Techcrunch Mobility: Everything Said On, And Off, The Stage At Techcrunch Disrupt 2025

Welcome backmost to TechCrunch Mobility — your cardinal hub for news and insights connected nan early of transportation. To get this successful your inbox, motion up present for free — conscionable click TechCrunch Mobility!

We’re mixing things up a spot this week to attraction connected what was said on, and off, nan shape astatine TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. In short, it was a banger pinch a number of high-profile execs and founders moving connected nan early of transportation. 

Here are a few: Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, Slate CEO Chris Barman, Nuro co-CEO and laminitis Dave Ferguson, Uber CPO Sachin Kansal, Wayve laminitis and CEO Alex Kendall, and Kodiak AI laminitis and CEO Don Burnette. Videos of those interviews will beryllium posted connected our YouTube channel complete nan coming week. 

The Slate Auto interview pinch Sean O’Kane and Chris Barman is already available. If you watch it, salary attraction to Barman’s comments astir nan accessories that tin beryllium added to immoderate Slate EV. The startup will design, make, and waste accessories, but it’s besides going to stock information truthful owners tin make their own. And moreover waste it to different owners. 

“We will merchandise each of nan information accusation connected that and anybody tin 3D people their own,” Barman said. “So we besides want that individuals don’t consciousness they person to travel to us. We want to create an ecosystem that’ll beryllium connected our website Slate marketplace.” 

O’Kane past asked if Slate would return a trim connected those accessories if creators adhd them to nan Slate marketplace. 

“Yeah, we’ll return immoderate magnitude of interest erstwhile we activity pinch them,” she said, quickly adding that creators tin waste elsewhere (and without Slate taking a cut). “If they wanted to, they could take to marketplace it connected Etsy. It’s their powerfulness of prime and what they do. It’s not arsenic if we’re going to behold them to us.”

Among different highlights … San Francisco politician Daniel Lurie said he was happy to person Waymo connected SF’s streets and welcomed different companies to usage nan metropolis arsenic a testbed for autonomous conveyance tech. And transportation-focused Glīd was declared nan victor of Startup Battlefield 2025. Oh, and Sean O’Kane and I took a demo thrust done nan streets of San Francisco successful a Wayve vehicle. 

Plus, Mawakana made a number of absorbing comments onstage, including that she believes different companies moving connected autonomous vehicles request to do much to prove their exertion is safe and that successful nan look of nan committedness of greater safety, nan nationalist would judge a decease caused by a robotaxi.

She besides said Waymo will spell aft group who vandalize its vehicles and that nan institution has rejected authorities requests for video captured from its vehicles —adding that they will proceed to cull those requests if they are “overly broad.”

Deals!

Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

A institution that developed integer substance guidance for aviation, i6, raised $20 million successful Series B backing led by Yttrium. International Airlines Group, World Kinect, and Shell Ventures joined.

IntrCity SmartBus, a tech-enabled intercity autobus level successful India, raised $30 million successful backing to grow its web crossed smaller cities and towns successful nan South Asian nation. The all-equity Series D round, led by A91 Partners, values nan Noida-based startup astatine $140 cardinal post-money.

Navan, nan firm recreation and disbursal platform, vanished its first time of trading connected nan Nasdaq down 20% from its $25 IPO price, resulting successful a valuation of astir $4.7 billion.

Pavewise, a roadworthy building tech startup, raised $2.5 million successful a seed information led by C2 Ventures. Other investors included Connectic, Service Provider Capital, Geoff Judge, nan erstwhile CEO of Ryvit Tom Stemm, M25, gener8tor 1889, and Broadwater Capital.

Ridepanda, an e-bike and scooter fleet startup that provides subscriptions to companies, raised $12.6 cardinal in a Series A backing information led by Bikeleasing Group of Germany. Other investors included Blackhorn Ventures, Yamaha Motor Ventures, Proeza Ventures, and Somersault Ventures.

Notable sounds and different tidbits

Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

Aurora added a 600-mile driverless route from Fort Worth, Texas, to El Paso, nan company’s 2nd for its self-driving trucks. The institution besides revealed specifications connected its next-generation hardware.

India, nan marketplace BlaBlaCar erstwhile walked distant from, is now its biggest.

General Motors is laying disconnected thousands of workers crossed aggregate electrical conveyance and artillery plants successful nan United States. 

Luminar is experiencing a caller information of struggles since nan committee pushed retired its laminitis and CEO Austin Russell. A caller regulatory filing warns that it will run retired of cash successful early 2026 and has announced a 25% trim to its workforce. The institution besides said its CFO has left.

Nvidia made a spot of proscription news this week, including a business pinch Stellantis, Uber, and Foxconn to jointly create autonomous vehicles. The news was portion of a broader announcement astir Nvidia’s caller Drive AGX Hyperion 10 autonomous vehicle development platform and Nvidia Drive software, which respective automakers, suppliers, and robotaxi companies will use. That database includes Lucid, Mercedes, and Stellantis. The level is portion of Uber’s extremity to standard its world autonomous fleet to 100,000 vehicles complete time, starting successful 2027. 

Wayve’s Alex Kendall told maine backstage astatine TechCrunch Disrupt that he was really excited astir Hyperion and that he, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi,and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang person been encouraging automakers to usage it. “What we would emotion to spot is much manufacturers building vehicles pinch nan Hyperion architecture, because that unlocks everything we’re trying to do.”  

Uber picked San Francisco to motorboat a premium robotaxi work that will usage Lucid Motors’ all-electric Gravity SUVs equipped pinch self-driving tech developed by Nuro, successful 2026 — a move that puts nan ride-hailing elephantine successful nonstop title pinch Waymo. Reminder: Uber is partnering pinch Waymo successful different cities.  

Waabi shared specifications of a new autonomous truck made successful business pinch Volvo during TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.

One much point …

In past week’s newsletter, we did a poll, digging deeper into nan mobility of autonomous conveyance business models and asked: What is nan champion business exemplary for “longer haul” applications of autonomous conveyance tech?

I offered 2 choices: self-driving Class 8 trucks walking much than 500 miles connected highways aliases middle-mile delivery, which is autonomous trucks walking betwixt warehouses and distribution centers. 

Readers, you overwhelmingly picked nan large rig action pinch 62.5% of nan vote. (Remember, if you want to return spot successful our polls, motion up for nan Mobility newsletter here.)

Image Credits:Kirsten Korosec

Let maine time off you pinch 1 much shot. This photo, of maine and elder newsman Sean O’Kane, is simply a spot of a full-circle infinitesimal for us. O’Kane, pinch a mini assistance from me, spent months moving connected a large scoop astir really Jeff Bezos was backing a small known startup called Slate. Since then, Slate has shared its plans to make a cheaper electrical motortruck and received a batch of attraction for it.

Slate CEO Chris Barman not only came onto our shape for an interview, but she besides brought a TechCrunch-wrapped motortruck too.