Welcome again to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for information and insights on the way forward for transportation. To get this in your inbox, enroll right here at no cost — simply click on TechCrunch Mobility!
It looks like a day doesn’t go by with out Waymo making some type of enlargement announcement. Detroit, Las Vegas, Nashville, San Diego, and Washington, D.C., are only a few of the cities the corporate plans to carry its robotaxi to within the coming months. However as I’ve argued on this e-newsletter earlier than, there’s one other “enlargement” I believe is extra necessary.
Freeways.
And now after years of testing and improvement, the corporate’s industrial robotaxi service is utilizing freeways across the San Francisco Bay Space, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.
This can be a important enlargement for the corporate. It’s the concrete and asphalt connective tissue in sprawling metro areas just like the Bay Space. This new freeway entry is fueling Waymo’s enlargement in that area, which is now 260 sq. miles and encompasses Silicon Valley and San Francisco.
Robotaxi rides can have extra environment friendly routes too. Waymo advised me it’ll scale back trip occasions by as much as 50%.
And utilizing freeways can be important for Waymo to supply rides to and from the San Francisco Airport, a location the corporate is at the moment testing in.
Techcrunch occasion
San Francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
That freeway-to-airport second would be the huge unlock for Waymo. However will or not it’s sufficient to assist push it within the black? Till somebody over there slides me their stability sheet, I can’t say. It is going to definitely be a preferred possibility for vacationers. That doesn’t imply the economics will pencil out.
Learn on for extra information, together with Einride’s SPAC bid, offers for Harbinger and Teradar, in addition to how By way of fared in its first earnings and a looming shutdown for Rad Energy Bikes. Plus! Scroll all the way down to get the outcomes of the Tesla ballot.
Slightly fowl
It’s been almost 9 months since Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson abruptly resigned, leaving the corporate with no everlasting alternative. Which may be about to alter, although.
A number of little birds advised us Lucid Motors has zeroed in on a candidate for the highest position. It’s anticipated to be somebody outdoors the group, which is maybe no shock; in August, we shared right here that the corporate and the chief hiring agency it’s utilizing had solid a really large web and was even cold-calling some candidates. This might possible imply that Marc Winterhoff, who’s been serving as interim CEO, would slide again to the COO position he occupied earlier than Rawlinson left.
Acquired a tip for us? E-mail Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Sign at kkorosec.07, or electronic mail Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.
Offers!
One other SPAC has entered the AV world! Mergers with particular acquisition firms is probably not formally “again,” however they’re definitely widespread amongst autonomous automobile firms.
Einride, the Swedish electrical and autonomous truck startup, plans to go public by way of a merger with a particular objective acquisition firm, simply six weeks after it raised $100 million from traders. The SPAC merger with Legato Merger Corp. values Einride at $1.8 billion in pre-money fairness.
Einride does generate income, which can sound apparent however there have been loads of pre-revenue transportation firms which have SPAC’d in recent times.
For now, its major income is coming from its software-as-a-service product and a fleet of 200 heavy-duty electrical vehicles utilized by firms like Heineken and PepsiCo. Its unusual-looking autonomous podlike vehicles are nonetheless in pilot mode.
The merger is predicted to shut within the first half of 2026, with Einride making its debut on the New York Inventory Change.
Different offers that bought my consideration this week …
Forterra, an organization growing autonomous tech for protection, raised $238 million in fairness and debt funding. Moore Strategic Ventures led the fairness piece of the funding, whereas Crescent Cove supplied the debt financing.
Gopuff, the rapid-delivery startup, raised $250 million in a spherical led by Eldridge Industries and Valor Fairness Companions. Baillie Gifford, Robinhood, Equalis Capital, George Ruan, Yakir Gabay, and Gopuff’s co-founders. The funding put its valuation at $8.5 billion, according to Bloomberg, a big markdown from its final elevate in 2021.
Harbinger, the Los Angeles-based electrical truck startup, raised $160 million in a Collection C funding spherical co-led by FedEx. As a part of the funding, FedEx ordered 53 of Harbinger’s electrical truck chassis.
Octopus Electrical Automobiles, a U.Ok.-based electrical vehicle-leasing enterprise, has struck a take care of lenders, together with Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Stanley, and Credit score Agricole, to take its whole funding line to £2 billion ($2.6 billion), Sky News reported.
Teradar, a Boston-based startup growing a solid-state sensor, raised $150 million in a Collection B funding spherical from traders Capricorn Funding Group, Lockheed Martin’s enterprise arm, mobility-focused agency Ibex Buyers, and VXI Capital, a brand new defense-focused fund led by the previous CTO of the U.S. navy’s Protection Innovation Unit.
Upway, an e-bike refurbishment startup, raised $60 million in a Collection C funding spherical led by A.P. Moller. Impress, Ora World, and Sequoia Capital additionally participated. The corporate has raised greater than $125 million since its founding in 2021.
Vay, a German startup that remotely pilots rental vehicles to clients, introduced a $60 million funding from Singaporean tech heavyweight Seize. The deal, which is topic to regulatory approval and anticipated to shut by the top of the yr, could also be adopted by “a further $350M as joint milestones are achieved inside the first yr.”
Notable reads and different tidbits
Ford is increasing the supply of its BlueCruise hands-free highway driving technology in Europe. The automaker will make the system accessible in a number of autos, together with the Puma, Puma Gen-E, Kuga, and Ranger PHEV 5 fashions beginning in spring 2026.
Joby Aviation carried out the primary flight of its turbine electric, autonomous VTOL aircraft. This demonstrator shouldn’t be confused with its all-electric air taxi, though it was constructed off that platform. This plane has a hybrid turbine powertrain and is designed for protection functions.
Lyft has partnered with Curb, a ride-hailing platform for licensed taxis. Below the deal, Lyft riders shall be linked with Curb’s community of drivers by means of an integration with the Curb Move platform, which is already in Los Angeles. Different cities will quickly observe.
Rad Energy Bikes, one of many extra widespread e-bike firms, is probably not lengthy for this world. The corporate has knowledgeable its workers that it’ll shut down in January whether it is unable to seek out new funding or get acquired, in response to an inner employees electronic mail considered by TechCrunch.
Tesla would possibly carry Apple CarPlay to its EVs. However at this level, ought to it? In the meantime, the corporate’s vitality storage division is coping with an expanded recall of its consumer-based Powerwall 2 product after stories of fires.
The Boring Firm, an Elon Musk firm, is beneath scrutiny once more. This time due to stories that firefighters performing a security drill at one in all The Boring Firm’s development websites in Las Vegas acquired burns from chemical compounds used within the tunnel-excavation course of. And the controversy doesn’t cease there.
Toyota began manufacturing at a brand new $13.9 billion battery plant in North Carolina. Whereas Toyota has a number of amenities within the U.S., that is its first battery plant to be constructed outdoors of Japan. And it’s not accomplished investing within the U.S. The corporate mentioned it plans to take a position as much as $10 billion greater than beforehand anticipated over the following 5 years.
Uber has quietly begun piloting in-app video recording for its drivers in India. The ride-hailing firm can be looking for extra premium clients by means of new efforts like Uber Ski, which lets riders schedule a automobile prematurely to almost 40 widespread ski locations in North America and Europe, together with Vail in Colorado and Park Metropolis in Utah.
By way of had its first earnings because it grew to become a publicly traded firm, and, welp, it misplaced cash. The tech transit software program firm reported a lack of $36.9 million in its third quarter, a 73% improve for the reason that identical interval final yr. Its income grew to $713 million, an 11% improve YoY.
Another factor …
Keep in mind the ballot in final week’s e-newsletter? I requested which product purpose is Tesla most certainly to attain by 2035? The choices are primarily based on actual objectives specified by Musk’s $1 trillion compensation bundle:
- 20 million Tesla autos delivered
- 10 million energetic Full Self-Driving subscriptions
- 1 million robots delivered
- 1 million robotaxis in industrial operation
- None of those shall be reached
And y’all are cut up between two choices: Tesla delivering 20 million autos, which acquired 34.7% of the vote, and “None of those shall be reached,” which acquired 32% of the vote.
The one merchandise you appear to agree on is that Tesla is unlikely to ship on the opposite three objectives. About 9.5% of readers picked the 1 million robots possibility, 12.6% selected 10 million energetic Full Self-Driving subscriptions, and 10.5% picked 1 million robotaxis in industrial operation inside 10 years.
Notice: If you wish to take part in our polls, join the Mobility e-newsletter right here!
