Transportation
Transportation news includes all the present and future ways people and packages get from Point A to Point B. Coverage includes scooters and e-bikes to autonomous vehicles, EVs, transit, and evTOLs. We cover auto tech players big and small, from Tesla, GM, Uber, and Lyft, to small startups entering the automotive tech space.
VCs and the military are fueling self-driving startups that don’t need roads
A new crop of early-stage startups — along with some recent VC investments — illustrates a niche emerging in the autonomous vehicle technology sector. Unlike the companies bringing robotaxis to…
What a wild week for transportation news! It was a smorgasbord of news that seemed to touch every sector and theme in transportation.
Forget EVs: Why Bedrock Materials is targeting gas-powered cars for its first sodium-ion batteries
Bedrock Materials is developing a new type of sodium-ion battery, which promises to be dramatically cheaper than lithium-ion.
Uber is taking a shuttle product it developed for commuters in India and Egypt and converting it for an American audience. The ride-hail and delivery giant announced Wednesday at its…
Orange Charger thinks a $750 outlet will solve EV charging for apartment dwellers
Charging has long been the Achilles’ heel of electric vehicles. One startup thinks it has a better way for apartment dwelling EV drivers to charge overnight.
Motional cut about 550 employees, around 40%, in recent restructuring, sources say
Around 550 employees across autonomous vehicle company Motional have been laid off, according to information taken from WARN notice filings and sources at the company. Earlier this week, TechCrunch reported…
Waymo’s robotaxis under investigation after crashes and traffic mishaps
The company’s autonomous vehicles have had a number of misadventures lately, involving driving into construction sites.
Kyle Vogt, the former founder and CEO of self-driving car company Cruise, has a new VC-backed robotics startup focused on household chores. Vogt announced Monday that the new startup, called…
A human safety operator will be behind the wheel during this phase of testing, according to the company.
Tesla’s profitable Supercharger network is in limbo after Musk axed the entire team
Here’s what one insider said happened in the days leading up to the layoffs.
Zeekr’s market hype is noteworthy and may indicate that investors see value in the high-quality, low-price offerings of Chinese automakers.
The U.S.’ NHTSA has opened a fourth investigation into the Fisker Ocean SUV, spurred by multiple claims of “inadvertent Automatic Emergency Braking.”
Tesla drives Luminar lidar sales and Motional pauses robotaxi plans
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Tap, tap.…
Uber promises member exclusives as Uber One passes $1B run-rate
Uber plans to deliver more perks to Uber One members, like member-exclusive events, in a bid to gain more revenue through subscriptions. “You will see more member-exclusives coming up where…
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that lidar sensors are a “crutch” for autonomous vehicles. But his company has bought so many from Luminar that Tesla is now the lidar…
Rivian lost $1.45 billion in the first quarter, showing that its recent company-wide cost-cutting measures have a ways to go before it can approach profitability. The EV-maker brought in $1.2…
The pandemic ushered in an e-bike boom. But like so many other pandemic trends, that boom didn’t last. The last year has seen e-bike startups VanMoof and Cake file for…
Exclusive: Wayve co-founder Alex Kendall on the autonomous future for cars and robots
U.K.-based autonomous vehicle startup Wayve started life as a software platform loaded into a tiny electric “car” called Renault Twizy. Festooned with cameras, the company’s co-founders and PhD graduates, Alex…
Motional delays commercial robotaxi plans amid restructuring
Motional, the autonomous vehicle startup borne out of a $4 billion joint venture between Hyundai and automotive supplier Aptiv, will pause its commercial operations and delay plans to launch a…
Wayve raises $1B to take its Tesla-like technology for self-driving to many carmakers
Wayve, a U.K.-born startup developing a self-learning rather than rule-based system for autonomous driving, has closed $1.05 billion in Series C funding led by SoftBank Group. This is the U.K.’s…
Lucid loses longtime Apple and Intel exec who steered software division
Lucid Motors’ senior vice president of digital Mike Bell has resigned from his position. The company said in a filing Monday that the longtime Apple and Intel executive’s resignation is…
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Hyundai antes up $1B for AV startup Motional and Elon unplugs the Tesla Supercharger team
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Before I jump into the all the news — and boy there was a lot! — I have an important update for all of you lovely readers. TechCrunch Mobility is moving to Thursdays! It will be the same…
Lidar company Luminar is slashing its workforce by 20% and will lean harder on its contract manufacturing partner as part of a restructuring that will shift the company to a…
Fisker stiffed the engineering firm developing its low-cost EV and pickup truck, lawsuit claims
Henrik Fisker stood on a stage last August and proudly debuted two prototypes designed to catapult his eponymous EV startup Fisker into the mainstream. There was the Pear, a low-cost…
Rivian wins $827M incentive package to expand Illinois factory for R2 production
Rivian is getting $827 million in incentives from the state of Illinois to support building its next-generation electric vehicle, known as the R2. The company announced Thursday that the Illinois…
Hyundai is spending close to $1B to keep self-driving startup Motional alive
Hyundai has agreed to spend nearly $1 billion on Motional, an investment that will give the automaker a majority stake while providing the self-driving startup with the necessary capital to…
Acura’s new all-electric SUV proves the most expensive model isn’t always the best
The first electric vehicle I ever drove was a Tesla Roadster in 2011. I will never forget the feeling of the instant torque provided by the electric motor, propelling me…
Elon Musk guts Tesla’s charging team after winning over major automakers
Tesla has gutted its charging team in a new round of layoffs, despite recently winning over major automakers like Ford and General Motors and making its connector the de facto…
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Inside the Autonomous Racing League event that pitted a self-driving car against a Formula 1 driver
Wander the pits at any professional motorsports event, especially something like Formula 1, and you’ll see endless computer displays full of telemetry. Modern teams are awash in real-time digital feedback from the cars. I’ve been in many of these pits over the years and marveled at the streams of data, but never have I seen…
EV startup Fisker Inc. is laying off more employees to “preserve cash,” one week after warning investors it would have to make cuts to stave off impending bankruptcy, according to…
