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Tag: Autonomous Vehicles

  • New York governor clears path for robotaxis everywhere, with one notable exception | TechCrunch

    New York Governor Kathy Hochul plans to introduce legislation that would effectively legalize robotaxis in the state — except for its most populous metropolis: New York City. 

    Hochul, who made the comments Tuesday during her State of the State address, said the legislation would advance the next phase of the state’s autonomous vehicle pilot program. 

    Details on the proposed legislation and when it might be released are thin. However, there are some hints contained within a document that outlines an array of proposals and promises Hochul made in her State of the State address. 

    Among them is language to expand the state’s existing AV pilot program to allow for “the limited deployment of commercial for-hire autonomous passenger vehicles outside New York City.” 

    The document goes on to say companies that want to operate robotaxi services commercially will have to submit applications that “demonstrate local support for AV deployment and adherence to the highest possible safety standards.”

    It’s not clear what “limited deployment” or “highest possible safety standards” mean. Nor does the document outline how the state will track or make judgments on a company’s safety record, except that multiple agencies will be involved, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Transportation, and New York State Police.

    The governor’s office told TechCrunch more will be shared in the governor’s executive budget proposal that is set to be released on January 20.

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    Still, the remarks were enough of an opening to make Alphabet-owned Waymo cheer. 

    “Governor Hochul’s proposal to legalize fully autonomous vehicles is a transformative moment for New York’s transportation system,” Justin Kintz, Waymo’s head of global public policy, said in an emailed statement.

    “With the Governor’s leadership, New York has the opportunity to pair its investments in slower speeds, better traffic enforcement, and first-in-the-nation congestion management strategies with Waymo’s demonstrably safe technology, creating a future where living in New York is safer, easier, and more accessible. We’re ready to work with leaders around the state to make this future a reality, and bring new infrastructure, career opportunities, and investment to the Empire State,” said Kintz.

    Waymo and other companies have tried for years to enter New York state with limited success. Current New York state law mandates that drivers keep one hand on the wheel at all times. That poses a problem for robotaxi operators like Waymo since no human is behind the wheel — if there is a steering wheel at all.

    The state’s AV pilot program has provided an exemption to that rule, theoretically allowing companies to develop and test autonomous vehicles in the state.

    Still, there are significant hurdles, particularly in New York City. Last August, city regulators granted a permit to Waymo to test its robotaxis in the densely populated city. Under that permit, Waymo can deploy up to eight of its Jaguar I-Pace vehicles in Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn with a human safety operator behind the wheel. A Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch that the permit has been extended until March 31.

    Even with the permit, Waymo can’t carry passengers or operate a commercial robotaxi service without getting separate licenses from the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission.

    And while legislation was introduced last year to create a framework for driverless operation, it has languished in the state Senate’s transportation committee. The governor’s proposal could help loosen that bottleneck.

    Kirsten Korosec

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  • Waymo explains why its robotaxis got stuck during the SF blackout | TechCrunch

    Waymo is shipping a software update to help its robotaxis navigate disabled traffic lights during power outages “more decisively,” the company said Tuesday in a blog post that explains why its self-driving vehicles got stuck at intersections during a blackout in San Francisco this past weekend.

    Waymo said the self-driving system in its robotaxis treats dead stop lights as four-way stops, just like humans are supposed to. That should have allowed the robotaxis to operate normally in spite of the massive outage.

    Instead, many of the vehicles requested a “confirmation check” from Waymo’s fleet response team to make sure what they were doing was correct. All Waymo robotaxis have the ability to make these confirmation checks. With such a widespread outage on Saturday, there was a “concentrated spike” in these confirmation requests, Waymo said, which helped create all the congestion caught on video.

    Waymo said it built this confirmation request system “out of an abundance of caution during our early deployment” but that it is now refining it to “match our current scale.”

    “While this strategy was effective during smaller outages, we are now implementing fleet-wide updates that provide the [self-driving software] with specific power outage context, allowing it to navigate more decisively,” the company wrote.

    The software update will add “even more context about regional outages” to the company’s self-driving software. Waymo also said it will improve its emergency response protocols by “incorporating lessons from this event.”

    While a lot of focus has been placed on the instances where Waymo’s robotaxis got stuck during the power outage, the company shared that its vehicles “successfully traversed more than 7,000 dark signals on Saturday.”

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    “Navigating an event of this magnitude presented a unique challenge for autonomous technology,” the company wrote.

    Saturday’s mess is the latest example of how Waymo is still uncovering unforeseen issues with its software and its approach to designing a reliable fleet of self-driving vehicles. The company already had to ship multiple software updates to make its robotaxis wait for stopped school buses, which prompted a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation and led to a recall.

    Sean O’Kane

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  • Zoox issues software recall over lane crossings | TechCrunch

    Amazon-owned Zoox issued a recall Tuesday over concerns its autonomous driving system caused vehicles to cross over the center lane line near intersections or block crosswalks. The voluntary recall of its software affected 332 vehicles, according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

    While there have not been any collisions associated with the issue, Zoox noted in the NHTSA filing that it could increase the risk of a crash. The company provides free rides to the public in its driverless Zoox vehicles in parts of San Francisco and Las Vegas.

    A Zoox spokesperson told TechCrunch the company identified some instances in which its vehicles made maneuvers that, while common for human drivers, didn’t meet its standards. For example, in an effort to avoid blocking certain intersections at a red light, the robotaxi might stop in a crosswalk. In other instances, the robotaxi made a late turn, resulting in a wide turn, according to a spokesperson’s emailed statement.

    The issue was initially identified on August 26 when a Zoox robotaxi made a wide right turn, crossed partially into the opposing travel lane, and temporarily stopped in front of the oncoming travel lane, according to the NHTSA filing.

    Zoox monitored its data for additional lane crossings near intersections, ultimately identifying 62 instances between August 26 and December 5. The company said in the filing it was in “ongoing conversations with NHTSA about the frequency, severity, and root causes of these occurrences.”

    The company updated its software on November 7 and again in mid-December to address all of the issues.

    “We have successfully identified and deployed targeted software improvements to address the root causes of these incidents,” the statement reads. “Today, we’re submitting a voluntary software recall because transparency and safety is foundational to Zoox, and we want to be open with the public and regulators about how we are constantly refining and improving our technology.”

    The software recall affected Zoox vehicles operating on public roads between March 13 and December 18, according to the filing.

    Zoox has issued several software recalls this year, including one in March to address unexpected hard braking. That recall followed a preliminary investigation by NHTSA that was opened after the agency received two reports of motorcyclists colliding with the back of Zoox vehicles.

    In May, Zoox filed two software recalls to address concerns about the system’s ability to predict the movement of other road users. 

    Kirsten Korosec

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  • A San Francisco power outage left Waymo’s self-driving cars stranded at intersections

    Several of Waymo’s autonomous vehicles were seen stuck in the middle of San Francisco streets following a significant power outage that took out the city’s traffic lights. Waymo responded to the power outage by suspending its ride-hailing services in the city, but images and videos on social media showed the self-driving taxis stopped at intersections with hazard lights on.

    “We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services in the San Francisco Bay Area due to the widespread power outage,” Suzanne Philion, a spokesperson for Waymo, told Engadget in an email. “Our teams are working diligently and in close coordination with city officials, and we are hopeful to bring our services back online soon.”

    The power outage was attributed to a fire at one of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)’s substations. The incident began sometime on Saturday morning, which PG&E said affected approximately 130,000 customers. As of Sunday morning, the Californian power company said its crews have restored power to about 110,000 of those customers, while working on the remaining 21,000 customers in “the Presidio, Richmond District, Golden Gate Park and small areas of downtown San Francisco.”

    Waymo hasn’t provided an explanation as to why the power outage left its autonomous cars stranded in San Francisco streets, but this episode may have revealed a notable fault with the Waymo Driver system. Waymo indicates on its website that its autonomous driving system “responds to signs and signals, like traffic light colors and temporary stop signs,” which could indicate that the self-driving cars struggled with the out-of-order street lights. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, also saw an opportunity to chime in on X, posting that “Tesla Robotaxis were unaffected by the SF power outage.”

    Jackson Chen

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  • Waymo plans recall after company’s self-driving cars don’t stop for school buses

    Waymo, the ride-hailing service, says it is planning a voluntary software recall to fix a glitch after reports its self-driving cars don’t stop for school buses. The company has already tried to fix the issue, but police in Texas said it didn’t work. Kris Van Cleave reports.

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  • Exclusive: Monarch Tractor preps for layoffs and warns employees it may ‘shut down’ | TechCrunch

    Autonomous electric tractor startup Monarch Tractor warned staff Thursday it may need to lay off more than 100 employees, or possibly even ‘shut down,’ according to a company-wide memo obtained by TechCrunch.

    The memo comes after Monarch Tractor was already cutting some positions over the last few weeks at its California corporate facilities and remote teams in India and Singapore, according to multiple former employees who spoke with TechCrunch on the condition of anonymity.

    Monarch Tractor was founded in 2018 by a team that included a former top executive at Tesla’s first gigafactory and Carlo Mondavi, a scion of the famous winemaking family. The company raised at least $220 million, including $133 million in 2024, as it pursued a goal of making “driver optional” autonomous tractors that could perform tasks at places like wineries and other fruit farms.

    While Monarch Tractor claims to have shipped around 500 of those tractors to date, the company announced a restructuring in late 2024 that was supposed see its tractors expand to other use cases, like pushing feed at dairy farming and maintaining golf courses. CEO Praveen Penmesta also said at the time that Monarch Tractor would focus more on selling software services and licensing the company’s autonomous tech.

    At least one customer — one of Monarch Tractors’ first dealers — claims the autonomous tech never worked well, if at all, according to a lawsuit first reported by TechCrunch this week. Idaho dealership Burks Tractor claimed Monarch sold it “defective” vehicles that experienced “significant problems” after they arrived in 2024. Primarily, Burks accused Monarch’s tractors of being “unable to operate autonomously.” (Monarch denied the claims in a court filing.)

    Monarch Tractor suggests to employees in the memo on Thursday it is trying to pivot even harder away from making tractors — which may not be surprising, given that the startup lost its contract manufacturer, Foxconn, earlier this year.

    “The new business plan will enable Monarch customers to launch fully commercialized software as a service (SaaS) autonomy and other software offerings direct to consumers, unlocking new revenue streams to OEMs,” the startup’s human resources team wrote. “Unfortunately, the timing for completing the transition to the new business plan puts Monarch at risk of shut down.”

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    Monarch told employees in the memo it may permanently lay off “up to 102 employees.”

    It’s unclear how many people currently work for Monarch. The startup had around 300 employees in late 2024 when it laid off more than 10% of the company as part of the restructuring. The former employees familiar with the recent cuts could not say exactly how large those layoffs were. Penmesta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Through this year, Monarch Tractor has also lost some top talent, including the co-founder from Tesla, Mark Schwager.

    “We started Monarch with a daring vision: that farming could be electrified, automated, smart and made more profitable — all at once,” Schwager wrote in a LinkedIn post in July, while explaining he would remain on the company’s board. “Monarch is in great position and in great hands for the next leg of its trajectory – making the timing right for this transition.”

    Sean O’Kane

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  • Waymo’s Robotaxis Can Now Use the Highway, Speeding Up Longer Trips

    When Google’s self-driving car project began testing in the Bay Area back in 2009, its engineers focused on highways by sending its sensor-laden vehicles cruising down Interstate 280, which runs the length of Silicon Valley’s peninsula.

    More than 15 years later, the cars are back on the freeway—this time without drivers. On Tuesday, the project, now an Alphabet subsidiary we all know as Waymo, announced that its robotaxi service would now drive on freeways in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.

    The new service marks another technical leap for Waymo, whose robotaxis currently serve five US metros: Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The company says it will launch in several other US and international cities next year, including Dallas, Miami, Nashville, Las Vegas, Detroit, and London.

    Waymo also announced Wednesday that it would begin curbside pickup and drop-off service at San Jose Mineta International Airport, allowing passengers to, theoretically, travel autonomously all the way from San Francisco to San Jose—a service area of some 260 square miles. Waymo has been offering its autonomous taxi service on area service roads since the summer of 2023, but the new freeway service could cut in half the time it takes for a robotaxi to travel from San Francisco to Mountain View, Waymo user experience researcher Naomi Guthrie says.

    “Freeway driving is one of those things that’s very easy to learn, but very hard to master,” Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov told reporters last week. Highways are predictable, with (mostly) clear signs and lane lines, and a limited set of vehicles and players (trucks, cars, motorcycles, trailers) that a vehicle’s software must learn to recognize and predict. But Waymo executives said that, despite a year of employee- and guest-only highway testing, safety emergencies on highways are relatively rare, so the team was unable to collect as much real-world data as it needed to train its vehicles to operate safely there. Complicating the project was the fact that highway crashes, at high speeds, are subject to the laws of phsyics—and so more likely to maim or kill.

    To get ready for highways, Waymo executives say, engineers supplemented real-world driving data and training with data collected on private, closed courses, and data created in simulations. Two onboard computers help create system “redundancies,” meaning the vehicles will have computer backup if something goes wrong. The vehicles have been trained to exit highways in the case of emergencies, but will be able to pull over as well. Waymo execs also say they have and will work with law enforcement and first responders, including highway patrols, to create procedures for vehicles and riders stranded on highway shoulders, where hundreds of Americans are killed every year.

    Aarian Marshall

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  • Pete Buttigieg Admits Biden Administration Should’ve Done More To Grow Autonomous Vehicles — Says DOGE-Like Department ‘Makes Tons Of Sense’

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    Biden-era Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says that the Biden administration could’ve done more to drive growth in the adoption of autonomous vehicles in the U.S.

    “We’re at the point where at least some of these technologies, right now, already, are safer than human beings and that’s only gonna increase and improve,” Buttigieg said during an appearance on the All In Podcast on Thursday, adding that the technology had the potential to “save a huge number of lives.”

    Buttigieg also outlined the differences in safety regulations between aviation and road safety, noting that hundreds of people lose their lives on the road daily in car crashes driven by human drivers. “It’s enough to fill a 737 every day,” Buttigieg said. “Are there things we could, or should have done, to accelerate AV adoption? I think the answer is yes,” Buttigieg said.

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    Sharing his insight into the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Buttigieg said that it made “tons of sense” in theory. “I would love, in theory, a Department of Government Efficiency that was actually about government efficiency,” Buttigieg said.

    He added that an ideal DOGE could do a lot of good, but “the DOGE we got, sent an email to every air traffic controller in the country, during an air traffic controller shortage, and suggested they quit being an air traffic controller, and get something “more productive” to do in the private sector,” Buttigieg said, criticizing the Elon Musk-led department that was tasked with cutting down excess federal spending.

    See Also: Missed Nvidia and Tesla? RAD Intel Could Be the Next AI Powerhouse — Invest Now at Just $0.81 a Share

    Recently, Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi predicted that most vehicles would be autonomous in 20+ years, comparing driving to “horseback riding” in the future. He also added that human drivers would become less safe than robots as autonomous driving technologies evolve with time.

    Khosrowshahi’s comments come amid a partnership with chipmaker Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), which would target deploying over 100,000 autonomous vehicles by 2027 on Uber’s platform. The vehicles would be powered by Nvidia’s autonomous driving stack, which includes both hardware and software capabilities.

    Meanwhile, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is slated to begin production of the Cybercab as the EV giant posted multiple job listings on its official website detailing open positions at the company’s Gigafactory in Texas for the Cybercab’s production.

    The Cybercab could also feature a steering wheel and pedals like traditional vehicles, something which wasn’t initially in the plans for Tesla, following comments by Board Chair Robyn Denholm that the company could add them to the vehicle to comply with safety regulations.

    Elsewhere, Alphabet Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) autonomous vehicle arm Waymo CEO Tekedra Mawakana called for transparency in the autonomous vehicle sector, noting that companies that weren’t transparent were not doing enough to make roads safer.

    Photo courtesy: Rich Koele on Shutterstock.com

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  • Robotaxi companies must do more to prove safety, Waymo co-CEO says | TechCrunch

    Waymo co-CEO Takedra Mawakana believes other companies working on autonomous vehicles need to do more to prove their technology is safe, she said during an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.

    Mawakana had just been asked who she considered to be on the list of companies trying to make roads safer during Monday’s interview.

    “I don’t know who’s on that list, because they’re not telling us what’s happening with their fleets,” she said.

    Prioritizing safety while scaling operations was a big topic during the interview, and Mawakana was sure to cite the data Waymo recently released that shows, by its count, that the company’s vehicles are five times safer than human drivers and 12 times safer with respect to pedestrians.

    Mawakana declined to say whether she was specifically talking about Tesla, but there are only a few companies in the U.S. right now claiming to be working on robotaxi tech.

    Tesla publishes quarterly “vehicle safety reports.” But that data only focuses on the use of the company’s Autopilot driver assistance technology, which is designed to be used on highways, where the rate of crashes is lower than on surface streets. (And the latest report shows an uptick in crashes.) Tesla has not released any public data about the safety of its nascent robotaxi pilot program in Austin, Texas.

    Other companies in the space are early in the deployment phase or still testing their technology. Zoox has only just begun offering rides in its purpose-built AV in Las Vegas, Nevada. Companies like May Mobility and Pony AI have yet to launch commercially in the U.S. Aurora, the self-driving trucks company, has published a safety framework.

    “I think there is a responsibility, if you’re going to put vehicles on the road, and you’re going to remove the driver from behind the wheel, and you’re going to have someone in some other room observing the fleet who can take over their vehicles, it is incumbent upon you to be transparent about what’s happening,” she said. “And if you are not being transparent, then it is my view that you are not doing what is necessary in order to actually earn the right to make the road safer.”

    Sean O’Kane

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  • GM Is Bringing Google’s Gemini AI to Vehicles in 2026

    Starting next year, some GM drivers will be able to have natural language conversations with their cars, thanks to Gemini. 

    The automaker announced on Wednesday that Google’s AI assistant is coming to its vehicles beginning in 2026. The partnership will function like an evolution of what GM already offers with Google Cloud, but with added functionality and more vehicle controls, a spokesperson says. This comes even as GM teases work on developing its own AI platform that it hopes will anticipate a driver’s needs, assist with route optimization, and build on in-vehicle safety service OnStar.

    “We want it eventually to be more than just saying, ‘Hey, roll the windows up or down,’” says GM’s SVP of software and services engineering, Dave Richardson. “There’s a big opportunity around maintenance. We’ve talked about detecting drowsy drivers and helping on the safety aspect as well.”

    GM officially announced the news at its GM Forward media event in New York City on Wednesday, alongside a series of other updates about advancements in autonomous driving, a new computing platform for GM vehicles, scaling robotics in GM factories, and new financing for its battery systems.

    With autonomous driving, GM is preparing to level up its vehicles—literally—starting as soon as 2028. GM already offers Super Cruise, which is considered level 2 autonomy, meaning that drivers can take their hands off the steering wheel, but are responsible for the vehicle and must be ready to take over. Super Cruise is currently available on more than 600,000 miles of mapped roads across North America.

    Starting in 2028 with the Cadillac Escalade IQ electric SUV, GM is aiming to introduce updates that will allow drivers to take their eyes off the road, unlocking a new tier of autonomy that Richardson calls Super Cruise 3.

    “Where we’re going in 2028 with the Escalade IQ, is the ability to have that same experience [as Super Cruise], but you as the driver no longer have to keep your eyes on the road,” Richardson says. “You can be talking with people in the vehicle. You can be dozing off. I think the real appeal to people is that’s giving people tons of time back.”

    Cadillac’s Escalade IQ will also be the first vehicle on which GM will debut its next generation electrical architecture, which is applicable for both internal combustion and electric vehicles. It plans to introduce so-called “software defined vehicles” in 2028.

    “That’s really going to make it easy for us to do scalable, efficient software and deliver all the technology that we’re talking about here through the next years and beyond,” Richardson says.

    GM also announced that it is deploying robots that are safe for human workers to be around, called cobots, into its factories, and announced that new leasing options will start in 2026 for the GM Energy Home system, which includes both bi-directional EV charging and a stationary home battery. All of these updates seem intended to position GM as a tech-heavy mobility company that leverages robotics and AI, rather than a simple automaker—much like Tesla considers itself a robotics company. 

    The updates come as the auto industry braces for a possible tumble in EV sales, following the Trump administration’s elimination of consumer EV credits. GM had previously been among the most bullish legacy automakers on EVs, at one point pledging to be all-electric by 2035.

    “Despite slower EV industry growth, we believe the long-term future is profitable electric vehicle production. This continues to be our north star,” a GM spokesperson said in a statement. “We are guided by our customers and committed to offering them the choice and convenience they want — which means both EVs and gas-powered vehicles.”

    GM announced in June that it would invest some $4 billion in three separate U.S. facilities to ramp up production of internal combustion engine vehicles even as it continues to push ahead with EVs, Politico reported.

    Chloe Aiello

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  • Self-driving trucks startup Einride raises $100M | TechCrunch

    Einride, the Swedish startup known for its unusual-looking electric and autonomous pods that are designed to carry freight, said Wednesday it has raised $100 million from several new and existing investors, including its largest shareholder, EQT Ventures.

    The raise included an undisclosed strategic investment from quantum computing company IonQ. Neither Einride, nor its investors, disclosed the company’s post-money valuation.

    The funding comes as Einride adjusts to a new CEO and tries to scale its three business products: electric big rigs, autonomous pod-like trucks that navigate fixed routes, and planning software designed for shippers. Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli said the funding would allow the company to grow with its customer base and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous freight technology.

    The company, which was founded in 2016, started in Sweden with a mission to disrupt the freight industry — first with electric trucks, then with electric autonomous pods, which are purpose-built without a steering wheel or pedals for self-driving.

    Einride has expanded beyond Sweden and operates a fleet of heavy-duty electric trucks in Europe, North America, and the UAE, for companies like PepsiCo, Carlsberg Sweden, and DP World. The company has made some inroads with its autonomous pod-like trucks with customers Apotea in Sweden and GE Appliances in the United States.

    “We believe Einride is building the most complete and forward-looking freight ecosystem on the market today,” Ted Persson, partner at EQT Ventures, said in a statement. “Nordic tech has a habit of being underestimated, until it quietly rewires an entire industry. That’s exactly what Einride is doing in freight.”

    Still, Einride has undergone internal changes and has grappled — along with the rest of the nascent autonomous vehicle technology sector — with the long and expensive process of moving from development to commercial operations.

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    Five months ago, Einride co-founder Robert Falck left the CEO role and took over as executive chairman of the board to focus on the company’s long-term strategy. Charli, who had been CFO, was promoted to the top leadership position.

    The company previously raised $500 million in 2022 in a Series C round of equity and debt. The equity-based $200 million portion came from backers including Northzone, EQT Ventures, Temasek, Swedish pension fund AMF, Polar Structure, and Norrsken VC. It also secured $300 million in debt funding led by Barclays Europe.

    Kirsten Korosec

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  • Waymo’s newest service caters to businesses

    Waymo has unveiled a new enterprise transportation program. The service offers companies access to the brand’s autonomous vehicles on a larger scale than individual one-off rides, with features such as establishing commuter programs, transporting riders to events and providing other forms of corporate travel. Waymo for Business is available in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix at launch.

    Clients who sign up for this option can use Waymo’s business portal to establish their program and manage riders, whether that’s regular employees or limited-time guests. It will also have metrics for budget management and ride activity. The whole operation is still in early days, and it seems possible that Waymo for Business will adapt based on what customers most want from the autonomous vehicle company.

    2025 has been a busy year for Waymo. The company plans to test its fleet in this year, rolled out a option in July, and already has its sights set on in 2026.

    Anna Washenko

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  • Lyft launches autonomous fleet with May Mobility in Atlanta

    Lyft and May Mobility have teamed up to launch a fleet of autonomous vehicles in Atlanta. It’s a pilot program, so it’s currently only available to Lyft riders in the area of midtown Atlanta. The companies promise a “measured, safety-first approach” with this rollout.

    The fleet consists of hybrid-electric Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicles equipped with May Mobility’s self-driving technology. Lyft and May Mobility announced this partnership last year, but Atlanta is the first city to get a fleet of self-driving vehicles.

    The rides will be fully autonomous, but each vehicle will feature a human just in case something goes wrong. These standby operators are trained to take the wheel if needed. The companies haven’t announced a timeframe for when these standby operators will no longer be required.

    Customers will have access to temperature controls, which is nice. However, hailing one of these cars is something of a crap shoot. You have to be in the service area, use the app and hope for the best. Lyft and May Mobility say they will increase the number of available vehicles and expand service hours in the “months ahead.”

    This is May Mobility’s second launch in Georgia, as it operates a fleet of driverless vehicles in the Atlanta suburb of Peachtree Corners. Lyft’s primary rival Uber has also been making serious moves in this space. The company has entered into a partnership with Lucid to create a massive fleet of 20,000 autonomous vehicles. It also has plans to launch self-driving pilot programs throughout the globe.

    Lawrence Bonk

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  • Uber and Momenta to test autonomous vehicles in Germany in 2026 | TechCrunch

    Ride-hailing giant Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle startup Momenta plan to start testing robotaxis in Munich, Germany starting in 2026 – the first continental European city either company has announced publicly – with plans to expand to other markets.

    The partnership was first unveiled in May 2025, when Uber said Momenta-powered vehicles would launch on its platform in Europe in 2026, initially with human safety operators onboard to monitor the vehicles and take control if needed.

    Momenta, founded in 2016, is one of China’s earliest autonomous vehicle (AV) companies. The Beijing-based startup has been testing self-driving cars in China since 2018 and is considered a major player in the country’s competitive AV market.

    Uber’s move puts it in direct competition with other ride-hailing companies expanding into Europe’s AV market. For example, in August Lyft announced a deal with China’s Baidu to deploy robotaxis across Europe starting next year, beginning with Germany and the UK. 

    Momenta is one of 20 global AV partners that Uber has brought on board across its ride-hailing, delivery, and freight businesses. Uber says those partnerships have already generated an annualized rate of 1.5 million mobility and delivery trips.

    In the U.S., Uber offers Waymo’s robotaxis on its app in Austin, Atlanta, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

    Internationally, Uber has partnered with Momenta and other Chinese AV startups, like WeRide and Pony.ai, to roll out robotaxis on the Uber platform in the Middle East. Uber and WeRide currently offer AV rides in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, with plans to expand to Dubai. Uber and UK-based Wayve also recently announced plans to launch public road trials of Level 4 AVs in London. 

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    (Level 4 autonomy means the vehicle can operate without human intervention under certain conditions.)

    Uber said in a statement that it chose Munich as its European launchpad due to the city’s engineering heritage and strong automotive ecosystem. 

    “Germany has shaped the global automotive industry for more than a century, and now Munich will help shape the future with autonomous vehicles,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, in a statement.

    TechCrunch has reached out to Uber and Momenta to learn whether they have already begun the certification process in Germany yet. Momenta will need to prove to German regulators that its vehicles meet certain safety standards and have its designed operating areas (called “geo-fenced zones”) approved by the authorities. 

    The launch could be Momenta’s first robotaxi deployment in Europe. The company has been operating a service in Shanghai with plans for a commercial rollout with onboard safety operators by the end of this year. As it works to develop its Level 4 capabilities, Momenta has also been working to deploy advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) with partner automakers, including German brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. Momenta’s ADAS is already installed on 400,000 vehicles sold to customers today, according to the company. 

    Rebecca Bellan

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  • Isuzu to build a dedicated test track for autonomous CVs

    Japanese automaker Isuzu Motors announced plans to build a new test course dedicated to autonomous vehicles, with the aim of accelerating the adoption of Level 4 autonomous technologies in trucks and buses.

    Isuzu claims that the new facility will be the first dedicated autonomous driving test course to be established by a commercial vehicle manufacturer in Japan. It will be built on a 190,000 sq m plot within the proving grounds of its Isuzu Hokkaido Proving Ground Company (IHPG) subsidiary, and will be designed to accommodate large commercial vehicles such as heavy-duty trucks with trailers and articulated buses.

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    The new facility will feature multiple testing areas, including simulated urban streets, highway merging and exiting sections, and rural roads. Each area will be equipped with different types of road and traffic infrastructure, making it possible to safely replicate complex driving scenarios that are difficult to conduct on public roads, enabling the verification and validation of autonomous driving technologies. The facility is expected to be partially operational by the summer of 2026 and fully operational by September 2027.

    Isuzu confirmed that the new autonomous vehicle proving ground will also be made available to companies and organizations outside the Isuzu Group, including autonomous driving startups, automotive parts suppliers, and the transport infrastructure sector, “thereby helping to advance the deployment of autonomous driving technologies throughout society.”

    “Isuzu to build a dedicated test track for autonomous CVs” was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand.

     


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  • Waymo’s next stops for its robotaxis are Denver and Seattle

    Waymo is preparing to launch in two more markets. The company announced today that it will expand into both and . It will begin testing with humans behind the wheel this week, bringing up to a dozen vehicles to each location, according to . The rollout will include a mix of the brand’s fully electric Jaguar iPace and Geely Zeekr autonomous vehicles.

    “We will begin driving manually before validating our technology and operations for fully autonomous services in the future,” a representative told CNBC.

    This has been a busy year for the Alphabet-owned Waymo, which said in January that it planned to introduce its autonomous vehicles to during 2025. The company partnered with Uber for its launch in June and also rolled out a teen account option in July. Waymo received permits to begin testing its cars in New York City last month.

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  • Waymo expands to Denver and Seattle with its Zeekr-made vans | TechCrunch

    Waymo announced Tuesday that it’s going to bring both of its vehicles — the Jaguar I-Pace SUV and the Zeekr van — to Denver and Seattle starting this week, the latest move in a continued expansion across the United States.

    The vehicles will be manually driven to start, before the company starts testing its autonomous tech in both cities. Waymo told TechCrunch that it hopes to start offering robotaxi trips in Denver next year and the Seattle metropolitan area “as soon as we’re permitted to do so.” Denver and Seattle will be two of the most extreme-weather cities that Waymo is feeling out, giving it a chance to test out its tech in snow, wind, and rain that is harder to come by in places like Phoenix.

    The new cities join a growing list of places where Waymo is operating in the U.S. Just last week the company announced that it has more than 2,000 robotaxis in its commercial fleet countrywide, with 800 in the San Francisco Bay Area, 500 in Los Angeles, 400 in Phoenix, 100 in Austin, and “dozens” in Atlanta. Waymo has also announced plans to launch a commercial robotaxi services in Dallas, Miami, and Washington, D.C., next year, and recently received a permit to start testing in New York City.

    That’s not to mention the other cities where Waymo has dipped its toes. It’s brought vehicles on “road trips” to places like Philadelphia and plans to do the same in Las Vegas, San Diego, Houston, Orlando, and San Antonio.

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  • Waymo can now test its self-driving vehicles in New York City

    Waymo can now test its self-driving cars in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams has announced. Local authorities have granted the company the permit needed to be able to test autonomous vehicles in parts of Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn. It’s the first-ever permit for the “testing deployment” of AVs the city has granted. Waymo will be able to deploy a fleet with up to eight vehicles in the city until late September 2025. For now, though, the permit only allows Waymo to test its AVs with drivers behind the wheel.

    The company announced earlier this year that it was going to test its driverless system in 10 new cities in 2025. In June, it filed a request for permission to test its AVs in New York City in hopes that it can someday bring its autonomous ride-hailing service to the Big Apple. To note, while Adams said the city granted Waymo the first permit of its kind, the company deployed its vehicles to map some parts of NYC back in 2021.

    Under the permit, Waymo will be required to regularly report the data gathered from its testing to the Department of Transportation to certify that it’s “adhering to the industry’s best practices related to cybersecurity.” Waymo will be given the opportunity to apply for an extension after its pilot testing period ends in September. It may have to continue testing them with human operators for a while, though: New York state law prohibits the operation of vehicles without a driver behind the wheel, but Waymo told Forbes that it’s lobbying to change the regulation.

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  • Waymo’s New Agreement With Hyundai Raises Questions About China

    Waymo’s New Agreement With Hyundai Raises Questions About China

    Soon you could see Waymo self-driving tech in Hyundai cars. The autonomous driving tech developer Waymo said this week that it would partner with the Korean automaker Hyundai to equip a fleet of its electric vehicles with self-driving technology. The vehicles, modified Ioniq 5s, will hit the road as part of Waymo’s self-driving ride-hail service in late 2025, the companies said.

    In a statement, Hyundai Motor Company president and global COO José Muñoz called the agreement a “first step” in the two firms’ partnership. “We are actively exploring additional opportunities for collaboration,” he said—opening up the possibility that Waymo self-driving tech could one day be installed on Hyundai passenger vehicles.

    However, the multinational partnership is the latest to prompt questions about how Waymo, arguably the world’s most successful autonomous-driving company, will handle a global realignment of the automotive industry.

    China’s new dominance in auto manufacturing and export has worried other global automakers, some of whom have argued that the country has unfair trade advantages. Over the past year, Western countries have built firmer trade walls to prevent the incursion of inexpensive Chinese electric and autonomous vehicles. Last month, the US finalized rules that dramatically increased tariffs against Chinese-made EVs and battery materials.

    The US Commerce Department also last month proposed a rule that would ban some Chinese- and Russian-made automotive hardware and software from the US, with an emphasis on technology that enables autonomy. Just this week, the European Union voted to hike tariffs against Chinese-made electric vehicles.

    Interestingly, Waymo insists that a partnership with Chinese-owned automaker Zeekr is still on. The deal, announced in late 2021, has seen Zeekr purpose-build roomier autonomous minivans for the Alphabet subsidiary that are also less expensive to manufacture. The Zeekr vehicle officially made its debut in San Francisco in June, though Waymo says it’s still in testing and is not yet part of its public ride-hail fleet.

    Zeekr is owned by Chinese automaker Geely, though its design center and one of its research and development facilities are in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Swedish city is also the headquarters of majority Geely-owned automakers Volvo and Polestar, an all-electric premium automaker.

    In an email on Friday, Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli wrote that the Hyundai Ioniq 5s “will not replace any of our other vehicle platforms,” and said the company is “hard at work validating” the latest version of Waymo’s tech on the Zeekr platform.

    In proposing new rules targeting Chinese-made auto software and hardware, the US government argued that such tech installed on US vehicles could create a long-term national security issue. “Imagine if there were thousands or hundreds of thousands of Chinese-connected vehicles on American roads that could be immediately and simultaneously disabled by somebody in Beijing,” US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said earlier this year.

    But in public comments submitted to the Commerce Department in April, Waymo representatives insisted that, despite its partnership with the Chinese automaker, China has nothing to do with the vital tech of the Zeekr-made robotaxi. “The AV-ready base vehicles being provided to Waymo have no driving automation or telematics capabilities built into them,” the company wrote, saying that only US-based Waymo personnel install autonomous technology onto vehicles at an American factory. The company said that, once operating in the US, the vehicles cannot remotely communicate with the vehicle’s manufacturer—Zeekr.

    Aarian Marshall

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