VC Reilly Brennan thinks SPAC sponsors have been looking to Tesla for ideas. After a wave of EV-related companies went public in 2020, automated-driving companies are next. Brennan thinks firms making autonomous semi trucks will be first in line. Special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) exploded in 2020, allowing more than a dozen young companies working on electric vehicles or related technologies to take advantage of investors' interest in the likes of Tesla and Nio. Venture capitalist Reilly Brennan believes that trend will spread to the autonomous-vehicle industry this year. "Having a lot of conversations with the SPAC sponsors and knowing where their interest is going, I think that we will see more in the AV-related stuff," Brennan, a general partner at Trucks, told Insider.