AV
Rivian eyes software upcharges around AR and autonomy, not heated seats
We’re well past the revelation that automakers are software companies. But as the industry deepens its software roots, firms are still figuring out which upgrades they’ll charge for — and…
May Mobility rides the AV wave while Cruise and Waymo feel the heat
May Mobility has raised hundreds of millions from some of the biggest names in the auto industry, but if you haven’t heard of the autonomous vehicle startup yet, that’s apparently…
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Los Angeles demands robotaxi rulemaking powers
Mayor Karen Bass says Los Angeles — not a state agency — should have the power to decide how robotaxi companies expand in the city. The impact of the mayor’s calls may extend well beyond LA.
Two of California’s biggest robotaxi opponents join forces
Two of the biggest groups to oppose robotaxi expansion in California are now formally working together. Teamsters 856, which is tied to one of the longest-standing labor unions in the…
Waymo expands in San Francisco while Cruise feels the heat
Alphabet subsidiary Waymo is expanding its service area in San Francisco despite protests against robotaxis, while rival Cruise grapples with crashes and other incidents. Waymo riders can now access the…
An autoworkers strike trifecta and another speed bump for Cruise and Waymo
Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.
Autonomous delivery startup Nuro to lay off 30% of workforce
Autonomous delivery robot startup Nuro will lay off 30%, or about 340 employees, across the company as part of a restructuring meant to extend its capital runway, according to the…
Embark Trucks lays off workers, explores liquidation of self-driving truck assets
Embark Trucks, the autonomous trucking company that went public in 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, is cutting 70% of its workforce and shutting down two…
Halo Car’s teleoperated car-sharing service to roll out this year with no one behind the wheel
Halo Car, a Las Vegas-based startup that combines teleoperations and car sharing, said it will remove the human safety operator from behind the wheel later this year — the last…
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Argo AI kicks into high gear to build a business out of AV tech
Argo AI, the autonomous vehicle developer backed by Ford and VW Group, revealed this week an ecosystem of products and services designed to support commercial delivery and robotaxi operations. The products — a list that includes fleet management software, data analytics, high-definition mapping and cloud-based communication tools — stretches far beyond the self-driving system that…
Waymo opens up driverless robotaxi service in downtown Phoenix to vetted passengers
Waymo, the autonomous vehicle developer under Alphabet, is opening up its driverless robotaxi service in downtown Phoenix to vetted local residents. People who have been accepted to Waymo’s “trusted tester”…
The Station: Porsche IPO demand accelerates and more micromobility layoffs
The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click The Station — to receive the full edition of the newsletter every weekend in…
Daily Crunch: Cartona will use $12M Series A to expand its Egypt-based, B2B e-commerce platform
Happy new week! Christine went on a well-deserved break, so you’ll have to deal with a double dose of my awful puns and worse headline shenanigans for a bit.
Baidu reveals the next-gen robotaxi that will be deployed throughout China
Baidu, the Chinese search engine giant that has plowed money into AI and autonomous vehicle technology, unveiled Wednesday a new all-electric robotaxi that it plans to deploy at scale across…
US safety regulators open special investigation into Cruise AV crash
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a special investigation into a crash in San Francisco involving a Cruise autonomous vehicle that resulted in minor injuries. The agency’s special…
Cruise robotaxis blocked traffic for hours on this San Francisco street
More than a half dozen Cruise robotaxis stopped operating and sat in a street in San Francisco late Tuesday night, blocking traffic for a couple of hours until employees arrived…
Cruise’s driverless autonomous cars start giving rides to paying passengers
The era of commercial autonomous robotaxi service is here — Cruise officially became the first company to offer fared rides to the general public in a major city as of…
Here’s everything you’ll see at TechCrunch Sessions: Mobility next week
TC Sessions: Mobility is back, and this year we are bringing together the best and brightest founders, investors, engineers and experts on the future of transportation for a two-day, in-person event…
Steer’s Anuja Sonalker explains the benefits of chasing the less glitzy side of autonomy
“We are revenue positive and we are cash-flow positive. We have a strong balance sheet and good reserves. All of our operations today are actually run through our income in…
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Data obscures positive trends in VC dollars reaching women-founded startups
There’s work to be done, but pretending aggregate deal value is the metric that matters is malpractice.
Volkswagen in talks to buy Huawei’s autonomous driving unit: report
The autonomous driving space might be seeing the marriage of two titans. Volkswagen is in talks with Huawei to acquire the latter’s nascent autonomous driving unit for billions of euros,…
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What’s driving China’s autonomous vehicle frenzy?
China’s autonomous vehicle industry saw a period of unprecedented acceleration in 2021, with over $8.5 billion invested in robotaxi startups, self-driving truck developers and equipment makers.
Humans should drive our transit future, not autonomous vehicles
Congress and the Biden administration have a chance to ensure that workers and the public interest, not profit motives of tech companies and large corporations, drive the future of AV…
California suspends Pony.ai driverless test permit after crash
Pony.ai, a Chinese autonomous driving startup with an office in the U.S., has paused its driverless pilot fleet in California six months after it was approved by local regulators to…
Autonomous driving startup DeepRoute.ai prices L4 solution at $10,000
DeepRoute.ai, an autonomous vehicle startup with offices in Shenzhen and Fremont, California, unveiled an ambitious self-driving solution on Wednesday. The package, named DeepRoute-Driver 2.0, is a production-ready Level 4 system…
Einride founder Robert Falck on his moral obligation to electrify autonomous trucking
Einride CEO and founder Robert Falck talks about his strategy for scaling revenue, why autonomous vehicles should be built on electric platforms and why the future is in startups’ hands.
Honda shows off the latest version of its ‘Autonomous Work Vehicle’
Honda and engineering company Black & Veatch have been putting the automaker’s second-gen Autonomous Work Vehicle (AWV) through its paces at a solar panel construction site.
Via’s Tiffany Chu on the importance of govtech for planning mobility ecosystems
We sat down with Chu to discuss govtech, why cities must be proactive about new forms of mobility, and how the private and public sectors can come together to create…
Pinterest gets into live shopping with launch of Pinterest TV
Pinterest is getting into live shopping as part of its pivot from being only an inspirational shopping site to becoming a home for creator content. The company this morning announced…
Wayve, the lidar-free self-driving startup, raises $13.6M from Ocado
Wayve, a U.K.-based self-driving startup that is notable for its use of deep learning and cameras rather than more-costly lidar and other sensors to guide vehicles, is gearing up for…
