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I’m positive you’re ready to study the outcomes of final week’s ballot. (Reminder: Join the Mobility e-newsletter to take part in our polls!) Here’s what I requested: “What is the best business model for autonomous vehicle tech? (Keep profitability in mind.)”
Far and away, readers assume longer-haul supply is the perfect wager, with 40% selecting this selection. Robotaxis got here in subsequent with 25.5% of the vote, adopted by licensing tech to automakers at 19.1% and last-mile supply with 14.9%. One reader emailed to level out that I didn’t embody warehouse purposes like autonomous forklifts. The longer-haul supply class may be damaged down additional, although, and is price one other ballot, which we included on this week’s e-newsletter.
Within the lengthy record of arguments one may make to justify a $1 trillion compensation bundle, having management over a robotic military was actually not on my thoughts. And but, that is the argument Elon Musk made throughout Tesla’s third-quarter earnings name.
Right here’s the rundown: On November 6, shareholders will vote whether or not to approve a board-endorsed compensation bundle that will grant Musk as much as 12% of Tesla’s inventory. If the corporate hits its goal market worth of $8.6 trillion, that bundle can be price about $1 trillion.
The board and Musk have spent weeks lobbying shareholders to approve the measure, at the same time as proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Companies and Glass Lewis have really helpful that buyers reject it. Musk is now in assault mode, which was on show on the finish of the earnings name when he referred to as the companies company terrorists and made his ultimate pitch. His robotic military argument facilities on energy and management, not a lot cash. Though, hey, cash can present each.
“My biggest concern line: If we build this robot army, do I have a strong influence over that robot army? I don’t feel comfortable building a robot army if I don’t have a strong influence,” Musk mentioned in the course of the earnings name. He was referring to Tesla’s Optimus robotic program and used it for example of merchandise he desires full management over.
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That argument will hardly persuade Musk’s critics, notably within the wake of his position as head of the Division of Authorities Effectivity. However Musk doesn’t must persuade his rising record of critics, until, in fact, they personal Tesla shares.
A bit of chicken
This week, Common Motors dropped the ax on the BrightDrop electrical van program after 4 brief years. It was not the largest shock on the earth; in spite of everything, tons of of unsold vans have been sitting untouched in heaps in Michigan and Canada for months now. (One little chicken reached out to inform us that tons of of them are in loads in Flint, Michigan.) GM cited a slower-than-expected marketplace for industrial electrical vans, but it surely didn’t go into element about why, precisely, BrightDrop failed so miserably.
One other little chicken has given us a clue, although. The vans are expensive however well-liked and may save fleet homeowners cash over time. And electrical drivetrains are an important match for last-mile supply. What GM seems to have missed was the infrastructure piece, in response to one insider. The corporate leaned exhausting on outdoors partnerships to construct out so-called depot charging, as an alternative of providing it as a part of the fleet purchases. That turned various potential clients away and simply usually triggered complications.
Bought a tip for us? E-mail Kirsten Korosec at [email protected] or my Sign at kkorosec.07, or e-mail Sean O’Kane at [email protected].
Offers!
The massive deal this week is about EVs and AI information facilities. Sure, there’s a connection.
Redwood Supplies raised $350 million in a Collection E spherical led by enterprise agency Eclipse, and included a brand new strategic funding by Nvidia’s enterprise capital arm, NVentures. The corporate’s valuation was not disclosed, however a supply aware of the spherical informed TechCrunch it was about $6 billion, a billion {dollars} greater than its earlier valuation.
The chunk of this cash goes towards Redwood’s new vitality storage enterprise, which is giving a brand new goal to EV batteries it has collected and which have an excessive amount of life left to place by way of the recycling course of. The corporate ties these retired EV batteries to renewable vitality sources like wind and photo voltaic, or the grid, to energy AI information facilities or industrial websites.
Different offers that acquired my consideration this week …
Avride secured strategic investments and different commitments of as much as $375 million, backed by Uber and Nebius. None of those corporations gave me specifics when requested if this was all fairness. One insider did say to concentrate to the “other commitments” bit, which suggests it was not a straight money injection.
Spiro, the African electrical motorcycle startup headquartered in Dubai, raised $100 million in a spherical led by the Fund for Export Growth in Africa (FEDA), the event arm of Afreximbank. That is the most important elevate ever for African e-mobility.
Notable reads and different tidbits
Common Motors made a number of bulletins at an occasion in NYC that had been meant to point out the place it’s headed. And, sure, AI performs a central position. Earlier than AI might take the stage, GM mentioned it can overhaul {the electrical} and computational guts of its future automobiles. The corporate will roll out a brand new electrical structure and centralized computing platform in new automobiles, beginning with the Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028. That basis will enable the corporate to ship sooner software program; extra succesful automated driving options, together with eyes-off driving; and a customized, conversational AI assistant.
Earnings season is upon us, and this quarter I’m looking forward to information and govt commentary that helps me perceive how tariffs and the expired EV tax credit score are affecting the automotive sector. I don’t have any clear takeaways but — and doubtless gained’t till the following quarter.
Tariffs are hitting, Q3 experiences from GM and Ford point out. As an illustration, GM forecast that tariffs will cut back its 2025 earnings by $2.3 billion and Ford mentioned it will take a $2 billion chunk out of the underside line. However each of these projections are billions of {dollars} higher than the automakers predicted earlier this yr, and the automakers hope to offset these prices. CEOs from each automakers thanked President Trump for extending a aid measure from tariffs on automotive elements sourced from Canada and Mexico.
Another GM and Ford information: Ford will proceed to pause manufacturing of its F-150 Lightning vehicles because it prioritizes fuel and hybrid F-Collection variations in a bid to get well from a fireplace at its main aluminum provider Nevolis. In the meantime, GM CEO Mary Barra informed the Verge’s Decoder podcast that the corporate will drop help for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from all of its automobiles. Oh, and late-breaking: GM has laid off 200 salaried staff from its Warren Tech Heart.
Tesla delivered a report variety of automobiles within the third quarter of 2025, outcomes buoyed by U.S. clients who took benefit of the expiring federal EV tax credit score. That didn’t translate to better earnings. Tesla’s third-quarter revenue was $1.4 billion, 37% decrease than it was in the identical quarter final yr.
The Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration opened an investigation after seeing footage from early October of a Waymo autonomous car maneuvering round a stopped faculty bus that was unloading youngsters in Atlanta.
Rivian is present process a little bit of a shake-up that features reducing 600 individuals from its workforce (its third spherical of layoffs this yr), and its founder and CEO is taking over one more place: chief advertising and marketing officer. Rivian additionally agreed this week to pay $250 million to settle a class-action shareholder lawsuit filed after the corporate instantly hiked costs on its R1 pickup truck and SUV in 2022.
In the meantime, I spent a while within the Bay Space with executives from Rivian’s micromobility spinout firm Additionally. The corporate revealed three new merchandise, and if Additionally president Chris Yu and Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe (and Additionally board member) are to be believed, there will probably be much more coming. For now, it’s a slick modular pedal-assist e-bike and two pedal-assist quad automobiles — the supply van model that Amazon has already agreed to purchase. The massive compelling tech story right here is vertical integration and software program.
