Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility – your central hub for news and information about the future of transportation. To get it in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!
Robotaxis is here! And yet, it isn’t.
This contradiction captures beautifully Waymo’s current reality. Anyone walking around San Francisco could reasonably declare that robotaxis has arrived. But arrival, even at scale, does not guarantee permanence. This is the serious threat hanging over any company trying to commercialize autonomous vehicles.
Waymo has suspended operations in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio because its robotic machines are having trouble dealing with heavy rain and flooded roads — specifically knowing when not to enter them. As I was preparing to send out this newsletter, we learned that the company has also expanded to Austin and Nashville. It’s been a persistent problem for Waymo, prompting the company to issue a recall last week.
That same week, Waymo suspended robotaxi operations on highways in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Miami as it works to improve performance in construction zones.
At the moment, the arrival of robotaxis is conditional. This does not mean that this conditional status will last forever, but it is a reminder that the commercial release is not complete. Waymo—arguably the leader in commercial robotaxi and fleet size—is in the thick of this process. For each new city entered or feature unlocked, a new case is discovered.
Situationship or corporationmaxxing?
I’m skipping the Little Bird section this week to dive in SpaceXits public registration and status at Elon Musk business universe.
I usually don’t devote much space to this newsletter in space. Heh. But the SpaceX IPO filing dropped this week and the man at its helm is also deeply attached Tesla. So here we are talking about space and, more specifically, how Elon Musk uses resources from one company to serve another.
The interconnected nature of Tesla and SpaceX is no secret. Tesla is a publicly traded company and discloses financial transactions with other entities connected to Musk. This new IPO filing does the same in a little more detail. And now that Musk’s company xAI has merged with SpaceX, the IPO consolidates all of these transactions into one company.
For example, SpaceX bought $506 million worth of Tesla’s commercial energy storage products, called Megapacks, in 2025 — a nearly three-fold increase from the previous year. SpaceX also bought $131 million worth of Cybertrucks last year. SpaceX paid Musk’s infrastructure company, The Boring Company, $1 million to build tunnels in Bastrop, Texas. Musk’s social media company X, which was acquired by xAI last year and has since merged with SpaceX, also spent $1 million to lease space from The Boring Company.
Then there’s Tesla’s investment in xAI. Following SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI, this investment was converted into SpaceX equity.
Those costs will likely be overshadowed by two future SpaceX-Tesla projects: the construction of Terafab, a chip manufacturing facility, and Macrohard, an artificial intelligence platform the two companies are developing that will use autonomous agents to augment the work of humans.
All of this leads to my question for you. Will SpaceX and Tesla Merge?
To participate in our polls, sign up here to get TechCrunch Mobility straight to your inbox!
For other SpaceX coverage, check out these stories:
Everything in SpaceX’s IPO filing
An analysis of how Elon Musk grew his power
Who will benefit the most?
xAI burned $6.4 billion last year
xAI continues to turn to gas turbines to power data centers
Offers!
On the shipa Southern California-based startup developing long-range electric travel trailers, raised $13 million in a pre-Series A round led by Ondine Capital and Llama Ventures. Fun fact: The company hired Richard Kim — an automotive designer known for his work on the BMW i3 and i8 and as co-founder of the defunct EV startup Canoo — as a consultant.
Curatoran Arlington, Virginia-based startup developing a distributed detection network for ships has raised $43 million in a Series A funding round led by First Round Capital and Quiet Capital.
May mobilityan autonomous vehicle technology startup, which created a strategic agreement with Ecarxan automotive technology company backed by Geely founder Li Shufu. Under the agreement, Ecarx will supply May Mobility with thousands of custom-built robot vehicles. The companies plan to partner with a third party to initially develop the AVs next year and expand to commercialization by 2028. The total value of the project is estimated to be around $750 million over its lifetime.
Scapiaan Indian travel booking startup, has raised $63 million in a funding round led by General Catalyst, with existing investors Peak XV Partners and Z47 also participating.
Uber increased its stake and now owns 19.5% of German food delivery company Delivery Hero, Bloomberg reported.
Notable reads and other items
Brian Reimera researcher at MIT, shared his recent presentation about artificial intelligence and how its future depends on human behavior, governance and trust.
The global EV economy is K-shaped and this is the country lagging behind.
Lyft published a blog which defines the company’s position on autonomous vehicles. In her view — and something similar to the opponent Uber — a ride-hailing service requires human drivers and robots. This makes political sense. Lyft doesn’t want to rattle its human workers. It also reflects the reality of where robotics is at in terms of scale. The result: Robotics is not part of everyday life for most people in the United States.
Autonomous driving technology startup Nuro hired Michael Mancini as his own financial manager. Mancini was previously CFO at Energy Recovery, Astranis Space Technologies and Aerion Supersonic.
Stellandisthe automaker behind the Jeep and Ram brands has tapped the self-driving startup Wave to bring hands-free driving to its vehicles by 2028. Meanwhile, Stellantis has unveiled its $70 billion turnaround plan, which includes 11 new models for North America — and even some Chryslers!
of Tesla Full self-driving driver support software (Supervision) is now available in Lithuania. This is the second European country to approve its use. Reminder: Making FSD available in Europe is critical to Tesla and CEO Elon Musk’s ambitions. It’s also financially significant for Musk, whose $1 trillion pay package is tied to the achievement of certain product goals, including reaching “10 million active FSD subscriptions” by 2035.
A San Francisco doctor who sued Waymo because his identity verification system incorrectly identified him as a terrorist withdrew the lawsuit after the company fixed the problem.
One more thing…
Last time I was in one Nissan Leaf it was two years ago when I drove a 2024 Nissan Leaf SV Plus, which cost $37,815 (including destination charge). And at the time, I described the experience as a mixed bag. I recently went back to one, this time a 2026 Nissan Leaf Platinum+priced at $42,635, including destination charges and some special extras such as two-tone paint and floor mat package.
This model, the third-generation Leaf, had an improved EPA-estimated range of 259 miles (and some versions exceed 300 miles). But this wasn’t the first upgrade I noticed. This new Leaf had a lighter, more modern, dare I say luxurious, interior cabin. I won’t quite say “elegant”, but it was enjoyable and a noticeable upgrade. (Notice the cool lighting at night in the image above?) My version, which it should be noted was the top trim, included a wireless phone charging dock, an illuminated panoramic roof, a heads-up display and a long, curved 14.3-inch center screen.
Last time, I complained about the lack of tech for a vehicle priced over $30,000 — like a high-resolution backup camera. There are several notable improvements that come standard that correct my previous review, such as a 360-degree camera, wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and adaptive cruise control. This time, I was happy to return in a Nissan Leaf.
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.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect our editorial independence.
