Industrials and Manufacturing Sector

theverge.com reports that President Donald Trump has declared a 100 percent tariff on drone imports with thermal cameras, drones weighing over 25kg, and parts for unmanned aircraft above that weight threshold. Smaller consumer drones weighing under 250 grams face a 25 percent levy under the same presidential action. Importers can bypass these tariffs entirely by committing to domestic manufacturing within the United States. The policy also grants a reduced 15 percent rate to the EU, Japan, Liechtenstein, South Korea, Switzerland, and Taiwan, while the UK faces a 10 percent rate under specific local-origin requirements. The administration cited supply chain dependencies for critical components like motors and lithium-ion batteries, alongside data security risks, as primary justifications for the measures.

According to cbc.com, Uber is partnering with Pony.ai to deploy 2,000 self-driving taxis across Europe and expand their robotaxi partnership into the Middle East. The companies previously launched a commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb, Croatia in late March, and Friday's announcement will bring the vehicles to four additional European cities without an announced timeframe or specific locations. Fleet scale remains critical for gathering safety data for regulators and driving operational efficiency, as larger vehicle availability boosts user adoption. Uber aims to position itself as the world's leading commercialization platform for autonomous vehicles, competing against Alphabet-backed Waymo—which operates a fleet of around 5,000 vehicles and is testing rides in London—as well as Chinese rivals Baidu Apollo Go and WeRide.

Ford is on track to complete a $2 billion overhaul of its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky to produce the Fathom, an all-electric midsize truck priced under $30,000. The automaker will begin prototype builds of the Fathom in the first quarter of 2027, with customer vehicles arriving later that year. To catch up with competitors on manufacturing margins, Ford scrapped its traditional moving assembly line in favor of a new universal production system developed by its skunkworks team. The facility relies on large single-piece aluminum unicastings and a three-branched assembly tree that merges front and rear sections with a structural battery deck at the end of the line. Ford expects this setup to assemble the Fathom 15% faster than previous models built at the plant. The high-stakes bet follows heavy financial losses in Ford's electric vehicle division, which lost over $5 billion in 2024 and another $4.8 billion in 2025.