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Welcome back to Navigation TechCrunch – Your central hub for news and ideas about the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!
Before we get to the news, I wanted to point you towards a recent podcast episode from TechCrunch Equity And my father Co-founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun.
birdie
Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com, or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. Or see these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.
Offers!
the Rivian-Volkswagen Group The joint project has been officially completed. Before the parties signed on the dotted line, it was about 16% larger. The deal will now pump up to $5.8 billion into Rivian’s coffers, with $1 billion already delivered via convertible notes.
We don’t know all the specific terms, but it’s worth noting that this will be an independent company led by Rivian’s head of software. Waseem bin Saeed Chief technical engineer of the Volkswagen Group, Carsten Helbing. The team, which will be staffed with engineers from Rivian, will be based in Palo Alto, California. It will eventually establish three more locations in North America and Europe.
One lingering question – and one that was asked by much of the media (including the Home Office) during a press conference – is what happens to Volkswagen’s struggling software arm, Cariad? Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume claims that Cariad will still play a “central role”. We’ll see.
Meanwhile, Rivian is still struggling with a supplier problem that has curtailed production and reduced revenue. In its third-quarter earnings, Rivian reported revenue of $874 million, 34% lower than the same period last year. But looking at the gap between production (13,157) and delivery (10,018) suggests that demand is also an issue.
That VW money looks pretty great right now.
Other deals that caught my attention…
Just eat takeawayThe Netherlands-based food delivery company has announced the sale of its US business Grubhub to New York-based Wonder Group in a deal valued at $650 million. This is 91% less than the $7.3 billion Just Eat Takeaway paid for the company just four years ago.
Silicon Valley Battery Startup Let it be The company is acquiring manufacturing assets from Northvolt, a Swedish battery manufacturer that has struggled in recent months and is undercapitalized. The companies did not disclose financial terms but said Northvolt would sell manufacturing equipment it inherited in its 2021 acquisition of Cuberg, another battery startup.
NASA Five research awards worth $11.5 million were awarded to companies working on sustainable aircraft concepts, including JetZero.
Faten Systemsa Portsmouth, Rhode Island-based company developing autonomous underwater vessels, has raised $13 million in a seed round led by DYNE Ventures and with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, RTX Ventures, In-Q-Tel and others. This brings the startup’s total funding to $16.5 million.
Robots in usa warehouse robotics startup that has developed autonomous forklifts and other pallet movers, raised $14.5 million. But the increase wasn’t exactly what caught my attention; It was set Karl Jagnimaformer President and CEO of Motional. Iagnemma has been in the autonomous vehicle world for a couple of decades, largely in pursuit of commercializing self-driving vehicles (e.g., robotaxis). This new position puts him at the helm of a startup (in which he was an early investor, by the way) that already has business clients.
Notable Readings and Other Stories
Self-driving vehicles
Monarch tractorAn autonomous electric tractor startup has laid off workers as part of a restructuring that will see it prioritize non-agricultural customers, license its autonomous technology and boost sales of its AI-powered farm management software. Did you get information about Monarch? Contact Sean Okane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.
howling I agreed to purchase RepairPalSite estimates car repairs at $80 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to customary closing conditions.
Waymo It has dropped its waiting list in Los Angeles, opening its robotaxi service to the public. The service area now covers approximately 80 square miles of Los Angeles County.
Welcome, Zoox Co-founder and CTO Jesse Levinson We told Disrupt 2024 that the Amazon-backed company’s custom robotaxi will hit the streets of San Francisco and Las Vegas. And now they have officially arrived. These are for staff only at the moment and will eventually be opened to invited members of the public.
Electric cars, charging and batteries
Kano He keeps trying to hold on, but his prospects don’t look great. The EV startup-turned-SPAC told shareholders in its third-quarter earnings that it “must continue to take aggressive actions to consolidate our operations, reduce costs and catch up on our plan.” As part of this plan, the Canoo Executive Team has been formed, which includes the Chairman and CEO Tony Aquila And the new CFO Kunal BhallaHe would accept “short-term pay cuts in exchange for long-term incentives.” Reminder: Aquila loaned Canoo the money, and among the terms was an interest rate of 11%.
And in other Kanoo news It tested its electric trucks for Walmart Sources told Fortune magazine that it had no airbags despite employee warnings.
clear I’ve started taking orders for the Gravity SUV. If it wasn’t already clear, Lucid’s future hinges on the success of this electric car.
Tesla Cybertrucks has issued a recall of more than 2,000 Cybertrucks, the sixth recall since the electric vehicle was launched a year ago. No, it is not a problem that can be fixed by a software update. Speaking of Tesla, the automaker is part of the trillion-dollar (market cap) club again, thanks in part to shareholders betting that a Trump presidency would benefit the company led by ally Elon Musk.
The future of the journey
externalA startup developing supersonic commercial air travel and drone technology said it will close its doors after failing to find the capital needed to continue operations.
Wheels this week
This week, I’m back with two more Waymo Robot taxi tales from TechCrunch employees who took their first rides while in San Francisco for Disrupt 2024. As I mentioned last week, I’ve been in a slew of self-driving vehicles, including driverless Waymos, so I thought it would be fun to share some Firstly – timer views.
From a UK-based correspondent Paul Sowers: “Although I’ve written about the self-driving car industry for many years, taking my first ride in a self-driving car was absolutely amazing — it felt like I was being catapulted into the future. I couldn’t help but stare at the empty driver’s seat and marvel at the fact that we were Cruising around the streets of San Francisco it wasn’t terribly nerve-wracking, but that’s probably because we weren’t going faster than about 25 to 30 mph. I suspect if you were on the freeway in this thing, it could be even hairier a little.
More broadly, there was something a bit jarring about seeing all these non-human cars crawling around street corners, somewhat forlorn, as if the machines had finally taken over.
From the reporter Rebecca Bellan: “I rode as many Waymos as I could during Disrupt Week, and it felt like I was having a ride at Disneyland. I moved slowly and carefully, and wasn’t really worried about crashing. Most of the rides went by without incident, except for one where the robo-taxi seemed ready to head toward someone.” Pedestrian, but then fortunately swerved.
“My main problem is that vehicles often start moving before they get to them, likely due to the city’s inaccessibility of curbsides. I’m not sure how a ‘driver’ decides it’s time to drive half a block and wait There is instead, but this little exercise had editor Kirsten and I chasing down a building in a (thankfully well-lit) alley before we could board it.”
Senior correspondent Sean O’Kane books: “I’ve covered AVs long enough that I expected my first taste of Waymo’s subtle rollout to go very smoothly — and it did. I didn’t expect to feel so viscerally how expensive these current vehicles are, from buzzy LIDARs to expensive I-Paces. I’m excited to ride again one day soon, but I’m hopeful that by then Waymo will have made more progress in creating a viable business.“
What are “This Week’s Wheels”? It’s an opportunity to learn about the different transportation products we’re testing, whether it’s an electric or hybrid car, an e-bike, or even a ride in a self-driving vehicle.
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