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Tag: techcrunch mobility

  • TechCrunch Mobility: RIP, Tesla Autopilot, and the NTSB investigates Waymo | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    A quick bit of breaking news that hit just as we were about to send this newsletter out. The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into Waymo after its robotaxis have been spotted illegally passing stopped school buses numerous times in at least two states. Read the full story here.

    Now onto our regular programming …

    Tesla made a couple of moves this week — and just before its quarterly earnings drops — designed to show its progress, and even dominance, in automated driving technology. But, hold up, there is more to it than mere optics. 

    The week started with Tesla offering passengers robotaxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver in the front seat. If you recall, Tesla launched a limited service in Austin last year with a fleet of modified Tesla Model Y vehicles running a more advanced version of the company’s driving software known as Full Self-Driving Supervised (this one being “unsupervised”). Human safety operators have been riding in the front passenger seat as a precaution since the rollout.

    Not all of Tesla’s fleet in Austin will be fully driverless, and there is apparently a chase vehicle behind those that are. Still, it is notable and suggests Tesla is moving toward a broader ramp-up. 

    Meanwhile, Tesla has killed Autopilot, the advanced driver-assistance system that was initially introduced to its vehicles in 2014. Autopilot has gone through several software and hardware iterations over the years with new capabilities. 

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    Autopilot was instantly popular and controversial, in part because the name implied the system was more capable than it actually was. (Drivers are responsible and are supposed to have their hands on the wheel when Autopilot is engaged.)

    Tesla eventually made a basic Autopilot system standard in all of its vehicles, while launching and charging for a more robust system known now as Full Self-Driving (Supervised). The basic version, which is now dead, included traffic-aware cruise control, in which the vehicle maintains a set distance with cars ahead, and Autosteer, a feature that centers the vehicle in the lane and steers it.

    Its decision to kill what was standard ADAS comes one week after Tesla said it would stop charging a one-time $8,000 fee for the FSD software and move all customers to a monthly subscription. 

    These decisions when taken together offer a simple enough explanation: Tesla wants to recognize more revenue from FSD as it positions itself as an AI and robotics company. 

    But there is another possible reason. The company is facing a 30-day suspension of its manufacturing and dealer licenses in California after a judge ruled in December that Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing by overstating the capabilities of Autopilot and FSD. 

    The ruling has been stayed for 60 days to allow Tesla to comply. Dropping the Autopilot name while cashing in on FSD is a rather bold move. But perhaps Tesla believes this is enough to satiate the DMV.

    Deals!

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Zipline, the autonomous drone-delivery and logistics startup, has been around for more than a decade, starting in Rwanda delivering blood. Its progress has been slow and steady, notching wins in other African countries and expanding to the United States. That trajectory sped up after it launched a new drone platform in 2025 called P2 that focuses on home delivery of food and other goods. 

    Now, fueled with $600 million in new funding, its expansion ambitions have grown. The company, which is now valued at $7.6 billion, is bringing its service to Houston and Phoenix and plans to expand to at least four more U.S. states in 2026. 

    Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, and Tiger Global participated in the funding round.

    Other deals that got my attention …

    ABZ Innovation, a Europe-based maker of heavy-duty agricultural and industrial drones, raised $8.2 million in a funding round led by Vsquared Ventures, with participation from Assembly Ventures and Day One Capital.

    Ethernovia, a San Jose, California-based startup that makes Ethernet-based systems for autonomous vehicles, raised $90 million in a Series B funding round led by Maverick Silicon — an AI-focused fund created in 2024 by hedge fund Maverick Capital.

    Serve Robotics, the sidewalk delivery robot company backed by Nvidia and Uber, acquired Diligent Robotics in a deal that values the common stock at $29 million. Diligent builds robots named Moxi that are designed to assist in hospitals by delivering lab samples, supplies, and other tasks. Note: Watch for more autonomous vehicle tech-robotics crossovers in the coming year. 

    Terralayr, a German grid-scale battery storage company, raised €192 million in a round led by Eurazeo. RIVE Private Investment, Creandum, Earlybird, Norrsken VC, and Picus Capital also participated.

    TrueCar founder Scott Painter reacquired the company in a $227 million deal through his firm Fair Holdings, and partners AutoNation, PenFed Credit Union, Zurich North America, and others. TrueCar will no longer be publicly traded, and Painter has returned to the CEO spot.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Austin Russell, the founder and former CEO of bankrupt lidar company Luminar, agreed to accept an electronic subpoena for information on his phone pertaining to the company. The subpoena is related to Luminar’s ongoing bankruptcy proceeding.

    Chinese automaker Geely Holding Group released its five-year blueprint, and among its many goals is a section on robotaxis. The company said that by 2030 its Cao Cao Mobility ride-hailing unit will operate a fleet of 100,000 robotaxis covering major cities in China. It also hinted at plans to expand beyond China “in the future.”

    General Motors is moving production of two gas-powered vehicles away from China and Mexico and to a U.S. factory in Kansas. That change will also mean the end of its rebooted Chevrolet Bolt EV, the only vehicle currently built at the Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas. Read more to learn when production of the Chevy Bolt EV will end. 

    Tesla aims to restart work on Dojo3, the company’s previously abandoned third-generation AI chip. Dojo3 won’t be aimed at training self-driving models. Instead, CEO Elon Musk says it will be dedicated to “space-based AI compute.”

    Waymo has opened its robotaxi service in Miami. Riders will be accepted on a rolling basis, to the nearly 10,000 local residents on its waitlist. 

    One more thing …

    Alex Roy, who co-hosts the Autonocast with me and Ed Niedermeyer, just traveled from Los Angeles to New York in a Tesla Model S, in which the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving Supervised software handled all of the driving. This “Cannonball Run” route is one Roy is familiar with; he set the transcontinental driving record in 2007 when he traveled the route in 31 hours and 4 minutes. He has gone on to make other Cannonball Run records in EVs. Others have followed and since beaten those records. 

    According to Roy, who captured the entire run on video, the FSD (version 14.2.2.3) drove 100% of the 3,081-mile journey. That included exiting the highway and parking at EV chargers. The time was 58 hours, 22 minutes.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • TechCrunch Mobility: ‘Physical AI’ enters the hype machine | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.” To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    It’s been a minute, folks! As you might recall, the newsletter took a little holiday break. We’re back and well into 2026. And a lot has happened since the last edition. 

    I spent the first week of the year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And while I wrote about this last January, it’s worth repeating: U.S. automakers have left the building. 

    What has filled the void in the Las Vegas Convention Center? Autonomous vehicle tech companies (Zoox, Tensor Auto, Tier IV, and Waymo, which rebranded its Zeekr RT, to name a few), Chinese automakers like Geely and GWM, software and automotive chip companies, and loads of what Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang calls “physical AI.” 

    The term, which is sometimes called “embodied AI,” describes the use of AI outside the digital world and into the real, physics-based one. AI models, combined with sensors, cameras, and the motorized controls, allow that physical thing — humanoid robot, drone, autonomous forklift, robotaxi — to detect and understand what’s in this real environment and make decisions to operate within it. And it was all over the place from agriculture and robotics to autonomous vehicles and drones, industrial manufacturing, and wearables. 

    Hyundai had one of the busiest and largest exhibits with a near-constant line wrapped around the entrance. The Korean automaker wasn’t showing cars. Nope, it was robots of various forms, including the Atlas humanoid robot, courtesy of its subsidiary Boston Dynamics. There were also innovations that have come out of Hyundai Motor Group Robotics LAB, including a robot that charges electric autonomous vehicles, and a four-wheel electric platform called the Mobile Eccentric Droid (MobEd) that is going into production this year. It seems everyone was embracing and showcasing robotics, particularly humanoids. 

    The hype around humanoids, specifically, and physical AI, in general, was palpable. I asked Mobileye co-founder and president Amnon Shashua about this because his company just bought his humanoid robotics startup for $900 million: “What do you say when people tell you humanoid robots are all hype?” 

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    “The internet was also a hype, remember in 2000, the crisis of the internet,” Shashua said. “It did not mean that [the] internet is not a real thing. Hype means that companies are overvalued for a certain period of time, and then they crash. It does not mean that the domain is not real. I believe that the domain of humanoids is real.”

    A few notable stories from CES:
    Nvidia launches Alpamayo, open AI models that allow autonomous vehicles to ‘think like a human’

    This is Uber’s new robotaxi from Lucid and Nuro

    Mobileye acquires humanoid robot startup Mentee Robotics for $900M

    Now onto the other non-CES and more recent news … 

    A little bird

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    President Trump made comments this week at a Detroit Economic Club meeting about welcoming Chinese automakers into the United States that did not sit well with many in the auto industry, according to insiders I have spoken to. Specifically, I have been told the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (the industry lobbying group) is “freaking out,” one DC insider told me. 

    “If they want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great, I love that,” Trump said, according to reporters in attendance. “Let China come in, let Japan come in.”

    A couple of notes. Japanese companies like Toyota are already very much in the United States. The bigger hurdle, beyond protests from within the boardrooms of U.S. automakers, is existing law. In 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security issued a rule that restricts the import and sale of certain connected vehicles and related hardware and software linked to China or Russia. This essentially bans the sale of Chinese vehicles in the country. 

    Avery Ash, who is CEO of SAFE, a nonpartisan organization focused on securing U.S. energy, critical materials, and supply chains, weighed in about the dangers of allowing Chinese automakers to sell their vehicles in the United States. Side note: Ash was on my podcast, the Autonocast, which touches on some of this subject.

    “Welcoming Chinese automakers to build cars here in the U.S. will reverse these hard-won accomplishments and put Americans at risk,” he said. ”We’ve seen this strategy backfire in Europe and elsewhere — it would have potentially catastrophic impacts on our automotive industry, have ripple effects on our entire defense industrial base, and make every American less secure.”

    Meanwhile, Canada is opening the door to Chinese automakers. Canadian prime minister Mark Carney announced his country will slash its 100% import tax on Chinese EVs to just 6.1%, Sean O’Kane reports.

    ”Got a tip for us to share in the Little Bird section? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com. 

    Deals!

    money the station
    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Budget carrier Allegiant agreed to buy rival Sun Country Airlines for about $1.5 billion in cash and stock.

    Dealerware, which sells software services to automotive OEMs and retailers, was acquired by a group of investors led by Wavecrest Growth Partners and Radian Capital. Automotive Ventures and automotive industry executives David Metter and Devin Daly also participated. The terms were not disclosed.

    Long-distance bus and train provider Flix acquired the majority share of European airport transfer-platform Flibco. Luxembourg company SLG will retain some ownership stake in Flibco. Terms weren’t disclosed. 

    JetZero, the Long Beach, California, startup developing a midsized triangular aircraft designed to save on fuel, raised $175 million in a Series B round led by B Capital, Bloomberg reported.

    Joby Aviation, a company developing electric air taxis, reached an agreement to buy a 700,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Dayton, Ohio, to support its plans to double production to four aircraft per month in 2027.

    Luminar has reached a deal to sell its lidar business to a company called Quantum Computing Inc. for just $22 million. If that seems low, you’re right. Luminar’s valuation peaked in 2021 at $11 billion.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Bluspark Global, a New York-based shipping and supply chain software company, didn’t realize its platform was vulnerable and open to anyone on the internet. Here’s how a security researcher (and TechCrunch) got it fixed.

    The Federal Trade Commission finalized an order that bans General Motors and its OnStar telematics service from sharing certain consumer data with consumer reporting agencies. Read the full story on what that means.

    InDrive, the company that started as a ride-hailing platform that lets users set the price, is diversifying and starting to execute on its “super app” strategy. That means more in-app advertising across its top 20 markets and expanding grocery delivery to Pakistan. Read the full story here. 

    Motional, the majority Hyundai-owned autonomous vehicle company, has rebooted. When Motional paused its operations last year, I wasn’t sure it was going to survive. Other AV companies with big backers have seen their funding disappear in a blink, so it was certainly plausible. But the company is here and with a new AI-first approach. Before you roll your eyes at that term, take a read of my article, which includes a demo ride and an interview with CEO Laura Major. Then feel free to hit my inbox with your thoughts. 

    New York governor Kathy Hochul plans to introduce legislation that would effectively legalize robotaxis in the state with the exception of New York City. No details on this yet; I’ve been told it will all be revealed in her executive budget proposal next week. What we do know is the proposal is designed 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.” My article delves deeper into what she shared and gives an update on Waymo’s NYC permit. 

    Tesla is ditching the one-time fee option for its Full Self-driving (Supervised) software and will now sell access to the feature through a monthly subscription.

    On-demand drone delivery company Wing is bringing its service to another 150 Walmart stores as part of an expanded partnership with the retailer.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • TechCrunch Mobility: Bankruptcy takes out two | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.” To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    The year in transportation started with a couple of bankruptcies — Canoo and Nikola — and now it’s ending with two more. Rad Power Bikes is coming to an end — or at least a bankruptcy. The electric bike company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, weeks after it warned employees that it could shut down without new funding. A spokesperson told TechCrunch the company will continue to operate while the bankruptcy case proceeds, and it’s looking to sell the business within 45-60 days.

    And then there is troubled lidar maker Luminar, which also filed for bankruptcy this week. The Luminar bankruptcy does not seem like a let’s-help-it-live-another-day type of situation. 

    The Luminar filing, which occurred after months of layoffs, executive departures, and a legal fight with its largest customer, Volvo, notes the company plans to sell off the business. It has already reached a deal to sell its semiconductor subsidiary. While the company will continue to operate during the bankruptcy process to “minimize disruptions” for its suppliers and customers, Luminar will eventually cease to exist once it’s completed, senior reporter Sean O’Kane reported. Want to learn more? I recommend reading O’Kane’s piece that looks at how Luminar’s doomed Volvo deal helped drag the company into bankruptcy.

    Even though the year was bookended by some failures, that doesn’t mean 2025 wasn’t filled with innovation and growth. The emerging robotaxi industry has indeed emerged. With that I have noticed new kinds of autonomous vehicle-adjacent companies popping up, and I expect that to become a trend in 2026. 

    The scale of robotaxis was largely driven by Waymo’s fast-paced growth, although Zoox and Tesla have also started to set up shop. This next year could be when we see these companies really squaring off in the same markets; it will also be the year when companies will face even greater scrutiny over safety and how robotaxis fit into daily life.

    Meanwhile, EVs have had their struggles this year and automakers have struggled to adjust.

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    For instance, Ford is pivoting yet again. The company said this week it is ending production of the fully-electric F-150 Lightning as part of a broader companywide shake-up that will put more emphasis on hybrids and gas-powered vehicles. As part of its shift, Ford is turning to the increasingly popular “extended range electric vehicle” version of the truck, which adds a gas generator that can recharge the battery pack to power the motors for over 700 miles. It’s also getting into the energy storage business — gotta do something with all those batteries — and says it is still committed to producing a midsized electric truck that will go on sale in 2027. 

    But hey, the EV is not dead. And the promise of smaller, more affordable ones are looming in the near distance with the imminent launch of Rivian’s R2 and Slate Auto’s electric truck. 

    Housekeeping note: This is the last newsletter of the year. The next time you hear from me, I will be in Las Vegas for the annual tech trade show known as CES. Going? Reach out. 

    To everyone, thank you for reading, participating in the polls, and sending me emails (yes, even the critical ones). Your voice matters and I love hearing from you. See you in 2026!

    A little bird

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Reporter Jagmeet Singh, who is based in India, always seems to have birds chirping in his ear about startup deals. The latest is Spinny, the Indian online marketplace for used cars. 

    Spinny is raising around $160 million, funds that will be used to acquire car services startup GoMechanic. TechCrunch learned the Series G round includes a mix of primary and secondary transactions and will value the 10-year-old startup at about $1.8 billion post-money.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

    Deals!

    money the station
    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Boatsetter and GetMyBoat, two companies that operate Airbnb-type business models for boats, agreed to merge. 

    Cowboy is back — sort of. The Brussels e-bike startup has been acquired by ReBirth Group Holding, a company that owns Gitane, Peugeot, and Solex. The e-bike startup had its buzzy moments but ultimately ran into problems, including a frame recall. The terms weren’t disclosed, but apparently it includes €15 million ($17.6 million) from existing shareholders. 

    Nirvana Insurance, an insurance tech startup focused on trucking, raised $100 million in a Series D funding round led by Valor Equity Partners. Lightspeed and General Catalyst also joined. Former TC reporter Mary Ann Azevedo had the scoop on the new valuation, which is now $1.5 billion.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Redwood launched a newly patented Battery Collection Bin designed to encourage consumers to recycle batteries. The system, which will launch in San Francisco, safely stores, packages, and monitors hundreds of batteries and battery-containing devices. 

    Rivian has added its branded “Universal Hands-Free” driving via a software update to its second-generation R1 EVs (not sure I am a fan of that term “universal hands-free,” btw). This upgrade will allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel on 3.5 million miles of roads in the U.S. and Canada (so long as there are visible painted lines). Also in case you missed it over the weekend, senior reporter Sean O’Kane took us inside Rivian’s bet on AI-powered self-driving. 

    Securing America’s Future Energy has a new CEO. Avery Ash, SAFE’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Special Initiatives, will become the organization’s next CEO.

    Slate Auto, the electric truck startup backed by Jeff Bezos, said it has collected more than 150,000 refundable reservations for its low-cost EV due out at the end of 2026.

    Sterling Anderson has been on the job at GM for six months and there is already chatter about him taking over as CEO once Mary Barra retires. My take: Anderson has big tasks ahead, so let’s all take a beat before assuming he’ll get that top post. GM president Mark Reuss is also in the wings. 

    Tesla has pulled its human safety monitors out of its robotaxis in Austin. The robotaxi service is limited with a fleet size numbering in the dozens. Still, it is a milestone. And for those wondering, the California Department of Motor Vehicles told me this week that Tesla has not applied for a driverless testing permit. The company only holds a permit to test autonomous vehicle technology with a human safety operator located behind the wheel. 

    Meanwhile, Tesla is facing a tricky situation in California. Here’s the gist: An administrative law judge agreed with the case initiated by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles and ruled Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing that gave customers a false impression of the capabilities of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving driver-assistance software. The DMV wanted to suspend Tesla’s sales and manufacturing licenses in the state for 30 days as a penalty for its action, and a judge has agreed. 

    Ah, but wait. The DMV stayed the order and is giving Tesla 60 days to comply. That gives Tesla two options if it wants to keep those licenses: drop the Autopilot name or ship software to its cars that make them autonomous.

    One more thing …

    Some of you might not know that I am also co-host of Equity, a TechCrunch’s podcast about the business of startups. I generally co-host our Friday show, which offers commentary and analysis on the news of the week. 

    Every now and then I interview a founder or VC for the Wednesday show. My latest is an interview with Jiten Behl, partner at Eclipse Ventures and former chief growth officer at Rivian, who thinks we’re entering an era of major reindustrialization in the U.S. — one where factories run on AI-powered robots, not cheap overseas labor.  Check out the episode here.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • TechCrunch Mobility: The robotaxi expansion that really matters | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    It seems like a day doesn’t go by without Waymo making some kind of expansion announcement. Detroit, Las Vegas, Nashville, San Diego, and Washington, D.C., are just a few of the cities the company plans to bring its robotaxi to in the coming months. But as I have argued in this newsletter before, there is another “expansion” I think is more important. 

    Freeways. 

    And now after years of testing and development, the company’s commercial robotaxi service is using freeways around the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. 

    This is a critical expansion for the company. It’s the concrete and asphalt connective tissue in sprawling metro areas like the Bay Area. This new freeway access is fueling Waymo’s expansion in that region, which is now 260 square miles and encompasses Silicon Valley and San Francisco. 

    Robotaxi rides can have more efficient routes too. Waymo told me it will reduce ride times by up to 50%. 

    And using freeways is also essential for Waymo to offer rides to and from the San Francisco Airport, a location the company is currently testing in. 

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    That freeway-to-airport moment will be the big unlock for Waymo. But will it be enough to help push it in the black? Until someone over there slides me their balance sheet, I can’t say. It will certainly be a popular option for travelers. That doesn’t mean the economics will pencil out. 

    Read on for more news, including Einride’s SPAC bid, deals for Harbinger and Teradar, as well as how Via fared in its first earnings and a looming shutdown for Rad Power Bikes. Plus! Scroll down to get the results of the Tesla poll. 

    A little bird

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    It’s been nearly nine months since Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson abruptly resigned, leaving the company without a permanent replacement. That may be about to change, though.

    A few little birds told us Lucid Motors has zeroed in on a candidate for the top role. It’s expected to be someone outside the organization, which is perhaps no surprise; in August, we shared here that the company and the executive hiring firm it’s using had cast a very wide net and was even cold-calling some candidates. This would likely mean that Marc Winterhoff, who’s been serving as interim CEO, would slide back to the COO role he occupied before Rawlinson left.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com. 

    Deals!

    money the station
    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Another SPAC has entered the AV world! Mergers with special acquisition companies may not be officially “back,” but they are certainly popular among autonomous vehicle companies. 

    Einride, the Swedish electric and autonomous truck startup, plans to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, just six weeks after it raised $100 million from investors. The SPAC merger with Legato Merger Corp. values Einride at $1.8 billion in pre-money equity.

    Einride does generate revenue, which may sound obvious but there have been plenty of pre-revenue transportation companies that have SPAC’d in recent years. 

    For now, its primary source of revenue is coming from its software-as-a-service product and a fleet of 200 heavy-duty electric trucks used by companies like Heineken and PepsiCo. Its unusual-looking autonomous podlike trucks are still in pilot mode. 

    The merger is expected to close in the first half of 2026, with Einride making its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.

    Other deals that got my attention this week …

    Forterra, a company developing autonomous tech for defense, raised $238 million in equity and debt funding. Moore Strategic Ventures led the equity piece of the funding, while Crescent Cove provided the debt financing. 

    Gopuff, the rapid-delivery startup, raised $250 million in a round led by Eldridge Industries and Valor Equity Partners. Baillie Gifford, Robinhood, Equalis Capital, George Ruan, Yakir Gabay, and Gopuff’s co-founders. The funding put its valuation at $8.5 billion, according to Bloomberg, a significant markdown from its last raise in 2021. 

    Harbinger, the Los Angeles-based electric truck startup, raised $160 million in a Series C funding round co-led by FedEx. As part of the investment, FedEx ordered 53 of Harbinger’s electric truck chassis.

    Octopus Electric Vehicles, a U.K.-based electric vehicle-leasing business, has struck a deal with lenders, including Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Stanley, and Credit Agricole, to take its total funding line to £2 billion ($2.6 billion), Sky News reported.

    Teradar, a Boston-based startup developing a solid-state sensor, raised $150 million in a Series B funding round from investors Capricorn Investment Group, Lockheed Martin’s venture arm, mobility-focused firm Ibex Investors, and VXI Capital, a new defense-focused fund led by the former CTO of the U.S. military’s Defense Innovation Unit.

    Upway, an e-bike refurbishment startup, raised $60 million in a Series C funding round led by A.P. Moller. Galvanize, Ora Global, and Sequoia Capital also participated. The company has raised more than $125 million since its founding in 2021.

    Vay, a German startup that remotely pilots rental cars to customers, announced a $60 million investment from Singaporean tech heavyweight Grab. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close by the end of the year, may be followed by “an additional $350M as joint milestones are achieved within the first year.”

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Ford is expanding the availability of its BlueCruise hands-free highway driving technology in Europe. The automaker will make the system available in several vehicles, including the Puma, Puma Gen-E, Kuga, and Ranger PHEV 5 models starting in spring 2026.

    Joby Aviation conducted the first flight of its turbine electric, autonomous VTOL aircraft. This demonstrator shouldn’t be confused with its all-electric air taxi, although it was built off that platform. This aircraft has a hybrid turbine powertrain and is designed for defense applications.

    Lyft has partnered with Curb, a ride-hailing platform for licensed taxis. Under the deal, Lyft riders will be connected with Curb’s network of drivers through an integration with the Curb Flow platform, which is already in Los Angeles. Other cities will soon follow. 

    Rad Power Bikes, one of the more popular e-bike companies, may not be long for this world. The company has informed its employees that it will shut down in January if it is unable to find new funding or get acquired, according to an internal staff email viewed by TechCrunch.

    Tesla might bring Apple CarPlay to its EVs. But at this point, should it? Meanwhile, the company’s energy storage division is dealing with an expanded recall of its consumer-based Powerwall 2 product after reports of fires.

    The Boring Company, an Elon Musk company, is under scrutiny again. This time because of reports that firefighters performing a safety drill at one of The Boring Company’s construction sites in Las Vegas received burns from chemicals used in the tunnel-excavation process. And the controversy doesn’t stop there. 

    Toyota started production at a new $13.9 billion battery plant in North Carolina. While Toyota has several facilities in the U.S., this is its first battery plant to be built outside of Japan. And it’s not done investing in the U.S. The company said it plans to invest up to $10 billion more than previously expected over the next five years.

    Uber has quietly begun piloting in-app video recording for its drivers in India. The ride-hailing company is also seeking more premium customers through new efforts like Uber Ski, which lets riders schedule a vehicle in advance to nearly 40 popular ski destinations in North America and Europe, including Vail in Colorado and Park City in Utah.

    Via had its first earnings since it became a publicly traded company, and, welp, it lost money. The tech transit software company reported a loss of $36.9 million in its third quarter, a 73% increase since the same period last year. Its revenue grew to $713 million, an 11% increase YoY.

    One more thing …

    Remember the poll in last week’s newsletter? I asked which product goal is Tesla most likely to achieve by 2035? The options are based on real goals laid out in Musk’s $1 trillion compensation package:

    • 20 million Tesla vehicles delivered
    • 10 million active Full Self-Driving subscriptions
    • 1 million robots delivered
    • 1 million robotaxis in commercial operation
    • None of these will be reached

    And y’all are split between two options: Tesla delivering 20 million vehicles, which received 34.7% of the vote, and “None of these will be reached,” which received 32% of the vote. 

    The one item you seem to agree on is that Tesla is unlikely to deliver on the other three goals. About 9.5% of readers picked the 1 million robots option, 12.6% chose 10 million active Full Self-Driving subscriptions, and 10.5% picked 1 million robotaxis in commercial operation within 10 years.

    Note: If you want to participate in our polls, sign up for the Mobility newsletter here!

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  • TechCrunch Mobility: The ‘robot army’ argument | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    I am sure you are waiting to learn the results of last week’s poll. (Reminder: Sign up for the Mobility newsletter to participate in our polls!) Here is what I asked: “What is the best business model for autonomous vehicle tech? (Keep profitability in mind.)”

    Far and away, readers think longer-haul delivery is the best bet, with 40% picking this option. Robotaxis came in next with 25.5% of the vote, followed by licensing tech to automakers at 19.1% and last-mile delivery with 14.9%. One reader emailed to point out that I didn’t include warehouse applications like autonomous forklifts. The longer-haul delivery category can be broken down further, though, and is worth another poll, which we included in this week’s newsletter.

    In the long list of arguments one might make to justify a $1 trillion compensation package, having control over a robot army was certainly not on my mind. And yet, this is the argument Elon Musk made during Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call. 

    Here’s the rundown: On November 6, shareholders will vote whether to approve a board-endorsed compensation package that would grant Musk up to 12% of Tesla’s stock. If the company hits its target market value of $8.6 trillion, that package would be worth about $1 trillion. 

    The board and Musk have spent weeks lobbying shareholders to approve the measure, even as proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis have recommended that investors reject it. Musk is now in attack mode, which was on display at the end of the earnings call when he called the firms corporate terrorists and made his final pitch. His robot army argument centers on power and control, not so much money. Although, hey, money can provide both.

    “My biggest concern line: If we build this robot army, do I have a strong influence over that robot army? I don’t feel comfortable building a robot army if I don’t have a strong influence,” Musk said during the earnings call. He was referring to Tesla’s Optimus robot program and used it as an example of products he wants full control over. 

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    That argument will hardly persuade Musk’s critics, particularly in the wake of his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. But Musk doesn’t need to convince his growing list of critics, unless, of course, they own Tesla shares.

    A little bird

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    This week, General Motors dropped the ax on the BrightDrop electric van program after four short years. It was not the biggest surprise in the world; after all, hundreds of unsold vans have been sitting untouched in lots in Michigan and Canada for months now. (One little bird reached out to tell us that hundreds of them are in a lot in Flint, Michigan.) GM cited a slower-than-expected market for commercial electric vans, but it didn’t go into detail about why, exactly, BrightDrop failed so miserably.

    Another little bird has given us a clue, though. The vans are pricey but well-liked and should save fleet owners money over time. And electric drivetrains are a great fit for last-mile delivery. What GM appears to have missed was the infrastructure piece, according to one insider. The company leaned hard on outside partnerships to build out so-called depot charging, instead of offering it as part of the fleet purchases. That turned a number of potential customers away and just generally caused headaches.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

    Deals!

    money the station
    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    The big deal this week is about EVs and AI data centers. Yes, there is a connection. 

    Redwood Materials raised $350 million in a Series E round led by venture firm Eclipse, and included a new strategic investment by Nvidia’s venture capital arm, NVentures. The company’s valuation was not disclosed, but a source familiar with the round told TechCrunch it was about $6 billion, a billion dollars higher than its previous valuation.

    The chunk of this money is going toward Redwood’s new energy storage business, which is giving a new purpose to EV batteries it has collected and that have too much life left to put through the recycling process. The company ties these retired EV batteries to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, or the grid, to power AI data centers or industrial sites.

    Other deals that got my attention this week …

    Avride secured strategic investments and other commitments of up to $375 million, backed by Uber and Nebius. None of these companies gave me specifics when asked if this was all equity. One insider did say to pay attention to the “other commitments” bit, which suggests it was not a straight cash injection.

    Spiro, the African electric motorbike startup headquartered in Dubai, raised $100 million in a round led by the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), the development arm of Afreximbank. This is the largest raise ever for African e-mobility.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    General Motors made several announcements at an event in NYC that were meant to show where it’s headed. And, yes, AI plays a central role. Before AI could take the stage, GM said it will overhaul the electrical and computational guts of its future vehicles. The company will roll out a new electric architecture and centralized computing platform in new vehicles, starting with the Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028. That foundation will allow the company to deliver faster software; more capable automated driving features, including eyes-off driving; and a custom, conversational AI assistant.

    Earnings season is upon us, and this quarter I am watching for data and executive commentary that helps me understand how tariffs and the expired EV tax credit are affecting the automotive sector. I don’t have any clear takeaways yet — and probably won’t until the next quarter. 

    Tariffs are hitting, Q3 reports from GM and Ford indicate. For instance, GM forecast that tariffs will reduce its 2025 profits by $2.3 billion and Ford said it would take a $2 billion bite out of the bottom line. But both of those projections are billions of dollars better than the automakers predicted earlier this year, and the automakers hope to offset those costs. CEOs from both automakers thanked President Trump for extending a relief measure from tariffs on automotive parts sourced from Canada and Mexico. 

    Some other GM and Ford news: Ford will continue to pause production of its F-150 Lightning trucks as it prioritizes gas and hybrid F-Series versions in a bid to recover from a fire at its primary aluminum supplier Nevolis. Meanwhile, GM CEO Mary Barra told the Verge’s Decoder podcast that the company will drop support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from all of its vehicles. Oh, and late-breaking: GM has laid off 200 salaried workers from its Warren Tech Center.

    Tesla delivered a record number of vehicles in the third quarter of 2025, results buoyed by U.S. customers who took advantage of the expiring federal EV tax credit. That didn’t translate to greater earnings. Tesla’s third-quarter profit was $1.4 billion, 37% lower than it was in the same quarter last year. 

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation after seeing footage from early October of a Waymo autonomous vehicle maneuvering around a stopped school bus that was unloading kids in Atlanta. 

    Rivian is undergoing a bit of a shake-up that includes cutting 600 people from its workforce (its third round of layoffs this year), and its founder and CEO is taking on yet another position: chief marketing officer. Rivian also agreed this week to pay $250 million to settle a class-action shareholder lawsuit filed after the company suddenly hiked prices on its R1 pickup truck and SUV in 2022.

    Meanwhile, I spent some time in the Bay Area with executives from Rivian’s micromobility spinout company Also. The company revealed three new products, and if Also president Chris Yu and Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe (and Also board member) are to be believed, there will be even more coming. For now, it’s a slick modular pedal-assist e-bike and two pedal-assist quad vehicles — the delivery van version that Amazon has already agreed to buy. The big compelling tech story here is vertical integration and software.

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  • TechCrunch Mobility: A takeover that might not be hostile | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Want another reason to get this free in your inbox? The emailed version of this newsletter includes polls, including one this week that asks readers what they think the best business model is for autonomous vehicle technology. Have an opinion about this? Email me your opinion at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com with the subject line “AV poll.”

    OK, back to the show. There’s another twist in the road for lidar company Luminar. And yes, it includes some inside-the-boardroom intrigue. 

    First, let’s catch up. You might recall that Austin Russell, the billionaire founder and CEO of Luminar, was more or less pushed out of the company by its board following an ethics inquiry. But Russell didn’t go quietly into the night. 

    He popped back up on our radar a few weeks ago with the launch of a new company called Russell AI Labs. And now (cue the deep and foreboding “dum dum duuuuummmm”): He has made a bid to acquire Luminar. 

    Senior reporter Sean O’Kane broke the story, which you can read here. He has since learned a few more details beyond what is disclosed in the SEC filing. 

    This may look like a possible hostile move — it was, after all, disclosed in a filing from Russell, and Luminar is not commenting on the proposal. But we’ve learned from a source that members of Luminar’s board approached the founder about the idea last month. (The word we were told was they “encouraged” it.)

    The implication here is that some of Luminar’s nine-member board really does want him back, despite the fact that three of those board members on the audit committee conducted an ethics inquiry into him just a few months ago, leading to his resignation.

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    The proposed takeover as described in the filing is vague, but it could involve Russell AI Labs acquiring a different automotive tech company and merging it with Luminar. Since this morning, we’ve heard Russell is already trained on a few options as part of the diligence he’s done with Russell AI Labs, which he views as an incubator of sorts.

    Deals!

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Two notable deals this week occurred in the electric aviation sector. 

    First up is Beta Technologies, which took advantage of eased SEC rules during the U.S. government shutdown to price shares for its initial public offering. The shares are priced between $27 and $33, in hopes of raising as much as $825 million. If the company attracts investors at the top of that range, it will debut with a valuation of about $7.2 billion.

    The SEC issued guidance earlier this month that lets companies in IPO limbo allow their statements on certain areas, including share price, to become automatically effective after 20 days, even without SEC staff review. Several other companies, including Navan, have pressed ahead with IPO plans under this rule.

    And there is Lilium, which was involved in a very different kind of deal. The electric aircraft startup may have ceased operations a year ago, but its tech is living on over at Archer Aviation. 

    Archer won a competitive bidding process — one that Ambitious Air Mobility Group and Joby Aviation also participated in — and bought all 300 of Lilium’s patents. The price, €18 million ($21 million), is a stunning number when compared to the more than $1 billion the defunct startup raised over its lifetime. 

    The question is what does Archer plan to do with these patents? The company isn’t explicit, but there are some hints, which you can read about in my story. 

    Other deals that got my attention this week …

    Airbound, an Indian drone startup founded in 2020, raised $8.65 million in seed funding led by Physical Intelligence co-founder Lachy Groom. Humba Ventures and Airbound’s existing investor, Lightspeed Venture Partners, as well as senior leaders at Tesla, SpaceX, and Anduril, joined.

    Dexory, a warehouse robotics startup based in London, raised $165 million in equity and debt. The $100 million Series C round was led by Eurazeo with participation from backers LTS Growth, Endeavor Catalyst, DTCP, Atomico, Lakestar, Elaia, Latitude Ventures, and Wave-X. The company also secured $65 million in debt financing from Bootstrap Europe.

    FleetWorks, a logistics startup developing an “always-on” AI dispatcher, raised $17 million in equity and debt, including a $15 million Series A round led by First Round Capital’s Bill Trenchard. Y Combinator, Saga Ventures, and LFX Venture Partners also participated in the FleetWorks Series A.

    Pony.ai and WeRide have received a key approval from Chinese securities regulators that clears the way for the autonomous vehicle technology companies to pursue secondary listings on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. The Chinese companies are already publicly traded in the U.S. on the Nasdaq Exchange.

    Starship Technologies, the autonomous sidewalk delivery startup, raised $50 million in a Series C round led by Plural. Karma.vc, Latitude, Coefficient Capital, SmartCap, and Skaala also joined.

    Upciti, a Paris-based smart city software company, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Notion Capital. Other investors included Point Nine and Chalfen Ventures.

    Zepto, the Indian grocery delivery company, raised $450 million in funding ahead of a public listing set, Bloomberg reported.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    The National Transportation Safety Board has weighed in on OceanGate, the disaster that killed five people during a voyage to view the wreckage of the Titanic. The NTSB issued a report that found the Titan submersible did not meet manufacturing safety standards.

    Stellantis and Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai are working together to build robotaxis for use in Europe, albeit via a nonbinding agreement. The plan is to integrate Pony’s self-driving software into Stellantis’ electric medium-size van platform.

    While Stellantis delves into autonomous vehicle tech, it is pulling back on electrification. The automaker said it will invest $13 billion to beef up its U.S. manufacturing over the next four years. (This plan hasn’t been well received by labor unions in Canada, by the way.) Five new vehicles will be developed and produced through 2029 as part of the investment into factories in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. Only one of those will be electrified, a marked difference from Stellantis’ strategy a few years ago. 

    Uber is offering a new kind of gig work: digital tasks like uploading photos to help train AI models.

    Waymo is expanding to London. The company said it will offer a commercial robotaxi service in London in 2026, marking the Alphabet-owned company’s second international expansion following Tokyo.

    As per usual, there was more than one piece of Waymo news. The company locked in a strategic multiyear agreement with DoorDash to deliver goods to customers in the Phoenix area using driverless vehicles. It’s been a while since Waymo has experimented with delivery. Is this a hint of what’s to come? I believe it is. 

    One more thing …

    Speaking of Waymo and delivery, it got me thinking about what the best business model is. It’s been a minute since we’ve had a poll, so I hope you participate if you sign up for the newsletter. I will share the results next week.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • Elon Musk vs. the regulators | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.” To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    Elon Musk has never had the best relationship with regulators, often bumping up against or outright sidestepping local and state laws where his numerous companies operate. 

    This week has been particularly active on the regulatory front. 

    Musk’s tunneling and infrastructure firm The Boring Company is accused of nearly 800 violations by Nevada regulators, including digging without approval, dumping untreated water onto city streets, failing to install silt fences, and tracking dirt from construction sites onto nearby roadways, a ProPublica investigation discovered. 

    Then there is Tesla, which was hit with an enforcement action by California’s Department of Insurance for routinely denying or delaying customer claims despite years of warnings from the state regulator. Reminder: Tesla is an insurance provider in certain states.  

    Tesla also has the attention, once again, of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency opened an investigation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving tech after receiving reports the software caused vehicles to run red lights or cross into wrong lanes. 

    The NHTSA has investigated Tesla before. But this one is notable because it specifically targets Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver-assistance software. And Musk, as well as Tesla shareholders, have pinned the company’s future on its ability to be a leader in autonomous vehicle technology, as well as robotics and AI. 

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    This single investigation likely won’t derail Tesla’s plans; the company just rolled out the newest version of FSD (v14). But it is another example of increased scrutiny on the technology that Tesla is trying to put front and center and raises questions about its robotaxis, which uses a version of its FSD software.

    A little bird

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    A Wired article from July discovered that General Motors repurposed a few Chevy Bolt EVs that had been part of the shuttered Cruise robotaxi program and was driving them on select highways in Michigan near Austin, Texas, and the San Francisco Bay Area to develop simulation models and new driver-assistance technology.

    Now it seems that General Motors might be moving forward with its autonomous vehicle development but in potentially surprising ways. When GM absorbed Cruise in December 2024, it said it would combine Cruise’s tech with its own ADAS efforts to develop fully autonomous personal vehicles.

    We’re hearing chatter here and there that GM is building out an AV team across Austin and Mountain View. This comes just a couple months after GM started rehiring laid-off Cruise employees, per Bloomberg.

    We’re poking around and if you know anything, reach out.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

    Deals!

    money the station
    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Joby Aviation sold 30.5 million shares to raise about $514 million, money that the company said would be used to fund certification and manufacturing efforts and prepare for commercial operations, as well as for general working capital and other general corporate purposes. The company plans to start carrying passengers in its electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft in Dubai in 2026, followed by the United States. 

    Investors didn’t react too favorably, though, because shares went for a discount. Under the deal, they sold for $16.85 per share, nearly 11% lower than the previous close.

    Other deals that got my attention this week …

    I forgot this one last week. Futurail, a European startup developing an autonomy stack for self-driving trains, raised €7.5 million in seed funding co-led by Asterion Ventures and Leap435, joined by EIT Urban Mobility and U.S. investors Zero Infinity Partners and Heroic Ventures. Side note: The Autonocast, a podcast I co-host, recently had Alex Haag, CEO and co-founder of Futurail, on the show. Take a listen. 

    Nexcade, a London-based startup developing end-to-end automation for freight forwarders, raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed round led by Connect Ventures. MMC Ventures, Entropy Industrial Capital, and Inovia also participated.

    Toyota and Metal Mining have struck a deal to work together on the mass production of cathode materials for all-solid-state batteries to be installed in battery electric vehicles.

    Tycho AI, an autonomous drone navigation startup, raised $10 million in a Series A round led by FirstMark.

    Utilimarc, a Minneapolis-based fleet analytics and benchmarking company, was acquired by Smith System. The terms were not disclosed.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    California governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that gives Uber and Lyft drivers in the state the right to unionize as independent contractors. 

    Just last week, we featured DoorDash’s efforts to build its own autonomous delivery robot. But that internal program isn’t stopping the company from outside partnerships. DoorDash and Serve Robotics announced a multi-year partnership that would see them using autonomous robots to make deliveries across the United States.

    Lucid delivered a record number of EVs in the third quarter. While it’s still nowhere near the projections it shared back when it was going public, the recent sales report does show progress.

    Lyft has locked in another AV partnership — this time with Tensor Auto. The plan, the companies said, is to deploy robotaxis in Europe and North America starting in 2027. Tensor Auto might not sound familiar, but Chinese robotaxi company AutoX might. Tensor Auto’s roots are from AutoX, although the San Jose-based company has told TechCrunch in the past that AutoX’s Chinese operations were fully divested.

    Transportation includes infrastructure like bridges. Climate tech reporter Tim De Chant looked into Allium Engineering, a startup developing paper-thin stainless steel that could change how bridges are built.

    Tesla revealed bare-bones versions of the Model 3 and Model Y, which start at $36,990 and $39,990, respectively. These “standard” versions are pretty stripped down. Senior reporter Sean O’Kane provides more detail here. 

    A few things jumped out at me. For one, I was surprised this standard version doesn’t include Autopilot. Also, Tesla is really known for innovating, from its manufacturing process and software-first approach to its business model. But this wasn’t an act of innovation or even cleverness. It was merely stripping away — and the end result wasn’t the deep discounts that had been previously touted. Remember, Elon Musk was once pushing a $25,000 vehicle, a program that was later scrapped. 

    Zero Motorcycles has moved its key operations from California to a new European headquarters in the Netherlands. The company told TechCrunch the move is designed to accelerate growth and sharpen focus on global opportunities.

    One more thing …

    If you’re in San Francisco later this month, come say hello. I’ll be at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, which will be held October 27 to October 29 at Moscone West. And there are a few transportation-related talks you won’t want to miss.

    For instance, TechCrunch will be interviewing Uber chief product officer Sachin Kansal and Nuro co-founder and president Dave Ferguson about the evolving relationship between AI and mobility. The discussion is expected to cover how predictive models and computer vision are improving road safety, why last-mile delivery is an autonomy proving ground, and what it will take to bring AI-driven transportation to scale.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • TechCrunch Mobility: Self-driving trucks startup Kodiak goes public and a shake-up at Hyundai’s Supernal | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    The autonomous vehicle industry is years — maybe decades — from maturing. And so there’s still a Wild West quality to the sector, in spite of the steady stream of announcements that do show marked progress. Two such news items from this week illustrate my point of progress, possibility, and even a bit of peril (at least to the ups and downs a public market can provide).

    First up is Gatik, an AV and logistics startup that is applying its tech to middle-mile trucks. The startup, which I first wrote about in 2019, announced a multi-year and expanded commercial partnership with Canada’s largest retailer, Loblaw. Under the deal, Gatik will deploy 20 autonomous trucks by the end of 2025 to provide driverless delivery to Loblaw’s network of stores in the greater Toronto area. Co-founder and CEO Gautam Narang told me the company will add another 30 autonomous trucks to the fleet by the end of 2026.

    The deal is notable, and not just because of the fleet size. As Narang explained to me, the trucks will be handling the full regional network for Loblaw. This means these third-generation AV trucks will operate autonomously to pick up products from two distribution centers and make deliveries to over 300 retail stores. “These are multiple brands within the Loblaw umbrella,” he said. 

    In other words, this is not some fixed-route pilot program. It’s commercial, and it’s complex.

    Next up is Kodiak Robotics, another startup I have reported on since its founding. The company, which is developing self-driving trucks for highway, industrial, and defense uses, began trading on Nasdaq this week under the tickers KDK and KDKRW. 

    The company, which is now called Kodiak AI, went public via a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Ares Acquisition Corporation II, an affiliate of Ares Management. The deal valued the startup at about $2.5 billion. 

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    Kodiak raised $275 million in financing. More than $212.5 million came from certain institutional investors, including $145 million in PIPE funding and about $62.9 million in trust cash from Ares. It should be noted that the trust cash is smaller (it was $562 million), as some SPAC investors redeemed their shares. 

    I spoke to founder and CEO Don Burnette the day before Kodiak’s big debut about why he took the company public — let alone via a SPAC. It was a big moment for Burnette, whose family was on hand to watch him ring the bell and mark the milestone. The stock was trading at about $7.70 Friday, down about 10% from its market open.

    “As you can imagine, building and scaling a transformative autonomous driving company is very capital intensive, and we were looking to access the public markets as a path forward for the company. And when choosing between, you know, traditional IPO or a SPAC, we considered all the options,” he said. “We felt like, from a timing perspective, it was the right decision for the company (to take the SPAC route).”

    It should be noted that Burnette is also quite bullish on defense. Here’s why:

    “I think autonomy is the future of ground transportation broadly,” he said, before noting the benefits within defense for logistics and reconnaissance operations for ground vehicles. “One of the key things is defense requires unstructured autonomy, and this is one of the areas where we become specialists.”

    A little bird

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    A few weeks ago, we wrote about some trouble at Hyundai‘s electric air taxi startup Supernal, including that the company had stopped work on its air taxi program and that its CEO and CTO were out. 

    This week, a little bird told us that a wider reorg of Supernal’s C-suite was afoot — something Hyundai Motor Group has now confirmed to us.

    Chief strategy officer Jaeyong Song and chief safety officer Tracy Lamb are part of a “transition to new leadership,” according to the Korean conglomerate. Song’s departure is particularly notable, as he was once the VP of Hyundai’s Advanced Air Mobility division, which Supernal was spun out of in 2021. Also gone is Lina Yang, who most recently served as chief of staff to the startup’s now-former CEO, but who also served as Supernal’s “Head of Intelligent Systems” before that.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

    Deals!

    money the station
    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Remember Moxion Power, the portable battery startup that raised $110 million before going bankrupt? The founders are back with a new startup called Anode Technology Company, which has designed a mobile battery and inverter that can be used for EV charging and supplying remote power to construction sites and live events. The startup just raised $9 million in seed funding in a round led by Eclipse Ventures; its partner, Jiten Behl, who spearheaded the deal, was previously Rivian’s chief growth officer. Apparently, Behl’s interest was sparked by his experience at Rivian. 

    Side note: Palo Alto-based venture capital firm Eclipse sure has been busy this year. The VC firm led the $105 million round of Also, the micromobility startup that spun out of Rivian, and recently hired longtime T. Rowe Price Group investor Joe Fath as partner and head of growth. 

    The firm doesn’t explicitly focus on transportation, but some of its portfolio companies in this sector include Arc, Bedrock Robotics, Reliable Robotics, Skyryse, and Wayve.

    Other deals that got my attention …

    Rapido, a popular ride-hailing platform in India that competes with Uber, doubled its valuation to $2.3 billion following a secondary share sale by food delivery giant Swiggy. The share sale comes just weeks after Rapido began piloting food deliveries, edging into Swiggy’s core territory.

    Telo, the tiny electric truck developer, raised $20 million in a Series A funding round co-led by designer and Telo co-founder Yves Béhar and Tesla co-founder Marc Tarpenning, who is on Telo’s board. Additional investment came from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and early-stage funds like TO VC, E12 Ventures, and Neo.

    TheTrump administration is seeking up to a 10% stake in Lithium Americas in exchange for renegotiating the repayment period of a $2.26 billion Department of Energy loan. GM is a major investor in the Canadian company, which is developing a lithium mine in Nevada that is expected to be the largest in the Western Hemisphere.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Hackers have had quite an active week in the transportation sector. Stellantis confirmed a data breach involving customers’ personal information. The breach is linked to a hack of its Salesforce database. Meanwhile, a hack that began last Friday and targeted check-in systems provided by Collins Aerospace caused delays at Brussels, Berlin, and Dublin airports, as well as London’s Heathrow. The U.K.’s National Crime Agency has arrested a man in connection to the ransomware attack. And finally, Jaguar Land Rover said it will not resume production at its factories for yet another week as it continues to grapple with fallout from a cyberattack.  

    Battery materials startup Sila started operations at its facility in Moses Lake, Washington, a milestone that could pave the way for longer-range, faster-charging EVs. The factory is the first large-scale silicon anode factory in the West and will initially be capable of making enough battery materials for 20,000 to 50,000 EVs. Future expansion could fulfill demand for as many as 2.5 million vehicles.

    Automakers continue to pull back on EVs and electrified vehicles. Honda is ending U.S. production of its Acura ZDX electric vehicle that was being built by General Motors in Tennessee, CNBC reported. And Stellantis has canceled plans to produce a 4xe plug-in hybrid Jeep Gladiator in North America by the end of 2025. Which EV is next on the chopping block?

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Rivian over issues with the seat belts in its electric delivery vans that could introduce additional risk in the event of a crash, Bloomberg reported.

    Tesla asked the Environmental Protection Agency not to roll back current vehicle emissions standards, breaking from other major automakers that want to see the rules eased. 

    TuneIn, an audio streaming service, is collaborating with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to deliver emergency alerts directly to drivers. 

    Volvo Cars is pledging a commitment to U.S. production. The company said it will continue to invest in its U.S. car plant near Charleston, South Carolina, and announced plans to expand the factory to produce a hybrid vehicle by the end of the decade.

    Waymo launched “Waymo for Business,” a new service designed for companies to set up accounts so their employees can access robotaxis in cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco.

    Zoox has asked federal regulators for an exemption that would allow the Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company to commercially deploy its custom-built robotaxis, which lack traditional controls like pedals and a steering wheel.

    One more thing

    Finally, proof of life from Luminar founder Austin Russell. 

    You may remember that Russell was mysteriously and suddenly replaced in May as CEO of the lidar company he created. The company has never truly explained his departure, only that it was the result of a “code of business conduct and ethics inquiry” initiated by the board.

    Russell has been silent; while he remains on Luminar’s board, he hasn’t signed any of the filings the company has submitted with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since he was replaced. This week, he reappeared as the co-founder of a new company called Russell AI Labs. It’s billed as a “platform that backs and builds transformative AI and frontier technology companies.”

    It doesn’t seem like his troubles at Luminar have affected his ability to attract high-profile support or make eyebrow-raising deals. Russell’s co-founders are Markus Schäfer, CTO and board member at Mercedes-Benz Group AG, and Murtaza Ahmed, who served as a managing director at Goldman Sachs before joining SoftBank and was a partner in the $100 billion Vision Fund and managing partner of its $5 billion Latin America Fund.

    As part of Russell AI Lab’s debut, the startup announced it has taken a $300 million stake in agentic AI company Emergence AI. 

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  • TechCrunch Mobility: The two robotaxi battlegrounds that matter | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.” To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    Seven or eight years ago, anyone consuming business tech news might have come across the phrase “the race to build autonomous vehicles.” In private conversations, company execs and startup founders I spoke to sometimes referred to the commercialization of autonomous vehicle technology as “a race.” The phrase seeped into reporting at the time — including some of my articles. 

    What we’ve learned is that this is not a race so much as a long, curved, and fragmented road — one that looks more like the fan of an alluvial plain than a racetrack — to develop and prove the technology works and make it a profitable business. It’s not a race against others as much as an internal contest with existential stakes.

    But that doesn’t mean there aren’t real battlegrounds among those working on the technology, especially with robotaxis. Many might point to the number of cities a company has launched in as one indicator. I believe that while helpful, it’s a bit too vague and easy to manipulate.

    Two recent news items got me thinking about more narrow and specific battlegrounds within cities: airports and public transit.

    Airports were critical to the success of ride-hailing companies. Robotaxis are no different. Today, Waymo offers rides to and from Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport. And it’s clearly looking to unlock more.

    This week, Waymo was granted a permit to start testing its autonomous vehicles at San Francisco International Airport, ahead of the launch of a commercial service. This comes just two weeks after Waymo was cleared to start testing at nearby San Jose Mineta International Airport — and as Tesla is also trying to elbow its way into offering ride-hail service to these airports.

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    Meanwhile, Waymo and transit software company Via struck a deal that could have far-reaching implications for cities. Government agencies that use Via’s software for public transit will be able to fold Waymo’s robotaxis directly into their public transit networks. The first city will be Phoenix suburb Chandler through its Chandler Flex fleet of on-demand, shared vehicle fleet. 

    This is meaningful, in terms of reach, although it may not be a cash cow for Waymo in the short term. As a Waymo spokesperson explained to me: When a traditional Chandler Flex vehicle isn’t available, riders may have the choice to book a trip with Waymo. Should a person choose to ride with Waymo, Chandler Flex will direct them to the Waymo app to hail a fully autonomous ride at a reduced price of $2 or less. At such a low price, it’s hard to see how this will push Waymo’s balance sheet into the black. 

    Still, it’s an important volume play. And Via CEO Daniel Ramot indicated in one interview that he hopes this spreads to hundreds of cities.

    A little bird

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    I gave you three little birds last week, and this week … welp, none that I could verify. Don’t fret — there will be more in the future.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

    Deals!

    money the station
    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    U.K. startup Wayve has garnered buzz for locking up deals — and capital — for its generalized end-to-end approach to automated driving technology. You might recall that a year ago, Wayve raised $1.05 billion in a Series C round with SoftBank Group, Microsoft, and Nvidia participating. 

    Wayve is now working on a Series D round, and it appears that Nvidia is ready to plunk down more capital. In a letter of intent, which the two companies recently signed, Nvidia said it will evaluate making a $500 million strategic investment in Wayve’s next round. I spoke to Wayve CEO Alex Kendall, and he wouldn’t say exactly when this round is expected to close. But he did say “we’re working quickly towards it.” 

    Other deals that got my attention …

    Divergent Technologies was once solidly in the automotive sector. These days, the advanced manufacturing company has positioned itself as a defense company and has locked up deals with Lockheed Martin, RTX, and General Dynamics. Now it’s raised $290 million, including $40 million in debt, to expand production of missile parts and other specialized components for the military.

    EV Realty, a startup focused on providing charging for semitrucks, raised $75 million in a round led by private equity investor NGP. The startup will use the funds to build additional charging hubs throughout California.

    Moove, the African vehicle-financing startup backed by Uber, is trying to raise more than $300 million in a round with a post-valuation of more than $2 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources.

    XL Batteries, a Marlborough, Massachusetts-based startup developing flow batteries for energy storage, raised $7.5 million from Merrin Investors.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Hyundai Motor Group is intent on growing, and North America is central to its plan. During its investor day, the Korean automaker said it wants to increase annual sales from 4.17 million in 2025 to 5.55 million by 2030. In the short term (meaning for this year), the company shared new targets for an increase in revenue of between 5% and 6% and an operating profit margin of between 6% and 7%. 

    To get there, Hyundai is investing capital, including putting $2.7 billion over three years into expanding the total production capacity of the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia. The company said “electrified vehicles” (that includes 18 new hybrid models by 2030) are expected to account for 60% of total sales, reaching 3.3 million units, with significant growth anticipated in North America, Europe, and Korea.

    Rivian officially broke ground on its long-planned factory near Atlanta. 

    Stellantis ended plans to produce the all-electric Ram 1500 REV pickup truck, citing low demand for full-size EV trucks; however, it’s holding on to the extended-range Ramcharger, which is now confusingly being renamed to Ram 1500 REV.

    Tesla said it will redesign its door handles so they’re less likely to trap people inside their cars. The decision came a day after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into claims that Tesla’s door handles become inoperable in certain situations on Model Y SUVs. It also follows an investigation by Bloomberg that exposed the problem.

    Meanwhile in Australia, Tesla recalled Powerwall 2 home batteries in the country after the company received reports of fires that led to “minor property damage.”

    Uber will test using drones for Uber Eats deliveries in some U.S. markets by the end of this year, part of a new partnership with Israeli startup Flytrex.

    Waymo is launching a commercial robotaxi service in Nashville in 2026, and it’s partnering with Lyft to expand its reach.

    One more thing …

    Speaking of Wayve, I thought it was worth reminding y’all that the startup’s co-founder and CEO, Alex Kendall, will be joining us onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. The event will be held October 27 to October 29 at Moscone West in San Francisco. Register here to join more than 10,000 startup and VC leaders at Disrupt.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • Via raises $492.9M in IPO, and German automakers go on the offensive | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back! Did you miss me? Yes, of course you did. There is a lot of “future of transportation” news to keep track of. Let’s jump in. 

    It’s comeback week, and not just because I have returned from vacation. I’m talking about the biennial IAA Mobility conference in Munich and the purposeful effort among German automakers to show the world it can still offer compelling, technologically advanced, and affordable vehicles. The subtext of the splashy event that started Tuesday: “Hey, China, we’re not out of the race.”

    VW Group, Mercedes, and BMW all showcased numerous new vehicles, including electric ones. And executives made their battle cries: VW Group Oliver Blume struck a bullish tone in a few interviews with reporters and laid out the company’s plan to be competitive in China, particularly with EVs, a category where VW has lagged.

    But what about on the home front? Chinese automakers have been pushing into Europe, and consumers have responded. The German automakers are hoping their latest products — including a new all-electric Mercedes GLC, the BMW iX3 with its four “superbrain” computers, and the Volkswagen ID Polo and ID Cross concept — will preserve and even grow market share. But they have some work to do. Chinese companies like BYD almost doubled their market share in Europe over the past year, JATO Dynamics reported in July.

    One other IAA news item of note: Rimac Technology, the tech and parts unit of Rimac Group, has developed solid-state battery packs it says will be available by late 2027. These batteries apparently pack in the energy and can be charged from 10% to 80% in under 10 minutes.

    To get TechCrunch Mobility in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    A little bird

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Hyundai appears to still be committed to Motional, according to two little birds who have shared new investment information with me. 

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    Hyundai and Aptiv had created a joint venture (called Motional) with an agreement to invest $4 billion in the effort. Aptiv backed out in early 2024, leaving Hyundai to either invest its own money, find other outside partners, or shutter the program altogether. Hyundai opted to invest $1 billion — $475 million directly into Motional as part of a broader deal that includes buying out joint venture partner Aptiv. Hyundai agreed to spend another $448 million to buy 11% of Aptiv’s common equity interest in Motional.

    Now it appears Hyundai is investing more into Motional in two tranches. The first is being dispersed this year and is about $452 million. The second comes next year, and I’m still trying to nail down that amount. That first figure is in line with reporting from a Korean outlet. Hyundai declined (a couple of times!) to respond to my questions about the funding. That’s pretty typical for large corporations to stay mum. However, one little bird who is deep within the AV industry also noted that Hyundai might not want to make a big deal about this, considering it’s also working with Waymo. 

    In other little bird chirpings, there are two new hires at General Motors that you might find interesting. Sony Mohapatra, the former senior manager of AI compute platforms at Cruise, has landed as director of AI and machine learning engineering at General Motors. And Paul Menson, who was the senior staff account manager of Megapack at Tesla, is now director of energy storage systems business development at General Motors. 

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

    Deals!

    money the station
    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Via, the transit software startup that garnered attention for its consumer-facing on-demand shuttle service, has made its IPO debut. The company, as I have mentioned before, has been batting around plans for an IPO for years. 

    Earlier this year, it filed confidentially for an IPO — the second time it took this step. But this time, Via took the big IPO leap. The company, which is known for its Citymapper mobile navigation app, said it sold 10.7 million shares for $46 per share. In all, Via raised $492.9 million at a $3.7 billion valuation. That’s just slightly above its $3.5 billion valuation that it garnered back in 2023 during its last venture raise. 

    We had to wrap up this newsletter before it officially began trading, but I’ll be back next week with an update. 

    Other deals that got my attention …

    Arc Boats, the Los Angeles startup founded in 2021 by former SpaceX employees, signed a $160 million contract with Curtin Maritime for new hybrid-electric tugs, which are expected to hit the waters around the Los Angeles port in 2027. 

    LeydenJar, the Netherlands-based battery materials startup, raised €13 million ($15.2 million) in a round led by Extantia and Invest-NL.

    Standard Fleet, a fleet management software company, raised $13 million in a Series A round led by Nova Threshold with participation from WEX Venture Capital, SNR, Garry Tan (CEO of Y Combinator), Salil Deshpande (Uncorrelated Ventures), and Apoorv Bhargava (WeaveGrid). Returning investors included Burst Capital, Canvas Ventures, Liquid 2, Night Capital, Olive Capital, UP2398, and Danny Wen.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    The Federal Aviation Administration announced a new pilot program that will let electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) startups test some operations before they receive full regulatory certification.

    Hyundai’s once-buzzy electric air taxi startup Supernal is having trouble getting off the ground. The company paused work on its aircraft program after a rocky few months that saw staff cuts and the departure of its CEO and CTO, two people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.

    InDrive, the Mountain View-based startup that got its start in Siberia and is known for its bidding-based ride-hailing model across Asia and Latin America, wants to be a global super app. Here’s what and where it’s targeting.

    Jaguar Land Rover said a cyberattack brought vehicle assembly lines to a standstill.

    Lyft and May Mobility have launched a robotaxi service in Atlanta, the first commercial deployment in the two companies’ partnership.

    Nevada’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an investigation after a Boring Company employee sustained a “crushing injury” working on one of its tunnels in Las Vegas. Work has stopped at the site.

    Tesla has the proper permit to begin testing autonomous vehicle technology on public roads in Nevada. As I explain in this article, securing a testing permit in the state is straightforward and easy. (Just fill out the registry form, and make sure you have the proper $5 million insurance coverage.) Tesla will still need to complete the self-certification process to be able to roll out an entire program. And it will need separate approval to operate a commercial ride-hailing service. 

    Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle startup Momenta plan to start testing robotaxis in Munich starting in 2026.

    The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Uber, accusing the ride-hailing company of violating federal law by discriminating against people with physical disabilities.

    One more thing …

    TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 is right around the corner — in around six weeks or so. And we have some high-profile folks from the transportation world coming onto our stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The event, which will be held October 27 to 29, will include Wayve co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall, Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, and Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen. And more are coming. Stay tuned.

    You can buy tickets here. And be sure to check out our Startup Battlefield 200, a pretty incredible list of startups that will be exhibiting — and some pitching on the main stage.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • TechCrunch Mobility: Waymo’s Big Apple score and Nvidia backs Nuro | TechCrunch

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    Hey, all, and happy Friday! Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for news, analysis, and scoops around the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    I was sad to have missed the Monterey Car Week this year, especially because there were a number of reveals I was interested in, including the all-electric Cadillac Opulent Velocity; the Chevrolet Corvette CX and CX.R Vision Gran Turismo concepts; and Lucid Gravity X reveals. But alas, the sprawling, Champagne-soaked grounds of Quail or the sea of seersucker suits and wide-brimmed hats at Pebble Beach Golf Course were suboptimal landscapes for my newly fractured and boot-encased foot. Next year!

    In the meantime, I thought I would reach out to you, dear reader, to get your forecast on what’s in store for automakers and EV sales in the United States once the federal EV tax credit expires September 30.

    My prediction? Well I don’t really want to taint the results, but I will say this: Automakers are going to have to do something in the short term to attract customers, and not just because of the expiring EV tax credit.

    A little bird

    Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

    Serve Robotics, the autonomous sidewalk delivery robot company, announced earlier this week that it acquired Vayu Robotics, a startup that has developed AI foundation models and a simulation-powered data engine for robots. The companies didn’t disclose the terms of the deal, but some back-of-the-envelope math and a little bird helped me determine that Serve Robotics paid between $45 million and $50 million for Vayu. 

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com

    Deals!

    Several weeks ago, I highlighted a deal between Uber, autonomous vehicle tech startup Nuro, and EV maker Lucid. You can read about that here, but the important piece to remember is Uber’s commitment to make an undisclosed “multimillion-dollar” investment into Nuro. (Sources told me it is more than the $300 million Uber invested in Lucid.)

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    Nuro has now raised more money in a Series E round that has reached $203 million from a group of new investors that includes Nvidia, existing backer Baillie Gifford, Icehouse Ventures, Kindred Ventures, and Pledge Ventures. And a portion of Uber’s investment has gone toward the Series E round.

    Other deals that got my attention …

    ARK Invest, Cathie Wood’s firm, invested about $12.9 million in the Chinese autonomous driving firm Pony.ai, according to the company.  

    Grid Aero, an aerospace startup, raised $6 million in seed funding from Calibrate Ventures and Ubiquity Ventures.

    Group14, a battery materials startup, raised $463 million in a funding round led by battery manufacturer SK with participation from ATL, Lightrock, Microsoft, Porsche, and OMERS. Alongside the round, Group14 also announced it had “acquired full ownership” of a joint venture with SK in South Korea.

    Oway, founded in 2023 and backed by Y Combinator and General Catalyst, recently closed a $4 million seed round. Read up on the company’s plan to build a decentralized “Uber for freight.”

    One update on the Via IPO: Renaissance Capital estimates Via could raise up to $500 million.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Hertz will start selling preowned vehicles on Amazon Autos.

    Redwood Materials said it is working with Caterpillar to recycle the battery packs from the company’s battery-electric underground loaders.

    Tesla is planning to introduce in-car voice-assistant functions powered by DeepSeek and ByteDance’s Doubao artificial intelligence.

    The Routing Company, a startup that helps transit agencies match riders with vehicles quickly and cheaply, landed Zoox as its first robotaxi client. Zoox will purchase a nonexclusive license for The Routing Company’s tech and will bring five of the startup’s engineers on board to “advance the efficiency and scalability” of its fledgling robotaxi service. 

    Volkswagen faces a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey over the buttons on the steering wheel of its cars, including ID.4. The lawsuit alleges the buttons are too sensitive and too easy to activate unintentionally.

    Waymo has been granted a permit to test its autonomous vehicles in New York City, the first such approval granted by the city. The company told TechCrunch it plans to start testing “immediately.”

    In the world of drones and food, I suppose it was inevitable we would get Zipotle — a merging of the words Zipline and Chipotle. Zipline, an autonomous drone delivery startup, has partnered with Chipotle to fly digital orders to guests’ locations in the greater Dallas area.

    One more thing …

    Vanity Fair has a lengthy feature on Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana that digs into her past, how she manages, and, as the author notes, her un-Elon style. It’s worth the read and gives me an opportunity to remind you all that Mawakana will be on our stage at Disrupt 2025, which will be held October 27 to 29 in San Francisco.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • Tesla lobbies for Elon and Kia taps into the GenAI hype | TechCrunch

    Tesla lobbies for Elon and Kia taps into the GenAI hype | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    Is it me, or is the Tesla board being a bit extra these days as it tries to convince shareholders to vote in favor of relocating the company to Texas and to approve CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay deal? Perhaps that’s because the board is worried neither measure will pass. Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm told the Financial Times that the company needs to climb “Mount Everest” to win over shareholders ahead of an annual meeting on June 13. 

    The result has been a parade of appeals and additional proxy materials that make the pitch for the controversial pay deal that — reminder! — was struck down in January by a Delaware court. 

    Do you think shareholders will say yes? 

    A little bird

    Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

    This week, TC contributor Jagmeet Singh didn’t overhear a little nugget; he saw it. 

    During a trip to Dubai, Singh opened up the BluSmart ride-hailing app and discovered the India-based company had quietly launched a service in the United Arab Emirates’ most populous city. 

    Rumors that BluSmart was planning to set up shop in Dubai and Abu Dhabi has swirled for months. After spotting the new service area, TechCrunch received confirmation from BluSmart co-founder Anmol Jaggi that a pilot started Tuesday, with 100 Audi E-Tron SUVs and 130 drivers in the city. The formal launch will be in early June, he said.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.

    Deals!

    money the station
    Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

    Harbinger, a startup building medium-duty electric commercial vehicle chassis, has had my interest since I visited the Southern California-based headquarters earlier this year. The market opportunity to electrify medium-duty vehicles has always seemed like a bit of a no-brainer to me since the segment covers such a wide swath, from school buses and RVs to delivery vans and emergency response vehicles.

    And it seems the interest — at least in Harbinger’s chassis — is high. The company announced this week at the ACT Expo that it has locked in $400 million of binding vehicle preorders from customers, including a multi-year order from Bimbo Bakeries USA, the U.S. business of Grupo Bimbo. Thor Industries, the recreational vehicle manufacturer behind brands Airstream, Jayco, Tiffin and Thor Motor Coach, also placed an order. 

    Harbinger also shared this week that it closed an additional $13 million in Series A funds from investors that included the Coca-Cola System Sustainability Fund, managed by Greycroft. The added funding pushes its Series A round to $73 million. 

    Other deals that got my attention …

    South 8, a battery startup focused on boosting EV performance in cold weather, recently attracted new funding from Porsche Ventures in the form of a SAFE note, which will be applied to a Series B round that the company is starting to raise. The size of Porsche Ventures’ investment was not disclosed.

    Seattle-based Overland AI and New Brunswick, Canada-based Potential — two startups focused on off-road autonomous vehicle technology — have both raised seed rounds. Overland raised a $10 million seed round led by Point72 Ventures, and Potential raised a CA$2 million (~$1.5 million) extension to its seed round led by Brightspark Ventures, a Canadian early-stage VC.

    Spiro, an Africa-based electric two-wheeler company, secured a $50 million debt facility with the African Export-Import Bank. 

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Autonomous vehicles

    Aurora Innovation revealed a new self-driving truck, loaded with its autonomous vehicle tech and manufactured by Volvo, that could be on public highways as early as this summer. 

    The U.K. government has enacted the Automated Vehicles Act, a law that regulates self-driving vehicles and is expected to bring the technology to public roads within two years.

    Electric vehicles, charging & batteries

    Airbnb and ChargePoint have partnered to “make it easier” for hosts to install EV chargers at their listings by providing discounts on chargers and accompanying installation services.

    Audi plans to jointly develop a new EV platform designed for China with partner SAIC. 

    The Chevrolet Equinox EV, which has an estimated range of 319 miles on the front-wheel-drive model, is rolling into dealerships. The Equinox EV has a starting price of $43,295. However, GM says a cheaper $34,995 version will be available later this year.

    Kia revealed the EV3 — the next electric vehicle in its lineup. One item that got my attention: It used OpenAI’s large language models (LLMs) to build a highly customized version of ChatGPT for its in-car assistant. 

    InfluenceMap released an analysis last week that I missed. The report, which examined climate lobbying activities of 15 of the largest automakers, found that all except for Tesla have actively advocated against at least one policy promoting electric vehicles. 

    McLaren Automotive is getting into the “hyperbike” business. The company unveiled four limited edition electric bike models – the Extreme 600, Extreme 250, Sport 600, and Sport 250. No word on pricing!

    The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched a formal investigation into an April crash involving the all-electric VinFast VF 8 SUV that claimed the lives of a family of four.

    Yoshi Mobility, a mobile car care startup that raised $26 million in April, is launching an EV mobile charging service that will debut on General Motors’ BrightDrop Zevo 600 vehicles. The company aims to commercialize the service by early next year. 

    Ride-hailing 

    Uber and Lyft reached an agreement with Minnesota that will result in higher pay and protections for drivers while placing limits on state government. TC reporter Rebecca Bellan digs into who wins, who loses and who pays. 

    This week’s wheels

    What is “This week’s wheels”? It’s a chance to learn about the different transportation products we’re testing, whether it’s an electric or hybrid car, an e-bike or even a ride in an autonomous vehicle. Keep an eye out to learn about my time behind the wheel of the 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, as well as two EV surprises that I just can’t mention quite yet! Later this summer I plan to get into the Fiat 500e, test a few e-bikes and more!

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    Carrie Andrews

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  • Hyundai antes up $1B for AV startup Motional and Elon unplugs the Tesla Supercharger team | TechCrunch

    Hyundai antes up $1B for AV startup Motional and Elon unplugs the Tesla Supercharger team | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.

    Before I jump into the all the news — and boy there was a lot! — I have an important update for all of you lovely readers. TechCrunch Mobility is moving to Thursdays! It will be the same newsletter filled with news and insights on the sector, but just landing in your inboxes Thursday morning. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

    EV startup Fisker laid off more employees to “preserve cash” as bankruptcy inches ever closer; ride-hailing company Ola cut about 180 jobs and ousted its chief executive, Hemant Bakshi, merely four months after appointing him to the post; and lidar company Luminar slashed its 700-person workforce by 20% as part of a restructuring to adopt an “asset light” business model.

    Oh, and then there was Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who axed the automaker’s global Supercharger network team. That perplexing decision comes just as non-Tesla EV drivers gain access to the network.

    That’s not to say the entire transportation sector was surrounded by economic storm clouds. There were brighter moments as well. Let’s go check it out!

    A little bird

    In the fallout from Tesla’s great Supercharger culling, we’ve spoken to several little birds, including those who were laid off and folks working at other automakers. As I mentioned above, Elon Musk gutted Tesla’s global Supercharger organization of about 500 people. Insiders at several different automakers — all of which are adopting Tesla’s charging tech — said they did not see this coming. “Shocked” and “stunned” were the most common phrases I heard.

    On the employee front, there was a lack of communication from human resources in the hours directly following the mass layoff. Some told me they and their fellow former co-workers had not received information about severance and that communication had stopped altogether. A few of those folks had received severance emails by Friday. All of the people I communicated with were still struggling to understand why Musk would cut the Supercharger team — an organization that is fundamental to Tesla and its EV sales. Others surmised only Elon and maybe the former head of the Supercharger team, Rebecca Tinucci, would ever know the answer.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps.

    Deals!

    money the station

    It’s been a minute since we heard of an autonomous vehicle startup raising a substantial amount of money — or heck any money at all. That all changed this week when Motional scored an essential multi-million-dollar win, courtesy of Hyundai.

    Hyundai’s total commitment is $1 billion, but there are important details. Here’s how it breaks down. Hyundai invested $475 million directly into Motional as part of a broader deal that includes buying out joint venture partner Aptiv. Hyundai is spending another $448 million to buy 11% of Aptiv’s common equity interest in Motional.

    The quick backstory: Motional was formed in 2019 as a $4 billion joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv. Motional has spent the past several years plugging away at its autonomous vehicle tech, working toward a goal of launching a robotaxi service using driverless Hyundai Ioniq 5 vehicles in 2024. As Motional and Hyundai got closer — the companies announced plans in November to co-develop production-ready versions of the all-electric Ioniq 5 robotaxi — it seems Aptiv began to understand its own financial limitations. By January, Aptiv chairman and CEO Kevin Clark flagged that the company would reduce its ownership interest in Motional and stop allocating capital to the venture due to the high cost of commercializing a robotaxi business and the long road ahead to profits.

    The decision, while not particularly surprising to the industry insiders I spoke to, still put Motional and Hyundai in a sticky spot. Would Hyundai step up? Would outside investors step in? Hyundai answered the call.

    My question is will Motional, with the blessing of Hyundai, seek out other investors? That will all come down to how much capital Motional is burning through and whether it continues to chase the same robotaxi goals. If so, it seems the company will eventually need more capital.

    Other deals that got my attention …

    LiNova Energy, a California-based startup developing polymer cathode batteries, raised $15.8 million in a Series A funding round led by Catalus Capital, which was joined by Saft, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, Chevron Technology Ventures and a syndicate of investors.

    Rivian was awarded an eye-popping $827 million incentives package from the state of Illinois, funds that will be used to build out production lines for its next-generation EV, the R2.

    Viking Holdings, the luxury cruise operator backed by private equity firm TPG and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, raised $1.54 billion in its IPO.

    X Shore, a Swedish electric boat maker founded in 2016, raised €8.5 million in new funding from several unnamed existing backers, including founder Konrad Bergström.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    ADAS

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Ford’s hands-free driver-assistance system, BlueCruise, after it was found to be active during two recent crashes that killed multiple people.

    The NHTSA made another big move in the sector and finalized a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard that will make automatic emergency braking, including the ability to detect and automatically brake for pedestrians, standard on all passenger cars and light trucks by September 2029. The agency said the safety standard is expected to significantly reduce rear-end and pedestrian crashes. Now, the NHTSA isn’t picking the technology automakers have to use. A number of computer vision and lidar companies have reached out to me to note how it could be beneficial to their business models.

    Autonomous vehicles

    TC contributor Tim Stevens takes us behind the scenes of the first Autonomous Racing League event in Abu Dhabi that pitted a self-driving car against a Formula 1 driver. His take? Yes, there were struggles; he also saw a lot of progress.

    Electric vehicles, charging & batteries

    Remember last year when Henrik Fisker proudly debuted two prototypes designed to catapult his eponymous EV startup into the mainstream? TC reporter Sean O’Kane learned the engineering firm that helped develop those vehicles is suing Fisker for $13 million in damages. Read more to learn about this lawsuit, plus several others.

    This week’s wheels

    Image Credits: Emme Hall

    I turned the wheel over to TC contributor Emme Hall this week for a test drive of the new all-electric Acura ZDX Type S. You can read the entire review here, plus I suggest you watch her video of the hands-free advanced driver-assistance system in the vehicle. For those who want a sneak peek before committing to the longer read, here’s the gist.

    Hall expected joy and delight. Instead, it was more meh. Here’s one of the whys. The Type S weighs over 6,000 pounds. Even if the weight is evenly distributed front to rear, that’s a lot of heft to get around a turn. She liked the hefty steering, but there wasn’t much feedback happening.

    “The torque is always there on corner exit and body roll is kept in check, yet I’m not feeling the delight,” she wrote, adding that the 275/40 Continental Premium Contact 6 summer tires on the Type S offered up plenty of grip, but the low-profile sidewall combined with the harder run-flat rubber compound meant that the ride was just a touch harsh.

    Hall’s pursuit of an all-electric SUV that’s fun through the twisties continues.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • Tesla layoffs, Cybertruck recalls and Serve Robotics goes public | TechCrunch

    Tesla layoffs, Cybertruck recalls and Serve Robotics goes public | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here — just click TechCrunch Mobility — to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free.

    Tesla is back in the news cycle and our crystal ball says it’s one of those long-term affairs. The week kicked off with layoffs — about 10% of its more than 140,000-person workforce — and CEO Elon Musk declaring he was going “balls to the wall” on autonomy. It ended with a Cybertruck recall. Cool cool.

    There’s lots more in the newsletter than just Tesla — although before we move on, do check out Sean O’Kane’s scoop about the company’s 1,800-mile Tesla Semi charging corridor program. Read on to catch up on Serve Robotics’ public market debut, a week of highs and lows for Waymo, and more.

    Let’s go! 

    A little bird

    While much of our focus is on startups and Silicon Valley, we do have some little birds in Washington, D.C.

    A little bird told us recently that federal regulators are getting close to publishing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on autonomous vehicle regulations, which would be the first set of federal guardrails proposed for the industry.

    Our source said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which regulates commercial vehicles in the U.S., should have a proposal out by this summer, fall at the latest. We’re told that the federal ruling on AVs will likely establish a minimum safety standard for AVs to operate on public roads but that state governments could enforce stricter regulations within their own borders. We’ve been hearing about discussions and plans around federal AV regulations for years now. Have we finally started to make headway? We shall see. 

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps.

    Deal of the week

    money the station

    Serve Robotics, the Nvidia- and Uber-backed sidewalk robot delivery company, hit the public markets this week via a reverse merger. Serve expects its public debut to bring in around $40 million in gross proceeds, funding that will go toward R&D for future robots, manufacturing of new robots, geographic expansion and more.

    Serve’s goal is to increase its fleet from the 100 robots deployed today around Los Angeles to 2,000 robots across multiple U.S. cities by the end of 2025, via a partnership with Uber Eats. Serve has huge revenue ambitions, with plans to generate between $60 million and $80 million in annual revenue by that same deadline. In 2023, Serve brought in $207,545 in revenue at a loss of $1.5 million.

    FWIW, Uber and Nvidia are still shareholders, but their shares in the company are decreasing with this debut. Pre-IPO, Uber and Nvidia held a 16.6% stake and 14.3% stake, respectively. Once the offering closes, those stakes will change to 11.5% and 10.1%, per regulatory filings.

    Serve’s share price was $4 at market open on Thursday, and it closed that day at around $3.

    Other deals that got my attention …

    Found Energy, a startup that uses waste aluminum to generate heat and hydrogen, raised a $12 million seed round, but Tim De Chant’s story on the company is about so much more.

    Getir, a Turkish delivery company that was once worth $12 billion, is reportedly weighing asset sales and exits from non-core markets as investors put the pressure on to cut losses.

    Swtch Energy, a company building EV charging solutions for apartment buildings, raised $27.2 million in a Series B to expand its charging network and boost the tech behind its charging and energy management solutions. Blue Earth Capital led the round with participation from Alantra’s Energy Transition Fund Klima, Active Impact Investments and GIGA Investments Corp.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    ADAS

    Mobileye has secured orders to ship 46 million of its EyeQ6 Light ADAS chips over the next few years to automakers. Multiple models launching this year will feature the chip, which promises to deliver improved sensing of wet roads, detection of and reaction to objects at a greater distance, and better ability to read key text phrases on road signs. TechCrunch had the chance to dig into this, and our main takeaways are that automakers will probably love this chip because it’s more powerful than Mobileye’s last chip, but it’s the same price.

    Autonomous vehicles

    Waymo has begun initial data collection and mapping in Atlanta, the company’s latest geographic win. The Alphabet-owned company didn’t say whether it plans to launch in the Georgian city or any other city it is mapping in, such as Washington, D.C., and Buffalo. Aside from San Francisco, Waymo has launched commercial robotaxi services in Los Angeles and Phoenix, with Austin planned for the end of this year.

    But with ups, come downs. Six Waymo vehicles also got caught blocking traffic to an on-ramp in San Francisco. The vehicles were caught between a construction zone and the on-ramp and had to pull over to await rescue. A spokesperson told TechCrunch that while Waymo does have the green light to go fully driverless on freeways in San Francisco, the company has not yet pulled the driver out.

    Electric vehicles, charging & batteries

    General Motors launched a home EV charger and vehicle-to-home (V2H) kit that lets a home pull energy from an EV battery in the event of a blackout. Customers in California, Florida, Texas, Michigan and New York can purchase today.

    Gogoro, the two-wheeler battery-swapping company, and TSMC, a global semiconductor company, are partnering to introduce 15 GoStations across Taiwan that use 100% clean energy. They’ll also be launching Gogoro’s scooter-sharing service in TSMC’s headquarter city, Hsinchu, and expanding the charging network in the city.

    TeslaCrunch

    We’ve been all over Tesla this week, so let’s dive in.

    The week started out with company-wide layoffs that affected at least 10% of the entire 140,000-person organization, with some teams seeing 20% of their staff gutted. Two high-profile executives departed Tesla as well: Drew Baglino, Tesla’s SVP of Powertrain and Energy, and Rohan Patel, VP of Public Policy and Business Development. Patel told TechCrunch he left because of “[b]ig overall changes” at the company that he declined to specify. In an email sent to the company, CEO Elon Musk said the cuts were necessary to increase productivity and prepare for Tesla’s “next phase of growth.”

    (Psssst! Don’t want to read about Tesla layoffs and what comes next? You can watch about it instead.)

    Many of those who were cut, sources say, were high performers who just happened to be working on lower-priority projects. Sources at Tesla also told TechCrunch the company made the cuts because it expects poor first-quarter earnings. Deliveries were subpar, and all those price cuts last year that continued early into 2024 likely had an effect on Tesla’s margins. Deliveries were down in Q1 year-over-year, despite the $200,000 Tesla spent on advertising on X, per our reporting.

    Which might be why Tesla ditched its EV inventory price discounts this week. On X, Musk said this move was in line with Tesla’s strategy to “streamline the whole Tesla sales and delivery system.”

    These changes in general, and the layoffs in particular, are made more stark by Tesla’s proxy statement that calls on the board to reinstate Musk’s $56 billion payout, which a Delaware judge earlier this year voided. In a huff, Musk threatened to reincorporate Tesla in Texas instead, and it appears that plan will also be put to the board soon.

    Meanwhile, on the charging front, Tesla is moving forward with its plan to build an electric big rig charging corridor stretching from Texas to California, despite being snubbed by a lucrative federal funding program that’s part of Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure law.

    Tesla this week also had to recall the 3,878 Cybertrucks that it has delivered to customers to date over faulty accelerator pedals that can get stuck. I know what you’re thinking. Finally we know how many Cybertrucks Tesla delivered.

    This week’s wheels

    I’ve been in a handful of new vehicles and I’m eager to share my thoughts, but we’re also running out of space this week. In the coming issues, we’ll have some takes on electric bikes, the 2024 Lexus LC 500h, the 2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter and more.

    See y’all next week!

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • TechCrunch Mobility: Cruise robotaxis return and Ford’s BlueCruise comes under scrutiny | TechCrunch

    TechCrunch Mobility: Cruise robotaxis return and Ford’s BlueCruise comes under scrutiny | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here — just click TechCrunch Mobility — to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free.

    It was another wild week in the world of transportation, particularly in the EV startup and automated driving industries. Sure, Cruise got our attention by announcing a return of sorts. But there’s a lot more to read about, including Indian ride-hailing giant Ola exiting the U.K., Australia and New Zealand; a feature on a New York–based startup that wants to bring curbside EV charging to lampposts; Uber Eats launching a TikTok-like video feature; and contract manufacturer Magna piloting humanoid robots developed by Sanctuary AI.

    Oh, one more thing — reporter Rebecca Bellan is back! I know readers missed her, so show her a bit of love by sending her some tips at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com.

    Let’s go! 

    A little bird

    Founders, investors, engineers, policy wonks and others tell us things. And we’re here to pass along the verifiable information that those little birds have shared with us.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps.

    Deal of the week

    money the station

    Just a bunch of deals this week!

    Basemark, a Finnish company that developed AR and computer vision software used by automakers, raised €22 million ($23.6 million) in a Series B round led by ETF Partners. Other backers include Finnish Industry Investment, Constructor Capital, Business Finland, the European Innovation Council and private investors.

    Bumper, an automotive fintech startup sector, raised £2 million in a Series B extension round that included backing from Suzuki Global Ventures and Marubeni Ventures.

    Carrar, an Israeli startup that provides battery modules and thermal management systems for EVs, raised $5.3 million in a Series A round that included new investors Salida B.V., OurCrowd, and NextGear, as well as current backers Gentherm, NextLeap Ventures, Dive Digital and others.

    Exoes, a French-based startup that developed battery cooling technology for EVs, raised €35 million ($37.5 million) from BpiFrance and Meridiam Green Impact Growth Fund.

    HysetCo SAS, a startup that rents hydrogen-powered EVs to taxi drivers in Paris, raised nearly €200 million ($218 million) in a round led by Hy24. Raise Impact and Eiffel Investment Group also participated.

    Yoshi Mobility, a Nashville-based startup that developed an app to offer drivers preventative maintenance, virtual vehicle inspections and electric vehicle charging, raised $26 million in a Series C round led by General Motors Ventures. Bridgestone Americas, Universal Motors Agencies and Shikra Limited also participated.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    ADAS

    The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the driver of a Ford Mustang Mach-E who crashed into a stationary car in Texas in February was using the hands-free driver-assistance system known as BlueCruise. This is the first known fatality resulting from a crash involving the use of BlueCruise. The NTSB announcement came a day after the safety board announced it’s probing a second fatal crash near Philadelphia where Ford’s driver-assistance system may have been active.

    Autonomous vehicles

    GM’s self-driving car subsidiary Cruise is back. Sort of. The company is redeploying robotaxis, but not in its home city of San Francisco. Instead, Cruise is setting up shop in Phoenix and all of its autonomous vehicles will be driven manually by employees. Here’s the odd part: Cruise says it will be creating maps and gathering road information in Phoenix, a city where it has had a presence (and has driven autonomously) since at least 2020. That means it has mapped these roads before.

    Going all the way back to mapping has me a bit confused. Is this theater or does Cruise see a need to restart its entire process due to concerns about the underlying technology?

    Cruise has also petitioned California regulators to reinstate its permits to operate in San Francisco. Will we see the company mapping its hometown yet again, or will it jump back in with a robotaxi service?

    Meanwhile, Waymo officially launched paid rides in Los Angeles this week. We previously reported on California regulators’ approval of the Alphabet-owned company to charge for its robotaxi service in the city. The service is starting out small and will build based on demand and performance metrics, a Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch.

    Electric vehicles, charging & batteries

    Elon Musk’s decision to green-light a robotaxi over an affordable EV might cost the company its lead, TC reporter Tim De Chant writes.

    Exponent Energy, the Indian battery-tech company that claims to have developed 15-minute charging technology, has partnered with auto manufacturer Omega Seiki Mobility to deliver a passenger three-wheel EV with those rapid-charging capabilities.

    Faraday Future is now grappling with two internal whistleblowers. Both former employees have filed lawsuits claiming the troubled EV company has been lying about some of the few sales it has announced to date. They also claim founder Jia Yueting has “weaponized” the EV startup’s HR department to retaliate against anyone who speaks up about these alleged misrepresentations.

    Lucid Motors delivered more EVs in the first quarter of 2024 than it has in any other quarter, though it set the record by a very slim margin.

    Tesla dropped the monthly subscription price of its “Supervised FSD” (formerly known as “FSD Beta”) to $99, down from $199, in a bid to get more dollars and data from drivers.

    Ride-hail

    Lyft and Uber said they will pause on their planned exit from Minneapolis after city officials decided to delay the start of a driver pay raise by a couple of months.

    Miscellaneous

    Check out this deep dive into Neural Concept, a company that’s using AI to help engineers make more aerodynamic vehicles for racing, automotive and aerospace industries.

    This week’s wheels

    Image Credits: Kirsten Korosec

    I’m back in a Mercedes EV, this time a 2024 Mercedes EQE 350 4MATIC. The model retails at $77,900, not including the destination fee. The version I drove came in at $97,615, due to all sorts of options, like a 10-degree rear axle steering system, head-up display, air suspension, AMG exterior and a $1,250 driver-assistance system.

    There are a number of improvements from the previous model year, including a new braking system, a heat pump to help improve driving efficiency in winter conditions, a 20-mile improvement in battery range, 20-inch wheels, power opening port door for charging and a better user interface (in my opinion) on the central infotainment.

    What I really wanted to try was the advanced driver-assistance system, and specifically the automatic lane change feature, which I had yet to test.

    Within the infotainment center, the driver can choose either “manual” or “automatic” lane change options. When the automatic feature is selected and the ADAS is on, the vehicle will make automatic lane changes without driver input. Here’s how it works. I was driving in the right lane on the highway with ADAS engaged. As the car approached slower traffic, an arrow appeared on the instrument cluster (see photo), the system turned my indicator on and then made the lane change. This can be overridden by holding the steering wheel and keeping it in the lane.

    My thoughts? The system worked seamlessly and I could see using it on occasion. The question is whether drivers want to cede that kind of control.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • TechCrunch Mobility: Apple layoffs, an EV price reckoning and another Tesla robotaxi promise | TechCrunch

    TechCrunch Mobility: Apple layoffs, an EV price reckoning and another Tesla robotaxi promise | TechCrunch

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    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here — just click TechCrunch Mobility — to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free.

    Automakers reported auto sales for Q1 and, welp, turns out that pricing sure does matter if you want to sell EVs. Who would have thought? A recent survey by Edmunds comes to a similar conclusion (at least for American buyers), finding a big gap between what consumers want and what is actually available on the market.

    Here’s the crux. According to the Edmunds survey, 47% say they are seeking an EV purchase below $40,000, and 22% are interested in EVs priced below the $30,000 threshold. Today, there are no new EVs priced below $30,000 and only four below the $40,000 mark. The average price of an EV in 2023 was $61,702, while all other vehicles stood at $47,450.

    This mismatch of realities is squeezing automakers as they try to move inventory by slashing prices. This downward pressure has forced automakers like Ford to delay future EV launches and put more resources toward hybrids. Even Tesla, a bellwether in the EV world, fell well below analysts’ expectations with deliveries down 20% from Q4 2023. Meanwhile, EV upstart Rivian posted tepid results.

    What’s the answer? Well, over at Tesla, it seems the solution is twofold: slash prices again and try to capture revenue through sales of its Full Self-Driving software that costs $12,000 and is currently being offered in a free one-month trial to all customers.

    OK, folks, let’s jump into the rest of the news!

    A little bird

    Founders, investors, engineers, policy wonks and others tell us things. And we’re here to pass along the verifiable information that those little birds have shared with us.

    This week, a little bird tipped us on the closure of Ghost Autonomy, which had raised upward of $220 million and recently partnered with OpenAI. A couple of calls, emails and a fresh posting on the company’s website confirmed the tip. About 100 people were affected.

    As I noted in my article, Ghost has pivoted a few times since it was founded in 2017. When I asked founder and CEO John Hayes what happened, he said the company had completed a highway driving product and was moving in urban environments through what he described as “last-mile delivery.”

    “Ultimately, the years required to bring the product to market could not be financed,” he wrote to me in an email.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or Sean O’Kane sean.okane@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps.

    Deal of the week

    money the station

    Startup founders, listen up — a new fund just closed. Get your slide decks ready.

    Maniv, the Israel and now NYC-based VC firm, raised a $140 million fund with plans to stick to its early-stage investment strategy of backing startups at the intersection between mobility, transportation and energy.

    As I noted in my longer feature, the firm’s approach has evolved a bit by expanding geographically and diversifying its investor base. The firm has also largely stopped using the once trendy umbrella term “mobility” (often leaving it out of its original name Maniv Mobility) and has opted instead to talk about deep tech, decarbonization and digitization of the transportation sector.

    Investors in the fund are no longer dominated by automakers and Tier 1 suppliers. Instead, Maniv has opened up to a broader swath of strategic and institutional financial investors, including BNP Paribas Personal Finance and the venture arms of Shell and Enterprise Mobility.

    The Maniv III fund also includes return investors Valeo and Jaguar Land Rover venture arm InMotion Ventures. Toyota Motor Corp.’s Woven Capital, vehicle leasing company Arval, transportation infrastructure giant Ferrovial, the industrial manufacturing firm ITT Inc., fleet payments business WEX and an unnamed European insurance company also participated in the fund.

    Other deals that got my attention …

    Alsym Energy, a Massachusetts-based startup developing nonflammable battery chemistry, raised $78 million in a Series C round led by General Catalyst and Tata, the Indian conglomerate, with participation from Drads Capital, Thomvest and Thrive Capital.

    BlaBlaCar, the French carpooling and bus ticketing company, secured a €100 million revolving credit facility ($108 million at today’s exchange rate).

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Autonomous vehicles

    Waymo and Uber expanded on an ongoing partnership that will affect Uber Eats’ customers in the metro Phoenix area. Now when folks order a burrito or a pizza or some other treat through Uber Eats, they may have their meals delivered by a Waymo vehicle. The tie-up will begin with select merchants in Chandler, Tempe and Mesa, including restaurants like Princess Pita, Filiberto’s and BoSa Donuts.

    Electric vehicles, charging & batteries

    Apple is laying off 614 employees in California after abandoning its electric car project. According to the WARN notice posted by the California EDD, most of the affected employees were working at buildings related to its canceled car project, while others were working at a facility for its next-generation screen development, Bloomberg reported.

    Canoo finally reported its Q4 and full-year earnings. Tucked inside the regulatory filing is a nugget regarding the use of CEO Tony Aquila’s private jet — just one of many expenses that illustrates the gap between spending and revenue at the EV startup. Tl;dr: Canoo spent double its annual revenue on the CEO’s private jet in 2023.

    Faraday Future narrowly avoided an eviction from its Los Angeles headquarters. The company reached an agreement with the owner of the building, Rexford Industrial, to stay at the facility as long as it meets a few conditions. If Faraday violates any of the terms, Rexford has the right to trigger a 48-hour demand for payment and can boot the startup if it doesn’t pay up. If Faraday Future makes its payments, it can stay in the building until September 2025 when the lease expires.

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a third investigation into Fisker’s Ocean SUV, this time centered on problems getting the doors to open.

    Tesla is reportedly abandoning its plan to build a lower-cost EV thought to cost around $25,000, according to Reuters, despite that vehicle’s status as a pivotal product for the company’s overall growth. Apparently, Tesla will instead focus on a planned robotaxi that is being built on the same small EV platform that was also supposed to power the lower-cost vehicle. This is where it gets a bit silly. Just hours after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Reuters was lying, he posted on X that the Tesla robotaxi would be revealed August 8. Go figure.

    This week’s wheels

    This week’s wheels is taking a one-week hiatus while I enjoy a bit of vacation time. But don’t worry, it’s back next week and I have a few vehicles lined up, including the Mercedes-Benz EQE 350 4Matic sedan, a Lexus LC500 hybrid and a Mercedes eSprinter. Plus, some e-bikes will soon be in the mix.

    What vehicles — including the two-wheeled variety — are you interested in reading about? I’ll put them on my list.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • Fisker enters into dumpster fire territory and Tesla chases FSD revenue | TechCrunch

    Fisker enters into dumpster fire territory and Tesla chases FSD revenue | TechCrunch

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    TechCrunch Mobility is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click TechCrunch Mobility — to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free.

    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Remember in the last edition of TechCrunch Mobility, when I wrote that the wheels were starting to come off the Fisker bus? Sheesh. Did they.

    To catch you up: Fisker issued a warning on March 18 that it was pausing production for six weeks and had just $121 million in cash and cash equivalents, $32 million of which was restricted or not immediately accessible. The company was counting on a $150 million influx of capital via convertible notes and a potential partnership with another automaker. Those hopes incinerated as fast as a gasoline-soaked rag when negotiations between Fisker and the large automaker — reported to be Nissan — fell apart and put that convertible note deal in jeopardy.

    Shares plummeted 28%, trading was halted, and in a final blow, the New York Stock Exchange said it was taking steps to remove Fisker from the exchange.

    Those are all symptoms of a bigger problem within the company, including one particularly embarrassing one that TC reporter Sean O’Kane uncovered. The tl;dr: Fisker temporarily lost track of millions of dollars in customer payments as it scaled up deliveries, leading to an internal audit that started in December and took months to complete.

    Alrighty, let’s jump into the rest of it, including where bankrupt EV startup Arrival’s assets ended up, a profile on startup Ionobell hoping to increase EV range through recycled silicon battery materials, and a $1 billion boost for Lucid.

    A little bird

    Founders, investors, engineers, policy wonks and others tell us things. And we’re here to pass along the verifiable information that those little birds have shared with us.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or Sean O’Kane sean.okane@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps.

    Deal of the week

    money the station

    It ain’t easy being an executive at an EV startup these days. Just ask the folks at Fisker. (Sorry, too soon?)

    Amid all of the EV startup bankruptcies and other bleak goings-on, there was a bit of positive news. Lucid, which has had its own struggles, raised another $1 billion from its biggest financial backer, Saudi Arabia. Ayar Third Investment, an affiliate of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, agreed to buy $1 billion worth of Lucid’s stock, which will add to the Kingdom’s current stake of around 60% ownership.

    The $1 billion boost is a lot of money, but it doesn’t last long if you’re trying to design, manufacture, sell and service vehicles. This gives Lucid an important capital buffer; however, it does not end it’s existential crisis. The company must successfully bring its next vehicle, the Gravity SUV, to market and drum up fresh business for its existing Air sedan if it hopes to survive and scale.

    Other deals that got my attention …

    Cyvl.ai, a Boston-area startup that helps municipalities and civil engineering firms track the conditions of transportation infrastructure, raised $6 million in a round led by Companyon Ventures with participation from Argon Ventures, Aero X Ventures and Alumni Ventures. Existing investors MassVentures, Launch Capital and RiverPark Ventures also participated.

    Ember, a Scottish startup building one of the U.K.’s first all-electric intercity bus networks, raised $14 million in a Series A round led by Inven Capital. Investors 2150 and AENU also participated.

    Ionobell, a seed-stage startup that says its silicon material will be cheaper than the established competition and help boost range in EV batteries, closed an unpriced $3.9 million seed extension, TechCrunch exclusively learned. Dynamo Ventures and Trucks VC led the round.

    Iron Sheepdog, a startup that developed trucking software for brokers and contractors, raised $10 million in a Series B round led by SJF Ventures with participation from Grand Ventures, Supply Chain Ventures, and other strategic partners in the construction industry.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    ADAS

    Tesla is going to give every customer in the U.S. a free one-month trial of its $12,000 Full Self-Driving Beta driver-assistance system, provided they have a car with the compatible hardware. The company is also reportedly mandating, at CEO Elon Musk’s request, that prospective buyers are given a demo of the software before they purchase a new Tesla. It seems that Tesla is turning to FSD as another financial lever to pull as profits on automotive sales shrink.

    Electric vehicles, charging & batteries

    Arrival sold some of its assets, including advanced manufacturing equipment, to Canoo, another struggling startup trying to build and sell electric vehicles. You can’t make this stuff up, folks!

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced new emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles sold in the U.S. from 2027 to 2032, a regulation that will increasingly limit the amount of pollution emitted by new heavy trucks. The regulations technically don’t mandate that these non-polluting heavy trucks are electric and instead let manufacturers decide how to meet the standards, whether its through hydrogen-powered fuel cells, better fuel efficiency or another alternative fuel. However, many believe it will mean a boost in battery-electric heavy-duty trucks. Consider the potential effect for this rule: The heavy-trucks category applies to more than 100 vehicle types, including vocational vehicles such as delivery trucks, garbage haulers, public utility trucks, transit, shuttle and school buses, as well as tractor-trailer trucks.

    In-car tech

    GM has lost another executive who was part of the company’s software and digital services effort. You might recall that former Apple executive Mike Abbott, who was executive vice president of GM’s software and services, stepped down earlier this month due to health issues. Now Edward Kummer, a former president of Nordstrom Rack’s online business who joined GM in 2021 to head up its new digital business team, is gone, the Detroit News reported.

    This week’s wheels

    land rover defender 110-x

    Image Credits: Kirsten Korosec

    I rarely test out internal combustion engine vehicles, but I made an exception this week when I had the chance to spend a few hundred miles behind the wheel of a 2024 Land Rover Defender 110 X-Dynamic SE. And technically, folks, this has a six-cylinder Mild-Hybrid Electric Vehicle powertrain, so that still qualifies, right?

    My experience with Land Rover Defender has been solely in body-on-frame models that are decades old. So I was looking forward to finally getting in the modern version, which Land Rover officially brought back in 2020. The spec I drove, which was priced at just under $88,000 and included some pricey upgrades and 22-inch wheels, is probably suited for the well-heeled urban customer. But with different tires, this aluminum monocoque-structure Defender could absolutely handle off-road conditions. I played around on dirt roads — no rock crawling — and it handled just fine with no squeaks, rattles or clunks, even on washboard terrain.

    I didn’t love the advanced driver-assistance system, notably how the driver engages the adaptive cruise control. But there were lots of features I did like, including the very quiet ride, adaptive air suspension, the white paint-on-black gloss details, a functional rear door and easy-to-reach spare tire, the air-chilled cubby to keep snacks cool and an interior design that marries utilitarian function with robust, high-quality materials.

    A final word on that interior — you won’t find a massive screen here. But there are tech-related details mixed in with the buttons and knobs. My version had a wireless charger and plenty of charger ports, including one on the dash of the passenger side. And the user interface was actually fairly decent.

    One feature I liked was a drop-down menu on the media toggle that allowed me to quickly swap between Apple CarPlay and the native infotainment system that included Sirius XM radio or local stations. That might seem inconsequential, but I have been in a number of EVs lately that make it far too complicated to switch between CarPlay and the native system.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • TechCrunch Mobility: The wheels are starting to come off the Fisker EV bus | TechCrunch

    TechCrunch Mobility: The wheels are starting to come off the Fisker EV bus | TechCrunch

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    TechCrunch Mobility is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click TechCrunch Mobility — to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free.

    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.

    Before we jump into the startup and tech fray, I wanted to touch on some activity over on the hill — Capitol Hill, that is. The Biden Administration has released two new (and separate) proposed standards — via the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency — that will affect U.S. automakers and, ultimately, you. While both regulations have been softened to assuage the automotive industry, car dealers and unions, they also put in place far stricter standards than existed before.

    The DOE issued a gentler “petroleum equivalency factor,” which gives EVs a score, of sorts, under the government’s corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards. The original proposal would have made it difficult for automakers to meet the CAFE standards, which would have meant billions of dollars in fines. (E&E has a nice explainer.)

    Meanwhile, the EPA released its tailpipe standards for 2027 to 2032 model year cars and light-duty trucks that will put stiffer requirements on automakers but gives them more flexibility to meet the proposed rules via a variety of powertrains. In other words, the standards are technology agnostic and can be met without shifting an entire fleet to battery electric. It’s also far less stringent than the original proposal that would have required EV sales to make up 67% of the total U.S. passenger vehicle market by 2032.

    What does this mean for EV startups? Not much since battery electric vehicles, like those made by Rivian, Tesla and Lucid, meet the clean car standard of a CO2 limit of 85 grams per mile by model year 2032 (a 50% reduction from model year 2026 standards). There are real implications to the legacy automakers, which are plowing billions into developing, building and selling EVs, but making a profit from internal combustion engine vehicles. If there’s one clear winner here, it might be plug-in hybrids.

    This week’s news also includes articles about Rivian’s partnership with Tesla, electric boat startup Candela, continued financial fallout at Fisker, a startup trying to tackle the precarious world of extended warranties, and more!

    Let’s go!

    A little bird

    Last month, a little bird told us Clevon, a company that started developing autonomous delivery technology in 2018, was struggling to find new investment and was on the brink of shutting down. The company’s co-founder said at the time (in an email viewed by TechCrunch) that it was looking for buyers for its hardware and software IP and AV assets and was even taking on its workforce.

    Clevon is still plugging along, according to co-founder and CEO Sander Sebastian Agur. He wouldn’t provide a lot of detail but said the company was funded and has “entered into an exclusivity agreement for its merger by an American electric vehicle company.” The agreement is expected to be completed by the first half of June.

    The company is having to make some cost reductions in the meantime and about 17 employees are being laid off.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or Sean O’Kane sean.okane@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps.

    Deal of the week

    money the station

    Uber seems to be everywhere, so it might surprise you that the company just made its first investment in an Africa-founded startup. And it’s a biggie.

    Moove, an African mobility fintech that offers vehicle financing to ride-hailing and delivery app drivers, raised $100 million in a Series B funding round led by Uber. Sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, Dubai-based The Latest Ventures, AfricInvest, Palm Drive Capital, Triatlum Advisors, and Future Africa also participated in the funding round. Moove is now valued at $750 million.

    Why would Uber be interested in Moove? Uber is Moove’s largest car financing and vehicle supply partner. And Moove, which has made EVs a big part of its business strategy, aligns with Uber’s commitment to a fully zero-emission fleet by 2040.

    Other deals that got my attention this week …

    Amber, a Bay Area startup founded in early 2023 that just launched an aftermarket Tesla extended warranty product, raised $3.18 million in a seed round co-led by Era and Primer Sazze, with Alcove Fund, Virta Ventures, Global Millennial Capital and Root & Shoot Ventures joining.

    Candela, the electric boat maker, raised $25 million in a round led Groupe Beneteau, with participation from EQT Ventures, Ocean Zero LLC, and Kan Dela AB.

    Pelikan Mobility, a French startup developing fleet management software for commercial EVs, raised €4 million ($4.4 million) in a seed round from Pale Blue Dot, Frst, Seedcamp and others.

    Stellantis invested an undisclosed amount into SteerLight, a French startup developing low-cost lidar designed for advanced driver assistance systems. In a separate non–car related deal, the automaker purchased 8.3 million shares of Archer Aviation stock. Stellantis said this signals its confidence in Archer’s plans to bring electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to market beginning in 2025.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Apps

    Apple was sued this week by the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged monopolistic practices. Here’s an explainer and all of our coverage to date. Tucked inside the lawsuit is a section on automotive, namely the smartphone projection feature known as Apple CarPlay. The U.S. government claims in the lawsuit that “Apple has told automakers that the next generation of Apple CarPlay will take over all of the screens, sensors, and gauges in a car, forcing users to experience driving as an iPhone-centric experience if they want to use any of the features provided by CarPlay.” Some have even speculated that this explains why General Motors ditched Apple CarPlay altogether.

    We’re a bit skeptical over here. For one, automakers can choose what screen Apple CarPlay is projected to, just like it does with competitor Android Auto. And automakers still have their own underlying native software, which, by the way, is increasingly coming from Google.

    Electric vehicles, charging & batteries

    Cowboy has launched an all-road electric bike to attract riders beyond European city centers.

    Fisker’s financial health is fading — and fast. The company said it had just $121 million in cash and cash equivalents as of March 15, $32 million of which is restricted or not immediately accessible. The company has paused production of its electric Ocean SUV for six weeks as it scrambles for a cash infusion.

    India has an eye-popping stat. The number of startups in India’s electric two-wheeler market has surged to more than 150, up from 54 in 2021, driven by government incentives to promote clean vehicles and cut oil imports, TechCruncher Manish Singh reports.

    Rivian customers can now request an adapter to tap into Tesla’s vast North American network of Superchargers, making it the second automaker to do so behind Ford.

    Steve Burns, the ousted founder, chairman and CEO of bankrupt EV startup Lordstown Motors, has settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over misleading investors about demand for the company’s flagship all-electric Endurance pickup truck.

    TechCrunch contributor Emme Hall took the 2025 Honda CR-V e:FCEV — a hydrogen fuel cell–powered version of the popular crossover — out for a first drive and explores why the heck this automaker would launch a car where there is hardly any infrastructure. Oh, and she discovered this vehicle has a bit of a plug-in hybrid twist.

    Flight

    DoorDash expanded its partnership with Alphabet’s Wing to bring its autonomous drone delivery pilot to the United States. It’s fairly limited for now; select users in Christiansburg, Virginia, will be able to order eligible menu items from their local Wendy’s.

    Joby Aviation, the startup developing electric air taxis, said it will deliver two aircraft to MacDill Air Force Base in 2025 as part of the eVTOL company’s AFWERX Agility Prime contract with the U.S. Air Force.

    The U.S. Department of Transportation plans to conduct its first industry-wide review of data security and privacy policies across the largest U.S. airlines. The agency says it will examine whether U.S. airline giants are properly protecting their customers’ personal information and whether airlines are “unfairly or deceptively monetizing or sharing that data with third parties.”

    In-car tech

    Nvidia held its annual GTC developer conference this past week. You can catch up on all of our GTC coverage here, including some surprises in co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote. Automotive News homed in on how Nvidia’s computing architecture is being used by companies like Cerence, SoundHound and Wayve to design user interfaces that incorporate generative AI into the car.

    This week’s wheels

    Subaru Solterra EV 2024

    Image Credits: Kirsten Korosec

    I spent some time in the 2024 Subaru Solterra, a battery electric crossover built as part of a joint project with Toyota, to experience what has changed or improved since the vehicle launched the year before. And there have been changes!

    The most obvious is the steering wheel, which is no longer a circle and now more of a squarical shape, a change made after feedback from consumers. You’ll notice the instrument cluster actually sits above the steering wheel, which takes some getting used to. The new shape helps improve visibility.

    Two other items of note, once I got the Subaru Solterra app linked up with the vehicle: The infotainment experience was OK. There were some buggy moments and there isn’t an intuitive and easy one swipe or click way to move between Apple CarPlay and the native software system. It wasn’t my best in-car software experience, but certainly not the worst, either.

    On the advanced driver assistance front, Subaru has added a traffic jam assist feature that provides hands-free steering in low-speed traffic jams up to 25 miles per hour. That is a super specific use case that many drivers might never need due to the speed limitations. Thanks to Phoenix traffic, I was able to test it. The lane change assist — another new feature that will automatically change lanes if the driver hits the indicator — I found a bit wonky to understand exactly when I could use it. (This feature only works between 55 and 85 miles per hour.)

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • Rivian’s big bet, Waymo goes driverless in Austin and the Chevy Blazer EV returns | TechCrunch

    Rivian’s big bet, Waymo goes driverless in Austin and the Chevy Blazer EV returns | TechCrunch

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    TechCrunch Mobility is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click TechCrunch Mobility — to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free.

    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.

    This week, it was all about Rivian and its splashy reveal of not one, but three future EVs. I attended the event to see the vehicles up close. Perhaps, more importantly, I also went to talk to executives, investors and customers to get a better understanding of where Rivian is headed and how folks are feeling about this EV upstart that is still far from turning a profit. I even ran into former Waymo CEO and now Rivian board member John Krafcik who was in attendance and cast a positive tone about the company’s future.

    I also interviewed founder and CEO RJ Scaringe after the event. Much of our conversation centered around the R2 and a big and hopefully fruitful bet to shift production to its existing factory in Normal, Illinois instead of a yet-to-be-built plant in Georgia. Stay tuned in the next day or so for a complete rundown of the interview. I will give you one teaser: relevancy was a theme.

    Check out our coverage of the R2 reveal, the surprise R3 and R3x, how reservations are going and a fun cinematic feature found in one of the many R2 “adventure” accessories.

    This week’s news also includes articles about GM resuming sales of Chevrolet Blazer, a financial update from Turo, another EV reveal that showed a little muscle, and more!

    One more thing … I’ll be in Austin for SXSW this coming week.

    I am moderating two panels, and I hope to see your smiling faces in the audience. The first panel, at 4 p.m. March 12, is entitled How Sustainable Mobility is Transforming the Last-Mile of Delivery and will feature Shawn Xu of Lowercarbon Capital, Angali Naik of Cartken and Abby Wheeler of Uber.

    The following day, and also at 4 p.m., I will moderate a panel called Mobility at the Speed of Trust: AV Purpose, Policy, and Performance with Darran Anderson, who is director of strategy and innovation at Texas DOT, Jay Blazek Crossley of Farm&City and Katrin Lohmann, who is president of Volkswagen ADMT.

    Please say hi if you’re in town!

    A little bird

    No little birds this week — at least ones who provided verifiable information I could share. Y’all have shared lots of spicy rumors though! Please keep reaching out; no tip is too small.

    What I can share is an overview of the conversations I overheard at the Rivian R2 reveal, which was held March 7 at the South Coast Theater in Laguna Beach, California. (Rivian bought and restored the theater last year).

    Among staff, from the lowly to the higher ups, there was a mix of excitement and relief once the event was over. The mood was positive, but some employees were clearly still processing the layoffs that occurred recently. I heard from a few folks that upper execs had underestimated the buzz around the R3 and R3X — the two surprise reveals. Importantly, the R3 and R3x vehicles don’t have a production date. (At least not a public one).

    The guests I spoke to or overheard talking — a combination of media, loyal customers and investors — were overwhelming positive about what they saw. There were a few grumbles about the location of the charging port and I heard more than a few wonder if Rivian could hold on financially through 2026, when the company is expected to begin production of the R2.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or Sean O’Kane sean.okane@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps.

    Deal of the week

    money the station

    Will Turo ever IPO? Fellow TechCrunch reporter Alex Wilhelm and I have a running joke about the company’s long-delayed IPO; the company first filed an S-1 to go public in early 2022, and continues to update the document quarterly in preparation for an eventual offering. Alas, the venture-backed, peer-to-peer car rental service updated the S-1 once again with its fourth-quarter and full-year financial performance.

    That suggests, as Wilhelm notes, that a public offering is still a key priority for Turo. Why else bother with the added paperwork?

    While this isn’t a deal, per se. I do think it’s worth highlighting how the company is faring, per its latest financial reporting.

    Turo saw an 18% uptick in year-over-year revenue to $879.8 million. That seems like good news until you look at Turo’s growth rate, which has dramatically declined in the last two years. Revenue growth did perk up a bit in Q4 2023 compared to the same quarter the previous year, a data point that could help it argue to public-market investors that its deceleration is not necessarily irreversible, Wilhelm wrote.

    Also, Turo is actually profitable, which is no small thing. Gross margins did devolve from 54.3% in 2022 to 51.4% in 2023 and the company posted its smallest operating profit since 2020 last year. However, Turo is still in the black and that has me betting that an IPO is coming in 2024.

    Other deals that got my attention …

    REE, an automotive technology company and makes full by-wire electric trucks and platforms, closed its public offering of 2.3 million Class A ordinary shares, raising about $14.95 million. Multiple investors participated in the round, led by M&G Investment Management, REE’s largest shareholder.

    Serve Robotics, an autonomous sidewalk delivery company, qualified to trade on the OTCQB Venture Market operated by the OTC Markets Group Inc. The company’s common shares are now trading on the OTCQB under the ticker symbol “SBOT.”

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    Apps

    Uber Eats has added a live location-sharing capability to help couriers find customers in difficult-to-find locations, including public places such as campus courtyards, parks and playgrounds.

    Waze launched a few new features to help users navigate tricky roundabouts, get alerts when a speed limit is about to change and get warnings about speed bumps and sharp curves. Question for readers: Am I the only one surprised that Google hasn’t killed off Waze?

    Autonomous vehicles

    Baidu’s autonomous ride hailing platform Apollo Go is now offering 24/7 autonomous driving rides in selected areas of Wuhan, China. This is the third major operational expansion of Baidu’s robotaxi service in 2024. The company was recently approved for robotaxi pilot operation on highways to Beijing Daxing Airport.

    Waymo said it will start letting its autonomous vehicles traverse Austin without a safety operator behind the wheel, a crucial step before the company opens the program up to the public.. The announcement comes less than a week after the Alphabet-owned company received a critical permit that allows it to charge for robotaxi rides in Los Angeles, San Francisco highways and the greater SF Peninsula.

    Electric vehicles, batteries & charging

    Faraday Future hit a new not-so-desirable milestone. The troubled EV company issued its first recall that covers all 11 vehicles — yes less than a dozen  — it built last year.  The recall centers around a problem with the warning light for the airbags in the company’s FF91 SUV.

    General Motors resumed sales of the Chevrolet Blazer EV — and at a cheaper price — more than two months after the automaker pulled the vehicle over software problems.

    Rad Power Bikes launched four new e-bikes and a newly engineered battery equipped with thermal resistant technology to prevent overheating or fires. The new batteries are potted with a heat-absorbing resin that protects against corrosion and overheating, according to the company. It encapsulates each battery cell, and if overheating occurs, the resin is supposed to stop the thermal event from spreading.

    Stellantis introduced two all-electric versions of the Dodge Charger packed with the kind of features muscle car fans have come to expect — right down to a system that tries to mimic the rumble of a Hemi V-8 engine. Will the performance benefits in the all-electric Dodge Charger be enough to woo customers who are emotionally attached to grumbling gas-powered version? I’m not so sure.

    Tesla’s factory outside Berlin, Germany was forced to shut down after a suspected arson attack on the local power grid. The shutdown, which was expected to last at least a week, could cost the company an estimated $100 million.

    This week’s wheels

    Rivian R1S EV charging

    Image Credits: Kirsten Korosec

    What better way to get to the Rivian R2 event than to drive a Rivian R1S SUV? The company offered up one of the vehicles from its press fleet and I jumped at the opportunity. Why? I haven’t driven a Rivian in more than a year, I wanted to test the Rivian EV charging network and see how recent software updates have changed the vehicle experience. Plus, I wanted to spend time in the third-row R1S ahead of the company’s reveal of the R2, which is a smaller, more affordable SUV.

    Quick thoughts:
    – I applaud a recent software update that added a new vehicle icon on the upper left hand corner of the infotainment screen, and gives users quick access to some controls like opening the charge port or front truck as well as other shortcuts for car wash and pet mode.
    – I still and will always loathe the lack of a physical toggle to move the HVAC vents. This is my hill to die on.
    – The advanced driver assistance system is better, but still needs improvement. The vehicle still slightly ping pongs within the lane when the lane keeping feature is on and the torque sensor on the steering wheel is far too sensitive to my liking. I accidentally disengaged the ADAS several times. I did appreciate that the lane keeping and adaptive cruise control stayed on and did not disengage when I put my indicator on and moved into another lane. Neat!
    – The Rivian EV charger, or “adventure network” as it is branded, was easy to use and went smoothly. It was not the fastest charge; I pulled up to 120 kw. However, I was able to park and plug without the hassle of using a credit card or app. I am curious to test what the experience is like for non-Rivian owners. Unsurprisingly, I had some issues at my next stop, where I powered up the vehicle using an Electrify America charger. Two of the charging ports were not working, the app wouldn’t communicate with the charger and I ended up just using my credit card instead.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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  • Ford preps for its next big fight, Waymo recalls its self-driving car software and layoffs come for another AV startup | TechCrunch

    Ford preps for its next big fight, Waymo recalls its self-driving car software and layoffs come for another AV startup | TechCrunch

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    TechCrunch Mobility is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click TechCrunch Mobility — to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free.

    Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. This week’s news includes a BMW security lapse that exposed sensitive information, blowback from a federal agency over an anti-Tesla Super Bowl ad and a new federal investigation into Fisker.

    But first, some words about my recent visit to Detroit, where I met with a few Ford executives to find out what they’re focused on for 2024 and beyond.

    It’s safe to say that Chinese EV automakers and Tesla are top of mind; and in the view of Ford execs, a low-cost EV and cutting-edge software are the best ways to thwart those threats. The company’s EV skunkworks project, which recently came to light, is charged with that task.

    Ford CFO John Lawler didn’t mince words during an interview at the company’s headquarters.

    “We have to assume that eventually they’ll be here,” Lawler said. “China has been looking for its global champion for decades. They couldn’t get there with a traditional gas vehicle; they saw the writing on the wall as early as 2010 that electric was the way to go and they have subsidized and focused on that since then.”

    Lawler said Chinese automakers are now competitive. Now armed with production capacity and “fantastic” designs, China is pushing into other regions.

    “It’s not a short stakes game; it’s long,” Lawler said. “So everybody’s thinking about the next couple of years, they’re thinking about the next 25, 30 years. They’re not gonna sweat what’s happening right now. They’ll keep building their footprint and building their brands up, keep building their technology and building out the advanced development of their vehicles, and eventually, there won’t be any stopping it.”

    China and Tesla aren’t the only concerns taking up their collective gray matter. Ford CEO Jim Farley is also intent on clawing back $2 billion in cost savings across the company’s industrial system. A big part of that is improving the quality of new vehicles — which are directly tied to warranty costs — and was a point he emphasized during a recent interview at Wolfe Research’s Global Auto and Auto Tech Conference in New York.

    Let’s go!

    A little bird

    A little bird pointed us to a recent filing regarding Faraday Future that got our attention. For the unfamiliar, Faraday Future is an EV startup that went public in 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company. Once upon a time, Faraday Future was about as buzzy as a startup could get. But years of internal drama, a revolving door of executives and federal investigations has the company hanging on the end of its financial threads.

    Now it appears the company is at risk of losing its LA headquarters. The company’s landlord filed a lawsuit seeking to repossess the commercial space after Faraday Future failed to pay rent. The current bill is close to $1 million.

    Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or Sean O’Kane sean.okane@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging apps.

    Deal of the week

    money the station

    No deal of the week! Instead, here’s a list of deals that got my attention.

    Celadyne, a hydrogen fuel cell startup, raised $4.5 million in a seed round was co-led by Maniv and Dynamo Ventures, with major participation from EPS Ventures.

    Revel, the Brooklyn-based startup initially known for its fleet of rentable blue electric mopeds, is reportedly trying to raise $200 million in equity, Bloomberg reported. The company shutdown its shared moped business in November and is now trying to build out electric ride-hailing and EV fast-charging businesses.

    Roam, a Kenyan EV startup, has raised $24 million in a Series A round, including up to $10 million debt commitment from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Equator, an Africa-focused climate tech VC fund, led the round At One Ventures, TES Ventures, Renew Capital, The World We Want and One Small Planet also participated.

    Skylo Technologies, a direct-to-device satellite connectivity service provider, raised $37 million in a round co-led by Intel Capital and Innovation Endeavors and joined by BMW i Ventures, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Seraphim Space, and Next47.

    Velocys, a startup developing sustainable aviation fuel, raised $40 million from Carbon Direct Capital, Lightrock, GenZero and Kibo Investments.

    Notable reads and other tidbits

    ADAS

    GM is expanding access to Super Cruise, with plans to let drivers use the hands-free advanced driver-assistance system on about 750,000 miles of roads in the United States and Canada. The expansion will nearly double the automaker’s Super Cruise network by 2025 and includes rural and minor highways.

    The National Transportation Safety Board ordered the Dawn Project organization to stop using its seal after it appeared in a Super Bowl ad that called for consumers to boycott Tesla.

    Autonomous vehicles

    Cruise named Steve Kenner, an autonomous vehicle industry veteran who has held top safety roles at Kodiak, Locomation, Aurora and Uber’s now-defunct self-driving division, as its first “chief safety officer.” My take: This is a position that Cruise should have had years ago. Meanwhile, Cruise lost another key employee. Carl Jenkins, head of hardware at Cruise, resigned from the company.

    May Mobility laid off 40 people, or about 13% of its staff.

    San Francisco Giants are swapping out the Cruise robotaxi uniform patch for a less controversial one that advertises Chevrolet, another GM brand.

    Waymo voluntarily recalled the software that powers its robotaxi fleet after two vehicles crashed into the same towed pickup truck in Phoenix, Arizona, in December. It’s the company’s first recall. As reporter Sean O’Kane notes, the recall comes at a time when self-driving cars are facing intense scrutiny following a series of high-profile crashes and controversies, including this week when a crowd of people in San Francisco swarmed, vandalized and torched a Waymo robotaxi.

    Electric vehicles, charging & batteries

    EVs had a white-hot 2023 — but data in December shows sales are cooling, Automotive News reported. New EV registrations rose 52% in 2023 over the previous year, according to data from S&P Global Mobility. EVs now have 7.7% of the U.S. light-vehicle market, up from 5.7% a year earlier.

    Lucid Motors dropped the price of its luxury Air sedan by thousands of dollars. Lucid also got the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this week. The regulators opened an investigation into a Lucid windshield defroster recall from January, saying it’s “concerned” the company’s over-the-air update solution doesn’t go far enough to fix the problem. Is the NHTSA starting to push back against OTAs?

    The NHTSA opened a second investigation into EV startup Fisker‘s Ocean SUV, after the agency received four complaints about the vehicle rolling away unexpectedly, including one injury. Fisker also received a noncompliance notice from the New York Stock Exchange because its stocks has closed under $1 for the past 30 days, according to a regulatory filing.

    Stellantis, the parent company of brands like Jeep and Chrysler, announced it will adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). Stellantis is the last major Western automaker to announce compatibility with NACS.

    Ride-hailing and ride-sharing

    HopSkipDrive, the youth ride-share startup, beat two new key California emissions standards in 2023, an accomplishment the company believes will bolster its case for relying more on shared passenger vehicles to get kids and teens to and from school.

    This week’s wheels

    ford blue cruise

    Image Credits: Kirsten Korosec

    During my short trip to Michigan, I used a 2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E to drive to various meetings in Dearborn and Detroit. (The press car came courtesy of Ford.)

    My primary interest was in Blue Cruise, the hands-free active driver assistance system. I had a lot of time to test it out thanks to a number of 20- to 30-mile commutes, most of which were on highways. I was testing the Blue Cruise 1.3 version, which accelerates or brakes to maintain a selected following distance from a vehicle ahead, keeps the vehicle centered in the lane and steers. When the driver hits the turn signal, the vehicle will change lanes. It also will make a suggestion to pass if traffic is slow.

    What I liked: It’s simple to engage Blue Cruise and crystal clear when the system is handling the driving. The passing is crisp and vehicle doesn’t ping pong within the lane, which is common in other systems. My one picky critique is that the word “ready” is illuminated in green in the instrument cluster right below Blue Cruise, when it is engaged (see photo). That “ready” has nothing to do with Blue Cruise and is instead meant to let the EV driver know their vehicle is ready to drive. I’m sure drivers will get used to it, but I could also see it causing some confusion.

    A feature I loved: I could take over the steering and Blue Cruise would remain engaged. I know that in some circles this is frowned upon because the driver might get confused. However, I loath how often I accidentally disengage other systems like Tesla’s Autopilot by moving the steering wheel just a skosh too much.

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    Kirsten Korosec

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