Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick is working with investors to buy the U.S. arm of Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony AI. Uber may help make the deal happen.
Eric Meyhofer, an ally of Kalanick and former Uber ATG CEO, is involved. He used to lead Uber’s self-driving car unit before it was sold to Aurora. Meyhofer now works with Kalanick on restaurant robotics through Lab37.
This potential buyout signals renewed activity around Pony AI’s U.S. operations led by former Uber movers. 
The term MVAT — minimum viable autonomy theater — popped up on the recent podcast Autonocast. It describes when companies show just enough self-driving tech to keep the hype going without full autonomy.
Tesla’s recent “autonomous delivery” of a Model Y over 15 miles might be a classic MVAT moment. Elon Musk called it a milestone, but some say it’s more show than substance.
Many AV companies have done similar flashy demos, especially back in 2015 during the hype frenzy.
EV sales and production numbers just landed for Q2. Some quick hits:
- The electric Hummer is nearly outselling the Ford F-150 Lightning.
- Lucid is ramping up as it pushes its Gravity SUV.
- Rivian just got another $1 billion from Volkswagen despite sales struggles.
- Tesla faces a second straight year of falling sales after a rough quarter.
Meanwhile, Republicans passed a reconciliation act that kills most Inflation Reduction Act clean energy incentives. This cuts EV tax credits on new and used cars, plus home charging installations.
Slate Auto, Jeff Bezos-backed EV startup, has already removed tax credit pricing from its website for a planned $20,000 pickup.
In other electric vehicle news:
- California startup Pebble started delivering its all-electric travel trailer.
- Detroit-based Grounded, founded by former SpaceX engineers, delivered its electric van, the G3, to its first customer.
FBI and security firms warn that hacking group Scattered Spider is now targeting airlines and transport companies.
Australia’s Qantas confirmed a data breach that exposed personal info of at least 6 million passengers.
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