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The next week will see another announcement regarding the launch or plans for robotaxi in cities.
Let’s think about it. Waymo will begin testing self-driving cars (with safety monitors) in Philadelphia, and manually drive them to collect data in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh. Uber and Avride have launched robotaxi services in Dallas. Initially, a human safety operator will be at the wheel. The California Department of Transportation has announced amended rules that will allow companies to test and eventually deploy self-driving trucks on the state’s public roads.
Self-driving vehicle technology is expanding, and the pace is accelerating. But should you?
As self-driving vehicle technology permeates the urban landscape, criticism and challenges are also increasing. Several recent incidents illustrate this point.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked Waymo for more information about its self-driving system and its operations after the Austin School District reported that its robotaxis had illegally passed school buses 19 times this year. The agency has already launched an investigation into Waymo’s performance on school buses.
And then there’s Kit Kat, the bodega cat who was killed by a Waymo robot taxi on October 27th. The company had already faced criticism over the event. And now, thanks to a new video, it may escalate even further. The New York Times tracked surveillance video that showed a woman crouching next to the Waymo and trying to guide the KitKat to safety before the vehicle suddenly drove away.
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small bird
According to a few little birds, there’s been a lot of change going on at Lucid Motors lately.
As many of you may already know, the company has lost a number of executives, including former CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson, and most recently chief designer Eric Bach. Lucid is in the midst of ramping up production of its Gravity SUV, and is filling some of those vacancies with a mix of internal promotions and external hires.
And change continues to occur. This week, several small events revealed that several or more top managers from the software and electrical teams have been let go, including two senior directors who joined Lucid nearly a decade ago.
Have a tip? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.Korosec@techcrunch.com, email my Signal at korosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.
Great deal!
Beta Technologies, the electric aircraft maker that went public last month, is carving out a small supplier business for itself. This is a perfect fit since the Vermont-based company aims to become an OEM in the aviation sector.
The company has signed a contract to supply electric pusher motors to air taxi company Eve Air Mobility. Beta says the deal represents a potential opportunity worth $1 billion over 10 years.
Of course, “probability” is also an important hedge. Even if shareholders interpret it that way, that $1 billion isn’t guaranteed (shares jumped 8% on the news). Still, Beta continues to work towards commercial certification of its electric aircraft by the Federal Aviation Administration and sees a path to near-term revenue.
The company also announced its third quarter results this week. Beta revenue more than doubled compared to the same period last year to $8.9 million. Net losses also widened. Beta reported a net loss of $452 million in the third quarter, an increase of more than five times compared to the same period last year.
Other sales that caught my attention…
Autolane, a Palo Alto-based startup developing “air traffic control” for autonomous vehicles, has raised $7.4 million in a round led by venture capital firms Draper Associates and Hyperplane.
Element Fleet Management, an automotive fleet management company, has acquired Car IQ, a San Francisco-based connected vehicle payments company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources told TechCrunch that the deal is valued at $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, has raised $10 million in a Series A round. The investment was jointly led by a private equity fund and a privately listed Chinese company, with continued participation from existing shareholder DCM Ventures.
Haven Aerotech, a startup developing hydrogen-powered drones, has raised $100 million in a Series B round led by American quantum computing company AeonQ. The company’s valuation after asset management is currently over $1 billion. Texas Venture Partners also participated.
Wayve, a buzzy British self-driving startup backed by Microsoft, Nvidia and SoftBank Group, has acquired Quality Match, a German startup that analyzes data used to train AI models for self-driving cars. Terms were not disclosed.
Notable reads and other trivia
Amazon is considering ending its long-standing contract with the U.S. Postal Service and building its own competing national delivery network.
Tesla owners can text and drive using the latest version of the company’s fully autonomous (supervised) driver-assistance software, even though it’s illegal in most states.
Grand Theft Auto Online has added robotaxis from a fictional but well-known company named “KnoWay,” whose sole purpose appears to be to cause havoc.
Nvidia announced Alpamayo-R1, an open inference vision language model for autonomous driving research.
TechCrunch’s Europe-based reporter Anna Heim takes you inside the drone delivery partnership in Finland.
The Trump administration has announced lower fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks sold in the United States, saying they will make cars more affordable. However, there are trade-offs. Consumers could end up paying more for gas.
This reduction effectively brings the price of the vehicle below the already achieved level. The proposal would lower fuel efficiency for all 2031 model year vehicles to 34.5 miles per gallon. Previous fuel efficiency standards set under the Biden administration required 50.4 mpg by 2031. CAFE calculates that by 2024, automakers will need to achieve an average fuel efficiency of 30.1mpg across their fleet, which they have smashed to 35.4mpg.
One more thing…
Before Thanksgiving, we asked the question in our Mobility Newsletter, “When do you think we’ll reach a tipping point for mass adoption of robotaxis that will impact how people get from point A to point B?” Most readers chose “before the end of the decade,” with 47.2% of the votes, followed by “2030s.” Based on your poll, there seems to be low confidence that 2026 will be a turning point year.
To participate in the vote, sign up for the Mobility newsletter.
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