Close Menu
TechTost
  • AI
  • Apps
  • Crypto
  • Fintech
  • Hardware
  • Media & Entertainment
  • Security
  • Startups
  • Transportation
  • Venture
  • Recommended Essentials
What's Hot

Slate Auto raises $650 million to fund its affordable EV truck plans

Largest orbital computing cluster is open for business

Roblox introduces ‘Kids’ and ‘Select’ accounts for age-appropriate access to games and chats

Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Disclaimer
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
TechTost
Subscribe Now
  • AI

    Largest orbital computing cluster is open for business

    13 April 2026

    Anthropic restricts Mythos traffic to protect the Internet — or does Anthropic?

    12 April 2026

    Sam Altman responds to ‘inflammatory’ New Yorker article after his home was attacked

    12 April 2026

    Stalking victim sues OpenAI, claims ChatGPT fueled her abuser’s delusions and ignored her warnings

    11 April 2026

    Anthropic has temporarily banned the creator of OpenClaw from accessing Claude

    11 April 2026
  • Apps

    Roblox introduces ‘Kids’ and ‘Select’ accounts for age-appropriate access to games and chats

    13 April 2026

    You can now edit your comments on Instagram

    13 April 2026

    Meta AI app climbs to No. 5 in App Store after release of Muse Spark

    12 April 2026

    StubHub to pay $10 million to settle FTC claims of ‘deceptive’ ticket pricing

    12 April 2026

    PSA: If you use the Meta AI app, your friends will find out and it will be embarrassing

    11 April 2026
  • Crypto

    British cryptographer Adam Back denies NYT report that he is Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto

    9 April 2026

    Hackers stole over $2.7 billion in crypto in 2025, data shows

    23 December 2025

    New report examines how David Sachs may benefit from Trump administration role

    1 December 2025

    Why Benchmark Made a Rare Crypto Bet on Trading App Fomo, with $17M Series A

    6 November 2025

    Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko is a big fan of agentic coding

    30 October 2025
  • Fintech

    Cash app launches ‘pay later’ feature for P2P transfers

    3 April 2026

    Doss raises $55 million for AI inventory management that connects to ERP

    24 March 2026

    Despite stiff competition, Kalshi, Polymarket CEOs back $35m VC fund projections

    23 March 2026

    Amid legal turmoil, Kalshi is temporarily banned in Nevada

    20 March 2026

    Nominations for the Startup Battlefield 200 are still open

    19 March 2026
  • Hardware

    Amazon is ending support for older Kindle devices

    9 April 2026

    Intel signs Elon Musk’s Terafab chip project

    8 April 2026

    The Xiaomi 17 Ultra has some impressive extras that make taking photos really fun

    6 April 2026

    In Japan, the robot doesn’t come for your job. fills the one no one wants

    6 April 2026

    Peter Thiel’s big bet on solar-powered cow collars

    5 April 2026
  • Media & Entertainment

    X says he’s reducing payouts to clickbait accounts

    12 April 2026

    TechCrunch is headed to Tokyo — and it’s bringing the Startup Battlefield with it

    10 April 2026

    Spotify now allows everyone to turn off videos in its app

    9 April 2026

    As YouTube expands into TV, it sees more interactive video across all formats

    9 April 2026

    Tubi is the first streamer to launch a native app on ChatGPT

    8 April 2026
  • Security

    Convicted spyware maker Bryan Fleming avoids jail time on conviction

    12 April 2026

    The Trump administration plans to cut the cybersecurity agency’s budget by $700 million

    11 April 2026

    Russian government hackers broke into thousands of home routers to steal passwords

    11 April 2026

    France to abandon Windows for Linux to reduce dependence on US technology

    10 April 2026

    VeraCrypt encryption software developer says Windows users may experience startup problems after Microsoft shuts down its account

    10 April 2026
  • Startups

    Walmart-owned Flipkart, Amazon are squeezing India’s e-commerce startups

    12 April 2026

    This founder helped build SpaceX’s most powerful rocket engine. Now he’s building a “fighter for orbit.”

    12 April 2026

    Sierra’s Bret Taylor says the era of button-clicking is over

    11 April 2026

    After the data breach, the $10 billion startup Mercor is one month old

    11 April 2026

    What founders can learn from Anjuna’s layoffs and recovery

    10 April 2026
  • Transportation

    Slate Auto raises $650 million to fund its affordable EV truck plans

    13 April 2026

    TechCrunch Mobility: Who’s chasing all the self-driving talent?

    13 April 2026

    Slate Auto: Everything you need to know about the Bezos-backed EV startup

    12 April 2026

    Battery recycling company Ascend Elements files for bankruptcy

    11 April 2026

    Volkswagen begins testing its self-driving minibuses in Los Angeles ahead of launch with Uber

    10 April 2026
  • Venture

    Nvidia-backed SiFive hits $3.65 billion valuation for open AI chips

    11 April 2026

    How to make the Startup Battlefield Top 20 — and what each company gets regardless

    10 April 2026

    Collide Capital Raises $95M to Back Future-of-Work Fintech Startups

    9 April 2026

    VC Eclipse has a new $1.3 billion fund to back — and build — “natural AI” startups

    8 April 2026

    The AI ​​gold rush is pulling private wealth into riskier, older bets

    7 April 2026
  • Recommended Essentials
TechTost
You are at:Home»Transportation»Tesla leads Luminar lidar sales and Motion disrupts robotaxi plans
Transportation

Tesla leads Luminar lidar sales and Motion disrupts robotaxi plans

techtost.comBy techtost.com10 May 202405 Mins Read
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Tesla Leads Luminar Lidar Sales And Motion Disrupts Robotaxi Plans
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility – your central hub for news and information about the future of transportation. Join here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

Tap, touch. Microphone control. Check 1, 2, 3. This thing? Hey, yes, it’s the same TechCrunch Mobility newsletter you love, but on a different day. That’s right, it’s not Sunday. It’s actually Thursday morning. Let’s go to the latest transport news? Yes, let’s do this.

A little bird

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

The little birds in the autonomous vehicle industry were active this week. The big one was a tip Kinetic, the autonomous vehicle startup created by a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv. If you remember, Hyundai recently agreed to spend nearly $1 billion on Motional — $475 million as a direct investment in the company and another $448 million to buy Aptiv’s 11% common equity in the venture.

This week, we got to the fallout part of that deal. Motion is ceasing all commercial operations and advancing plans to launch a driverless taxi service by 2026 — two years later than planned. The goal is to advance the core technology while preserving capital.

This move comes at a cost: deep cuts across the organization. While the company hasn’t publicly shared layoff numbers, we’re hearing that hundreds have been laid off. If you are affected, please contact us.

Do you have a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com, or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com.

Agreements!

money the station
Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

Wow, two huge investments in autonomous vehicles in a matter of days. Pretty amazing considering AVs are long past the hype era, let’s throw money at this era of technology. Maybe AVs are getting caught up in the AI ​​investment frenzy. In any case, the offers are made!

A week after Hyundai’s nearly $1 billion deal with Motional, a British startup called Wave raised $1.05 billion in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank Group. (Oh, SoftBank, another AV company?) Nvidia and existing investor Microsoft were also involved. Wayve’s initial investors include Meta’s AI chief Yann LeCun.

Founded in 2017, Wayve takes a self-learning (aka, end-to-end deep learning) approach rather than a rule-based self-driving system. It also doesn’t cater to robotaxi fleets like Waymo, Cruise or Motional and instead plans to be a supplier to OEMs. Want even more details on this startup? Check out this interview with the co-founder and CEO of Wayve Alex Kendall.

Other offers that caught my eye…

EnviroSparkthe EV charging company, raised $50 million by Basalt Infrastructure Partners.

Dotthe GM-backed Chinese self-driving vehicle tech startup has confidentially filed for an IPO in the US, Bloomberg reported. The IPO could raise $200 to $300 million.

Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holdingthe Chinese EV brand under China’s Geely Holding, is primed and ready to go public. The company set the terms of the IPO: 17.5 million shares priced between $18 and $21 per share. The New York Stock Exchange approved it registration. Stay tuned!

Notable reads and other items

ADAS

Mobileye CTO Shai Shalev-Shwartz made an interesting comment on social networking site X when asked if he thought lidar would be a necessary part of so-called L3+ systems to meet regulatory standards. He wrote: “Currently, the cameras are not sufficient for L3 and it is very likely that the setup will require lidar. At some point in the future, it’s reasonable to assume that cameras and radar will be sufficient.”

Electric vehicles, charging & batteries

TC reporter Sean O’Kane interviewed its founders blossom about their plans to reinvent how e-bikes are made in the United States. Readers: What do you think?

Speaking of micromobility, an Estonian company Bolt Technologies makes motions to launch scooter activities in the US market.

Profits

There were a lot of gains this week. Here are some of the highlights:

Illuminated shared in the first quarter earnings report that Tesla is now the lidar manufacturer’s top customer. Tesla accounted for “more than 10%” of Luminar’s revenue in the first quarter of 2024, or just over $2 million.

Lucid Motors said in its first-quarter report that senior vice president of digital Mike Bell — a longtime Apple and Intel executive — resigned from his position. Bell will be in an advisory role until mid-August to help with the “transition” of his duties at the company.

Rivian reported a loss of $1.45 billion in the first quarter, showing that recent company-wide cost-cutting measures have a ways to go before it can approach profitability. Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe spent most of the earnings call talking about their progress.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi it was revealed during the company’s first quarter earnings call that membership fees from the Uber One program are now “exceeding $1 billion.” The company now plans to offer even more perks to members in search of a “sticky” app.

This week’s wheels

What are “This Week’s Wheels”? It’s an opportunity to learn about the different transportation products we’re testing, whether it’s an electric or hybrid car, an e-bike, or even a ride in an autonomous vehicle. Stay tuned to hear about my time behind the wheel of an absolutely massive, all-electric Mercedes-Benz eSprinter and 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.

disrupts Kinetic leads Lidar Luminar motility Motion Plans robotaxi sales techcrunch mobility Tesla
Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleTriomics Raises $15M Series A to Automate Cancer Clinical Trial Matching
Next Article Sources: Mistral AI raises to $6 billion valuation, SoftBank ‘not in’ but DST is
bhanuprakash.cg
techtost.com
  • Website

Related Posts

Slate Auto raises $650 million to fund its affordable EV truck plans

13 April 2026

TechCrunch Mobility: Who’s chasing all the self-driving talent?

13 April 2026

Slate Auto: Everything you need to know about the Bezos-backed EV startup

12 April 2026
Add A Comment

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Don't Miss

Slate Auto raises $650 million to fund its affordable EV truck plans

13 April 2026

Largest orbital computing cluster is open for business

13 April 2026

Roblox introduces ‘Kids’ and ‘Select’ accounts for age-appropriate access to games and chats

13 April 2026
Stay In Touch
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • TikTok
  • WhatsApp
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Fintech

Cash app launches ‘pay later’ feature for P2P transfers

3 April 2026

Doss raises $55 million for AI inventory management that connects to ERP

24 March 2026

Despite stiff competition, Kalshi, Polymarket CEOs back $35m VC fund projections

23 March 2026
Startups

Walmart-owned Flipkart, Amazon are squeezing India’s e-commerce startups

This founder helped build SpaceX’s most powerful rocket engine. Now he’s building a “fighter for orbit.”

Sierra’s Bret Taylor says the era of button-clicking is over

© 2026 TechTost. All Rights Reserved
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Disclaimer

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.