Episode Description
Episode #1367: Chinese automakers maintain a stealth presence in America while expanding globally, PepsiCo puts fully driverless delivery trucks to work on public roads, and Anthropic releases its most powerful AI yet—with enough safeguards to keep it from causing too much trouble.
Show Notes with links:
- While tariffs and politics have slammed the door on Chinese EV imports, many Chinese automakers never actually left the U.S. They’ve gone underground—maintaining R&D centers, offices, and even manufacturing operations while waiting for a friendlier market environment.
- Chinese automakers like BYD, SAIC, Nio, Xpeng, and Geely maintain U.S. operations despite avoiding media, trade shows, and public attention.
- Chinese automakers haven't exhibited at major U.S. auto shows in years, yet companies like Geely and Zeekr continue making headlines at CES with vehicle demos and technology showcases.
- Many brands are instead investing in Mexico, Canada, and other global manufacturing hubs while keeping American R&D centers focused on talent, technology, and supplier relationships.
- Geely already has a foothold through Volvo, Polestar, and Lotus, while BYD operates a California bus factory and Xpeng continues hiring for autonomous-driving development in Silicon Valley.
- “They have a ton of confidence in their products. But is the [political] environment right...?” said Sino Auto Insights founder Tu Le
- We recently hosted an ASOTU CON panel on how The Chinese EV Threat Is Already Here. Watch it here.
- A Doritos delivery truck with nobody behind the wheel sounds like science fiction, but PepsiCo says it's already business as usual. The company is quietly operating one of the nation's largest autonomous trucking fleets, making real deliveries to Walmart and Dollar General stores across Arizona.
- PepsiCo has deployed 35 fully driverless trucks in Arizona, plus additional units in Texas and Arkansas, moving products between plants, warehouses, and retail stores.
- The trucks, developed with autonomous trucking company Gatik, have been operating without safety drivers since June 2025 and have logged zero public-road accidents so far.
- PepsiCo says the trucks achieve a 99% on-time delivery rate, helping solve driver shortages and creating more predictable supply-chain operations.
- The company says delivery employees can spend more time building store relationships and managing inventory instead of driving repetitive short-haul routes.
- “One of the things that we can do is be able to grow the business without having to add as many employees,” said PepsiCo Senior VP of Supply Chain Jim Farrell.
- Anthropic just released its newest AI model, but not without a few guardrails. The company says Claude Fable 5 is its most capable public model ever—while quietly admitting the unrestricted version may be a little too powerful for general release.
- Anthropic launched Claude Fable 5, a public-facing version of its advanced "Mythos-class" AI, with built-in safeguards around cybersecurity, biology, chemistry, and AI model replication.
- When users venture into restricted territory, requests are automatically routed to Anthropic's less capable Opus 4.8 model, and users are notified of the switch.
- Anthropic says Fable 5 delivers state-of-the-art performance in software engineering, scientific research, reasoning, and complex knowledge work, with customers reporting dramatic productivity gains.
- A limited group of cybersecurity and infrastructure organizations will receive access to the unrestricted Mythos 5 model through Anthropic's trusted access program.
Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.
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