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From a wave of stock listings by electric vehicle and laser sensor startups to bold plans for high-speed trains, robotic trucks and robotaxis, 2020 was an exciting year in the ongoing evolution of transportation. Here are five of the year’s best stories.
Geeta Gupta Fisker and Henrik Fisker
Ethan Pines for Forbes
Henrik Fisker, Fisker Inc.’s CEO, and Geeta Gupta-Fisker, the company’s CFO and Henrik’s wife, cofounded their Los Angeles-based electric vehicle company to deliver affordable, stylish models—and have become billionaires almost two years before deliveries start. They’ve got funding, a production partner and a compelling $37,500 battery-powered SUV.
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A 25-year-old wunderkind who started his company after dropping out of Stanford as a teenager is officially a billionaire, with his company that makes sensors for self-driving cars having gone public. His laser lidar sensors that help vehicles “see” are in demand by carmakers including Volvo, Daimler and Audi.
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Denis Sverdlov
ARRIVAL
London-based Arrival is preparing to build battery-powered vans and buses at flexible, $50 million “microfactories.” It’s lined up orders worth half a billion dollars and is backed by BlackRock, Hyundai and UPS, but it has to prove that smartphone-inspired manufacturing beats big auto plants.
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Billionaire Wes Eden is convinced he can bring private passenger rail service back to the U.S., with ambitious plans for high-speed trains in Florida and connecting Las Vegas and Los Angeles. What’s more, he thinks it could be a highly profitable venture by the mid-2020s.
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A Coradia iLint commuter train
RENÉ FRAMPE VIA ALSTOM/CUMMINS
Clean hydrogen is moving into the transportation mainstream. Cummins, a giant in diesel engines for heavy-duty trucks, is gearing up to become a major producer of zero-emission hydrogen power systems, after big moves by Hyundai, Daimler, Toyota and others.
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From Los Angeles, the U.S. capitol of cars and congestion, I try to make sense of technology-driven changes reshaping how we get around. Find me on Twitter at
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From Los Angeles, the U.S. capitol of cars and congestion, I try to make sense of technology-driven changes reshaping how we get around. Find me on Twitter at @alanohnsman
