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Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news show and penetration on the future of transportation . Sign up here for free — just clickTechCrunch Mobility !
What a wild week for transportation news ! It was a miscellany of news that seemed to affect every sector and theme in transportation , including tariffs on Chinese EVs , an escalatingTeslastrikein Sweden , a Union investigation intoWaymo , a buzzy EV IPO , executive director shufflingatFord , and anUbershuttle servicedeveloped for commuter train in India and Egypt that has been adapted for American concertgoers .
Let ’s go !
A little bird
We heard from afew little birdsthis week .
First up , here ’s a abstruse gash for all those autonomous vehicle nerds . RememberRoborace , the sovereign vehicle racing series that never was ? As you might recall , it perish in 2022 , but founding father Denis Sverdlov ( who also founded the now - defunct EV inauguration Arrival ) had talked about trying to come to it if more funds were secured . It seems those dreams have died . One little bird spotted that theroborace.com domainis up for sale .
Meanwhile , we remain to talk to little birds about the self-reliant fomite company Motional . As you might recall , the self-governing fomite startup receive a direct investment of $ 475 million from Hyundai . That money came with some strings , namely some belt tightening that included pause all commercial operation . Our late scoop , thanks to several insider , is that more than 550 employees , or about 40 % of its workforce , have beenlaid off from Motional . While many of those were in commercial mathematical process , the cuts affect other section , including merchandise , safety , cybersecurity and legal team .
Got a tip for us ? Email Kirsten Korosec atkirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com , Sean O’Kane atsean.okane@techcrunch.comor Rebecca Bellan atrebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com . Or check outthese instructionsto get a line how to touch us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop .
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Deals!
A deal war with China may be heating up and EV demand may be softening , but it ’s apparently not enough to discourage Zeekr investor !
Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding , the Taiwanese EV blade under China ’s Geely Holdings , sell 21 million shares at $ 21 per percentage to raise $ 441 million , an upsize from early program to sell 17.5 million shares between $ 18 and $ 21.Shares popped 38%on Zeekr ’s first mean solar day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange , ease up it a valuation of $ 7 billion — and the Washington it postulate to expand outside China in 2024 .
share have settled a bit since , but Zeekr is still make onto a $ 6.6 billion market cap . That ’s surprising stability consider President Joe Biden released plans toincrease tariffson imports of Chinese EVs from 25 % to 100 % in 2024 .
Kyle Vogt , the father and former CEO of Cruise , has a new VC - backed robotics startup focalize on household task call the Bot Company . admonisher : Vogt renounce from Cruise in November just weeks after one of the company ’s robotaxis hit and hale a pedestrian . But investors still seem keen to back Vogt and his ideas . Sidebar : Comma.aifounder and firebrandGeorge Hotzdidn’t seem too proud of .
Vogt , who co - ground the Bot Company with former Tesla AI technical school team drawing card Paril Jain and an ex - Cruise software program railroad engineer Luke Holoubek , raised $ 150 millionfrom former GitHub CEO and investor Nat Friedman , Pioneer founder and investor Daniel Gross , Spark Capital cosmopolitan mate Nabeel Hyatt , Stripe CEO Patrick Collison , Stripe co - beginner John Collison and Quiet Capital .
Li Industries , a Pineville , North Carolina , lithium - ion battery recycling startup , raised $ 36 million in a Series Bfunding round carbon monoxide gas - led by Bosch Ventures , Khosla Ventures and LG Tech Ventures . Other new investors include Formosa Smart Energy Tech Corp. , Anglo American Decarbonization Ventures and Chevron Technology Ventures coming in as new investor . Previous backers Shell Ventures and Myriad Ventures also joined .
Magic Lane , the Amsterdam - base startup that develop software growth outfit to bring mapping , location and seafaring into ride - hailing apps , micromobility and vehicles , elevate € 3 million($3.26 million ) . The round was led by No Such Ventures .
Orange Charger , a startup that sells landlord a 240 - volt smart outlet among other merchandise , hasraised $ 6.5 millionin a seeded player round led by Munich Re Ventures and Climactic with engagement by Baukunst , Crow Holdings , Lincoln Property Ventures , and Spacecadet Ventures .
Uberagreed to buyFoodpanda — the Taiwan building block of Delivery Hero — for$950 millionin hard cash . As part of the pile , Uber will take a stake in Delivery Hero through the leverage of $ 300 million newly issued ordinary shares .
Notable reads and other tidbits
Cruisehas reportedlyreached a settlementbetween $ 8 million and $ 12 million with the pedestrian who was arrive at and then drag by one of its robotaxis . TechCrunch has affirm that range of mountains .
Meanwhile , Cruise isramping up robotaxi testingin Phoenix with “ supervised ” independent driving .
Waymo ’s self-reliant vehicle software program isunder investigationafter federal regulators received 22 reports of the robotaxis crashing or potentially break traffic safety laws by driving in the wrong lane or into construction zone .
Fiskerhas the aid of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration once again . The federal agencyopened a fourth investigationinto the Fisker Ocean SUV , this clock time to probe multiple claims of “ accidental Automatic Emergency Braking . ”
Teslaisn’t done newspaper clipping jobs . CEOElon Musksaid in April that the caller would lay off more than 10 % of its 140,000 - someone manpower . We ’ve seen several waves since then that paint a picture the cuts have kick the bucket beyond that initial quarry . There have been paper that Musk want to cut 20 % of employees . The late is 601 workers at Tesla facilities in California , harmonise to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification ( WARN ) notice .
By the way , think back when Musk axed the full Supercharger team ? ReporterTim De Chantgot aninside bet into the Tesla Supercharger team , including that it was indeed profitable . Since his article was put out , Musk has reportedly started rent some of that squad back .
This week’s wheels
The2024Mercedes - Benz eSprinteris more than just a giant all - galvanizing cargo van . Although as you’re able to see in this photo , it is a magnanimous - un . I only had a few days behind the bike , but it was enough to take it manoeuver easy in traffic — in spite of its size of it . The van has quite a bit of tech pack inside and starts at $ 71,866 .
There is a morsel too much to number , so here are just a few important bit . First up , the reach from the 113 - kilowatt hour stamp battery ( per the European WLTP bike ) is supposed to be 273 miles , which is considerably more than the 159 - mile range on the Ford E - transit vanguard .
The interior layout arrange function first and the infotainment system clearly displays the info a commercial-grade equipment driver might need , and can be accessed by part or the steering wheel . There are electron volt - specific feature as well , including a pilotage setting that calculates an optimized itinerary , include charge up stops in real time depending on the current traffic billet and topography of the route .
While the towing capacity is less than its diesel counterpart , there was plenty of top to the EV van , notably its drivability .
One bank note about the regenerative braking that took some getting used to . There are five selectable recuperation levels to choose from ( D- , D , D+ , D++ and ‘ D Auto ’ ) , all of which can be correct with the paddle on either side of the guidance wheel . D Auto is conceptually bang-up . That setting automatically make up one’s mind when to apply the bracken ground on the dealings situation and adjusts consequently . I found that it was easy to use but would unexpectedly hit the brake if a fomite , far ahead of me , would come into my lane .
