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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
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!
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.
