Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
Cloud Computing
DoC
Crypto
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
endeavour
EVs
Fintech
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
fund-raise
contraption
punt
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
Government & Policy
Hardware
layoff
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
blank space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
speculation
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
telecasting
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
receive back toTechCrunch Mobility — your cardinal hub for news show and insights on the future tense of transport . Sign up here for free — just clickTechCrunch Mobility !
GM ’s determination tono longer fundits ego - drive car subsidiary Cruise was a surprise to many — and got me think about this inauguration that I ’ve come to know over the years .
About nine years ago , I ascertain about a inauguration calledCruise Automation . The San Francisco - based inauguration , co - constitute byKyle VogtandDan Kanin 2013 , had just shifted its business plan aside from develop unmediated - to - consumer kits to retrofit fomite and instead turned its aid and efforts to self - drive package .
The autonomous vehicle world was a modest and dynamical shoes back in 2015 . Cruise had a few twelve employees , andWaymodidn’t even live yet , as it was still draw as theGoogle ego - driving labor . The people who would go on to foundAurora , Nuro , andArgo AIwere still at other ship’s company , namely Google . Zooxhad just been founded the year before .
The hoopla had not steep the diligence yet . But that would fall soon enough , and for me , the moment that really kicked it off was March 2016 whenGM acquired Cruise for $ 1 billion , a story that Dan Primack and I broke when we both still process at Fortune .
There is too much history to share in this shortish newssheet , but it ’s safe to say that autonomous fomite engineering was on the thinker of automaker executives everywhere , and startup founder work on on the technical school were suddenly the darlings of the VC mankind . ( I see a lot of line of latitude with what ’s move on with AI now , but at an even large scale . )
Fast - forward through the wave of integration and numerous fail startups , and by 2023 just a few well - fund giants remain , including GM ’s Cruise , Alphabet ’s Waymo , Hyundai - endorse Motional , and Amazon - own Zoox . In August 2023 , Cruise last received the last license call for to operate commercially in San Francisco . hope were high whenI interviewed Vogtat Disrupt 2023 , even as criticism over the robotaxis begin ramping up .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Everything changedon October 2after an incident left a walker stuck under and then hang back by one of its robotaxis . By the terminal of the year , Vogt had resign , 24 % of Cruise ’s workforce had been laid off , governor had suspended its permit , and the company decided to finish operation elsewhere .
late motility by GM suggested that Cruise would give — albeit as a lean , more tightly controlled enterprise . But GM chairman and CEOMary Barrahas unlike plans for Cruise .
This storey will be ongoing ; there is much to dig into . But some of our initial articles coverGM ’s conclusion , how Cruise employeeslearned about the change(the term “ blindside ” was used ) , thefinancial effect onMicrosoft , andHonda ’s logical moveto track fundingto a joint programme in Japan .
Stay tuned . And now on to other news .
A little bird
A little snort drop an air tidbit regardingHyundai ’s urban air mobility startup , Supernal , that we were able to confirm with the troupe .
The core : Supernal is shift global headquarters from Washington , D.C. , to Irvine and is asking aroundthree dozen of its workers to relocate . While that figure represents only about 5 % of its total work force , it come out to report for the majority of workers settle in Washington , according to data from LinkedIn and a source who mouth to TechCrunch on the term of namelessness .
mystify a tip for us ? Email Kirsten Korosec atkirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com , Sean O’Kane atsean.okane@techcrunch.com , or Rebecca Bellan atrebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com . Or learn outthese instructionsto learn how to contact us via write in code messaging apps or SecureDrop .
Deals!
Investors still seem keen to bewilder money into future tense - of - flight SPACs .
TakeArcher AviationandJoby Aviation , two ship’s company that went public via mergers with special acquisition companies .
Archerraised $ 430 millionfrom existing and new institutional investors to fund a new business organisation unit dedicate to building aircraft for defence app program . In an interesting kink , part of that is going toward an exclusive partnership with Anduril to build a hybrid VTOL .
Meanwhile , Jobylaunched a public offering tosell up to $ 300 millionof its percentage of common fund . That should n’t be confused with the$222 millionJoby raised in October from insurer . This latest filing adds to that offering and would give Joby the chance to raise a totality of $ 522 million as it gears up to found commercially in 2025 .
Other deal that got my attention …
Nikola , a producer of battery and atomic number 1 - electric trucks , has taken several steps to return its debt and raise equity , includingoffering up to $ 100 millionin a vulgar blood line sale .
WeaveGrid , a San Francisco - found inauguration that ’s acquire EV charging software , raised $ 28 millionin a round lead by Toyota ’s Woven Capital . Existing investor Activate Capital , Collab Fund , Emerson Collective , and Salesforce Ventures participate , with debt provided by HSBC Innovation Banking .
Notable reads and other tidbits
San Franciscois the most fain metropolis fornew transportation technologieslike AI , independent vehicle , and air taxi , accord to a new urban mobility preparation index finger .
UberandWeRidelaunched arobotaxi servicein Abu Dhabi .
Fiskerresolved anotherfederal safety probe , this metre over the risk that its Ocean sport utility vehicle roll up away unexpectedly .
You might call back an article Iwrote in 2022aboutLightship , a inauguration build an all - galvanizing locomotion trailer . Welp , the company has officially launch its output example , theAE.1 Cosmos Edition , formerly bed as Lightship L1 . The company plan to make only 50 units , which will cost $ 250,000 . Three extra passementerie levels are expected in the hereafter .
TheLucid Gravity SUVisofficially in productionat the company ’s Casa Grande , Arizona , factory and nabbed anestimated EPA range of a function of 450 mi .
Rivian ’s eV ranked last onConsumer Reports ’ reliability list .
Amazonexpanded intoonline elevator car saleswith the launch of Amazon Autos , an e - commerce business that lets customer line up , order , and corrupt raw automobile , trucks , and SUVs from dealerships .
Salvatore Palellahas resigned as CEO and manager of the instrument panel atMicromobility.com , the inauguration formerly get laid as Helbiz that has been careening toward bankruptcy for some time . oddly , Palella ’s holding company is taking on all of the company ’s debt , according to aregulatory filing .
Spotifyofficiallydiscontinued Car Thing , its in - car cyclosis gadget , with all units now disabled .
Uberhas 30 days to require certain drivers toget fingerprintedif the drive - hail giant intend to bear on transporting unaccompanied teen in California , per a opinion from the state ’s Public Utilities Commission .
This week’s wheels
What is “ This hebdomad ’s wheels ” ? It ’s a hazard to discover about the dissimilar transport products we ’re testing , whether it ’s an electric or intercrossed machine , an e - motorcycle or even a ride in an autonomous fomite . succeeding vehicles include theLucid Air , more time in the next - genRivian R1S , and theVolkswagen ID Buzz . Stay tune up .
