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Another week, another round of announcements about robotaxis launching or planning in cities.
Let’s take stock. Waymo began testing its autonomous vehicles (with a safety monitor) in Philadelphia and will begin manual driving to collect data in Baltimore, St. Louis and Pittsburgh; Uber And Avride launched a robotaxi service in Dallas that will initially include a human safety operator behind the wheel; and the California Department of Motor Vehicles has released revised rules that would allow companies to test and eventually deploy self-driving trucks on the state’s public roads.
Autonomous vehicle technology is evolving and the pace is accelerating. But should this be the case?
As autonomous vehicle technology infiltrates the urban landscape, so do criticisms and challenges. A few recent incidents illustrate this point.
THE National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has asked Waymo for more information about its self-driving system and operations following reports from the Austin school district that its robotaxis illegally passed school buses 19 times this year. The agency has already opened an investigation into Waymo’s performance around school buses.
Then there’s KitKat, the bodega cat who died after being run over by a Waymo robo-taxi on October 27. The company was already facing criticism over the event. And now it could intensify thanks to a new video. The New York Times found surveillance video that shows a woman crouching next to the Waymo trying to lure KitKat to safety before the vehicle suddenly drives away.
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A little bird
Many changes have occurred in Lucid engines recently, according to some small birds.
As many of you already know, the company has lost a number of senior executives, including former CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson and, more recently, lead designer Eric Bach. Lucid, which is ramping up production of its Gravity SUV, has addressed some of these vacancies with a mix of internal promotions and external hires.
And the changes keep coming. A few little birds told us this week that a handful or more senior executives on its software and power teams had been laid off, including two senior directors who started at Lucid about a decade ago.
Do you have any advice to give us? Send an email to Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.
Offers!
Electric aircraft manufacturer Beta Technologieswhich went public last month, is creating a nice little supplier business for itself. Which is entirely appropriate since the Vermont-based company aims to become an aerospace equipment supplier.
The company has entered into an agreement to supply air taxi company Eve Air Mobility with its electric thrust motors. Beta says the deal represents a potential 10-year opportunity valued at $1 billion.
Of course, “potential” is an important hedge. This billion dollars is not guaranteed, even if shareholders interpreted it as such (shares jumped 8% following the news). Still, Beta is finding a short-term revenue stream as it continues to work toward commercial certification of its electric planes with the Federal Aviation Administration.
The company also released its third-quarter results this week. Beta saw its revenue more than double to $8.9 million compared to the same quarter last year. Its net losses also increased. Beta reported net losses of $452 million in the third quarter, a five-fold increase from the same period last year.
Other offers that caught my attention…
Automatic routea Palo Alto-based startup developing “air traffic control” for autonomous vehicles, raised $7.4 million in a round led by venture capital firms Draper Associates and Hyperplane.
Element fleet managementan automobile fleet manager, acquired Car IQ, a payment company for connected vehicles based in San Francisco. Terms were not disclosed, but sources with information about the deal told TechCrunch the acquisition price was $80 million. History lesson: In 2024, Canadian company Element Fleet Management acquired fleet optimization software startup Autofleet for $110 million.
ExploMara Chinese developer of electric propulsion systems for boats, raised $10 million in a Series A funding round. The investment was jointly led by private equity funds and a China-listed company (undisclosed), with existing shareholder DCM Ventures continuing to participate.
Heven AeroTecha startup developing hydrogen-powered drones, has raised $100 million in a Series B round led by American quantum computing company IonQ. The company’s post-money valuation now stands at over $1 billion. Texas Venture Partners also participated.
Wayvethe bustling British autonomous driving startup backed by Microsoft, Nvidia and SoftBank Group, has acquired German startup Quality Match, which analyzes data used to train AI models for automated driving. Terms were not disclosed.
Notable readings and other information
Amazon plans to end its long-standing contract with the United States Postal Service and build its own competing delivery network nationwide.
Tesla Owners can text and drive with the latest version of the company’s fully autonomous (supervised) driver assistance software, despite the fact that it is illegal to do so in most states.
Grand Theft Auto Online added robo-taxis from a fictional but familiar company nicknamed “KnoWay,” whose sole purpose seems to be wreaking havoc.
Nvidia Announcing alpamayo-R1, an open-reasoning vision language model for autonomous driving research.
TechCrunch European reporter Anna Heim provides insight into a drone delivery partnership in Finland.
THE Trump administration said it would lower fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks sold in the United States, arguing that it would make the vehicles more affordable. There is a trade-off, however. Consumers could end up paying more for gasoline.
The reduction essentially takes vehicles below what they already achieve. The proposal would increase fleet-wide fuel economy to 34.5 miles per gallon for model year 2031 cars. The previous fuel economy standard, set under the Biden administration, mandated a fuel economy of 50.4 mpg by 2031. By 2024, automakers were expected to achieve an average of 30.1 mpg across their fleets, which they have exceeded, delivering 35.4 mpg, according to CAFE calculations.
One more thing…
Before Thanksgiving, we ran a poll in the Mobility newsletter asking, “When do you think robotaxis will reach a critical point of mass adoption that will affect how people get from point A to point B?” Most readers chose “before the end of the decade,” which received 47.2% of the vote, followed by “the 2030s.” Based on your votes, there appears to be little confidence that 2026 will be the turning point year.
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