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A bit hen
If it wasn’t apparent earlier than, it’s now. Uber desires a giant piece of the autonomous car know-how pie. The ride-hailing firm has spent the previous two years locking in partnerships with nearly each AV firm you’ll be able to consider, and throughout each sector, together with supply, robotaxis, and vehicles.
And but, I wasn’t completely ready for the amount of cash Uber invested in its newest tie-up with EV maker Lucid and AV startup Nuro. Click on right here to learn my article on the partnership settlement and Uber’s plans for a premium robotaxi service.
We’re right here within the “Little bird” part as a result of I’ve realized one thing new, and welp, I needed to share it with subscribers first.
As a publicly traded firm, Lucid needed to disclose that Uber invested $300 million into the corporate. However Uber didn’t need to share what it invested into Nuro, saying solely that it was a multi-hundred-million-dollar determine. One supply with direct information instructed me it was greater than Lucid’s $300 million. Because the article was revealed, I’ve had some little birds fly in to inform me it was round $400 million.
Acquired a tip for us? Electronic mail Kirsten Korosec at [email protected] or my Sign at kkorosec.07, Sean O’Kane at [email protected], or Rebecca Bellan at [email protected].
Offers!
When Waymo shuttered its self-driving vehicles program, I puzzled the place that expertise would go. And I (accurately) assumed some would possibly go off and begin their very own firms.
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Final 12 months, I heard that Boris Sofman, who led the self-driving vehicles program at Waymo, had began an autonomous car know-how startup centered on heavy tools used at building websites. I had even written somewhat nugget about it within the “Little bird” part. However I used to be by no means capable of confirm precisely how a lot it raised and who else was hooked up to it.
Now we all know. The startup, known as Bedrock Robotics, raised $80 million from buyers Eclipse and 8VC. Sofman co-founded Bedrock Robotics alongside Waymo veterans Kevin Peterson and Ajay Gummalla, in addition to Tom Eliaz, who beforehand labored at Phase and Twilio.
Different offers that obtained my consideration this week …
Amogy, a Brooklyn-based ammonia-to-power startup that may apply its tech to transport, raised one other $23 million in funding, bringing its most up-to-date fundraise to $80 million. The spherical was led by the Korea Growth Financial institution and KDB Silicon Valley LLC with participation from BonAngels Enterprise Companions, JB Funding, and Pathway Funding.
Geely Auto will take its luxurious EV subsidiary Zeekr personal by a merger settlement, simply over a 12 months after the corporate debuted on the New York Inventory Change.
Gridserve, a U.Okay.-based cellular EV charging firm, raised £100 million ($134 million) from its current institutional buyers, together with TPG Rise Local weather, Infracapital, and Mitsubishi.
Pronto, the San Francisco-based startup that developed a self-driving system designed for haulage vehicles and different off-road automobiles used at building and mining websites, acquired competitor SafeAI. Phrases weren’t disclosed. Co-founder and CEO Anthony Levandowski described the acquisition as a expertise and know-how play. The majority of the 12-person startup’s engineering crew and its IP will come over to Pronto.
Through, the transit software program startup, has filed confidentially for an preliminary public providing — once more. Historical past lesson: Through filed confidentially for an IPO in 2021 however by no means took the following official and regulatory steps to enter the general public markets. Now the corporate says it’s prepared. Will 2025 be the 12 months?
Notable reads and different tidbits
ADAS
Lucid is rolling out hands-free freeway driving to its Air sedans by way of a software program replace on the finish of the month, a serious step ahead for the corporate’s superior driver-assistance system.
Autonomous automobiles
Uber struck a robotaxi cope with Chinese language tech big Baidu to deploy hundreds of autonomous automobiles in a number of markets outdoors the U.S. and mainland China.
Electrical automobiles, batteries, and charging
GM is the most recent automaker to accomplice with Redwood Supplies on its new vitality storage enterprise. Talking of GM, the automaker is upgrading the Tennessee manufacturing unit it owns alongside LG Vitality Resolution to produce cheaper LFP batteries.
Public data requests can reveal the darndest issues. As an illustration, Rivian will resume prep work on its deliberate Georgia manufacturing unit in August and continues to be seeking to break floor early subsequent 12 months, in line with emails TechCrunch obtained by a public data request.
In different Rivian information … Rivian co-founder and CEO RJ Scaringe transferred a portion of his possession stake and voting energy as a part of a newly settled divorce continuing. The submitting caught our curiosity for a number of causes (I counsel you learn the story), notably that not like so many tech founders, Scaringe by no means had an incredible quantity of voting energy post-IPO.
The corporate’s latest software program replace provides its in-car navigation a brand new feel and look. In brief: Mapbox is out, and a custom-made Rivian-meets-Google-Maps app is in.
Senior reporter Sean O’Kane and I joke that we’re the one two folks left on earth who care about what’s occurring at Faraday Future. Oh! However wait, so does the SEC, and it seems the company is on the brink of take motion.
Subaru unveiled its all-electric crossover mannequin known as Uncharted that has greater than 300 miles of vary and can go on sale within the U.S. in early 2026. Subaru mentioned it should launch pricing nearer to market launch.
Tesla made its long-awaited entry into India with the opening of its first showroom — 9 years after CEO Elon Musk first teased the transfer and following years of delays and shifting timelines in one of many world’s largest automotive markets. Keep tuned for extra protection from our India-based reporter Jagmeet Singh.
Tesla Cybertruck gross sales have plummeted from their peak final 12 months. How far? Right here’s one level of reference: The GMC Hummer EV (which isn’t precisely a quantity vendor) outsold the polarizing steel-clad curiosity within the second quarter.
In the meantime, jury choice began for a federal civil lawsuit towards Tesla. At concern is whether or not the corporate’s driver-assistance know-how was accountable for a 2019 deadly crash in Key Largo, Florida. As you would possibly count on, private emotions about Elon Musk loomed massive within the jury course of.
Way forward for flight
Joby Aviation has doubled the scale and manufacturing capability of its pilot manufacturing facility in Marina, California, because it pushes to commercialize its electrical vertical takeoff and touchdown automobiles by early subsequent 12 months.
