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

There is a bit of a theme emerging in transportation — and really every industry: AI is creating jobs for some at the loss of others. 

General Motors, for instance, laid off more than 10% of its IT department, or about 600 salaried employees — in a deliberate skills swap. This won’t translate into a one-to-one exchange, which means there will likely be a net-negative job loss. But GM insists it is hiring and those layoffs have made room for it to recruit IT people with AI-focused backgrounds.

The most sought-after capabilities are AI-native development, data engineering and analytics, cloud-based engineering, agent and model development, prompt engineering, and new AI workflows. In practical terms, GM is looking for people who know how to build with AI from the ground up — designing the systems, training the models, and engineering the pipelines — not just use AI as a productivity tool.

Those AI job losses are mounting in the automotive sector. CNBC calculated that Ford, GM, and Stellantis have cut a combined total of more than 20,000 U.S. salaried jobs, or 19% of their combined workforces, from recent employment peaks this decade. While there are a variety of reasons for these cuts, they are generally connected to technological changes, including AI.

Companies are leaning heavily into AI, although anecdotes from some engineers and founders suggests not all of these businesses know quite what they’re doing with it yet. 

Samsara is one company that seems to have figured out a revenue-generating use case. The company has spent the last decade giving its customers cameras to mount inside millions of trucks for driver monitoring, theft prevention, and helping with liability claims. The company took that mountain of data and trained its own model that can detect potholes and determine how quickly they are deteriorating. The company is pitching this product to cities and announced it has several under contract, including Chicago. 

A little bird

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Nothing this week, although I am working on a fun one! Reach out anytime with insights, tips, or just because. You can reach us via email or Signal.

Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O'Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

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You might have noticed that Rivian’s spinoff company Mind Robotics raised another $400 million, just two months after raising $500 million. And that pace got me thinking about its founder RJ Scaringe and his innate ability to get VC and institutional backers to invest in his ideas and projects.

I calculated that investors have poured $12.3 billion into Scaringe’s three startups — Also, Mind Robotics, and Rivian. That figure doesn’t include the close to $12 billion in gross proceeds raised in Rivian’s IPO, nor did I count the more recent strategic deals with Volkswagen Group and Uber — which together could add nearly $7 billion to Rivian’s coffers. 

You can read my whole riff on the topic here. But if you don’t feel like clicking, here is one item that stood out. I spoke to a number of insiders and investors and they all mentioned Scaringe’s ability to give undivided attention to whoever he’s talking to — whether it's an investor, supplier, or exec — and make them feel like the most important person in the room. 

It’s yet another piece of evidence in my long-standing case against multitasking. Debate me!

Other deals that got my attention …

Arkeus, an Australian startup that developed perception software for autonomous drones and aircraft, raised $18 million in a Series A round led by QIC Ventures. Other investors include R+VC, Folklore Ventures, DYNE Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Salus Ventures, and Beaten Zone.

Aseon Labs, a Redwood City, California, startup that has developed a depot in a box for charging, cleaning, and inspecting autonomous fleets, came out of stealth with undisclosed backing by Y Combinator. 

Rapido raised $240 million in a round led by Prosus, and that values the Indian ride-hailing company at $3 billion. Existing investors, including WestBridge Capital and Accel, participated. The round was part of a larger $730 million primary and secondary financing.

Quantum Systems, a Germany-based drone startup backed by Peter Thiel, is in talks to raise around €600 million ($703 million) with companies like Airbus and Blackstone as investors, Bloomberg reported.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Is Redwood Materials ready for an IPO? Senior reporter Sean O’Kane interviewed the company’s new CFO, Deepak Ahuja, whose name will be familiar to anyone who follows Tesla. Ahuja was Tesla’s former finance chief and most recently held a similar position at drone company Zipline. 

Tesla Robotaxis have crashed at least twice since July 2025 while a teleoperator was remotely driving the vehicles, according to newly unredacted information submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Uber is expanding in India with two new engineering campuses that can fit about 9,600 people and a data center partnership aimed at supporting its overall product development and infrastructure operations.

Waymo issued a software update to its fleet of nearly 4,000 vehicles to help them avoid flooded roads as part of a recall announced by the NHTSA. Important note: The company hasn’t fully solved the problem of how its vehicles behave in these conditions.

One more thing …

Disrupt, our flagship annual tech conference in San Francisco, will be held in October. And while that is a ways off, I wanted to share one bit of news. We will have six stages this year, which you can read about in more detail here. One worth noting for this crowd is our AI in the Real World Stage. It will be here that we’ll dig into robotics, autonomous systems, manufacturing, defense, and industrial operations.

Image credits: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part.  

After years of hints and preparation, the Uber-backed electric bike and scooter rental startup Lime filed for an initial public offering. A micromobility company going public? In 2026? Surely it’s the wrong year. 

Lime CEO Wayne Ting has been talking about an IPO for years. TechCrunch spoke to him about it in 2020, 2021, and 2023. It never materialized and I sort of forgot about it, until — boom — the S-1 doc, the registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, posted early Friday morning. 

There are some interesting risk factors in the S-1, although we still are waiting for Lime to share terms of the offering.

Revenue is climbing, it has positive free cash flow, and net losses narrowed after 2023, although there has been a slight uptick between 2024 and 2025. Uber, which invested in Lime several years ago, still plays an important role for the company. Lime said about 14.3% of its revenue came through its partnership with Uber, which allows customers to find and rent scooters and e-bikes through its app.

All of this suggests Lime is a growth company headed toward profitability. But there is one substantial headwind. Lime has about $1 billion in current liabilities, and about $675.8 million of that is due by the end of 2026. In all, about $846 million is due within 12 months. Lime does not have sufficient liquidity to pay that, according to its filing. Lime states it plainly in the S-1: If it can’t go public and raise the necessary capital, or change its debt agreements, it may not be able to continue operating as a business.

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane, who likes digging through an S-1 as much as I do, spotted some other tidbits in the risk factors. Investment by cities in their public road infrastructure is a risk factor, according to the company. Lime specifically lists potholes, which made me chuckle and then nod in agreement. Potholes are not kind to shared scooters. 

Lime also warned that a significant portion of rides are concentrated in a relatively small number of markets in which it operates. One such market, which accounted for 22.2% of its revenue in 2025, is the U.K. 

A little bird

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Last summer, Uber announced a plan to launch a premium robotaxi service using Lucid Gravity vehicles equipped with Nuro’s autonomous vehicle technology. This is more than a collaboration. Uber said it would invest $300 million in Lucid and would separately buy “at least” 20,000 of the EV maker’s new Gravity SUV over the next six years. Uber recently raised its investment in Lucid to $500 million and pushed the vehicle order to 35,000. 

The details about Uber’s investment in Nuro, a privately held startup based in Silicon Valley, have been slim — until now. At the time, we only knew that Uber invested an undisclosed “multi-hundred-million-dollar” amount into Nuro. One little bird has shared more details. 

Uber’s total financial commitment to Nuro, which includes its participation in the startup’s Series E round last year and future milestone-based investments, is nearly $500 million, per a source familiar with the deal. 

My educated guess is that Nuro just unlocked one of those milestones. The company is testing the Lucid vehicles in autonomous mode with a human safety operator in the driver’s seat. And last month it expanded testing to allow Uber employees to request an autonomous ride in a Lucid robotaxi with a human safety operator still on board. But the company just received two critical permits — a driverless testing permit from the Department of Motor Vehicles and a permit from the California Public Utilities Commission.

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.

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Kodiak AI’s first-quarter earnings offers a case study for how challenging it is to commercialize frontier tech. The company announced a number of deals that showed progress. It locked in a commercial contract with Roehl; launched a pilot program to test Kodiak-equipped autonomous trucks at West Fraser Timber Co.’s log-hauling operations in Alberta, Canada; and announced a collaboration with the military vehicle maker General Dynamics Land Systems to create autonomous ground vehicles for defense applications.

But investors were not happy with the terms of its $100 million capital raise. The company sold shares at $6.50 each — a steep discount from its closing share price of $9.10. The raise also included warrants — instruments that give investors the right to buy additional shares later at a set price, in this case as low as $6.

The financing came from existing backer Ares Management and several unnamed institutional investors.

Kodiak’s stock price fell 37% in after-hours trading moments after the financing and Q1 earnings were released. Shares have recovered a bit since, perhaps as shareholders digested the news and looked at it from a glass-half-full perspective.

Kodiak will likely need more capital as it continues to burn cash as it pushes toward its big goal: driverless trucking operations on public highways.

Other deals that got my attention this week …

Moment Energy, a startup that’s developed a novel approach to repurposing EV batteries, raised a $40 million Series B funding round led by Canadian VC firm Evok Innovations, with additional funding from grocery retailer fund W23, joining existing investors like Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and In-Q-Tel, the CIA-funded VC firm.

Rocsys, a startup that has developed hands-free depot solutions for autonomous electric vehicles, raised $13 million in an extended Series A round led by Capricorn Partners, with participation from Scania Invest, Forward.One, SEB Greentech Venture Capital, and Graduate Ventures.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Aurora has started hauling loads in driverless trucks in Texas for distribution giant McLane. The commercial contract shows some progress by the self-driving trucks company. Disclaimer: These driverless trucks still have human observers in the cab, and the company tells us they cannot operate the vehicle. 

Lucid’s first-quarter earnings revealed a company still feeling the effects of a supplier issue earlier this year that caused it to recall its Gravity SUV and pause deliveries. The company, which is also going through a leadership transition, changed its guidance and said it was no longer sure how many EVs it will build or sell this year. 

In 2024, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration updated the New Car Assessment Program and added four new pass-fail tests to assess the performance of advanced assistance systems, starting in 2026. And we’re finally seeing the results. The later-release 2026 Tesla Model Y is the first vehicle to meet the agency’s new benchmark.

Ouster is launching a new lineup of color lidar sensors that CEO Angus Pacala believes will replace cameras.

EV startup Slate has lost a notable board member. The head of Jeff Bezos’ family office left the board, according to numerous state filings reviewed by TechCrunch.

Volkswagen is now Rivian’s largest shareholder, pushing Amazon out of the top spot.

One more thing …

Well, maybe two more. 

Senior reporter Rebecca Bellan interviewed Aurora founder and CEO Chris Urmson recently for the Equity podcast. Listen to the episode here. 

And, finally, we had a poll last week! Here was what I posed to readers: “The California DMV issued new rules for AVs. Self-driving trucks can now test and deploy in the state. Reporting, data collection, and operations requirements have been expanded and law enforcement can issue traffic violations. These rules: go too far, hit the mark, or aren’t restrictive enough.” 

About 41% picked “hit the mark,” while 27.6% said the rules go too far, and 31% said they aren’t restrictive enough.

Image credits: Waymo

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

We’re going to do a bit of a deep dive today, which may make this newsletter look a little different than normal. There is a reason! 

This newsletter is not region-specific, but sometimes there are policies at the state level that have widespread implications for tech companies and startups alike. Which brings me to California and the new autonomous vehicle testing and deployment rules issued this week by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. 

There are two new sets of rules — collectively 100 pages long — that cover requirements for the testing and deployment of AVs. I spent the past few days speaking to engineers and policy folks working at AV companies and discovered that they have strong opinions and few want to speak publicly about it. But thanks to the public commentary period on these regulations, we have some insight into what the industry supported and what it did not. 

The regulations include new, more robust requirements for data collection and sharing, training, and operations. Here are a few items that stuck out and what insiders told me.

How do you ticket a robotaxi? Under these new rules, law enforcement can cite AV companies for traffic violations committed by their vehicles. The rule, called “Notice of Autonomous Vehicle Noncompliance,” requires the manufacturer (meaning the robotaxi company) to report the violation to the DMV within 72 hours of receiving it from law enforcement. 

I’ve heard a number of interpretations of this rule and how it will be implemented, but it appears there is not a monetary fine attached to these violations. Instead, these violations are another piece of data that the DMV can use to identify problems and take action if needed.

Insiders told me that the data is actionable and more important than a monetary fine. My question: Why not both? 

The good news for industry: The DMV will now allow heavy-duty vehicles equipped with autonomous vehicle tech to test and eventually deploy on public roads. Self-driving truck companies are happy with this outcome. Daniel Goff, VP of external affairs at Kodiak, told me the company is already working on the required documentation to apply for a permit. 

The burden for the industry: The word that came up in every conversation I had with someone in the AV industry was “burdensome.” And it was always used in reaction to the new data collection and sharing regulations. 

Goodbye, disengagement reports; hello, malfunctions: Others were happy to see annual disengagement reporting disappear. Disengagement reports, which detailed instances when human drivers had to take over control due to technology failures or safety concerns, have been controversial because companies use varying standards. This has made it impossible to compare the results or rate the proficiency of autonomous vehicle technology. 

That entire section has been removed and replaced with a requirement to report “dynamic driving task performance relevant system failure." This may seem like semantics — trading one jargony phrase for another. Insiders tell me that while it is not a perfect metric, it is clearer than its predecessor. That doesn’t mean it is beloved either. 

There is a lot more in these documents, including a requirement to provide annual updates to first responder interaction plans, access to manual vehicle override systems, two-way communication links with 30-second response times, and updated training requirements to ensure safe and timely interactions with first responders.

My question for you, reader, is whether these rules go too far or if they are appropriate and provide the kind of reporting and data collection needed to keep these companies accountable? Vote in our poll!

A little bird

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We had a lot of little birds talk to us about the new California AV rules, so nothing new to add here. But remember, you can always send us tips. Here’s how.

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. 

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BMW i Ventures launched a new $300 million fund with a timely thesis: AI will reshape how the automotive industry operates. The fund will invest in early-stage through Series B startups in North America and Europe that are working on agentic AI and physical AI as well as industrial software, advanced materials, and manufacturing and supply-chain technologies. This third fund brings the firm’s total capital under management to $1.1 billion. 

Other deals that got my attention …

Sereact, a German robotics startup, raised $110 million in a Series B funding round led by VC Headline. Other investors include Bullhound Capital, Felix Capital, Daphni, Air Street Capital, Creandum, and Point Nine.

Spirit Airlines is preparing to shut down after failing to secure a $500 million lifeline from the government, the WSJ reports. The company is expected to cease operations around 3 a.m. ET Saturday.

Notable reads and other tidbits

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China suspended issuing new licenses for autonomous vehicles after dozens of Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxis suddenly stopped last month, Bloomberg reported.

Google's Gemini AI assistant is hitting the road in millions of vehicles.

Faraday Future paid around $7.5 million to a company controlled by its founder, Jia Yueting, in 2025, senior reporter Sean O’Kane discovered in a recent SEC filing. 

Rivian reported earnings this week and one item that stood out to us — and to many others — was the downsizing of its DOE loan from $6.6 billion to $4.5 billion. That loan restructuring comes with changes to its Georgia factory. Instead of two 200,000-vehicle capacity structures on the Georgia site, Rivian will now build a 300,000-vehicle capacity factory and leave the adjacent “pad” untouched and ready for future development. Analysts didn’t necessarily view this as negative but did position this as rightsizing. Barclays, for instance, views the modification as Rivian adjusting to the current EV environment, according to a research note published Friday. Barclays also stated it didn’t believe Rivian currently plans to build the second plant at Georgia, “at least not until early/mid next decade.”

Tesla launched a Semi-Charging for Business program, which includes a new product called the Basecharger that is designed for depot and overnight use.

Uber has tapped Hertz to clean, charge, and fix its Lucid Motors robotaxis. This announcement left us with a cheeky question: How many companies does it take to launch a robotaxi service?

Uber customers in the United States can now book hotels directly through the app, one of several new features announced this week that pushes far beyond the company’s original ride-hailing purpose and even deeper into its users’ lives. At launch, Uber customers will have access to more than 700,000 hotels worldwide through a partnership with Expedia Group, the travel company that Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi led for 12 years.

Vay, a remote driving tech startup, says it has grown its fleet to 175 vehicles on the road and has surpassed 60,000 rides.

Image credits: Arda Kucukkaya/Anadolu/Getty Images

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

Tesla earnings came and went, and much of it fell into the “we expected this” category. Investors seemed surprised by the $1.4 billion in free cash flow, which gave shares a brief bump, and revenue met or slightly exceeded expectations, depending on which batch of analysts you reviewed. 

The earnings call, however, did deliver one eyebrow-raising moment that prompted readers (including some ex-Tesla engineers and other founders in the industry) to reach out to me with some schadenfreude-tinted prose. CEO Elon Musk admitted that millions of Tesla owners will need hardware upgrades to run a future, more capable version of its Full Self-Driving software that doesn’t require human supervision. 

There are financial and legal implications for Tesla. As senior reporter Sean O’Kane wrote, Tesla owners with Hardware 3 cars have spent years bugging the company and Musk for a straight answer about whether they would be able to run this advanced version of Full Self-Driving — which, it should be noted, Tesla has not yet released or even proven it is capable of releasing. Tesla sold these Hardware 3 cars between 2019 and 2023.

Now, here is the kicker and it made me guffaw. Musk said the company would need to physically upgrade each of these vehicles, a feat that would require Tesla to set up microfactories in several major cities to service potentially millions of vehicles. 

Microfactories? Yes, you heard correctly. This is not going to be cheap, and it could be one of the line items in Tesla’s capital expenditures budget, which it expanded to a whopping $25 billion this year. 

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane obtained (and verified) an internal memo sent by Redwood Materials founder and CEO JB Straubel that announced layoffs and a restructuring. (Thanks to the little bird who shared it.) Straubel is a former CTO of Tesla.

The company laid off around 135 employees, or roughly 10% of its workforce, as it restructures to better accommodate its growing energy storage business. O’Kane later learned several executives have also recently left. Chief operating officer Chris Lister is retiring, and at least three other VPs have left in recent months, with the company telling TechCrunch there has been a focus on reducing layers of management.

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Last week, I shared that a new autonomous hauler startup (think a cabless autonomous big rig) backed by Eclipse was about to break cover and announce a seed round, thanks to a little bird. Welp, it happened just days later. 

The San Francisco-based startup, called Humble Robotics, raised $24 million in a seed round. Eclipse led the round, which also included backing by Energy Impact Partners and RedBlue Capital, a small early-stage VC firm that is surprisingly active. 

As I had been told, Humble really is chock-full of Silicon Valley elite, including founder Eyal Cohen, who previously had stints at Apple special projects, Uber ATG, Pronto, and Waabi. He also founded Spark AI, which was acquired by John Deere in 2023. 

Other execs include Drew Gray, who has a similarly AV-heavy résumé, including early days at Cruise, before jumping over to self-driving trucks startup Otto, which was acquired by Uber. After leaving Uber, he became CTO at Voyage, which was then acquired by Cruise. 

A full-circle moment, cemented by this fun fact: Humble Robotics is in the same building Cruise was in right after the startup moved out of founder Kyle Vogt’s garage. I know, we keep circling back to 2016.  

Except it’s not 2016, and Cohen and Gray talked to me about how much has changed since then, why this is the time to launch an AV startup, and where the industry is headed. Stay tuned for that story next week.

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. 

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Lyft stuck to the North American market for much of its history, while Uber took a global, expand-at-all-costs strategy. Lyft has been trying to catch up since last year when it bought German multi-mobility app Freenow from BMW and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for about $197 million in cash. 

Now it’s acquiring ride-hailing app Gett’s U.K. business. Lyft says the deal will give it the majority of registered black cab drivers across Greater London on the Lyft platform. The company didn’t disclose the terms, but Calcalist reported it was $55 million. 

The company is also building out other means of transport in the region, including its recently renewed partnership with Serco to provide the bikes and stations for Europe’s bike-share system Santander Cycles. Lyft is also planning to start testing autonomous rides in London with Baidu later this year. 

Other deals that got my attention …

A&K Robotics, a Vancouver, Canada-based maker of autonomous vehicles for airports, raised an $8 million CAD Series A round led by BDC's Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and Vantage Futures.

Decade Energy, which provides power infrastructure at logistics depots, raised €22 million in funding led by Eiffel Investment Group and SET Ventures, along with existing investors.

Reliable Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup developing autonomous systems for aircraft, raised $160 million in a round led by Nimble Partners, existing backers Eclipse, Lightspeed, Coatue, and Pathbreaker Ventures, and new investors Island Green Capital, Socium Ventures, AE Ventures (a strategic partner of the Boeing Company), RTX Ventures, Presidio Ventures (Sumitomo Corporation), UP.Partners, KAS Venture Partners, What If Ventures, Calm Ventures, Gaingels, and Mana Ventures. History lesson: Co-founder and CEO Robert Rose had a brief stint at Tesla where he was senior director of Autopilot and helped ship that first iteration in 2015.

PlusAI and blank-check company Churchill Capital Corp IX terminated its SPAC merger deal due to market conditions.

Porsche is selling its stake in the Bugatti Rimac joint venture, which it formed in 2021, as well as electric-vehicle maker Rimac Group. Porsche, which holds a 20.6% stake in Rimac and a 45% stake in the joint venture, is selling to HOF Capital. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Einride is adding 75 of its electric heavy-duty trucks to Amazon’s Relay freight network as part of a deal that gives the Swedish startup a toehold in the e-commerce giant’s operations. 

Ford and Chinese automaker Geely reportedly held talks about extending a European tie-up into the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported. The implications, of course, would be Chinese vehicles entering the U.S. market. But it sounds like talks have stalled, leaving this consequential deal in limbo. Bloomberg reported that Ford has denied these claims. 

Porsche is adding another EV to its lineup. The Cayenne electric coupe will come to market in late summer. There’s some interesting data in my article on why this one might be a winner for Porsche. 

The first customer-ready Rivian R2 SUVs rolled off the production line at its factory in Normal, Illinois, just days after it was hit by an EF-1 tornado that tore off part of the roof. Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said Rivian doesn’t anticipate any delays to the R2, which are expected to reach customers in June. 

One more thing …

Image credits: Kirsten Korosec

As diligent readers of this newsletter know, I test-drive a fair number of vehicles, and sometimes they are not EVs. Take the Aston Martin Vantage Roadster, for instance. I was anxious to get into the roadster, not just because this $205,000 chiltern-green machine is sleek, powerful, and a convertible. I wanted to test the Apple CarPlay Ultra, the next-generation infotainment system that projects iPhone content to the vehicle’s screens (including the instrument cluster) and integrates vehicle controls like the radio, performance settings, and climate. CarPlay Ultra first launched in the Aston Martin, which isn’t exactly easy to get my hands on. 

My first experience with Apple Ultra CarPlay last summer was mixed. It was great — when it worked, but it often didn’t. The problem seemed to be tied to a bug that showed two versions of the vehicle in the Bluetooth settings. 

This time around, the setup was instant and it never glitched. Hooray. And it always worked. This really matters for Aston Martin, which for years was stuck with Mercedes-Benz’ old COMAND system. (Mercedes ditched that system in 2018 for its new MBUX one).

Image credits: Nissan

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part. 

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Uber seemed to be everywhere, all at once in the emerging autonomous vehicle technology sector. The Financial Times has now put a number on it. The FT calculated that Uber has committed more than $10 billion to buying autonomous vehicles and taking equity stakes in the companies developing the tech, according to public records and discussions with folks behind the scenes. About $2.5 billion of that is in direct investments, with the remaining $7.5 billion to be spent on buying robotaxis over the next few years, the outlet reported.

We’ve reported on Uber’s numerous investments and deals with autonomous vehicle companies across drones, robotaxis, and freight. Some of its investments include WeRide, Lucid and Nuro, Rivian, and Wayve. 

This rather large number (and particularly that $7.5 billion) got me thinking about another transformative era in Uber’s history and how it has visited these asset-heavy shores before. Uber might have started with a plan to be asset light, but for a brief period it did quite the opposite.

Uber went on a moonshot spree between 2015 and 2018. It launched electric air taxi developer Uber Elevate and the in-house autonomous vehicle unit Uber ATG, which would be boosted by its acquisition of Otto in 2016. It also snapped up micromobility startup Jump in 2018. 

And then in 2020, Uber pulled the asset-heavy rip cord, ostensibly leaving all of those moonshots behind. Uber sold Uber ATG to Aurora, Jump to Lime, and Elevate to Joby Aviation. But it didn’t completely divest; it kept equity stakes in all of them.

Uber is now entering into a new and different asset-heavy era. It’s not plunking down millions, or even billions, to develop the technology in-house, although I’m sure folks there would be quick to pipe up that there is always R&D happening over at Uber. Instead, it appears to be focused on owning (or perhaps leasing) the physical assets. 

That could mean interesting line items on Uber’s balance sheet in the future. 

Owning fleets of robotaxis built by other companies might not have been the original vision of Uber, or its former CEO Travis Kalanick, who has said the company made a mistake when it abandoned its AV development program. But this new approach could still get it to the same end point.

A little bird

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Earlier this month, I interviewed Eclipse partner Jiten Behl about the venture firm’s new $1.3 billion fund and where that money might be headed. The firm, as I wrote, intends to incubate more startups (e.g., it was behind the Rivian spinout Also). Behl wouldn’t give me details, only stating, “We’re definitely working on a couple of really cool ideas.” He also said Eclipse is particularly interested in startups that work across enterprises.

Thanks to one little bird and some document diving by senior reporter Sean O’Kane, it looks like a seed round announcement is imminent for a San Francisco-based startup working on an autonomous hauler that I’ve been told doesn’t have a driver cab. This sounds similar to what Einride has built, but since we haven’t seen it, we’ll have to wait. 

The company’s roster isn’t big, but it is chock-full of Silicon Valley tech elite, including a founder who was at Uber ATG, Pronto, and Waabi. Stay tuned for more. 

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.

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Slate is back with more capital as it prepares to put its first affordable pickup trucks into production by the end of 2026.

The electric vehicle startup, which got its start with backing from Jeff Bezos, raised another $650 million in a Series C funding round led by TWG Global. Keep your eye on TWG. This is the firm run by Guggenheim Partners chief executive (and Los Angeles Dodgers owner) Mark Walter and investor Thomas Tull. 

Slate has raised about $1.4 billion to date, and its previous investors include General Catalyst, Jeff Bezos’ family office, VC firm Slauson & Co., and former Amazon executive Diego Piacentini, as TechCrunch first reported last year.

Other deals that got my attention …

Glydways, a San Francisco-based startup developing personal autonomous pods designed to operate on dedicated 2-meter-wide lanes in cities, raised $170 million in a Series C funding round co-led by Suzuki Motor Corporation, ACS Group, and Khosla Ventures. Existing investors Mitsui Chemicals and Gates Frontier and new investor Obayashi Corporation also participated. But wait, there’s more. 

GM and Ford are reportedly talking to the Pentagon about whether the auto industry can help the military revamp its procurement program and find cheaper, faster ways to buy vehicles, munitions, or other hardware, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources.

Loop, a San Francisco-based startup, raised $95 million in a Series C funding round led by Valor Equity Partners and the Valor Atreides AI Fund, and includes investments from 8VC, Founders Fund, Index Ventures, and J.P. Morgan’s late-stage fund, Growth Equity Partners.

Monarch Tractor, the startup developing electric, autonomous tractors, has moved on to (ahem) a different pasture. The startup’s assets have been acquired by Caterpillar after struggling to pivot to a software services business.

Uber is increasing its stake in Delivery Hero by 4.5%, the Financial Times reported. Uber agreed to buy about 270 million euros in shares from Prosus, the Dutch investment group and Delivery Hero’s largest shareholder.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Doug Field, the high-profile executive who shaped Ford’s electric vehicle and technology strategies over the past five years, is leaving. Notably, Ford is shaking up the organization as well, creating a “product creation and industrialization” team to be led by COO Kumar Galhotra. Any guesses where Field is headed next? Perhaps he’ll return to Silicon Valley. 

Lightship, the all-electric RV startup, is expanding its Colorado-based factory by another 44,000 square feet, which will allow it to quadruple its manufacturing capacity.

Rivian and battery recycling and materials startup Redwood Materials partnered years ago. We’re now seeing the fruits of that relationship. Redwood is installing battery energy storage at Rivian’s factory in Illinois. The catch? Redwood is using 100 second-life Rivian battery packs, which will provide 10 megawatt-hours (MWh) of dispatchable energy to reduce cost and grid load during peak demand periods.

Tesla created a new self-driving app that makes it easier for owners to subscribe to its Full Self-Driving software and see statistics on how — and how often — they use it. This may not be huge news, but it did catch my eye because of the gamified qualities of these new stats. 

Waymo, as per usual, has a few news items this week. The Alphabet-owned company started testing its autonomous vehicles on public roads in London. It also removed its waitlist in Miami and Orlando to scale its robotaxi services in the two cities. 

One more thing …

This newsletter isn’t my only project that is leaning more heavily into robotics. My podcast, the Autonocast, is too, as the worlds of autonomous vehicles, AI, and robotics mash together. Check out this interview with Foxglove founder Adrian MacNeil, who previously worked at Cruise.

Image credits: Getty Images

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part.  

Normally, I have an analysis and then a little bird (my insidery bits curated just for you). But today I am combining them because I simply have too many little birds talking to me about the new talent wars.

About seven years ago, the founder of a self-driving vehicle company told me that competing with the likes of Waymo for talent was “like a knife fight.” Now it seems there is a new poaching war going on, according to a handful of little birds. And it’s pushing base salaries (not including equity and other benefits) to between $300,000 and $500,000. 

Here’s what is happening. The buzzy physical AI sector is filled with robotics and defense tech companies looking for people with a specific set of skills (to quote Liam Neeson). And these folks are mostly working at companies developing self-driving trucks and robotaxis. 

As these employees get lured to other sectors — including defense — automakers and startups are being pushed to raise salaries or risk losing the talent to better-paying “physical AI” jobs.

The ideal candidate for an autonomous vehicle company has hybrid skills, a mix of classical robotics and AI know-how, according to one founder. It’s this specific understanding of how to integrate AI into hardware like humanoid robots, industrial robots, and autonomous forklifts, as well as with construction, mining, and agriculture equipment that has companies fighting over talent. 

Defense tech startups are apparently the most generous when it comes to compensation, thanks to the Department of Defense’s open wallet. Jobs looking for an applied researcher or AI enablement engineer (or something similar to that) are hot tickets right now. 

This likely won’t hurt Waymo. As one founder noted, Waymo is price insensitive. But startups and automotive, which have heavily invested in autonomous vehicles, will likely be most affected, several little birds told me. 

I predict a twofold follow-on effect. Automakers will have a hard time holding on to engineers who are working on automated driving, leading to an exodus. Meanwhile, startups will need to raise even more money or get a lot smarter about how those funds are used.

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Well you already got the little bird for the week. Scroll up! But I’m keeping this cute graphic around to remind you all to reach out, give me a call, or email with tips!

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.

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Remember in 2016 when the words “self-driving” on a pitch deck seemed to instantly produce a term sheet? While the vibes of 2016 have percolated up into 2026, founders and investors have moved on. Now, as you have probably noticed, it’s all about physical AI, a loose category that stretches far beyond robotaxis and self-driving trucks.  

The Palo Alto-based venture firm Eclipse has put itself at the center of the physical AI action and now has another $1.3 billion to invest in it. The new $1.3 billion in fresh capital is split between a $591 million early-stage incubation fund and one more oriented toward growth startups. 

I chatted with Eclipse partner Jiten Behl about the fund and where those dollars are likely headed. I was particularly interested in his thoughts about Eclipse’s role in incubating startups. Eclipse hasn’t cut any new checks just yet, but Behl did say the firm will incubate more startups and said, “We’re definitely working on a couple of really cool ideas.”

So, stay tuned. And check out the full story here.

Other deals that got my attention …

Candela, a Swedish electric hydrofoil company, landed a 20-boat order with Norwegian operator Boreal. Meanwhile, Candela founder and CEO Gustav Hasselskog is stepping down. Sofia Graflund is the new CEO and Hasselskog will assume the role of executive chairman. 

Hermeus, a Los Angeles-based defense startup that is developing unmanned aircraft, raised $350 million with a $1 billion valuation. That funding includes $200 million in equity led by Khosla Ventures. The remaining $150 million comes in the form of debt.

Sora Fuel, a sustainable aviation fuel startup based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, raised $14.6 million in a round co-led by Spero Ventures and Inspired Capital, Axios reported. 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during an interview on CNBC that there’s room for airline mergers in the United States.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Avride is the latest autonomous vehicle company to face criticism from residents upset about the behavior of its robotaxis. In this case, it involved an autonomous vehicle (with a human safety operator) that ran over and killed a mother duck in the Austin, Texas, enclave of Mueller Lake. “It didn’t slow down or hesitate at all, just steamrolled through,” one witness said.  Read the story to learn how Avride is handling it. 

Gas prices aren’t the only factor fueling used EV sales. 

John Deere reached a $99 million settlement agreement to resolve “right to repair” litigation pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Wired has a good breakdown of the issue and why this matters. 

If you didn’t get the memo, startups and Big Tech companies alike are working on physical AI and automation. Mariana Minerals, which is focused on the mining industry, is one of them. Senior reporter Sean O’Kane interviewed founder Turner Caldwell, a former Tesla engineer who founded the startup in 2024, about the company’s latest partnership with autonomous vehicle tech company Pronto (and yes, this is the Pronto founded by Anthony Levandowski that was just acquired by Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick’s startup Atoms). 

Remember when Elon Musk said a smaller, cheaper $25,000 EV is pointless and silly? Well, according to Reuters’ sources, Tesla is developing an all-new smaller, cheaper electric SUV.

Volkswagen will no longer produce the all-electric ID.4 at its U.S. factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Its replacement? High-volume vehicles like the upcoming gas-powered Atlas SUV.

The ID.4 will be available to U.S. consumers until the current inventory runs out. VW tells me that it should last into 2027.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen subsidiary MOIA America is making a bit of progress on the autonomous vehicle front. MOIA America and Uber started testing autonomous microbuses in Los Angeles ahead of a robotaxi service the companies plan to launch by late 2026. Caveat! When this service launches, it will not be driverless at the start. The company expects to pull the human safety operator out of the vehicles in 2027. Also, the term “microbus” may be a bit of an overstatement; these vehicles will seat only four.

Waymo and Waze launched a data-sharing pilot program that will funnel pothole data collected by robotaxis to a free Waze platform designed for cities. Any city or state (or regular ol’ Waze user) where Waymo operates will be able to access that data as the program expands.

In other Waymo news, the Alphabet-owned company has opened its robotaxi service to the public in Nashville. Eleven cities and counting.

Image credits: Tim Goessman/Bloomberg/Getty Images

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

You might recall the congressional hearing last month that sparked criticism against Waymo over its use of remote assistance workers in the Philippines. We have covered that issue extensively. You can read about the company’s remote assistance and road assistance teams here and here. 

Waymo tends to get the most attention because, well, those robotaxis are now operating commercially in 10 U.S. cities, with more coming soon. But the issue of remote assistance is not a Waymo issue. It’s an autonomous vehicle technology issue. 

A new report from Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) makes my point. 

Markey sent letters to seven U.S. companies — Aurora, May Mobility, Motional, Nuro, Tesla, Waymo, and Zoox — working on autonomous vehicle technology with a list of questions. He wanted to know how often these companies’ vehicles relied on input from remote staff. 

They all refused to say, according to the results of Markey’s investigation. Markey said it was a “stunning lack of transparency from the AV companies around their use of remote assistance operators to help guide their AVs.”

You can read senior reporter Sean O’Kane’s article, which digs into the issue and includes the rather mute responses from the companies. (TechCrunch reached out to all of them.) One interesting admission from Tesla: The company said its remote assistance workers are authorized to temporarily assume direct vehicle control (a very different thing than “remote assistance”) as a final escalation maneuver.

But here’s the thing — this is not going away. And silence will not defuse the matter. If anything, Markey seems more motivated than ever to get answers. He is now calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to investigate companies’ use of remote assistance workers and said he is “working on legislation to impose strict guardrails on AV companies’ use of remote operators.”

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Nothing this week that we have been able to verify. Send us tips! Have one? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O'Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

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It seems like just last week I was writing about Uber being everywhere, all at once. And I see it is still a trend, although this time it isn’t directly related to autonomous vehicles. 

Uber said it is buying Berlin-based startup Blacklane, which provides on-demand, black-car chauffeur services, as the ride-hail giant expands deeper into luxury and executive travel services. Blacklane, which was founded in 2011, had raised more than $100 million to date from rental car company Sixt, Mercedes-Benz, and Alfahim, a conglomerate in the UAE.

The timing of the acquisition is notable. It comes just a few weeks after Uber announced the launch of Uber Elite, a chauffeur service that also offers a bunch of luxury offerings like airport meet-and-greets and in-vehicle amenities. 

Other deals that got my attention …

Manna Air Delivery, a consumer drone delivery startup based in Ireland, raised $50 million from ARK Invest, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Schooner Capital, Coca-Cola HBC, and Molten Ventures.

Saronic Technologies, an autonomous military ship developer based in Austin, raised $1.75 billion in a Series D funding round led by Kleiner Perkins. The company is now valued at $9.25 billion. Other investors include Advent International, Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ Growth, BAM Elevate, and other new partners and recognizes the continued commitment of its existing investors, including 8VC, Caffeinated Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Elad Gil, and Franklin Templeton.

Voltify, a startup that has developed a way to retrofit diesel locomotives with battery power, raised $30 million in seed funding co-led by Israeli venture firm Aleph and Australian miner Fortescue.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Also, the micromobility company created inside Rivian that spun out last year, will work with DoorDash to develop autonomous delivery vehicles. As part of the deal, DoorDash took part in Also’s $200 million Series C funding round, which was led by Greenoaks Capital. DoorDash is getting a seat on Also’s board of directors, too.

Baidu robotaxis stalled throughout Wuhan, China, in some cases trapping passengers for up to two hours due to system failure. 

GM is ramping up its efforts to improve its advanced driver-assistance system, Super Cruise. CEO Mary Barra posted on LinkedIn that GM has started supervised testing of its next-gen automated driving system on public highways in California and Michigan.

“Soon, more than 200 supervised and manual test vehicles will be in live traffic, with trained drivers ready to take over at any time. This data will guide future updates to strengthen our autonomous capabilities,” she wrote.

Lucid issued a recall for more than 4,000 Gravity SUVs after discovering a problem with the seat belts.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that traffic deaths fell 6.7% to 36,640 in 2025 from the prior year. This is the second-lowest traffic fatality rate in recorded history at 1,10 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, according to the NHTSA.

All of those long TSA lines are prompting airlines to catch up and adapt. For instance, United Airlines has updated its mobile app to show TSA wait times at select airports.

The Subaru-Toyota partnership keeps cranking out EVs. At the New York Auto Show, Subaru introduced the all-electric Gateway, a three-row SUV that is essentially a rebadged Toyota Highlander EV. 

Tesla’s Q1 sales figures show its cheaper vehicles aren't helping it turn around declining sales. (Some legacy automakers have seen EV sales plummet.) That seems to have affected Tesla’s workforce numbers at its Austin, Texas, factory, which dropped 22% in 2025. Meanwhile, I riff on the changing of the guard over at Tesla (and, no, I am not referring to the string of executive departures there, although that is interesting). CEO Elon Musk shared that production of the Tesla Model S and X has ended, a milestone that marks the shift away from building cars designed for people to drive and toward robots and self-driving cars.  

Toyota's Woven Capital has appointed a new CIO and COO in a push to find the “future of mobility.”

Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle company WeRide launched robotaxi operations without a human safety operator in Dubai as part of a broader expansion in the Middle East.

Waymo’s robotaxi service is now live at San Antonio International, its fourth major airport. Meanwhile, Wired looked at Waymo’s school bus problem (meaning the investigation into the illegal behavior of its robotaxis around school buses). The article provides new details on how the Austin School District tried to help Waymo solve the problem. It didn’t work.

One more thing …

My podcast, the Autonocast, spent some time talking with Ashu Rege, DoorDash’s VP of Autonomy. We recorded the episode prior to the Also-DoorDash announcement, which makes his comments about the company’s strategy all the more interesting. Check out the episode here.

Image credits: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

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

Waymo shared that it is now providing 500,000 paid robotaxi rides every week. That number is small compared to its human-driven ride-hailing counterparts, like Lyft and Uber. But that’s not what I found most interesting. The pace of growth in rides, new markets, and how it compares to its fleet size is what got my attention. We built a chart (which you can view below) that helps visualize the rapid scale. 

That scale, however, does create new challenges, including the inevitably of the robotaxis becoming paralyzed, like so many did during the blackout in California in December. It got us wondering, what happens when a robotaxi gets stuck — and who unsticks it? 

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane dug into Waymo’s system (which includes its own roadside assistance team), as well as at least six incidents in which first responders had to step in and manually drive the stuck Waymo. In some cases, robotaxis got stuck in the middle of an emergency: A police officer responding to a mass shooting in Austin earlier this month was diverted to first move a Waymo robotaxi out of the way. 

At its core, Sean found that when Waymo’s vehicles get stuck, the company relies on taxpayer-funded public services to move its vehicles for it.

Depending on who you talk to, this is either unacceptable, no big deal, or somewhere in between. In a recent hearing, San Francisco District 4 supervisor Alan Wong said that many of his counterparts agree that “our first responders should not be AAA.” 

For those who shrug, I would suggest they think about what’s coming.

This is not just a Waymo issue. Numerous companies are hoping to deploy paid robotaxis in the U.S. this year, including Motional and Zoox. Tesla, which has its service in Austin, has big ambitions too. Each company may have a different system with varying degrees of reliance on first responders.

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

A little bird close to Uber recently shared a tidbit about Waymo, which the ride-hailing company has partnered with in a few cities. According to this insider, it takes up to 30% longer for a Waymo robotaxi to get somewhere compared to a human driver because of how careful the robot car needs to be and its tendency to avoid potential challenges like unprotected left turns. (Important note: I’ve been in lots of Waymos and these vehicles can absolutely handle left-hand turns, but they can be difficult and so it makes sense the robotaxis may avoid them.)

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. 

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Zipline, the U.S. autonomous drone delivery and logistics startup, has been around for years. Recently, its success in home delivery and continued global expansion has helped it attract even more money. 

The company said it raised another $200 million, adding to a recent funding round originally announced in January. The additional funds, which included participation from crypto investment firm Paradigm, has pushed Zipline’s recent Series H round to $800 million. Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, and Tiger Global participated in the initial tranche that valued the drone delivery startup at $7.6 billion.

My story homes in on why the startup may have found so many interested investors. TL;DR: Its at-home delivery volume growth beat its forecast in January and February, and CEO Keller Clifton said he expects it to over the next three months, relative to 2025.

Other deals that got my attention …

NoTraffic, an Israeli traffic management software startup, raised $90 million in a Series C funding round led by PSG Equity, Axios reported.

Rivian received another $1 billion from Volkswagen Group after completing one of its milestones under a technology joint venture between the two automakers. About $750 million is coming in the form of an equity investment. The other $250 million is either equity or convertible debt, depending on which prototypes Volkswagen Group provided to Rivian for testing. (The companies did not make this immediately clear.)

Shield AI, the autonomous military aircraft maker, raised $1.5 billion in Series G funding at a $12.7 billion post-money valuation. The deal was led by PE firm Advent and a JPMorganChase investment group.

Swish, a Bengaluru-based food delivery startup, raised $38 million in a Series B round led by Hara Global and Bain Capital Ventures. Other investors included Accel, Stride Ventures, and Alteria Capital.

Uber plans to invest in Verne, the robotaxi company under Rimac Group. The undisclosed investment, which insiders tell us should be resolved in the next few months, is part of a broader deal that includes Pony.ai to bring robotaxis to Europe, starting with Zagreb, Croatia.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

DoorDash has introduced relief payments for drivers as the Iran-U.S. war drives up gas prices.

Harbinger, the EV trucking startup, continues to add to its product roster. This time, Harbinger’s chassis will be used in emergency vehicles for 70-year-old company Frazer.

Faraday Future is in the clear with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC closed its investigation into the electric vehicle startup despite SEC staff on the case recommending an enforcement action last year.

Here’s a timely feature. Flighty, the popular flight-tracking app, released a new “Airport Intelligence” feature that gives users real-time alerts and reasons about airport disruptions, available across 14,000 airports in the world. 

Sony Honda Mobility, the joint venture between the two Japanese conglomerates, is giving up on the two Afeela-branded EVs it spent the last few years developing. I received loads of press releases and invites to see the Afeela over the years and with each passing quarter it seemed less likely it would become a reality. 

Utah’s governor signed a bill that establishes a liability framework for autonomous vehicles. 

Zoox’s purpose-built robotaxis are navigating public roads in Austin and Miami after almost two years of operating its test vehicles in the cities. The company plans to start offering rides in both locations later this year as part of its early-rider program. Note: until its gets the exemption from the feds, Zoox can’t charge for rides.

One more thing …

Here are the results to my question regarding Rivian and its R2 robotaxi deal with Uber. As a reminder, this was the setup. Rivian plans to build thousands of R2 robotaxis, including the self-driving system. Is this a distraction and too big a risk OR is it critical to the company’s long-term future?

About 55% of voters believe it’s a distraction, while 45% said the robotaxi pursuit is critical to its long-term future. 

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

If you haven’t noticed, Uber is suddenly everywhere, at least when it comes to autonomous vehicles. The company sold off Uber ATG, its in-house autonomous vehicle development unit, back in 2020. Uber shed a number of its moonshots — although it maintained an equity stake in all of them — so it could focus on its core businesses of delivery and ride-hailing. 

But Uber never gave up entirely on AVs. It’s spent the past two years locking up partnerships with dozens of autonomous vehicle technology companies across delivery, drones, trucking, and robotaxis. It has taken a worldview, too, making agreements with Chinese companies to launch robotaxis in Europe and the Middle East, as well as startups like U.K.-based Wayve. 

And now there is another one with Rivian. The TL;DR of the deal is Uber will make an initial $300 million investment in Rivian and will buy 10,000 fully autonomous R2 robotaxis ahead of a planned rollout in San Francisco and Miami in 2028. Uber has the option to buy up to 40,000 more starting in 2030. This fleet will be exclusively available on Uber’s network. 

Here’s how I am thinking about this deal. While the total deal could be as high as $1.25 billion, Uber’s initial outlay is relatively small. And the risk ratio is heavily weighted toward Rivian. It’s also the only deal that Uber has made in which the company is the developer of the self-driving system and the vehicle manufacturer. 

Rivian hasn’t started producing the R2 SUV yet, nor has it tested and deployed a self-driving system designed for robotaxis. To raise the hurdle even higher, the robotaxi is supposed to be built in Rivian’s Georgia factory, which is still under construction. 

And the EV maker has already made at least one sacrifice in hopes of pulling it off. Rivian said it no longer expects to meet its profitability goal in 2027 because of how much money it is spending on its autonomy efforts.

Are the risks too high for Rivian? Let your voice be heard in the poll below.

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Speaking of Uber, a little bird hinted that the ride-hailing company might have been in talks with Rivian for its robotaxi deal for quite a long time. One person directly familiar with both companies told me a deal like this wouldn’t happen overnight. After I asked for more specifics, I got a question in return: “Does RJ strike you as someone who has a strategic horizon that short?” Touché!

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

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Like Uber, Nvidia is everywhere. Or at least wants to be. The company has made numerous investments — either direct cash injections or in-kind chip deals — in autonomous vehicle technology companies. And it’s also locking up partnerships with automakers — as we saw this week during its GTC conference — in a bid to sell its autonomous vehicle development platform called Nvidia Drive Hyperion. 

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced onstage deals — either new or expanded — with BYD, Geely, Hyundai, and Nissan for its AV development platform. GM, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota have already signed deals with Nvidia to use the platform. 

Nvidia has been making deals with automakers for years, but the pace and specificity of AVs is worth noting.  

“The ChatGPT moment of self-driving cars has arrived. We now know we could successfully autonomously drive cars,” Huang said during his GTC keynote, noting that altogether the four automakers build 18 million cars each year.

Other deals that got my attention …

Advanced Navigation, an Australian startup developing navigation and autonomous systems, raised $110 million in a Series C funding round led by Airtree Ventures, with strategic participation from Quadrant Private Equity and the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC).

Arc Boat Company, the Los Angeles electric boat startup, raised $50 million in a Series C funding round from Eclipse, a16z, Menlo Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Necessary Ventures, and Offline Ventures.

BusRight, the school bus routing and technology startup, raised more than $30 million in a round led by Volition Capital.

Jeff Bezos is reportedly raising $100 billion for a new fund that will focus on buying up companies in major industrial sectors — like automotive and aerospace. The plan is to then modernize these companies using AI models developed by Bezos’ new startup Project Prometheus. 

Rivr, a Zurich-based autonomous robotics startup known for its stair-climbing delivery robot, was acquired by Amazon. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Trevor Milton, the founder of the now-bankrupt electric truck startup Nikola who was pardoned by President Trump, is trying to raise $1 billion for AI-powered planes. 

Zenobē Energy has purchased Revolv, a San Francisco-based fleet charging startup, for an undisclosed amount. 

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

A cyberattack on U.S. vehicle breathalyzer company Intoxalock has left drivers across the United States stranded and unable to start their vehicles.

Kodiak has expanded commercial autonomous freight operations to the Dallas-El Paso corridor. This is the company's second major route and a core part of its network expansion roadmap, according to COO Michael Wiesinger.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration upgraded its investigation into the performance of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software in low-visibility conditions. The probe has now been escalated to an “engineering analysis,” its highest level of scrutiny and a required step before the agency tells a company to issue a recall. 

One more thing …

Image credits: Jay Janner / The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images

I mentioned in last week’s edition to keep an eye out for my interview with Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. We covered a lot of ground and I found his comments about robotics particularly interesting. To summarize, Scaringe thinks companies are approaching industrial robotics all wrong. His new startup, Mind Robotics, is going to do things differently and focus more on robotic hands and steering clear of building robots that can do back flips. 

As Scaringe told me: “I think what’s missed in industrial [robotics] and this is one of the things we really see clearly, is the work happens with the hands. So, the hands are very, very important. Everything else, from a robotic system point of view, is to get the hands to the right place. And so the ability for the robots to do really complex motions, like, let’s say, like a back flip, that actually just means the robot has a lot of unnecessary complexity in it for the vast majority of tasks.” You can read the interview here.

Image credits: Kirsten Korosec

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

This newsletter was wrapped and ready to go and then Travis Kalanick brought me back to 2016 by making an eyebrow-raising announcement.

Uber’s co-founder and former CEO who resigned in 2017 after a string of controversies is back and building a robotics company called Atoms. And, wait for it, he is on the precipice of acquiring Pronto, the autonomous vehicle startup focused on industrial and mining sites that was created by his former Uber colleague, Anthony Levandowski. Kalanick revealed he is already the “largest investor” in Pronto.

That is a lot to digest and the final sign that, yes, we really are back in 2016. For those who may not remember, 2016 was a hyped year for AVs. Uber acquired Levandowski’s startup Otto — a deal that went sideways almost immediately and resulted in Waymo suing the ride-hailing company for trade secret theft.

Now, back to our original programming.

Just last week I waxed on about Rivian and the EV maker’s bid to make the upcoming R2 SUV one of the fastest vehicle launches in history. ICYMI, here it is. 

This week, I’m in Austin for SXSW — the annual tech meets music meets film, TV, and comedy festival. Rivian, the headline sponsor of SXSW, used the event to share pricing and other specs of its R2. There is still a lot to unpack and I’m still interviewing folks as I write this (including CEO RJ Scaringe later today), but here is what we know. 

The performance launch edition, which will be the first version of R2 on the line, will start at $57,990. My initial article digs into what you get for that price. And senior reporter Sean O’Kane focused on the long-promised $45,000 version and why it won’t be coming until late 2027. 

My time at SXSW with the Rivian folks has begun to reveal some of their R2 strategy. The company is leaning heavily into experiential marketing targeted directly at its core market. SXSW attendees in Austin, who include well-heeled tech and creative folks from all over world, are about as close as you can get to a Rivian customer archetype. 

But will it work? The EV itself is far more approachable IMO than the much larger and expensive flagship R1 truck and SUV. The R2 also has a few items, including a new operating system, that is more powerful and capable than its pricey peer. The operating system software, which admittedly I haven’t tested at length, is a standout improvement from the R1 in terms of computing and user interface. For instance, the R2 has one SoC (system on chip) that runs the infotainment and handles 200 TOPS (tera operations per second) of computing on the edge. The next-gen R1 vehicles have four SoC and do most of the computing in the cloud. 

Rivian’s head of software, Wassym Bensaid, told me this edge computing matters because it allows the company to run large language models locally, which will provide much lower latency and better performance. 

Another big change that I will briefly mention are the “halo wheels” on the steering wheel, which are pictured above. These wheels give haptic feedback and let the driver quickly change the temperature, fan speed, and speaker volume without moving their hands or eyes over to the central screen. Chief designer Jeff Hammoud told me this addressed some of the biggest requests from customers without adding a bunch of buttons. Notably, software allows the company to add more capability to these halo wheels over time.

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Lucid Motors tried to make a splash at its investor day when it showed a robotaxi concept designed to be built on the company's “midsize” EV platform. Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff sounded declarative onstage, saying the company is "working on a dedicated Lucid Robotaxi" that would come after the midsize EVs debut.

The company later clarified to TechCrunch that there is no active development happening and that the vehicle is just a concept. A little bird tells us the project is very new, having started only in the last two to three months, a timeline that leaves us wondering how long it would really take for Lucid Motors to put something like this on the road.

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. 

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I guess this is the Rivian issue! Because the company has spun ANOTHER startup and raised a bunch of money to scale it up. I’m referring to Mind Robotics, an industrial robotics lab, and its $500 million Series A funding round that was co-led by venture firms Accel and Andreessen Horowitz.

As Sean O’Kane wrote, the financing follows a $115 million seed round that was led by Eclipse (this VC really seems to be everywhere lately) in late 2025. Mind Robotics is now valued at around $2 billion. 

Robotics was a focus of some of Rivian’s programming at SXSW, including a panel with engineer and YouTuber Mark Rober and Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe. I interviewed Scaringe on the sidelines of the event and asked him about Mind Robotics and what was behind the effort. I also asked if he plans to spin out any more companies. Let’s just say there was a very long pause before he ultimately said, “Probably not.”

I will have a longer story about the interview soon, but one item worth mentioning is that Scaringe basically believes companies are thinking about the future of industrial robotics all wrong. 

“There has been a surprising emphasis on mimicking human biomechanics, or in some cases even going further, making even more complex mechatronics. I think what's missed in industrial [settings] and this is one of the things we really see clearly, is the work happens with the hands,” Scaringe told me. “So the hands are very, very important. Everything else, from a robotic system point of view, is to get the hands to the right place. And so the ability for the robots to do really complex motions, like, let's say, a back flip, that actually just means the robot has a lot of unnecessary complexity in it for the vast majority of tasks and understanding.”

Other deals that got my attention this week …

Global ride-hailing company inDrive acquired Pakistan-based quick-commerce startup Krave Mart. The all-stock deal received approval from the Competition Commission of Pakistan, allowing the companies to proceed with the transaction, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. inDrive confirmed the acquisition but declined to disclose its financial terms.

Mirai Robotics, an Italy-based company developing autonomous maritime systems, raised $4.2 million from Primo Capital, Techshop, and 40Jemz Ventures.

Surf Air placed an order for 25 of Beta Technologies’ all-electric ALIA aircraft and acquired options for up to 75 more.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Bryan Reimer, an MIT research scientist who was recently on my Autonocast podcast, poses an interesting question in a column published this month: Are automated vehicles headed for the same political divide as electric cars? 

Archer Aviation responded to a lawsuit with its own counterclaims that rival Joby Aviation allegedly defrauded the U.S. government and its competitors by falsely presenting itself as an American-made company. The electric air sector is getting litigious, which can be mighty distracting and expensive in this early stage of development.

Group14 has started production of silicon battery materials at its BAM-3 factory in South Korea. The factory is capable of producing up to 2,000 metric tons annually, enough for 10 gigawatt-hours of energy storage, or about 100,000 long-range EVs.

Hayden AI, a startup based in San Francisco, has sued its co-founder and former CEO over allegations of serious misconduct and misuse of funds. 

The Federal Aviation Administration OK’d eight pilot programs that will allow a handful of companies, including Archer Aviation, Beta Technologies, Joby Aviation, and Wisk, to start widespread electric aircraft testing as early as this summer. The three-year program will span 26 states!

Harbinger, a Los Angeles-based EV startup, revealed its second vehicle: a smaller, medium-duty work truck.

Lucid Motors is shipping Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to Gravity SUV owners.

The National Transportation Safety Board released information that shows two drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2024 while using Ford’s BlueCruise hands-free driving system were likely distracted in the moments before impact.

Nuro, the Silicon Valley-based startup backed by Nvidia, Uber, and SoftBank, is testing its autonomous vehicle technology in Japan.

Slate Auto, the EV startup backed by Jeff Bezos, has a new CEO ahead of its production launch. Former Amazon Marketplace vice president Peter Faricy now leads the company, while former CEO Christine Barman is now president of vehicles.

Tesla is now an officially licensed utility in the United Kingdom.

Wayve is teaming up with Uber and Nissan to launch a robotaxi service in Tokyo, with a pilot scheduled for late 2026.

Uber added Hyundai-owned Motional to its growing robotaxi network. Motional’s self-driving Hyundai Ioniq 5 vehicles now show up on the Uber app in Las Vegas. These vehicles have human safety monitors in the car, for now.

Zoox had a couple of announcements this week that provide a roadmap of sorts of where the Amazon-owned company wants to go. The company has started to map the streets of Dallas and Phoenix, the first step before testing its autonomous vehicles in the Sun Belt cities.

It is also partnering with Uber and will make its robotaxis available to hail on the ride-hailing app in Las Vegas later this year. That Uber tie-up deserves an important caveat, though. Zoox can’t deploy commercially until it gets an exemption from the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for its custom-built robotaxis, which don’t have a steering wheel or other traditional controls. That process has started. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would begin taking public comment on Zoox’s application for those exemptions. Zoox only has an exemption to demonstrate its vehicles.

One more thing …

The Chevrolet Bolt EV is coming back — a true EV deep cut. And senior reporter Tim De Chant went to a company-sponsored press drive and came back with an interesting idea that I have become more and more fixated on as an EV sales ploy. The Chevy Bolt is the McRib of the automotive world. Need I say more? De Chant also dug into the economics of GM bringing back the Bolt.

Rivian R2 SUV. Image credits: Jason Henry/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.” 

I was out for a few days last week and we have a bit of catching up to do! I won’t rehash too much, but expect a few of the bigger news items — ahem, Wayve’s $1.2 billion raise — to make it in here. 

One more housekeeping note: I will be in Austin next week for SXSW, the annual tech, music, film, and culture event that always attracts an interesting collection of tech founders, creators, politicians, and other industry folks. I plan to attend the Rivian event, where the company is expected to reveal full details of its upcoming R2 line. I will also be moderating a panel called Innovation & Impact: Female Leaders Transforming Legacy Industries, alongside Rivian CFO Claire McDonough, Madison Reed CEO and founder Amy Errett, and Spotify chief public affairs officer Dustee Jenkins. If you’re there, please reach out!

Speaking of Rivian, the company is planning one of the fastest launches of a new all-electric car in the U.S. with its forthcoming R2 SUV. And the stakes couldn’t be any higher.

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane looked at historical sales data as well as Rivian’s own projections for 2026. Rivian said it expects to sell between 20,000 and 25,000 R2s this year, the first of which will head to customers in June once production begins.

That means it has six months to reach that goal. Even if Rivian hits the low end of that target, its sales rate will outpace every other comparable electric vehicle at or under $60,000 aside from the Tesla Model Y, O’Kane writes. Read the full story here.

My question is what tactical move is Rivian planning to use to reach that goal? It won't be enough to merely state, "Pent-up demand, stupid." This is no small feat. I expect Rivian to try a variety of tactics to spread the word and turn interest in its EVs into actual sales. What do you think the company will do? Email me!

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

No little birds this week — or at least ones we can share. Remember, if you have a tip for us, you can either email me at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or reach me through Signal at kkorosec.07. Sean O'Kane’s email is sean.okane@techcrunch.com 

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This is from last week, but it’s worth commenting on. I’m talking about Wayve and its $1.2 billion raise (up to $1.5 billion if it can unlock a $300 million milestone-based investment from Uber). As I mentioned in my article, everyone seems to want a piece of this U.K. startup, which is now valued at $8.6 billion. 

Wayve is taking a different approach to automated driving. It doesn’t want to be the operator. Instead it wants to license its software — both a fully automated driving product and a less capable one meant for advanced driver-assistance systems — to automakers and robotaxi operators. Wayve has taken a self-learning approach to its software. The company developed a software layer using an end-to-end neural network that doesn’t require high-definition maps and only uses data to teach the vehicle how to drive. It’s hardware agnostic, which could be appealing to Wayve backers Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Stellantis. 

Other deals that got my attention …

Denso, the Toyota Motor-affiliated auto-parts supplier, made a takeover proposal for Kyoto-based chip maker Rohm, the WSJ reported. 

Einride, the Swedish startup known for building both electric trucks and autonomous pods that are designed to carry freight, secured an oversubscribed $113 million PIPE (private investment in public equity) ahead of its public debut, which is expected for the first half of 2026. 

Harbinger acquired autonomous-driving software company Phantom AI. Terms were not disclosed.

Holyvolt, the Swedish battery tech company backed by Volvo, acquired battery materials company Wildcat Discovery Technologies in a deal valued at $73 million. 

Momenta, the Chinese autonomous vehicle developer backed by GM and Tencent Holdings, has filed confidentially for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported. The company may seek to raise at least $1 billion in its IPO. 

Nominal, a software startup that helps defense, space, energy, and automotive companies test their manufacturing processes, raised $80 million in a Series B extension round at a $1 billion valuation, led by Founders Fund. 

Toyota upped its offer price for supplier Toyota Industries to $30 billion. 

Zeno, an African startup, raised $25 million in a Series A round to expand its app-controlled battery-swap network and produce more of its Emara motorcycles. About $20.5 million of that was an equity fundraise led by Congruent Ventures with participation from Active Impact and Lowercarbon Capital. The remaining $4.5 million is a debt facility from Camber Road and Trifecta Capital.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Chinese automaker BYD unveiled a new battery pack that it says is capable of charging from 10% to 70% in five minutes. This is certainly a game changer, but there is an important caveat to this claim: It needs a specific EV charger. 

Hyundai, Toyota, and Chinese automakers like Chery potentially face the most impact from the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, as the Middle East accounts for a significant percentage of their deliveries, according to an analysis from Bernstein, CNBC reported.

Volkswagen Group surpassed an EV milestone this week. The company said it has delivered 4 million all-electric vehicles since it launched its first model in 2013. Half of those came from the Volkswagen brand. The remaining sales came from Škoda, SEAT/CUPRA, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, and Porsche. 

A video shows a Waymo robotaxi blocking an ambulance as it responded to the scene of a mass shooting in Austin over the weekend. A spokesperson for Austin-Travis-County EMS told Axios that an officer followed established protocol to address the situation and was able to quickly move the vehicle. Waymo didn’t provide a statement to outlets at the time. The incident is the latest in which a first responder was used to move a Waymo and raises questions about the readiness of the technology.

One more thing …

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has scheduled a forum on autonomous vehicle safety for Tuesday. A who’s who of AV leaders are expected to attend, including Aurora co-founder and CEO Chris Urmson, Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, and Zoox CEO Aicha Evans.

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Image credits: Waymo

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

Earlier this month, Waymo chief safety officer Mauricio Peña testified before the Senate Commerce Committee as part of a hearing to talk about autonomous vehicles.

Much of the questioning fell under the standard “let’s educate the public” category. But it was Sen. Ed Markey’s questions about overseas workers, and Peña’s response, that everyone paid attention to.  

Peña, when asked about human workers who assist with Waymo vehicles’ navigation or emergencies, revealed that the company has remote guidance workers based overseas in the Philippines. This sparked some quick ire from Markey, who admonished Peña on how the company could rely on people without U.S. driver’s licenses to assist its vehicles on U.S. roads, among other criticisms.

Waymo formulated a response in a blog post written by Waymo’s head of global operations Ryan McNamara, which was published Tuesday. It has also shared the letter it sent to Markey’s office.

The post and letter do provide fresh insight about its remote-assistance operations. For instance, Waymo stresses it does not employ people who “remotely drive” the robotaxis. Instead, the self-driving systems are the ones in charge. Remote assistance (RA) workers are there to respond to specific requests for information that the Waymo self-driving system asks for. The company also has Event Response Teams, or ERTs, people who are certified for more complex tasks and are exclusively based in the United States. This team responds to collisions, interfacing with law enforcement and the rider, collecting data for regulatory reporting, and coordinating towing, Waymo says.

We also now know that Waymo has about “70 Remote Assistance agents on duty worldwide at any given time.” These folks are based in Arizona, Michigan, and in two cities in the Philippines, a detail that, again, has raised the ire of some lawmakers.

To give you a sense of what that means, consider that Waymo has a fleet of 3,000 vehicles and every week its vehicles drive over 4 million miles and provide over 400,000 rides. So, very few workers are monitoring lots of robotaxis.

I have argued for years that AV companies need to do a better job of explaining what happens behind the scenes, particularly when it comes to remote guidance. Most companies, many of which no longer exist, avoided the topic like a plague, perhaps in an effort to make its tech seem more magical and innovative. Turns out, mystery breeds mistrust.

While the debate over remote guidance operators plays out, Waymo continues to press into new markets. With one exception.

New York governor Kathy Hochul withdrew a proposal that would have amended vehicle and traffic laws to effectively legalize robotaxis in the state outside of New York City. Hochul spokesperson Sean Butler told me: “Based on conversations with stakeholders, including in the legislature, it was clear that the support was not there to advance this proposal.”

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One more thing before we jump into the rest of the news. Mobility readers sure don’t believe the Rivian R2 will be priced at $50,000 or below. Last week, I polled you all and asked: “What will the starting price of the Rivian R2 launch edition be?” I gave three options, under $50,000, above $60,000, and above $70,000. More than 54% picked “above $60,000,” with the remaining two options split on the matter.

Housekeeping note: I will be on vacation next week and we will not have a newsletter as a result.

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane got the scoop from some little birds about layoffs at Lucid. Here’s what we know. Lucid is laying off 12% of its workforce, according to an internal memo that TechCrunch has viewed. We don’t have an exact figure on workers affected, but it is likely hundreds. 

Lucid has not filed its 2025 annual earnings yet, which would disclose how many employees it had at the end of the year. The company reported having 6,800 full-time employees globally at the end of 2024. 

Since our report came out, O’Kane has learned a bit more. Affected employees found out early Friday morning, with a few learning that something was amiss when they lost access to Microsoft Teams. They are technically being placed on a 60-day "administrative leave" and won't be officially laid off until late April.

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.

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Amari AI, a startup that uses AI tools to help custom brokers modernize and navigate President Trump’s trade policies, raised $4.5 million of funding co-led by preeminent early-stage firms First Round Capital and Pear VC. The startup says it has already collected more than 30 customers and helped those firms move more than $15 billion of goods.

Kavak, the Mexico-based online used car dealer, raised $300 million in an equity round led by Andreessen Horowitz, which put in $200 million. Other investors included WCM Investment Management, which co-led the round, and Foxhaven Asset Management.

LanzaJet, a next-gen fuels technology company and fuels producer, raised $47 million in the first close of a targeted $135 million equity round. The company said its pre-money valuation is $650 million. The was co-led by IAG and Shell, with participation from Groupe ADP, LanzaTech, and Mitsui.

Metafuels, a sustainable aviation fuel startup based in Switzerland, raised $24 million in a Series A round led by UVC Partners. Other investors included Energy Impact Partners, Contrarian Ventures, RockCreek, Verve Ventures, and Fortescue.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Ford is working hard to make shareholders forget about the $19.5 billion hit it took late last year. Instead, it wants them to see a tech-forward and nimble company building a future profitable product that will usher in a new era. The company, which has promised to deliver an EV truck that starts at $30,000 and can compete with Chinese automakers without undermining profit margins, shared how it plans to hit that goal. Will a combination of 3D-printed Lego-like parts, Formula 1 thinking, and a bounty program be enough?  

AI data center fever has spread. Just take a look at Redwood Materials for proof. The battery recycling and materials startup launched an energy storage business last year with a focus on AI data centers. The business, Redwood Energy, is now the fastest-growing unit within the company. Read my full story to understand what that means. 

Rivian is launching a companion app that will let owners perform basic tasks such as locking and unlocking doors, venting windows, and triggering the vehicle alarm using their Apple Watch. The company released a broader software update with a number of other new vehicle features as well.

Tesla lost its bid to overturn a jury’s $243 million verdict in a fatal Autopilot crash trial. Reminder: Tesla could have settled this case for $60 million. The company did score a win, however, with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The state agency said it will not suspend Tesla’s sales and manufacturing licenses for 30 days because the EV maker has stopped using the term “Autopilot” in the marketing of its vehicles in the state.

One more thing …

Image credits: Kirsten Korosec

I periodically test vehicles to keep pace with the latest in-car tech, EVs, and hybrids — or software updates in them. Coincidentally, I had a Lucid Air Touring sedan this week. 

It’s been at least a year since I was behind the wheel of an Air. And I’ve been anxious to try the company’s hands-free driver-assistance system that launched last July. My past experiences with the company’s advanced driver-assistance system, called Dream Drive, has left me unimpressed. My vehicle would often ping-pong in the lane (meaning it had trouble centering itself) or would stay too close to the edge, which put me uncomfortably close to the big rigs I passed on the highway. 

I am happy to report that Lucid appears to have fixed these issues. Engaging the hands-free system was straightforward and it didn’t allow me to abuse it for long. As you see in the picture above, if I put a phone in front of my face, a warning was almost immediately triggered.

Image credits: Rivian

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

We are in the midst of one of my four favorite times of year — earnings season. And it’s not just that I like numbers. These required filings cut through a lot of the marketing noise presented by companies the rest of the year. They also help me assess the short- and long-term stakes the companies face.

Rivian’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings did precisely that. My takeaway: Software, and specifically its technology joint venture with Volkswagen Group, was the company’s savior in 2025. It will also buoy the company into 2026 (another $2 billion is expected from VW Group) as Rivian launches its most important product to date: the lower-cost R2 SUV. 

The company’s earnings also provided a progress report on its bid to lower the cost of goods sold per unit. The TL;DR is that the cogs per unit for its current portfolio is still high but dropping, meaning it’s losing less on each vehicle it sells. According to Rivian, the company’s automotive cogs per unit delivered was $100,900 in 2025, down from $110,400 in 2024. 

The upcoming R2, which is supposed to be considerably cheaper (both in production cost and price tag) than its flagship R1T truck and R1S SUV, will be the next big test. We’ll get some insight into the results of that later this year.

The R2 is expected to go into production in the first half of the year (we’re hearing June), and based on its guidance for 2026, Rivian is confident it has the demand and the ability to ramp production. The company expects to deliver between 62,000 and 67,000 vehicles in 2026 — which could provide up to a 59% bump from last year. Rivian delivered 42,247 vehicles in 2025, which includes its two R1 consumer vehicles and the electric delivery van (EDV).

The market loved that guidance, btw. Rivian stock shot up 27% in the day after it reported earnings.

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Over the past 18 months, I’ve noticed a divergence in how Uber and Lyft are approaching AVs. Uber is locking up AV partnerships with every player it can. Lyft is trailing behind. Turns out, I am not alone in this observation. 

Insiders have shared their puzzlement about why Lyft hasn’t been more aggressive on this front. They noted that Lyft is sitting on about $1.8 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash, and recently announced a new $1 billion share repurchase program that represents about 15% of its market cap, per CNBC. That has some wondering why Lyft did not invest in parts of the AV value chain like Uber is doing versus buying shares back.

Meanwhile, these little birds also pointed to a few top executives who have departed over the past year. Aurélien Nolf left his position as VP of financial planning and analysis and investor relations to become CFO of Navan. Audrey Liu, who was an executive VP and head of rider and community safety, is now at Adobe. Ameena Gill, who was VP of safety and customer care just took a job at rival Uber.

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. 

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Close followers of the mobility-crazed years, between 2015 and 2019, might recall how many lidar companies popped up during that time. Many of the dominant and buzziest ones have since shuttered, while some of the smallest players have hung on and expanded. 

Take Ouster, for instance. I remember way back when Ouster had this tiny little booth in the jam-packed startups area (Eureka Park) at CES. Today, the company is much bigger — thanks to scale, its 2022 merger with rival Velodyne, and its acquisition of Sense Photonics in 2021. And it doesn’t appear to be finished. 

The company most recently acquired Stereolabs, a company that makes vision-based perception systems for robotics and industrial applications, for a combination of $35 million and 1.8 million shares.

As TechCrunch senior reporter Sean O’Kane notes in his article, the deal is the latest in a march toward consolidation among perception sensor suppliers. (Just last month, MicroVision bought the lidar assets of the buzzy-but-now-bankrupt Luminar for $33 million.)

So why all the activity? It’s complicated, as they say. From my POV, the frenzy around “physical AI” has reignited interest and investment in sensor technologies, particularly cameras.

Other deals that got my attention …

Ever, the EV-only marketplace, raised $31 million in a Series A funding round led by Eclipse. Other backers include Ibex Investors, Lifeline Ventures, and JIMCO — the investment arm of the Saudi Arabian Jameel family (an early investor in Rivian).

Natilus, the San Diego-based startup developing blended-wing aircraft, raised $28 million in a Series A funding round led by Draper Associates. Other investors include Type One Ventures, The Veteran Fund, and Flexport, as well as new backers New Vista Capital, Soma Capital, Liquid 2 VC, VU Venture Partners, and Wave FX.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Aurora shared in its Q4 and full-year earnings report that its self-driving trucks can now travel nonstop on a 1,000-mile route between Fort Worth and Phoenix — exceeding what a human driver can legally accomplish. The company shared a number of other tidbits, and financials, which you can read about here. 

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission closed its investigation into Fisker last year, TechCrunch was able to learn, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request. 

Lyft has launched teen accounts, a product that allows minors as young as 13 to hail a ride without an adult in 200 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and New York.

A fresh batch of videos gives us the best look at how Rivian has changed the rear door manual release on its upcoming R2 SUV. This seemingly minor design detail has life-or-death stakes and comes as the EV industry, and particularly Tesla, is getting pressure to change concealed, electronic door handles. 

The Trump administration officially repealed the EPA’s 2009 “endangerment finding,” which found that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane were a threat to human health and welfare. This change would only affect tailpipe emissions for cars and trucks — if the EPA makes it through the lengthy process of repealing the law, which will certainly include numerous lawsuits aimed at stopping it.

Uber has locked in a couple dozen AV partnerships, and we’re starting to see the results of those deals. China’s Baidu and Uber plan to launch robotaxis in Dubai in the next month, starting with select locations within the Jumeirah area. Meanwhile, Chinese robotaxi company WeRide and Uber announced a “major expansion of their strategic partnership” to deploy at least 1,200 robotaxis across the Middle East through 2027, according to the companies. As part of this, WeRide and Uber have launched a robotaxi service in downtown Abu Dhabi.

Waymo pulled the human safety driver from its autonomous test vehicles in Nashville as the Alphabet-owned company moves closer to launching a robotaxi service in the city. Meanwhile, this tech-forward company is wrestling with the analog problem of ensuring the doors of its robotaxis are properly shut. Its solution? Pay DoorDash gig workers to shut Waymo robotaxi doors. Waymo tells us this is a pilot program in Atlanta to enhance its AV fleet efficiency. 

One final Waymo item: The company is starting to roll out its sixth-generation “Waymo Driver,” which is integrated into the Zeekr RT (rebranded Ojai) and will eventually be in the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Waymo has started “fully autonomous operations” in the Ojai vehicle in San Francisco and Los Angeles and is giving access to employees. The public will have to wait for a bit.

One more thing …

Rivian has pitched its upcoming R2 SUV as a more affordable model. What does “more affordable” mean? The company has thrown around $45,000 and $50,000 as a base price. The company's launch version of the R2, which will be a dual-mode and all-wheel-drive premium trim, will undoubtedly be more expensive. What’s your guess on the cost of the launch edition?

Image credits: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

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

Waymo’s acceleration over the past 18 months is undeniable. The Alphabet-owned self-driving company now operates commercial robotaxi services in six markets, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, and Miami. It has plans to grow its fleet of driverless taxicabs this year to more than a dozen new cities internationally, including London and Tokyo. 

And now it has $16 billion to fuel that expansion. Is it enough? 

Talking to a few industry watchers, the answer kept landing in the squishy “sort of” and “it depends” territory. 

First the bull case. Alphabet is clearly committed to ensuring Waymo’s success; the parent company is, and continues to be, the primary investor. Which means Waymo isn’t exposed like other AV startups that suddenly lost funding after their backers (often legacy automakers) got skittish or pivoted. 

Its ridership and autonomous miles driven stats are also exploding and will likely continue in that trajectory unless it is derailed by regulators. (Waymo provides 400,000 rides every week across six major U.S. metropolitan areas, and in 2025 alone, it more than tripled its annual volume to 15 million rides.)

This doesn’t guarantee success, though, especially if the gauge is set to profitability. Waymo still must solve several problems, including cost and increasing attention from regulators (the company’s chief safety officer just testified in a Senate Commerce hearing). If Waymo wants to simply be the licensor of its AV tech, it will have to move away from being the operator, which means giving up some control. That’s hard with a nascent technology under scrutiny.

And while some of you will fight me on this, it also lacks the in-house manufacturing that Tesla has. Yes, Waymo has automotive partners. But it doesn’t come with the same financial leverage or ability to drive down costs with scale.

Disagree? Send your argument to my email at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com.

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

The investors behind the now-defunct EV startup Canoo were always mysterious -- in fact, they were only revealed as part of a lawsuit. Six years ago, I received a tip to look into one of them in particular: David Stern. He had connections to Prince Andrew but was otherwise a ghost.

He was on my mind, though, as the Department of Justice started releasing its files on Jeffrey Epstein. My curiosity as to whether he would turn up in the documents was quickly overwhelmed by the fact that he was, in fact, a close business partner of the convicted sex offender. He brought Epstein investment opportunities from around the world, and in particular, pitched him on investing in Faraday Future, Lucid Motors, and Canoo during the go-go days of mobility funding. Read my story on Stern and Epstein’s relationship and how mobility startups were once in the mix.

— Sean O’Kane

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.

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Deals!

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Autonomous vehicle technology is about more than just robotaxis — it is a difficult and costly business that only a handful of well-capitalized companies like Tesla, Waymo, and Zoox are pursuing. Many startup founders are applying the AV systems they’ve developed to other use cases, including off-road defense, trucking, forklifts, mining, and construction. Investors, anxious about missing out on the AV party, are jumping into these sectors. 

Bedrock Robotics is the latest example of investor interest. The Silicon Valley autonomous vehicle technology startup, founded by veterans of Waymo and Segment, are developing a self-driving system that can be retrofitted onto construction equipment. And it just raised $270 million in Series B funding co-led by CapitalG and the Valor Atreides AI Fund. Other investors include Xora, 8VC, Eclipse, Emergence Capital, Perry Creek Capital, NVentures (Nvidia’s venture capital arm), Tishman Speyer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgian, Incharge Capital, C4 Ventures, and others.

Bedrock raised more than $350 million in a short time (the company was formed in 2024). And while that might not seem like a lot compared to the size of some seed rounds in the AI labs sector, it shows money is flowing into physical AI startups. I expect more deal flow; importantly I expect the startups focused on practical applications of automated driving systems to attract talent — if they can afford them. Bedrock, for instance, hired Vincent Gonguet, who previously led AI safety and alignment at Meta for all Llama models, as its head of evaluation. It also hired John Chu away from Waymo. 

Keep an eye out for my interview with Bedrock Robotics co-founder and CEO Boris Sofman. 

Other deals that got my attention this week …

German electric motor maker Additive Drives raised €25 million ($29.5 million) from Nordic Alpha Partners.

Autonomous underwater vehicles startup Apeiron Labs closed a $9.5 million Series A round led by Dyne Ventures, RA Capital Management Planetary Health, and S2G Investments. Assembly Ventures, Bay Bridge Ventures, and TFX Capital participated.

GoCab, the African mobility fintech startup, raised a $45 million financing round comprising $15 million in equity and $30 million in debt. The equity round was co-led by E3 Capital and Janngo Capital, with participation from KawiSafi Ventures and Cur8 Capital. 

Mitra EV, a commercial EV fleet company in Los Angeles, raised $27 million in financing, including equity funding from lead investor Ultra Capital and a credit facility from S2G Investments.

Overland AI, a Seattle-based developer of self-driving systems designed for military operations, raised $100 million in a round led by 8VC. Other investors included  Point72 Ventures, Ascend Venture Capital, Shasta Ventures, Overmatch Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and StepStone Group.

Plug, the used EV marketplace, raised $20 million in a Series A led by Lightspeed with participation from Galvanize and existing investors Autotech Ventures, Leap Forward Ventures, and Renn Global. 

R3 Robotics, a European startup that wants to automate the disassembly of EV systems at scale, raised €20 million ($23.6 million) in combination of grants and venture funding. The €14 million ($16.5 million) Series A funding was co-led by HG Ventures and Suma Capital. Oetker Collection, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund), and existing shareholders, including BONVENTURE, FlixFounders, and EIT Urban Mobility also participated. 

Skyryse, an El Segundo, California-based aviation automation startup, has raised more than $300 million in a Series C investment. The round, led by Autopilot Ventures, pushes its valuation to $1.15 billion. Other investors include Fidelity Management & Research Company, ArrowMark Partners, Atreides Management LP, BAM Elevate, Baron Capital Group, Durable Capital Partners, Positive Sum, Qatar Investment Authority, RCM Private Markets Fund managed by Rokos Capital Management, and Woodline Partners.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

China has banned concealed electronically actuated door handles popularized by Tesla. The ruling, published by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, says all new cars sold in the country must have mechanical releases on their door handles by January 1, 2027. There is chatter that Europe could soon follow. 

Uber continues to make moves designed to make it competitive in the autonomous vehicle sector. The company has promoted Balaji Krishnamurthy, its VP of strategic finance and investor relations, to be its CFO. This may not seem connected to AVs, but it is. Krishnamurthy actively promotes the company’s autonomous ride-hailing partnerships and has a board seat at AV company Waabi. During the company’s Q4 call, he talked about AVs, saying the company would invest capital in its AV software partners, work with AV makers by investing equity or via offtake agreements, and “support our AV infrastructure partners.”

Meanwhile, a high-profile lawsuit against Uber has delivered a mixed verdict for the ride-hailing company, which was sued after a woman alleged she was raped by her Uber driver in November 2023. A jury determined Uber was liable as an apparent agent of the driver and awarded $8.5 million to the plaintiff. The jury rejected claims that Uber was liable for negligence or design defects and declined to award punitive damages. An Uber spokesperson, who emailed TechCrunch a statement, said the “verdict affirms that Uber acted responsibly and has invested meaningfully in rider safety. We will continue to put safety at the heart of everything we do.” Uber plans to appeal the decision. 

One more thing …

Remember that poll asking what the name or ticker of Elon Musk’s combined supercompany should be? Thanks to those who emailed their suggestions, many of which had space themes, like Galactic X (great one). As for the poll, the majority picked plain ol’ X. 

That makes sense, considering Musk has often talked, and posted, about X, the everything app. About 50% voted for X, while 20.7% picked ELON, 17.2% selected SpaceAI, and 12.1% chose K2, a reference to one of the corporate entities created in January. 

My pick? I think it will ultimately be X, and the company will include more than just SpaceX and xAI.

Image credits: Arda Kucukkaya/Anadolu/Getty Images

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

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has spent months — years? — trying to position his company as something more than just a maker of electric vehicles. When Tesla acquired Solar City in 2016, he (and his comms team) pitched it as a sustainable energy company. Over the past year, he has pushed the idea of Tesla as an AI and robotics company. 

Musk’s aspirational branding has slammed right up against financial reality: The bulk of its revenue comes from selling EVs. Its latest earnings support this. 

The company generated $94.8 billion in revenue in 2025. Of that, $69.5 billion came from selling and leasing EVs as well as related regulatory credits. The remaining $25 billion is split nearly down the middle between its energy generation (solar) and storage business and “services and other,” which include revenue from its Superchargers, parts sales, and Full Self-Driving subscriptions. That reliance on deliveries means that as EV sales have dipped, so has Tesla’s entire balance sheet. Its profits in 2025 were 46% lower year-over-year.

Tesla has tried to grow its non-EV businesses to compensate for the decline in sales, and its Q4 and full-year earnings report (and its accompanying call) signaled a shift beyond the persistent AI-robotics talk and toward action. For now, that action involves spending money, not making it. Musk repeatedly stressed that 2026 would be a huge CapEx year, more than doubling spending to $20 billion, which would put them in negative-cash-flow territory.

For instance, Musk announced that Tesla is ending production of the Model S and Model X, which is more symbolic than material. Those two models represent about 2% of Tesla’s sales volume, a point that Barclays analyst Dan Levy also makes in his most recent note. Still, it is a notable end-of-an-era moment for Tesla and the broader automotive industry, which was forever changed when the Model S went on sale in 2012. 

The more material move is what Tesla plans to do now. 

Tesla plans to fill the production void left by the Model S and X with its Optimus humanoid robots, which will be made at its Fremont, California, factory. Musk also intends to scale Tesla’s robotaxi operations to more cities in 2026 and even floated the need for Tesla to build a TerraFab factory to shore up chip supply. 

But the item that really stood out to me — and a true Elon Inc circular economy deal — was Tesla’s plan to invest $2 billion into another Musk company, xAI, and signaled plans to more closely align those two companies. Meanwhile, other outlets are reporting talks are underway to possibly merge (in some combination) three of Musk’s companies: SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI. 

But let’s come back down to earth for a moment and review Tesla’s current business. Its sales are down year-over-year, while its smaller energy storage business made positive gains.

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

We’re not quite ready to share the full details, but we’ve heard from one little bird that there is some activity on the fundraising front for Waymo. You probably saw reporting last month about Waymo raising up to a $15 billion round led by its parent company Alphabet. Based on my conversations, it is still in “the realm” of $15 billion and large portion is coming from Alphabet, and there is high interest from external investors to join. One little bird told me one of the other investors may be an OEM (original equipment manufacturer.

Stay tuned for more on this.

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.

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Deals!

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Waabi gets my “deal of the week” badge — and not just because of the dollar figures attached. The autonomous vehicle startup has raised $750 million in a Series C round co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, plus another $250 million in milestone capital from Uber to support the deployment of 25,000 or more Waabi Driver-powered robotaxis exclusively on its platform.

Uber is already a Waabi backer, participating in one of its earliest raises in 2021. But this is about more than money. When Waabi first launched, it focused on applying its autonomous vehicle tech to self-driving trucks. The deal with Uber is a declaration that it intends to scale its tech across multiple self-driving verticals with a single technology stack. 

Can Waabi do it? Others have tried and retreated. Waymo shuttered its self-driving trucks program to focus on robotaxis; Aurora, which is also an investor in Waabi, was working on both trucks and robotaxis, too, before deciding to focus just on big rigs. 

Other deals that got my attention …

Gatik AI, a startup developing autonomous trucks focused on the "middle mile," has signed a deal with a major (unnamed) consumer-goods company. Here’s why it matters: The contract will deliver $600 million in revenue over five years. And these are for driverless transport, meaning no safety driver is behind the wheel. These Gatik trucks, which run 24 hours a day moving ambient, refrigerated, and frozen goods between distribution centers and stores, have been operating driverlessly since mid-2025. According to the company, it has completed 60,000 fully driverless orders without incident. 

Luminar’s lidar business has been sold for $33 million to Redmond, Washington-based MicroVision. The company, which is developing its own sensors, beat out Quantum Computing in an auction for the assets. TC’s Sean O’Kane interviewed MicroVision CEO Glen DeVos about his plans for Luminar. The sales process did have a bit of last-minute intrigue when a mystery bidder, with a far larger offer, made a play for Luminar’s lidar business.  

Rad Power Bikes, which started the bankruptcy process about a month ago, reached a deal to sell itself to Life Electric Vehicles Holdings (or Life EV) for around $13.2 million. When accounting for Rad Power’s liabilities, the total value of the bid is $14.9 million. History lesson: Rad Power has raised $329.2 million since its founding and once had a valuation of $1.65 billion. 

Redwood Materials raised $425 million in a Series E round that includes Google as a new investor. The round was led by venture firm Eclipse and includes a strategic investment by Nvidia’s venture capital arm, NVentures, as well as existing investors Capricorn and Goldman Sachs. Read the full story to learn what Redwood plans to do with the capital. 

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Obi, a company that aggregates real-time pricing and pickup times across multiple ride-hailing services, shared new data on ride-hailing and robotaxis in the San Francisco Bay Area. There are a few takeaways — so please go read the full story — including that the price gap between Waymo and rides provided by Uber and Lyft is narrowing.

Uber launched a new division called Uber AV Labs, that is not — as senior reporter Sean O’Kane points out — a ploy to start developing its own robotaxis again. This is a data-sharing play; sensor-equipped Uber cars will collect and then share data with partners like Lucid, Waymo, and Waabi. Important note: No contracts are signed yet.

Waymo is now allowed to operate a robotaxi service to and from the San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The company will begin offering access to SFO to a select number of riders before offering it to all customers in the coming months. That win comes with a bit of tarnish, however. Waymo is under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and National Transportation Safety Board after the company reported one of its robotaxis struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica on January 23. 

The San Francisco Police Department is investigating an incident involving a Zoox autonomous vehicle that crashed into the driver’s-side door of a parked car.

One more thing …

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve had a poll and here is a fun one. Don’t like the options? Send your best ideas to me at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com with the subject line “Elon supercompany.”

Autopilot in a 2016 Tesla Model S. Image credits: Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg/Getty Images

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

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. 

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.

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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. 

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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.

Bostin Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robot. Image credits: Sean O’Kane

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.” 

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?” 

“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. 

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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.

Image credits: Luminar

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.” 

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.

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.

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Deals!

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.

Image credits: Rivian

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

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane popped over to Palo Alto to check out Rivian’s Autonomy & AI Day, which some insiders told us would be the company’s most important event. I’m not sure I would categorize it as such, but how about I let the journalist on the ground give his assessment? 

Via Sean (and a few of my thoughts sprinkled in) after the event …

It was easy to get lost in the buzz words at times during Rivian’s “Autonomy & AI Day” this week. But there was a clear underlying message being shared: Rivian is trying to build a company that is about more than just selling cars. 

It’s not going as far as Tesla. For instance, there were no humanoid robots wandering around the company’s Palo Alto campus.

But it is clearly building out other revenue-generating products — and advanced driver assistance is at the starting gates. 

Rivian’s hands-free version of its driver-assistance software — which today can be used on about 135,000 miles of road — will expand to 3.5 million miles and include surface streets. This expanded capability, which will launch in early 2026 and eventually include point-to-point hands-free (but eyes on) automated driving comes with a cost of $2,500 or $49.99 per month.

Then there is its future hands-off, eyes-off system. Rivian revealed it has developed its own custom 5nm processor, which it says will be built in collaboration with both Arm and TSMC. That chip will power Rivian’s “autonomy computer” — the backbone of an upgraded automated-driving system —that will debut in the R2 SUV in late 2026. 

That will probably be an upcharge, although Rivian didn’t say if it would be more than the $2,500 fee. 

But there’s another scenario we should also consider: licensing its tech to others. 

After all, Rivian already has a joint venture with Volkswagen Group to share its electrical architecture and base-level software. And Rivian spun out two startups this year with Also (mobility) and Mind Robotics (industrial AI and robotics). 

Barclays’ Dan Levy wrote Friday that “subsequent discussions reiterated hopes/potential” for Rivian to license its whole AV platform, or just components like the customs processor. And when I asked CEO RJ Scaringe if Rivian will sell the processor to Mind Robotics, he responded wryly: “It doesn’t take a lot of imagination.”  

At the most abstracted level, bolting new revenue lines to the existing car business (especially if those new projects play nice with the cars) makes sense. Who doesn’t love more money?  

Here’s our coverage of the event:

Rivian is building its own AI assistant (deeper dive into the tech). And it is coming to its EVs in early 2026.

Rivian goes big on autonomy with custom silicon, lidar, and a hint at robotaxis

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Nothing this week — or should I say, thanks for the tips, everyone, but there is nothing I can share yet.

In the meantime, here’s a tiny tidbit to hold you over. As you read above, senior reporter Sean O’Kane was at Rivian’s AI & Autonomy Day and one of the whispers he heard was about the company’s public demo of its AI assistant and concerns it might not work. Apparently, the testing the morning of the event was a bit touch and go.

Alas, the public demo went just fine after one tense moment at the start. The risks are high for public demos, which is why many companies avoid them. Kudos to Rivian for going for it.

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.

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Deals!

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At the start of 2025, I didn’t think TechCrunch would publish an aviation-startup-meets-data-center story. But here we are. 

Aircraft startup Boom Supersonic kicked off 2025 by breaking the sound barrier with its XB-1 demonstrator civil aircraft. And it’s ending the year with a plan to sell a version of its turbine engine as a stationary power plant. Its first customer will be data center startup Crusoe.

Under the deal, Crusoe will buy 29 of Boom’s 42-megawatt turbines for $1.25 billion to generate 1.21 gigawatts for its data centers.

Boom has raised $300 million to help commercialize this new business. The round was led by Darsana Capital Partners with participation from Altimeter Capital, Ark Invest, Bessemer Venture Partners, Robinhood Ventures, and Y Combinator. 

The plan is to use money from its Superpower stationary turbine business to fund the development of its supersonic aircraft. 

Other deals that got my attention …

Self-driving trucks company Aurora Innovation made a commercial agreement with Detmar Logistics to autonomously transport frac sand in the Permian Basin.

Some deals don’t always work out, or they change. Take SK On and Ford, for instance.

Four years ago, Ford and South Korean battery maker SK On struck a deal to form a joint venture and spend $11.4 billion to build factories in Tennessee and Kentucky that would produce batteries for the next generation of electric F-Series trucks. Now the joint venture is ending and the two companies will divide the assets: Ford will take ownership and operation of the twin battery plants in Kentucky, while SK On will operate the factory at the massive BlueOval SK campus in Tennessee.

Vatn Systems, a Rhode Island-based startup developing autonomous underwater vehicles, raised $60 million in a Series A funding round led by BVVC.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

700Credit, a company that runs credit checks and identity verification services for auto dealerships across the United States, said a data breach affected at least 5.6 million people who had their names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers stolen.

The former CEO of bankrupt EV startup Canoo had pledged to provide support to NASA and the United States Postal Service so it could continue to use the vans. Apparently, that wasn’t a convincing argument; NASA and USPS have stopped using them.

Ford and Renault agreed to work together to bring two affordable Ford-branded vehicles to the European market in 2028. Ford will lead the design and Renault will assemble the vehicles at its factory in northern France. 

Lucid is being sued by its former chief engineer Eric Bach, who alleges wrongful termination, discrimination, and retaliation. Bach, who is of German heritage, also claims one of the automaker’s top HR executives referred to him as a “German Nazi.”

Subaru unveiled its Uncharted EV and the specs might attract buyers. The Uncharted Premium trim EV will have a 300-mile range and be priced a skosh above $36,000. Potential deal killer among Subie diehards? The Premium version is front-wheel drive only. 

A pregnant woman in San Francisco gave birth inside a Waymo robotaxi en route to UCSF Medical Center. And nope, this is not the first baby born in a Waymo. Read on to learn more. 

Meanwhile on the Waymo news front, a leaked letter from Tiger Global Management to its investors disclosed that Waymo is now providing 450,000 robotaxi rides per week — nearly double the amount it disclosed this spring. Waymo declined to comment. 

Zevo wants to add robotaxis to its car-share fleet, starting with newcomer Tensor. Senior reporter Sean O’Kane digs in.

One more thing …

I asked and you answered. Thanks to all the readers who participated in the last poll. As a reminder, I asked: The pace of autonomous vehicle development has quickened, prompting more scrutiny and questions around safety and accountability. Should companies stay the course, scale faster, or tap the brakes?

About 48% of you picked “stay the course.” Nearly 23% chose scale faster, while 29.4% of readers want companies to tap the brakes.

Image credits: Waymo

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

Another week, another round of announcements about robotaxis either launching or planning to in cities. 

Let’s take stock. Waymo started testing its autonomous vehicles (with a safety monitor) in Philadelphia and will start manual driving to collect data in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh; Uber and Avride launched a robotaxi service in Dallas that will initially include a human safety operator behind the wheel; and the California Department of Motor Vehicles released revised rules that would allow companies to test and eventually deploy self-driving trucks on public highways in the state.

Autonomous vehicle tech is scaling and the pace is quickening. But should it? 

As autonomous vehicle tech percolates into the cityscape, so has the criticism and challenges. A couple of recent incidents illustrate this point. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has asked Waymo for more information about its self-driving system and operations following reports from the Austin School District that its robotaxis illegally passed school buses 19 times this year. The agency already opened an investigation into Waymo’s performance around school buses.

Then there is KitKat, the bodega cat that died after a Waymo robotaxi ran him over on October 27. The company was already facing criticism over the event. And now it might escalate thanks to new video. The NYT tracked down surveillance video that shows a woman crouching beside the Waymo trying to lure KitKat to safety before the vehicle suddenly pulled away.

So, here is a poll for you, reader.

A little bird

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

A lot of changes have been happening at Lucid Motors recently, according to some little birds. 

As many of you already know, the company has lost a number of top executives, including former CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson and most recently, chief designer Eric Bach. Lucid, which is in the middle of ramping up production of its Gravity SUV, has patched some of these vacancies with a mix of internal promotions and outside hires.

And the changes keep coming. A few little birdies told us this week that a handful or more of top managers on its software and electrical teams were let go, including two senior directors who started with Lucid around a decade ago.

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.

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Deals!

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Electric aircraft maker Beta Technologies, which went public last month, is carving out a nice little supplier business for itself. Which is fitting since the Vermont-based company is aiming to be an OEM to the aviation sector.

The company locked in a deal to supply air taxi company Eve Air Mobility with its electric pusher motors. Beta says the agreement is a potential 10-year opportunity valued at $1 billion. 

Of course, “potential” is an important hedge. That $1 billion is not guaranteed, even if shareholders translated it as such (stocks popped 8% following the news). Still, Beta is finding a near-term revenue path as it continues to work toward the commercial certification of its electric aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration.

The company also reported its third-quarter earnings this week. Beta saw its revenue more than double to $8.9 million from the same quarter last year. Its net losses have also grown. Beta reported net losses of $452 million in the third quarter, a more than fivefold increase from the same year-ago period. 

Other deals that got my attention …

Autolane, a Palo Alto-based startup developing the “air traffic control” for autonomous vehicles, raised $7.4 million in a round led by VC firms Draper Associates and Hyperplane.

Element Fleet Management, an automotive fleet manager, acquired San Francisco-based connected vehicle payments company Car IQ. The terms weren’t disclosed, but sources with information on the deal told TechCrunch the acquisition price was $80 million. History lesson: back in 2024, Canada-based Element Fleet Management acquired fleet optimization software startup Autofleet for $110 million.

ExploMar, a China-based developer of electric propulsion systems for boats, raised $10 million in a Series A round. The investment was jointly led by private equity funds and a listed company in China (not disclosed), with existing shareholder DCM Ventures continuing to participate. 

Heven AeroTech, a startup developing hydrogen-powered drones, raised $100 million in a Series B round led by American quantum computing company IonQ. The company’s post-money valuation is now more than $1 billion. Texas Venture Partners also participated. 

Wayve, the buzzy U.K. self-driving startup backed by Microsoft, Nvidia, and SoftBank Group, acquired German startup Quality Match, which analyzes data used to train AI models for automated driving. Terms weren’t disclosed. 

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image credits: Bryce Durbin

Amazon is considering ending its long-standing contract with the United States Postal Service and building out its own competing nationwide delivery network.

Tesla owners can text and drive with the latest version of the company’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) driver-assistance software, despite the fact that it’s illegal to do so in most states.

Grand Theft Auto Online has added robotaxis from a fictional-yet-familiar company dubbed “KnoWay,” whose sole purpose appears to be wreaking havoc.

Nvidia announced Alpamayo-R1, an open reasoning vision language model for autonomous driving research.

TechCrunch’s Europe-based reporter Anna Heim gives an inside look at a drone delivery partnership in Finland.

The Trump administration said it will lower fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks sold in the United States, arguing it will make vehicles more affordable. There’s a trade-off, though. Consumers could end up paying more for gas.

The reduction essentially brings vehicles below what they’re achieving already. The proposal would roll fleet-wide fuel economy to 34.5 miles per gallon for 2031 model-year cars. The previous fuel economy standard, set under the Biden administration, mandated fuel economy of 50.4 mpg by 2031. In 2024, automakers had to average 30.1 mpg across their fleets, which they beat, delivering 35.4 mpg, according to CAFE calculations.

One more thing …

Remember the poll you took before the Thanksgiving holiday? Here is a refresher, and the results. Most readers picked “before the end of the decade,” which received 47.2% of the vote, followed by the “2030s.” Based on your votes, there appears to be low confidence that 2026 will be the year of the tipping point.