Auto - "We Wanted Flying Cars..."

Peter Thiel published a "manifesto" in 2011 about "the future," famously subtitled "We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters." Burn. Anyway, this week a 9 year-old "startup" called Joby Aviation raised $100mm in new Series B financing from the likes of Intel, JetBlue, and Toyota to continue its pursuit of its "all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) passenger aircraft into pre-production and certification." The 5-seat prototype is described as a cross between a drone and a small plane, and is expected to fly at least 150 miles on a charge. The company aims to solve the problem of city congestion and long commute times. How will it do that? Well, where its going, we don't need roads. 

Finally, Harley-Davidson reported earnings this week and they were ugly. The company's sales declined 11.1% in the US and 7.7% internationally. Consequently, the company is closing an assembly plant in Kansas City and 800 jobs will be cut. To appeal to younger riders, the company is pursuing an electric motorcycle and the first model just went into production with an anticipated delivery date of 18 months. 

Given all of the changes occuring in auto, "architects, developers and planners already are designing new projects with autonomous vehicles in mind" - like internal parking structures that can be converted to office space if (once?) demand for private parking declines. This seems to be the latest iteration of a prior theme: landlords offering Uber credits to residents in lieu of developing parking structures.

Non Sequitur. Speaking of Peter Thiel, the Freedom of the Press Foundation is archiving Gawker.com's content to protect it from the "billionaire problem."

Non Sequitur 2.0. Thiel's Founders Fund is taking the lead on a $15mm round of financing for fad-of-the-moment-app HQ Trivia. The company's founders attempted to raise dough late last year but their efforts were stymied by rumors of womanizing. (Pssst...#MeToo). Founders Fund apparently conducted an independent investigation and got comfort around the situation. Either that or Thiel just continues to have interesting ethical positions. In any event, is there anything more Silicon Valley than this: "The deal, which came together in just the last couple of days, has not yet closed. But the new funding is needed. HQ’s cash prizes have increased, and on special occasions can be as high as $10,000 per game. The app also suffers from constant technical issues, and the games are often delayed while the company gets the video stream up and running. New funding should help in both cases." This is a literal transfer of wealth from Thiel to trivia winners.