TechCrunch Mobility: Elon’s Acceptance | TechCrunch

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Tesla Earnings came and went and many of them fell into the “we expected this” category. Investors appeared surprised by $1.4 billion in free cash flow, which gave stocks a brief boost, and revenue met or slightly beat expectations, depending on which group of analysts you looked at.

The earnings call, however, provided a poignant moment that prompted readers (including some ex-Tesla engineers and other industry founders) to contact me in prose. CEO Elon Musk admitted that millions of Tesla owners will need hardware upgrades to run a future, more capable version of the Full Self-Driving software that doesn’t require human supervision.

There are financial and legal implications for Tesla. As senior reporter Sean O’Kane wrote, Tesla owners with Hardware 3 cars have spent years asking the company and Musk for a straight answer about whether they could run this advanced version of Full Self-Driving — which, note, Tesla has yet to launch or even prove it’s capable of launching. Tesla sold these Hardware 3 cars between 2019 and 2023.

Now here’s the kicker and it made me laugh. Musk said the company would need to physically upgrade each of those vehicles, a feat that would require Tesla to set up micro-factories in several major cities to service potentially millions of vehicles.

Microfactories? Yes, you heard right. That won’t come cheap, and could be a line item in Tesla’s capital spending budget, which it expanded to a whopping $25 billion this year.

A little bird

Senior Journalist Sean O’Kane received (and verified) an internal memo sent by the founder and CEO of Redwood Materials JB Straubel which announced layoffs and restructuring. (Thanks to the little bird for sharing this.) Straubel is the former CTO of Tesla.

The company laid off about 135 employees, or about 10 percent of its workforce, as it restructures to better accommodate its growing energy storage business. O’Kane later learned that several executives have also left recently. Chief Operating Officer Chris Lister is retiring and at least three other vice presidents have left in recent months, with the company telling TechCrunch that there has been an emphasis on reducing management levels.

Last week, I shared that a new autonomous carrier startup (think cable-free autonomous big rig) backed by Eclipse he was about to break cover and announce a seed, thanks to a little birdie. Well, it happened a few days later.

The San Francisco-based startup called Humble Robotics, raised $24 million in round seed. Eclipse led the round, which also included support from Energy Impact Partners and RedBlue Capitala small early stage VC firm that is surprisingly active.

As I was told, Humble is really full of Silicon Valley elite, including the founder Eyal Cohenwho previously held stints on special projects at Apple, Uber ATG, Pronto and Waabi. He also founded Spark AI, which was acquired by John Deere in 2023.

Other strains include; Drew Graywho has an equally heavy AV resume, including early days at Cruise before moving on to self-driving truck startup Otto, which was acquired by Uber. After leaving Uber, he became CTO at Voyage, which was then acquired by Cruise.

A full-circle moment, cemented by this fun fact: Humble Robotics is in the same building that Cruise was in right after the startup moved out of founder Kyle Vogt’s garage. I know, we keep going back to 2016.

Except it’s not 2016, and Cohen and Gray talked to me about how much has changed since then, why it’s time to start an AV startup, and where the industry is headed. Stay tuned for that story next week.

Do you have a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07 or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

Offers!

Lyft remained in the North American market for much of its history, while Uber adopted a global expansion strategy at all costs. Lyft has been trying to catch up since last year, when it bought German multi-mobility app Freenow from BMW and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for about $197 million in cash.

Now acquires ride app Gett’s business in the United Kingdom. Lyft says the deal will give it a majority of registered black taxi drivers across Greater London on the Lyft platform. The company did not disclose the terms, but Calcalist was mentioned it was $55 million.

The company also manufactures other means of transport in the region, including its recently renewed partnership with Serco to provide bikes and stations for the Santander Cycles European bike sharing system. Lyft also plans to start testing autonomous rides in London with Baidu later this year.

Other offers that caught my eye…

A&K Roboticsa manufacturer of autonomous vehicles for airports based in Vancouver, Canada; raised $8 million CAD Series A round led by BDC’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and Vantage Futures.

Decade Energywhich provides energy infrastructure to logistics warehouses, raised 22 million euros in funding led by Eiffel Investment Group and SET Ventures, along with existing investors.

Reliable Roboticsa Silicon Valley startup developing autonomous systems for aircraft, raised $160 million in a round led by Nimble Partners, existing backers Eclipse, Lightspeed, Coatue and Pathbreaker Ventures and new investors Island Green Capital, Socium Ventures, AE Ventures (a strategic partner of the Boeing Company), RTX Ventures, Presidio Ventures (Sumitomo Corporation), UP.PartnersKAS Venture Partners, What If Ventures, Calm Ventures, Gaingels and Mana Ventures. History lesson: Co-founder and CEO Robert Rose he had a brief stint at Tesla where he was a senior director of Autopilot and helped launch that first iteration in 2015.

PlusAI and blank check company Churchill Capital Corp IX terminated the merger of the SPAC due to market conditions;

Porsche it is selling his share in the Bugatti Rimac joint venture, which he founded in 2021, as well as in the electric vehicle manufacturer Rimac Group. Porsche, which owns a 20.6% stake in Rimac and a 45% stake in the joint venture, is selling to HOF Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Notable reads and other items

Einride is adding 75 of its electric heavy trucks AmazonFreight network Relay as part of a deal that gives the Swedish startup the operations of the e-commerce giant.

Passage and Chinese car industry Geely reportedly held talks to extend European link with US, the Wall Street Journal reported. The consequences, of course, will be the entry of Chinese vehicles into the US market. But it sounds like talks have stalled, leaving that follow-up deal in limbo. Bloomberg reported that Ford has denied these allegations.

Porsche adds another EV to its lineup. The Cayenne electric coupe will go on sale at the end of the summer. There are some interesting points in my article about why this could be a winner for Porsche.

First client ready Rivian The R2 SUVs rolled off the production line at their factory in Normal, Illinois, just days after being hit by an EF-1 tornado that tore off part of the roof. Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said Rivian doesn’t foresee any delays to the R2, which is expected to reach customers in June.

One more thing…

As diligent readers of this newsletter know, I test quite a few vehicles and sometimes they are not electric. Take it Aston Martin Vantage Roadsterfor example. I couldn’t wait to get into the roadster, not least because this $205,000 machine is stylish, powerful, and convertible. I wanted to try it Apple CarPlay Ultrathe next-generation infotainment system that projects iPhone content onto the vehicle’s screens (including the dashboard) and integrates vehicle controls such as the radio, performance settings and climate. CarPlay Ultra was first released in Aston Martin, which is not easy to get.

My first experience with Apple Ultra CarPlay last summer was mixed. It was great — when it worked, but often it didn’t. The problem appeared to be linked to a bug that showed two versions of the vehicle in the Bluetooth settings.

This time, the setup was instant and never a problem. Hooray. And it always worked. This means a lot to Aston Martin, which for years was stuck with Mercedes-Benz’s old COMAND system. (Mercedes abandoned this system in 2018 for its new MBUX).