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!
Before we jump in, a quick housekeeping item. The transportation bulletin will not be released next Friday due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
To US readers, I hope you have a safe and drama-free holiday filled with family and friends, delicious food and long walks. Good luck to those traveling. To all my international readers, I haven’t forgotten about you. But we all need a little break. I’ll be back next week.
Last week, there was a flood of robotaxi news, mostly due to Waymo’s expansion announcements.
Waymowhich has a commercial robotaxi service in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco, has added more cities to its list. It will begin manual driving (a precursor to driverless testing and deployment) in Minneapolis, New Orleans and Tampa next year. Other cities the Alphabet-owned self-driving company plans to deploy to in 2026 include Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami (it just removed safety drivers), Nashville, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle and Washington.
Waymo wasn’t the only company making some AV news. Tesla received a transportation license in Arizona – the last regulatory hurdle to launch a robotaxi service there. And Zoox is starting to open its custom robotics to the public in San Francisco through its early rider program.
All of which makes me wonder: When will robotics reach a tipping point that will lead to fundamental changes in the way people think about getting from point A to point B? And perhaps more unclear, is how will this affect society and industries (old and new)? I can’t answer the second question, but I have some baked ideas for the first.
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In short (and in my opinion), we’re not there yet.
It’s not just the volume of a player. Waymo’s rapid growth will surely introduce the concept and experience to more people. But it’s not enough.
Here’s what it will take, from my perspective: geography, competition, and an ecosystem spillover effect. Some cities will simply have more social weight than others – at least when it comes to reaching that tipping point. The saturation in San Francisco makes sense, but it’s also an area that’s literally a tech hotbed. For me, robotaxi saturation in densely populated cities in the Southeast and East Coast, as well as mid-tier cities in the Midwest, will be the tipping point indicator.
I’m also looking for this startup spillover effect, where an ecosystem of startups and businesses is launched and supported because of robotics. Service-related businesses are obvious. But even startups like Navigation point 1that developed precise location technology and is in the Offers section, would qualify as per my definition.
And finally, the competition. This matters for many reasons, including that it can lower prices for the user and introduce different business models.
So what do you think? Subscribe to the Mobility newsletter to vote in this week’s poll, where we ask you: When do you expect robotaxis to reach a mass adoption tipping point that will impact how people get from Point A to Point B?
A little bird
Many birds are chirping at the senior reporter Sean O’Kane hearing this past week about electric self-start Monarch Tractor. Some of them shared an internal company memo that shows the startup is perilously close to shutting down.
In the memo, executives warned staff that they may have to lay off more than 100 employees or possibly even “shut down.” Reminder: Monarch has raised at least $220 million since it was founded seven years ago. It underwent a restructuring in late 2024 in an effort to cut costs and expand into new areas, including licensing its autonomous technology. That turnaround plan is underway, but Monarch may run out of cash before it can make real progress.
The company is also facing legal problems. An Idaho dealership is suing Monarch for breach of contract and alleged breach of warranty because the California-based startup’s tractors “couldn’t operate autonomously.”
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!
Autonomythe EV subscription company founded by Scott Painterhas secured $25 million in funding to acquire about 1,250 vehicles to expand beyond its all-Tesla fleet, the company told TechCrunch in an email. Autonomy’s fleet will now include Volvo and Polestar, as well as additional Tesla options.
Pionixan EV charging technology startup based in Germany, raised 8 million euros in seed funding led by Ascend Capital Partners. Startups BW Seed Fonds, Pale Blue Dot, Vireo Ventures and Axeleo Ventures also participated.
Navigation point 1a San Francisco-based startup that has developed technology to provide accurate location within 1 to 3 centimeters has raised $35 million in a Series C round led by Khosla Ventures. The company’s post-money valuation is now $230 million, according to one of the people familiar with the deal.
Japanese self-driving technology startup Turing raised about ¥15.3 billion ($97.7 million) in equity and debt. It raised ¥9.77 billion ($62 million) in a round led by JIC Venture Growth Investments, a government-backed fund and VC firm Global Brain Corporation. Additional investors include GMO Internet Group, Denso and other unlisted companies. Turing also secured ¥5.5 billion in syndicated loans arranged by Mizuho Bank.
Sorteraa startup that developed a system for separating aluminum grades with more than 95% accuracy, raised $20 million in equity and $25 million in debt in a round led by VXI Capital and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price, with participation from Overlay Capital and Yamaha Motor Ventures.
Notable reads and other items
Passage has joined Amazon Autos, which will allow customers to shop, finance and buy certified pre-owned vehicles on the site. Meanwhile, Ford has been hit with a potential setback after another fire broke out in Novelis aluminum plant in Oswego, New York. The plant supplies sheet metal for Ford’s trucks, including the all-electric F-150 Lightning.
Google continues to push Gemini into as many devices as possible, including the car. Gemini will replace Google Assistant in Android Auto, the smartphone display technology built into millions of cars, trucks and SUVs.
Another legal fight has begun in the nascent electric aviation industry. Joby Aviation sues Archer Aviation after allegations his rival used stolen trade secrets he had extracted from a former employee to interfere with his business. Read the details of the lawsuit and Archer’s response here.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas CEO and head of the F1 team Toto Wolff he sold a part of his property to the team of CrowdStrike founder and CEO George Kurtz.
Pony launched a range of fourth-generation autonomous trucks jointly developed with Sany Truck and Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor. The company plans to roll out the trucks in 2026.
Stellantis The long-delayed Jeep Recon will go into production next year. My article goes beyond the specs (although those are here too) and explores why its release is so amazing.
Tesla improves on FSD data reporting, but…, the Verge reported.
Toyota has increased its bet on hybrid vehicles in the US with plans to invest $912 million in five plants to expand production.
Uber Eats has partnered with the sidewalk delivery robot company Starship Technologies for UK food delivery from later this year.
Volvo canceled a five-year contract with Illuminatedthe latest escalation in a bitter battle between the lidar sensor company and its biggest customer.
THE Washington Posthis article on the deadliest roads in america includes an interactive feature that allows you to locate hot spots in cities across the United States.
One more thing…
I have something for all the self-driving nerds out there.
THE Autonocasta podcast I co-host with Alex Roy and Ed Niedermeyer recently recorded an interview with Bryant Walker Smithin which we talked about how the SAE levels came about, how he hopes to improve them, and his latest work “Self-driving” means self-driving (which I shared a few weeks ago). Watch the episode here.
