EV

I’m gonna tell my kids this was Lightning McQueen

For 44 years running, the F-150 has been the bestselling truck in the US. For some context, the F-Series generated $42 billion in 2019 sales, outpacing all major US sports leagues combined. 

This week, the 117-year-old automaker introduced the all-electric F-150 Lightning, due to arrive in Spring 2022.

Meet the F-150 Lightning 

The base model starts with 230 miles of range and a price tag of $39,974 (without EV tax incentives applied). When you apply the $7,500 US federal tax credit, the Lightning approaches price parity with its petroleum-powered sibling. Plus, EVs are also 50% cheaper to own than gas vehicles, per Consumer Reports. 

• The higher-end Lightning will reach 60 mph in the mid-4 second range, making it one of the speediest pickup trucks of all time. 

The competition 

In the 2021–2022 timeframe, GM will release the $79,995 Hummer EV supertruck and an electric Silverado (price unknown). Tesla has booked hundreds of thousands of preorders for its $39,900 Cybertruck. There’s also the $75,000 R1T from Ford- and Amazon-backed Rivian. 

Finally, a bunch of pre-revenue, post-SPAC automakers say they’ll release an electric truck. Jury’s out on how many deliver (looking at you, Nikola). 

Does anyone want one? 

We asked the same question about Ford’s Mustang Mach-E. A few months in, the automaker says it’s selling well and converting many buyers into first-time Ford owners. 

Darren Palmer, Ford’s head of battery EVs (or BEVs), told us his team asked a similar question. Their market research kicked off with trips to “the toughest places we could imagine,” like Texas, and interviews with “big, burly truck drivers.” 

• “Turns out, yes, quite a lot of people in Texas do want a BEV truck,” Palmer said. “Then we went to California, and you know what happened there.” 
• Last Spring, 34% of US adults indicated they’d be willing to buy an EV, according to an Oliver Wyman Forum survey shared with us. That number had climbed to 51% by March of this year.  

Bottom line: In five words, Ford’s EV strategy is: “Electrify the iconic franchises first.” It started with the Mustang Mach-E. Now, on to the F-150. As the EV leader, Tesla has a technical edge. But Ford is betting its dominant truck game—and a competitive price tag—will bring it success in the EV truck wars. 

Click here to read the full piece, which gets into Ford’s biggest opportunities, challenges, and more.—RD

AI

Want to think twice about that Tinder message?

Are you sure? 

That’s the name of Tinder’s newest AI safety feature—and what it wants to ask users before they share potentially offensive messages. It’s designed to prompt users to reconsider before sharing something hateful in conversation. 

Case study: In early tests, the feature reduced inappropriate messages sent by more than 10%, according to Tinder, and users were less likely to be reported for that reason in subsequent weeks—which Tinder views as a sign of longer-term behavioral change. 

Tinder isn’t the first platform to lean on AI for content moderation. Last year, Twitter started testing a feature that asked users to think twice before posting potentially offensive replies, and in 2019, Instagram began warning users about captions that might violate its terms. 

The flip side: AI for content moderation—in particular, models trained to flag hate speech—can disproportionately flag Black people, amplifying racial bias. 

• One study found that tweets written by African Americans were 1.5x more likely to be categorized as hateful or offensive. AI models were also 2.2x more likely to flag tweets written in African American English dialect.—HF 

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You’ve got to protect it on all sides, and from a variety of threats, whether they’re giant elephants, catapults, or flaming arrows.

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SEMICONDUCTORS

Semi shortage sticks

Like a spiky burr stuck on a sock, the global semiconductor shortage is hard to shake off. Here are some recent updates on the semi space. 

Lead times: This Tuesday, a report from Susquehanna Financial Group found that the average lead time for all major semiconductor categories rose to 17 weeks in April, up from 16 in March—and amounted to the longest wait time since 2017. And as Ars Technica noted, that’s just the average. For some categories, wait times stretch from 24 weeks to over a year. 

Immediate effects: Cisco reported earnings Wednesday, and said its gross profit margin for the current quarter would fall by 1.5 percentage points as it takes on higher costs related to the chip shortage. The company expects the shortage to last through at least the rest of 2021.

$$$: Late last week, South Korea, a major semiconductor player thanks (mostly) to Samsung, announced plans to dole out ~$450 billion worth of chipmaking subsidies over the next decade. For comparison, President Biden has proposed $50 billion in subsidies for US semiconductors. 

Bottom line: The shortage, which has already wreaked havoc on industries from electronics to automakers, isn’t going away any time soon. Click here for a deep dive on why we can’t fix this overnight.—DM 

BITS & BYTES

Stat: Snap said more than 5,400 creators made a total of $130 million through its Spotlight creator program, which rolled out in November. Average earnings per creator = ~$24,074.

Quote: “Our cost modelling says if we charge €7 an hour for Level 4 autonomous drive mode, this is a profitable business case.”—VW board member for sales and marketing Klaus Zellmer suggested to TopGear that this is the price it could profitably sell a self-driving system for. 

Read: In a few months, Ethereum will switch to a security foundation that could make it 99.95% more energy efficient. It’s called proof-of-stake, and here’s how it works. 

Get your tix: Learn more about the crypto craze at CoinDesk's Consensus event, May 24 to 27. From NFTs to Meme coins, get insights from 300+ blockchain experts and network with 10,000+ attendees. Grab your ticket here.*

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WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Snap unveiled its new Spectacles, the company’s first glasses with an AR display. The camera company also agreed to buy WaveOptics, its key supplier for glasses hardware, for $500 million.  
• The US Treasury proposed stricter cryptocurrency rules, like reporting transfers over $10k to the IRS. 
• China released the first Mars photos taken by its Zhurong rover.
• Google introduced a new dermatology app, but the data its system was trained on underrepresents people with darker skin tones.

GOING PHISHING

Three of the following news stories are true, and one...we made up. Can you spot the odd one out?

1. Someone arrested for riding in the backseat of a Tesla said he’ll keep on doing it.
2. Nvidia will officially give up on trying to prevent crypto miners from using its gaming GPUs. 
3. As of next summer, Internet Explorer will no longer exist. 
4. PornHub used AI to remaster erotic films from as far back as 1896. 

JOBS

Bigwig gigs don’t grow on trees. If you’re a high-level exec, looking for job opportunities in the usual places probably won’t cut it. That’s why we partnered with ExecThread, the platform with confidential jobs for people who’ve graduated beyond job boards. Today’s featured postings: CRO at a data-driven enterprise cash management platform, VP of Engineering at a software platform, and Director of Digital Strategy at an elite pro racing organization. Check out all the super cool jobs here. 

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions: 

• Ethereum’s next security foundation: Proof of stake
• Remote robot operation: Taking Spot for a spin 
• AI ethics experts react to Google doubling embattled ethics team

GOING PHISHING ANSWER

On the contrary, Nvidia introduced new limits to push miners away from gaming chips and toward its crypto-specific products.