Welcome back to the latest episode of “The Future of Automotive” on CBT News, where we put breaking news from the automotive and mobility industries into the context of the broader issues impacting the industry.

I’m Steve Greenfield from Automotive Ventures and I’m glad you’re with us.

The threat of Chinese electric vehicles entering the US market makes me both happy and worried.

The Chinese are now building high-quality, affordable electric cars and are quickly gaining market share in many markets outside the USA.

In the US, both the Biden administration and Donald Trump have signalled that they would be comfortable with 100 per cent tariffs on vehicles built in China, which is likely to deter Chinese original equipment manufacturers from attempting to enter the country.

Stellantis’ investment in Chinese OEM Leap Motor means that Chinese Stellantis-branded technology will soon be introduced in markets outside the United States.

Until now, Polestar and Volvo’s electric vehicles on American soil have been imported from China, but that will quickly change when production begins here in the US.

Chinese electric car giant BYD is exploring setting up factories in the Mexican market, but has so far been prevented from bringing vehicles directly to the US

My question for today’s segment is: Will popular ride-sharing apps be a backdoor for Chinese automakers to enter the U.S. market?

First of all, it was announced today that ride-sharing company Uber has announced a partnership with China-based BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, to increase the number of electric vehicle owners among Uber drivers.

Under the agreement, Uber drivers will be offered discounts and special leasing deals for BYD electric vehicles, which may also include assistance with charging, maintenance and vehicle insurance.

The goal of this partnership is to add 100,000 electric vehicles to the Uber platform. It will initially launch in Europe and Latin America and then expand to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Middle Eastern countries. The partnership will provide drivers with access to the best prices and financing options for BYD vehicles on the Uber platform.

However, it is not yet known whether there are plans to eventually allow U.S.-based Uber drivers to lease Chinese-built electric vehicles.

Both companies are electric vehicle market leaders in their respective categories: Uber has the world’s most widely deployed on-demand electric vehicle network and BYD is a global leader in electric vehicle manufacturing. By working together, the companies aim to lower the total cost of owning an electric vehicle for Uber drivers, accelerate the global adoption of electric vehicles on the Uber platform, and bring greener vehicles to millions of riders.

In related news, Waymo, owned by Google/Alphabet, has revealed details of its latest “Generation 6” self-driving technology. Waymo has chosen Chinese automaker Geely’s Zeekr vehicle as its next-generation vehicle. Remember that in addition to the Zeekr brand, Geely also owns Volvo and Polestar.

Waymo’s commercial robotaxi service first went into operation in the United States in late 2018. The company had previously integrated its driverless systems into Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans and Jaguar I-PACE all-electric SUVs.

Waymo is currently working to scale its existing ride-sharing service, Waymo One, in the Sunbelt cities of San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, Texas and Los Angeles.

Today, Waymo offers around 50,000 paid, driverless rides a week, mostly in San Francisco and Phoenix. In June, the company lifted its waitlist and opened Waymo rides to all users in San Francisco. Waymo has provided more than 2 million rides to date.

Last month, Google’s parent company Alphabet announced it would invest another $5 billion in Waymo.

The upcoming Waymo Zeekr vehicle is a boxier vehicle with roughly the same footprint as an existing Waymo I-Pace SUV.

However, the Zeekr’s interior may be more accessible for some drivers, with a low entry and high ceiling with more legroom between the rows of seats.

Both stories – Uber’s partnership with BYD to bring 100,000 Chinese-built electric vehicles to various markets around the world, combined with Waymo’s intention to bring Chinese-built Zeekr autonomous vehicles to American soil – are topics we all need to continue to keep an eye on.

While prohibitive tariffs could mean that Chinese-built vehicles won’t gain much traction in the U.S. anytime soon, there could be a backdoor way to bring these vehicles into the U.S. to satisfy fleet customers like Waymo and Uber.

Now let’s move on to “Our companies to keep an eye on.”

Each week we highlight interesting companies in the automotive technology space that you should keep an eye on. If you read my weekly Intel Report, we’ll highlight a company to keep an eye on and take the opportunity to share that company with you here in this section each week.

Today our new company to keep an eye on is Gaussian.

Gaussion is a London-based magnetoelectrochemistry company focused on commercializing magnetic enhancement technologies for batteries.

Charging speed remains a major hurdle to overcome in bringing electric vehicles (EVs) to the mass market. Experts say fast charging using traditional electrochemical methods is still unpredictable, often resulting in dangerous damage to cells, and next-generation technologies such as solid-state electrolytes have repeatedly failed to meet deployment targets.

Gaussian has developed a solution that dramatically improves battery performance by using an external magnetic field during charge and discharge cycles to enable rapid charging by directing ions within existing battery cells. The magnetic field also reduces cell degradation, thus extending battery life.

If you would like to learn more about Gaussian You can check them here www.Gaussion.com

That’s it for this week from the “Future of the Automotive Industry” segment.

If you are an AutoTech entrepreneur working on a solution that helps car dealerships, we want to hear from you. We are actively investing from our DealerFund.

If you are interested in joining our Investment Club to invest directly in AutoTech and Mobility startups, please join. There is no obligation to participate in our deal flow and we continue to have attractive investment offers for our members.

Don’t forget to check out my book, The Future of Automotive Retail, available on Amazon.com. And keep an eye out for my new book, The Future of Mobility, which is almost finished and coming soon.

Thank you (as always) for your continued support and for tuning into CBT News this week for the Future of Automotive segment. See you next week!