TechCrunch Mobility: Confessions of Elon | TechCrunch

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Tesla’s earnings have ebbed and flowed, with much of it falling into the “expected” category. Investors seemed surprised by the $1.4 billion in free cash flow, which caused the stock to briefly rise, and depending on which batch of analysts you track, earnings either met or slightly beat expectations.

But there was an eyebrow-raising moment in this earnings call that prompted readers (including some former Tesla engineers and other founders of the industry) to contact me in Schadenfreude-tinged prose. CEO Elon Musk acknowledged that millions of Tesla owners will need hardware upgrades to run future, more capable versions of fully self-driving software that don’t require human supervision.

There are financial and legal implications for Tesla. As senior reporter Sean O’Kane writes, Tesla owners of Hardware 3 cars have spent years demanding direct answers from the company and Musk about whether this advanced version can run fully self-driving. It’s worth noting that Tesla has not yet released full self-driving, or even proven that it can. Tesla sold 3 cars with these hardware from 2019 to 2023.

Now, here’s the kicker, and it made me laugh out loud. Musk said the company would need to physically upgrade each of those vehicles, which would require Tesla to set up micro-factories in several major cities that could potentially service millions of vehicles.

Microfactory? Yes, you heard correctly. This won’t be cheap and could be a line item in Tesla’s capital spending budget, which has grown to a staggering $25 billion this year.

small bird

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane obtained (and verified) an internal memo from Redwood Materials founder and CEO JB Straubel announcing layoffs and restructuring. (Thanks Bird for sharing.) Straubel is the former CTO of Tesla.

The company has laid off approximately 135 employees, approximately 10% of its workforce, as part of a reorganization to better serve its growing energy storage business. Mr. O’Kane later learned that several executives had also recently retired. With chief operating officer Chris Lister stepping down and at least three other vice presidents departing in recent months, the company told TechCrunch it is focused on reducing management layers.

Last week, I shared that a new Eclipse-backed autonomous transport vehicle startup (think autonomous big rigs without cables) was about to break cover and announce a seed round, thanks to a little bird. Well, that happened just a few days later.

Humble Robotics, a San Francisco-based startup, has raised $24 million in a seed round. Eclipse led the round, which also included support from Energy Impact Partners and RedBlue Capital, an incredibly active small early-stage VC firm.

As I’d heard, Humble is chock-full of Silicon Valley’s elite, including founder Eyal Cohen, who previously worked at Apple Special Projects, Uber ATG, Pronto, and Waabi. He also founded Spark AI, which was acquired by John Deere in 2023.

Other executives include Drew Gray, who has a similar AV-focused background, including an early career at Cruise before moving to Otto, a self-driving truck startup that was acquired by Uber. After leaving Uber, he became CTO of Voyage, which was acquired by Cruise.

A full-circle moment anchored by this fun fact: Humble Robotics is located in the same building that Cruise was in shortly after the startup moved out of founder Kyle Vogt’s garage. We keep going back to 2016.

However, this is not 2016. Cohen and Gray spoke to me about how much has changed since then, why now is the time to launch an AV startup, and where the industry is headed. Look forward to that story next week.

Any tips? 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!

While Lyft has stuck to the North American market for most of its history, Uber’s strategy has been to expand globally at all costs. Lyft has been trying to bounce back since last year when it acquired German multi-mobility app Freenow from BMW and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for about $197 million in cash.

The company is currently acquiring the UK operations of ride-hailing app Gett. Lyft says the partnership will allow the majority of registered black taxi drivers across London to register on the Lyft platform. The company did not disclose terms, but Calcalist reported that the deal was worth $55 million.

The company is also working on building other transportation options in the region, including a recently renewed partnership with Serco to provide bikes and stations for the European bike-sharing system Santander Cycles. Lyft also plans to begin self-driving tests with Baidu in London later this year.

Other sales that caught my attention…

A&K Robotics, a Vancouver, Canada-based manufacturer of self-driving airport vehicles, has raised $8 million in a Series A round led by BDC’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and Vantage Futures.

Decade Energy, which provides electricity infrastructure to logistics hubs, has raised €22 million in funding led by Eiffel Investment Group, SET Ventures and existing investors.

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

PlusAI and blank check firm Churchill Capital Corp. IX have terminated their SPAC merger agreement, citing market conditions.

Porsche will sell its stake in Bugatti Rimac, a joint venture it established in 2021, along with electric car maker Rimac Group. Porsche holds a 20.6% stake in Rimac and a 45% stake in the joint venture, which will be sold to HOF Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Notable reads and other trivia

Einride will add 75 of its electric heavy-duty trucks to Amazon’s Relay Freight Network as part of a deal that gives the Swedish startup a foothold in the e-commerce giant’s operations.

Ford and Chinese automaker Geely have discussed expanding their European partnership to the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported. The impact, of course, will be the entry of Chinese cars into the US market. However, negotiations seem to have stalled, leaving this important agreement in limbo. Bloomberg reported that Ford denied these claims.

Porsche is adding a new EV to its lineup. The Cayenne electric coupe is scheduled to go on sale in late summer. I have some interesting data in my article about why this is a winner for Porsche.

The first customer Rivian R2 SUV rolled off the production line at a factory in Normal, Illinois, days after an EF-1 tornado ripped off part of its roof. Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said Rivian does not expect any delays for R2, which is scheduled to be delivered to customers in June.

One more thing…

As avid readers of this newsletter know, I test drive quite a few cars, sometimes not EVs. Take the Aston Martin Vantage Roadster, for example. I wanted to drive a roadster not just because this $205,000 Chiltern green machine is sleek, powerful, and convertible. I wanted to test Apple CarPlay Ultra, a next-generation infotainment system that projects iPhone content onto the vehicle’s screen (including the instrument cluster) and integrates vehicle controls such as the radio, performance settings, and climate. CarPlay Ultra first launched on Aston Martin, but it’s never been easier for me to get my hands on one.

My first experience with Apple Ultra CarPlay last summer was a mixed one. When it worked, it was great, but often it didn’t. The issue appears to be related to a bug where two versions of the vehicle are displayed in the Bluetooth settings.

This time, the setup was instantaneous and I had no issues. Long live it. And it always worked. This is hugely important for Aston Martin, which has been stuck with Mercedes-Benz’s old COMAND system for years. (Mercedes retired that system in 2018 and introduced the new MBUX).