Cruise received approval from California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to test its completely driverless vehicles on roads in the state. GM’s autonomous driving division is the fifth company to receive a permit to operate self-driving cars without a backup safety driver, following Waymo, Zoox, AutoX, and Nuro.

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• The permit allows Cruise to operate a driverless fleet of five vehicles on specified streets in San Francisco. The vehicles cannot operate on roads with a speed limit of over 30 mph and cannot be tested during times of heavy rain or fog.
• Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said Cruise will be the first autonomous developer to test driverless vehicles without backup safety drivers, in the dense, populous city. The other four developers have opted for more suburban areas in California.
• 60 tech companies and auto developers currently have an active permit to test self-driving cars in California, but – with the exception of Cruise, Waymo, Zoox, AutoX, and Nuro – they are all required to have back-up safety drivers

Data obtained by The Information shows that UPS has invested only $2.5m into autonomous trucking startup TuSimple. The logistics company is a minority shareholder in TuSimple since it only owns about 0.2% of the startup.

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• This calls into question a common tactic used by private, early-stage tech companies, which add credibility to their businesses by associating themselves with well-established companies. However, details on how much equity these well-established companies actually own are typically kept private.
• Two other companies that are commonly associated with TuSimple, including Navistar and Traton, also own less than 1% in the startup each.
• TuSimple’s largest shareholder is SUN Dream Inc., a Cayman Islands-based entity. It's not known who that investor may be.
• TuSimple is in the process of raising its Series E round of funding and has also considered going public via a reverse merger.

New findings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that electric scooters pose a risk for both riders and pedestrians. The research found that electric scooter riders were twice as likely to be injured than bicyclists because of potholes, pavement cracks and other road obstacles.

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• The research found that while electric scooter riders sustained more injuries per mile, bicyclists were three times as likely to be hit by a motor vehicle.
• IIHS also found that only 2% of electric scooter riders who needed emergency treatment were wearing helmets at the time of their accident. 66% of bike riders receiving treatment reported wearing a helmet.
• 40% of electric scooter riders surveyed were injured on their first ride. 
• The study noted that local scooter speed limit caps helped mitigate the number of injuries sustained by riders.

Uber is forming a joint venture with SK Telecom to expand its mobility operations in South Korea. Uber will invest $150m into the venture, called T Map Mobility, with the South Korean telecom company, which will spin off its mobility business into the venture.

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• Uber will own 51% of T Map Mobility, while SK Telecom will own the remaining 49%.
• SK Telecom operates a ride-hailing service, T map Taxi, and parking app, T map Parking, in South Korea. Ube relaunched its black car service in 2015, after the South Korean government banned UberX.
• T Map Mobility’s major competitor will be Kakao Taxi, South Korea’s largest ride-hailing app.
• The joint venture is expected to start operations in the first half of 2021.

South Korea reported 2,227 electric scooter accidents between 2017 and June 2020. This is according to data obtained by the Korea Insurance Development Institute and Korea Trucking Association, which found that 466 electric scooter accidents were reported in the first half of 2020.

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• In 2019 alone, South Korea reported 722 electric scooter accidents, an increase of 112% over 2017.
• There were three electric scooter-related fatalities in South Korea through June of this year. Two people died in 2019 and one in 2018.
• The average insurance payout of an electric scooter accident in 2019 was 143.8 million won, which equals to $125,370.

Uber is exploring strategic partnerships or a stake sale for its Elevate aerial taxi project, Axios reports. The ride-hailing company has targeted 2023 for a launch of its aerial taxi service, using eVTOLs. The company did not offer Axios comment.

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• Uber recently sold a stake in its Freight project and has taken outside investment for its Advanced Technologies Group (ATG).
• In June 2019, the company outlined its vision for aerial transport at the Uber Elevate Summit in Washington D.C.
• In July, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi targeted the company to become profitable by 2021. Future initiatives, like autonomous driving and aerial transportation, may seem like worth long-term investments for the company, but burn cash.

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• In a cost-cutting move, Uber is moving engineering roles to India, where it is hiring 225 engineers.
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