VinFast & furious… Shares of electric-vehicle maker VinFast more than tripled following its Tuesday SPAC debut on the Nasdaq, accelerating its valuation past GM and Ford. VinFast became the first Vietnamese automaker to sell cars in the US in March; it has just one ~$50K crossover available for Stateside sale, with one larger SUV confirmed. But investors' were stoked by its lofty ambitions: 

• VinFast delivered its first EVs in 2021, and founder Pham Nhat Vuong (Vietnam's wealthiest person) predicted his company is going to sell between 45K and 50K cars this year and 750K by 2026 — a # that took Tesla 17 years to hit. 

• Vuong hopes for profitability after 2025. To get there, VinFast plans to leverage low operating costs in its Vietnam home base while ramping up production with a North Carolina factory.

Vin some, lose some… VinFast's share price fell by ~19% from its Tuesday peak as of the market's bedtime yesterday. Other SPAC-quisitions haven't turned out so spectacular: this year's SPAC-listed companies slid a median 45%, while SPAC'd EV startups including Lordstown Motors, Nikola, and Faraday Future have lost 90%+ of their value since going public.

• Low float: VinFast's volatility may be partly due to few of its shares being available to the public — 99% are held by Vuong's wife and his mega-conglomerate, VinGroup.

The EV market's a tight parking spot… VinFast may struggle to maneuver its way in as established players churn out more models and slash prices. VinFast has the added challenge of proving its mettle as the first Vietnamese car company in the US, and it's off to a rocky start. Its only model for sale in the US, the VF8, has gotten negative reviews (like "return to sender") and costs ~$7K more than Tesla's Model Y after subsidies.

Empty cars everywhere… Google spinoff Waymo and GM's Cruise were approved to operate paid 24/7 driverless taxi services in San Francisco this week. It's a big win for autonomous-vehicle operators, which've invested billions and spent years developing the tech. Cruise and Waymo have no fleet-size limit, leaving them free to compete directly with cabs and ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft. But the expansion hasn't been without friction: safety officials and residents heavily criticized driverless cars during a six-hour public hearing. 

• Road bumps: Critics raised issues like the 200+ times this year when robotaxis have stalled, needing retrieval. And the time an autonomous car stopped near the scene of a mass shooting. 

• Flat debut: One day after getting approval, 10 SF Cruise vehicles stalled, causing a traffic jam. Meanwhile, "coning" protests (placing a traffic cone on a robotaxi's hood to disable it) have gone viral.

Fewer drivers, more roads… After years of "any day now" hype, autonomous driving is finally speeding up. Cruise is expanding into its eighth city (LA), while Waymo enters its fourth commercial market (Austin). In SF alone, 40+ companies have permits to test driverless cars. Given the tech expertise needed to leave the driver's seat empty, some of Silicon Valley's biggest names are merging into the autonomous lane. Apple's self-driving wing had about 50 cars testing on public roads last year, while Amazon's Zoox had 100.

Hitting the gas on a yellow light is risky… Estimates of the robotaxi market's decade-end value range from $46B to $10T (seriously). But critics say that fast growth could come at the expense of critical safety measures: there've been at least 55 incidents of robotaxis interfering with SF Fire Department operations, and the majority have happened since May, when companies began ramping up rides.

🛜 Like charging for your neighbor's WiFi password…

Self-described cryptocarrier Helium Mobile said it's launching a $5/month mobile-data plan in Miami. It said its network combines traditional T-Mobile coverage with service provided by Helium nodes scattered across the city. The cryptocarrier pitch: people buy $1K+ wireless nodes for their homes and businesses, hook them up to their personal internet connections, and earn tokens when they're used by Helium Mobile subscribers. FYI: Helium promised a decentralized wireless network before but struggled to deliver.