Techcrunch Mobility: Uber Makes A Bet On Premium Robotaxis

Welcome backmost to TechCrunch Mobility — your cardinal hub for news and insights connected nan early of transportation. Sign up present for free — conscionable click TechCrunch Mobility!

A small bird

Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

If it wasn’t evident before, it is now. Uber wants a large portion of nan autonomous conveyance exertion pie. The ride-hailing institution has spent nan past 2 years locking successful partnerships pinch conscionable astir each AV institution you tin deliberation of, and crossed each sector, including delivery, robotaxis, and trucks. 

And yet, I wasn’t wholly prepared for nan magnitude of money Uber invested successful its latest tie-up pinch EV shaper Lucid and AV startup Nuro. Click present to publication my article connected nan business statement and Uber’s plans for a premium robotaxi service.

We’re present successful nan “Little bird” conception because I’ve learned thing new, and welp, I wanted to stock it pinch subscribers first. 

As a publically traded company, Lucid had to disclose that Uber invested $300 cardinal into nan company. But Uber didn’t person to stock what it invested into Nuro, saying only that it was a multi-hundred-million-dollar figure. One root pinch nonstop knowledge told maine it was much than Lucid’s $300 million. Since nan article was published, I’ve had some small birds alert successful to show maine it was astir $400 million. 

Got a extremity for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal astatine kkorosec.07, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com, or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. 

Deals!

Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

When Waymo shuttered its self-driving trucks program, I wondered wherever that talent would go. And I (correctly) assumed immoderate mightiness spell disconnected and commencement their ain companies. 

Last year, I heard that Boris Sofman, who led nan self-driving trucks programme astatine Waymo, had started an autonomous conveyance exertion startup focused connected dense instrumentality utilized astatine building sites. I had moreover written a small nugget astir it successful nan “Little bird” section. But I was ne'er capable to verify precisely really overmuch it raised and who other was attached to it. 

Now we know. The startup, called Bedrock Robotics, raised $80 million from investors Eclipse and 8VC. Sofman co-founded Bedrock Robotics alongside Waymo veterans Kevin Peterson and Ajay Gummalla, arsenic good arsenic Tom Eliaz, who antecedently worked astatine Segment and Twilio.

Other deals that sewage my attraction this week …

Amogy, a Brooklyn-based ammonia-to-power startup that tin use its tech to shipping, raised different $23 million successful funding, bringing its astir caller fundraise to $80 million. The information was led by nan Korea Development Bank and KDB Silicon Valley LLC pinch information from BonAngels Venture Partners, JB Investment, and Pathway Investment.

Geely Auto will return its luxury EV subsidiary Zeekr private done a merger agreement, conscionable complete a twelvemonth aft nan institution debuted connected nan New York Stock Exchange.

Gridserve, a U.K.-based mobile EV charging company, raised £100 million ($134 million) from its existing organization investors, including TPG Rise Climate, Infracapital, and Mitsubishi.

Pronto, nan San Francisco-based startup that developed a self-driving strategy designed for haulage trucks and different off-road vehicles utilized astatine building and mining sites, acquired competitor SafeAI. Terms were not disclosed. Co-founder and CEO Anthony Levandowski described nan acquisition arsenic a talent and exertion play. The bulk of nan 12-person startup’s engineering squad and its IP will travel complete to Pronto.

Via, nan transit package startup, has revenge confidentially for an first nationalist offering — again. History lesson: Via revenge confidentially for an IPO successful 2021 but ne'er took nan adjacent charismatic and regulatory steps to participate nan nationalist markets. Now nan institution says it’s ready. Will 2025 beryllium nan year?

Notable sounds and different tidbits

Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

ADAS

Lucid is rolling retired hands-free road driving to its Air sedans via a package update astatine nan extremity of nan month, a awesome measurement guardant for nan company’s precocious driver-assistance system.

Autonomous vehicles

Uber struck a robotaxi woody pinch Chinese tech elephantine Baidu to deploy thousands of autonomous vehicles successful aggregate markets extracurricular nan U.S. and mainland China.

Electric vehicles, batteries, and charging

GM is nan latest automaker to partner pinch Redwood Materials connected its caller power retention venture. Speaking of GM, nan automaker is upgrading nan Tennessee mill it owns alongside LG Energy Solution to produce cheaper LFP batteries. 

Public records requests tin uncover nan darndest things. For instance, Rivian will resume prep work connected its planned Georgia mill successful August and is still looking to break crushed early adjacent year, according to emails TechCrunch obtained done a nationalist records request.  

In different Rivian news … Rivian co-founder and CEO RJ Scaringe transferred a information of his ownership liking and voting power arsenic portion of a recently settled divorcement proceeding. The filing caught our liking for a fewer reasons (I propose you publication nan story), notably that dissimilar truthful galore tech founders, Scaringe ne'er had a tremendous magnitude of voting powerfulness post-IPO.

The company’s newest package update gives its in-car navigation a caller look and feel. In short: Mapbox is out, and a customized Rivian-meets-Google-Maps app is in. 

Senior newsman Sean O’Kane and I joke that we’re nan only 2 group near connected world who attraction astir what’s going connected astatine Faraday Future. Oh! But wait, truthful does nan SEC, and it appears nan agency is getting fresh to return action.

Subaru unveiled its all-electric crossover exemplary called Uncharted that has much than 300 miles of scope and will spell connected waste successful nan U.S. successful early 2026. Subaru said it will merchandise pricing person to marketplace launch. 

Tesla made its long-awaited introduction into India pinch nan opening of its first showroom — 9 years aft CEO Elon Musk first teased nan move and pursuing years of delays and shifting timelines successful 1 of nan world’s largest automotive markets. Stay tuned for much sum from our India-based newsman Jagmeet Singh.

Tesla Cybertruck income person plummeted from their highest past year. How far? Here’s 1 constituent of reference: The GMC Hummer EV (which isn’t precisely a measurement seller) outsold the polarizing steel-clad curiosity successful nan 2nd quarter.

Meanwhile, assemblage action started for a national civilian suit against Tesla. At rumor is whether nan company’s driver-assistance exertion was to blasted for a 2019 fatal clang successful Key Largo, Florida. As you mightiness expect, personal feelings astir Elon Musk loomed ample successful nan assemblage process.

Future of flight

Joby Aviation has doubled nan size and accumulation capacity of its pilot manufacturing facility successful Marina, California, arsenic it pushes to commercialize its electrical vertical takeoff and landing vehicles by early adjacent year.