☕ No strings attached

Electreon lands commercial fleet.

November 27, 2024 Presented By It's Wednesday. Concerns around charging—how to do it, where to do it, how much it will cost—remain top of mind for the EV-hesitant. But what if your electric vehicle just…charged itself while you were driving down the highway? Tech Brew's Jordyn Grzelewski has an update on a startup that's laying the literal groundwork for that high-tech future in Detroit. In today's edition: Wireless EV charging provider Electreon gets commercial delivery fleet on board Businesses still aren't fully ready for AI, surveys show How Verizon ensures Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade pics land in your feed —Jordyn Grzelewski, Patrick Kulp, Punya Bhasin, Annie Saunders FUTURE OF TRAVEL No wires, no problem Electreon There may come a day when topping up your EV's battery is as simple as driving down the road. In the meantime, Israeli startup Electreon is making progress toward introducing wireless EV charging to what its leaders see as the best segment to lead the way on this emerging tech: commercial fleets. The state of Michigan recently announced an expansion of its wireless charging partnership with Electreon to provide charging solutions to a UPS fleet in Detroit. As Tech Brew previously reported, Electreon started testing its tech on a quarter-mile portion of road on the Michigan Central campus in Detroit, with support from the state, about a year ago. Electreon will integrate its charging tech into an electric van assembled by commercial EV manufacturer Xos, according to a news release, and the companies will install stationary, cable-free charging equipment at a UPS facility. The project stakeholders said in the release that this deployment could help prove out wireless charging tech's "potential to lower the total cost of ownership in the electrification of commercial truck fleets." Keep reading here.—JG Presented By Intercom Human + AI customer support = stronger output Which would you choose: improved CSAT, faster resolution rates, or a lower cost to serve? In customer service, you can usually have only one—two if you're lucky. Businesses who use Fin, Intercom's AI agent for customer service, aren't saddled with this choice, but rather with opportunities. Meet Fin: Boosts CSAT by instantly responding to up to 80% of customer questions with a smart, relevant answer. Resolves tickets 10x faster than when human agents work alone—talk about a buddy system. Costs only 99¢ per resolution—half the price of leading competitors. Better, faster, or cost-effective? Go ahead. Pick all three. Intercom is AI-first customer service. Learn more about what Fin can do for you. AI Are we there yet? Blackjack3d/Getty Images Is the AI ready yet? That seems to be the question on many business leaders' minds as the second anniversary of ChatGPT's fateful release nears. Indices attempting to gauge how companies have fared at reworking operations around generative AI have been piling up lately—and the verdict is mixed. Some companies are more confident than their actual capabilities would indicate, many are finding AI falls short, and others are still organizing their IT infrastructure, these reports said. The data paint a picture of companies grappling with how to best integrate generative AI capabilities into their business as experts say companies are starting to feel pressure to move beyond experimentation. Here's a breakdown: Moving backward: Cisco's AI Readiness Index found that only 13% of large organizations are "ready to leverage AI and AI-powered technologies to their full potential," a one-point drop from the same survey last year. The report was based on a survey of almost 8,000 business leaders at companies with 500 or more employees. Cisco attributes the slipping momentum to culture and data challenges, as well as a lack of necessary talent and skills. And nearly half of companies report that "AI implementations have fallen short of expectations across top priorities." "Infrastructure readiness has notably declined, a concerning factor as companies say they anticipate significant increases in workloads," the report said. Keep reading here.—PK CONNECTIVITY Parade prep Magali Gomez/Getty Images Whether you're tuning in to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from home or watching it IRL in NYC, Verizon aims to ensure all viewers can enjoy the festivities without a glitch. The 2.5-mile-long parade—which drew 28.5 million viewers on NBC and its streaming platform, Peacock, last year—relies heavily on the use of 5G networks and fiber optic cables to facilitate the viewing experience. While viewers snap photos for their feed, Verizon works behind the scenes to make sure all those memories get captured seamlessly. Catherine Clouse, an associate director at Verizon, told Tech Brew that while much of the planning remains routine, evolving tech means year-round upgrades. This year, Verizon's focus is on viewers' heavy data use, including streaming, video calls, and uploading pictures. "Back in the original days, it was just phone calls or texts," Clouse said. "Now we're seeing video uploads, FaceTiming occurring during the parade, and that's certainly a bigger impact to the network…That's why we're expanding our capacity to care for that." Keep reading here.—PB Together With BOXABL Automation housing. Many car factories reportedly build one car per minute. If this is possible for complex vehicles, why can't we do it for houses? BOXABL is working to find a way. Using technology-based, advanced manufacturing, they mass-produce homes to create upscale, low-cost housing—and they're currently open to investors. Learn more. BITS AND BYTES Stat: 2.5%. That's how much of the world's annual carbon dioxide emissions come from air travel, Canary Media reported in a story about "sustainable aviation fuel," or SAF. Quote: "I would say this is the worst environment for entry-level jobs in tech, period, that I've seen in 25 years."—Venky Ganesan, a partner at Menlo Ventures, to the New York Times about the viability of coding boot camps in the AI era Read: Are we entering a neurotechnology renaissance in healthcare? (Healthcare Brew) Master your money: Get a grip on your finances with Money with Katie's 2025 Wealth Planner. JOBS Elevate your job search beyond the traditional channels. CollabWORK is where employers seek qualified candidates through trusted, community-based referrals. Let the power of community work for you, and click here to browse jobs curated especially for Tech Brew readers. Sr. Software Development Engineer at Amazon Web Services (in person) Senior Staff Software Engineer at an undisclosed organization (in person) Account Representative, UberEats (South Carolina and Georgia) (in person) SHARE THE BREW Share Tech Brew with your coworkers, acquire free Brew swag, and then make new friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We're saying we'll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 Click to Share Or copy & paste your referral link to others: emergingtechbrew.com/r/?kid=b3968dba ✳︎ A Note From BOXABL Please read the offering circular before making any investment. Written by Jordyn Grzelewski, Patrick Kulp, Punya Bhasin, and Annie Saunders Was this email forwarded to you? 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