $5 million in seed funding led by European VC firm Speedinvest. Other participants include Google’s Africa Investment Fund and Equator, an Africa-focused climate tech fund.

Pulsetrain, a battery tech startup, has secured 6.1 million euros in a seed round co-led by Vsquared Ventures and Planet, with participation from Climate Club.

Seadronix, a South Korea-based autonomous ship navigation company, has raised $11.3 million in a Series B funding round that included new investors LB Investment, KB Investment, and the Korea Development Bank, as well as existing backers Wonik Investment Partners and Lighthouse Combined Investment.

Notable reads and other tidbits

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