Latest news with #TechCrunchMobility
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
TechCrunch Mobility: How Jony Ive's LoveFrom helped Rivian and what Uber's next-generation playbook looks like
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! I've spent a decade covering Tesla and CEO Elon Musk, so it would be natural for me to weigh in here about the billionaire's public fallout with President Donald Trump. Plenty of other reporters, armchair analysts, influencers, and bloggers have already done that. Some of it is smart, while some of it misses the mark — by miles. Since I have the benefit of institutional knowledge, and a helluva good memory, let me offer some brief reminders and predictions. We've been here before — Musk has a long, well-documented history of creating seemingly strong alliances and then burning it all down. As senior reporter Tim De Chant noted, Elon is getting an introduction to politics. The problem here is that Musk also embraces risk and gravitas — which means that learning something doesn't equate to his behavior changing. Expect a roller-coaster ride of tentative peace followed by public outbursts. Rinse. Repeat. The implications of this fallout promise to be broad and will likely touch all of Musk's various enterprises. I will be monitoring how Tesla EV sales numbers fare and how the "Big, Beautiful Bill" will actually affect the automaker's business if it is passed into law. In the short term, I will be focused on Tesla's great robotaxi experiment in Austin, Texas, and how Musk's complicated and increasingly toxic relationship with the Trump administration affects his dealings with the Department of Transportation. Prior to his public breakup with Trump, Musk was lobbying lawmakers on legislation related to autonomous vehicles — specifically over a bill introduced on May 15 called the Autonomous Vehicle Acceleration Act. Ever since Rivian spun out Also, a micromobility startup that also received backing from Eclipse Ventures, we've been poking around to find out more. A few little birds have been in touch and helped us better understand how the skunkworks program turned into a stand-alone company; they also revealed a surprising detail: Jony Ive's creative firm LoveFrom worked alongside Rivian's design team and the staff under the skunkworks program. Senior reporter Sean O'Kane and I have the full scoop here. Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O'Kane at or Rebecca Bellan at Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop. Memorandums of understanding rarely grab my attention. But this one did. Joby Aviation and Saudi Arabian conglomerate Abdul Latif Jameel signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a distribution agreement for up to 200 electric aircraft. The tentative deal is notable because Abdul Latif Jameel is already an investor of Joby. If finalized, the partnership could provide Joby with a fast path to monetizing its electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles in Saudi Arabia. Turning an investor into a customer can complicate the relationship, too (just ask Amazon and Rivian.) Obvio, a California-based startup that is combining AI with cameras placed at stop signs to root out unsafe driving behavior, raised $22 million in a Series A funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures. Obvio plans to use those funds to expand beyond the first five cities where it's currently operating in Maryland. Portless, an e-commerce fulfillment and logistics startup, raised $18 million in a funding round led by Commerce Ventures, with participation from eGateway Capital, Ground Up Ventures, and FJ Labs. Portless uses a Shein-like business model and charges brands duties after an item sells, helping defer the cost of tariffs. Toma, an AI voice startup that is applying its tools to car dealerships, raised $17 million across a seed and Series A round led by a16z. Y Combinator (Toma was in YC's January 2024 cohort), the Scale Angels Fund, and auto industry influencer Yossi Levi, also known as the Car Dealership Guy, have backed the startup. Recent executive shuffling coupled with comments by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi don't just hint at the company's strategy. Nope, this is like a neon blinking sign and the word "autonomy" is at the center. Earlier this week, Uber announced it had appointed Andrew 'Mac' Macdonald as president and chief operating officer. The company also announced the departure of Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, who ran Uber's delivery business. Gore-Coty's responsibilities will slot under Macdonald, who has been with the company since 2012 and most recently led the mobility and business operations. Another tidbit worth mentioning: He launched Uber's Toronto operations 13 years ago and spearheaded its autonomous strategy. Mac's new role will combine mobility, delivery, and autonomy. At a Bloomberg conference, Khosrowshahi was asked about AVs. He talked about building the AV ecosystem and Uber's stakes in companies (Aurora and Waabi) developing autonomous vehicle technology. 'We want to essentially support the AV ecosystem and continue to help that ecosystem develop and then AVs penetrate into the marketplace,' he said. 'AVs, we think, represent a safer way of transportation. Ultimately, we think it'll expand the marketplace as it makes kind of safe transportation cities available to everybody.' In other Uber news, the company has added a new type of account with a simpler UI for older people. Tesla filed trademark applications for the term 'Tesla Robotaxi' after the company's previous attempts to secure trademarks for its planned self-driving vehicle service hit roadblocks. I missed this story from Axios reporter Katie Fehrenbacher and wanted to mention it here. Last year, Redwood Materials quietly walked away from the Department of Energy (DOE) loan it had received conditional approval for. To date, Redwood has never received any federal funding. I reached out to Redwood to understand why. Redwood initially applied for a DOE loan in 2021. The process dragged on and at considerable cost to Redwood. Companies that go through this process are responsible for paying the third-party consultants and experts hired to vet the business and technology. By 2024, Redwood was still on the conditional approval limbo. While it was waiting, the company raised more than $2 billion in private funding and generated nearly $200 million in revenue last year. Ultimately, Redwood determined that the costs and constraints of this loan outweighed its value. Walmart and Alphabet's Wing are bringing drone delivery to thousands more customers. Wing, which already operates out of 18 Walmart Supercenters in the Dallas-Forth Worth area, is setting up shop in five more U.S. cities through the partnership. In all, more than 100 stores will be added in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, and Tampa. Trevor Milton, the recently pardoned founder of Nikola, has been fighting a subpoena from the creditors of his bankrupt electric trucking company. Milton owed Nikola nearly $100 million before it filed for bankruptcy in February, which followed an arbitration case with the company in 2023 related to his criminal conviction that he lost.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
TechCrunch Mobility: Slate's ‘transformer' EV truck breaks cover and Tesla's dueling realities
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Busy week, so let's get to it. Starting with federal regulations! Woohoo. Exciting stuff. I'm talking about the U.S. Department of Transportation's new Automated Vehicle Framework, which includes a standing general order (SGO) on crash reporting for vehicles equipped with certain advanced driver-assistance systems and automated driving systems. There were also some changes to the Automated Vehicle Exemption Program (AVEP). Briefly, the AVEP handles language and processes of domestic and imported vehicles receiving exemptions. I want to spend a bit more time on the SGO, which has more significant changes. The Trump administration says it streamlines the process; others, like Consumer Reports, disagree. The SGO ends a 24-hour reporting requirement and instead allows companies five days to submit a report if a vehicle with a Level 2 system is involved in a crash. As Consumer Reports notes, the new order also changes reporting requirements for when a vehicle with Level 2 driving automation has been towed away after a crash. In the past, any vehicle with a Level 2 or above advanced driver-assistance system involved in a crash that DID NOT involve a fatality or hitting a vulnerable road user like a pedestrian or cyclist still had to report it within five days. Now the rule will only apply to vehicles with ADS (automated driving systems), which cuts out the bulk of vehicles on the road today. That means if a Tesla that has Autopilot engaged (or a GM vehicle with Super Cruise or Ford with its BlueCruise system on) crashes and must be towed, it doesn't need to report that to the feds as long as the incident did not involve a fatality, an individual being transported to a hospital for medical treatment, a pedestrian or other vulnerable road user being struck, or an air bag deployment. Reporting is still required for any vehicle with Level 2 ADAS (like Tesla Autopilot) or ADS that is in a crash in which there is a fatality, an air bag is deployed, a person is transported to the hospital, or a vulnerable road user is hit. During an interview at a Semafor event, DOT Secretary Sean Duffy seems to give a nod to those rules (although he says "autonomous" and not "ADAS") when he said, 'What we want to do is be able to get good data, but if there's a scraping of paint off of an autonomous vehicle, the reporting requirements became very laborious and challenging, and it slowed the process down.' Think I got this wrong? Reach out. OK, on to the rest. Slate, the Bezos-backed EV startup, broke cover at an event in Long Beach, California. Many of the details that senior reporter Sean O'Kane reported in his initial scoop were finally presented to the public. Earlier in the week, we published some other insider details thanks to some little birds that describe how leaders have internally described the Slate EV as a 'transformer" — as in the animated 'more than meets the eye' series. Turns out, that is exactly what the company is pitching to customers. Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O'Kane at or Rebecca Bellan at Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us. Ather Energy, the Indian startup manufacturing electric two-wheelers, cut the size of its initial public offer by 18% to 26.26 billion Indian rupees ($308.3 million). DoorDash wants to buy Deliveroo for $3.6 billion, Axios reported. Electra, the hybrid electric aircraft startup, raised $115 million in a Series B round led by Prysm Capital. Jay Park, co-founder and managing partner at Prysm, has joined Electra's board of directors. Fora, a travel agent startup based in New York, raised $60 million across Series B and C rounds. Josh Kushner's Thrive co-led the $40 million Series C round. The venture arm of United Airlines has invested an undisclosed amount in JetZero, a startup developing a blended wing body design. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai received some attention for remarks during the company's earnings call about its self-driving vehicle unit Waymo. In response to a question, he said, as part of a longer answer, 'There's future optionality around personal ownership as well.' Waymo has talked vaguely about licensing its tech (presumably to automakers) before, so I wouldn't read too much into this. But it's certainly notable that Pichai said it in an earnings call. Tesla has started testing its autonomous ride-hail service with employees in Austin and the Bay Area ahead of the company's planned robotaxi launch this summer. Volkswagen of America and Uber plan to launch a commercial robotaxi service — using autonomous electric VW ID. BUZZ vehicles — in multiple U.S. cities over the next decade. The companies expect to launch a commercial service in Los Angeles by late 2026, although it will initially include human safety drivers. The news brought me back to 2017-18 — an era of partnership announcements, many of which never materialized. VW has a lot of work to do before it launches commercially, including gaining even the most basic testing permit. Aidan Gomez, the co-founder and CEO of generative AI startup Cohere, joined Rivian's board. I don't want to read too deeply into the appointment, but it does signal Rivian's interest in applying AI to its own venture while positioning itself as a software leader — and even provider — within the automotive industry. Faraday Future somehow still exists and its board has appointed founder Jia Yueting as the company's co-CEO, three years after he was sidelined following an internal probe into allegations of fraud. Side note: A Securities and Exchange Commission investigation remains ongoing. Tesla earnings supported a hypothesis I've had cooking in my brain for a while now. The company exists in contradictory realities. In one, Tesla's profits are down 71% YoY, automotive revenues continue to fall, and its energy business is exposed to the U.S.-China trade war. In the other, Tesla is really an AI company that finally has the attention of its CEO Elon Musk and is on the cusp of launching an autonomous vehicle ride-hailing service and a cheaper EV — although it has yet to do either. Investors grabbed on to the Tesla-is-an-innovator reality with both hands and they really don't want to let go — even if the reality is that anti-Musk sentiment is affecting the brand and is even an official risk in its regulatory filing. Musk's comments about allocating more time to Tesla and less at DOGE helped push them there. If you want to catch up on all the nuggets in the earnings report and call, scroll through our Tesla earnings wrap-up. The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Uber, alleging the company charged customers for its Uber One subscription service without their consent. What is Lyft's loss is Uber's gain. Delta SkyMiles members in the United States can now start earning points when they ride with Uber or order delivery through Uber Eats as part of a recently announced exclusive partnership between the two companies. (Lyft had a partnership with Delta.)
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
TechCrunch Mobility: Tesla takes a hit, tariff chaos begins, and one EV startup hits a milestone
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Over the 13 years reporting on Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, I have watched the rise, fall, near misses, and rise again of the company and its billionaire leader. Musk, known for his willingness to take risks, has admitted how close the company came to filing for bankruptcy before turning it all around. It was that 'us versus them' storyline that helped turn Musk into a symbol of innovation. His political alignment with President Trump, and more importantly, his activities as the unofficial leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, has changed public perception of Musk. But it's Tesla that is taking the biggest hit, including a drop in Q1 sales, global Tesla Takedown protests, and a falling stock price. And automakers, which have long trailed Tesla in EV sales, are taking advantage of this opening by offering sweet trade-in deals and other incentives. Senior reporter Rebecca Bellan has documented the moments over the past several months that have affected Tesla. Her article will be periodically updated, so be sure to check back. Can Tesla rebound? The recent tariffs announced by Trump could help Tesla since its vehicles — and many of its components — are made here in the United States. It still might not be enough protection to stop the bleeding. And tariffs will likely hurt Tesla's energy-storage business. The chaos surrounding the tariffs implemented by Trump will linger. We're just starting to see how automakers are reacting and adjusting. Some, like Ford, are trying to get ahead and provide discounts to boost sales in the short term. And Volkswagen has told dealerships it plans to add an import fee to the price of imported cars sold in the United States, per The New York Times. A little bird told us that while Tesla definitely appears poised to launch a robotaxi service in Austin this summer, the automaker's outreach to the city has been slim. Others like Waymo and Cruise (back when Cruise was a thing) have tried to get off on the right foot by connecting with as many city stakeholders as possible before launching. Some government officials also shared safety concerns around Tesla's brand of autonomy. They worry Tesla's cars might have a more limited awareness of surroundings since they only rely on cameras, rather than lidar and radar, for perception. Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O'Kane at or Rebecca Bellan at Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop. All quiet on the deal front this week. Still, there were a few worth noting. EVident Battery, a Massachusetts-based advanced battery inspection tech startup, raised $3.2 million in a seed funding round led by Ibex Investors. Nationwide Ventures, Automotive Ventures, and Avesta Fund also joined. Fourier, the hydrogen startup, raised $18.5 million in a Series A round led by General Catalyst and Paramark Ventures. Other participating investors include Airbus Ventures, Borusan Ventures, GSBackers, MCJ Collective, and Positive Ventures. Windrose Technology, an EV maker based in Belgium and with Chinese roots, plans to file for an IPO in the U.S. to $400 million, The New York Times reported. TechCrunch reporter Maxwell Zeff interviewed San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie, and autonomous vehicles do come up. Check out the video here. Uber has partnered with Dubai's Road and Transport Authority in a deal that paves the way for the company to operate AVs in the United Arab Emirates city. Uber doesn't have its own AVs, so it will rely on partnerships. Its first in Dubai will be with Chinese company WeRide. Speaking of WeRide, the AV company has obtained a driverless public road testing and operating permit in France. Harbinger, a medium-duty EV manufacturer, officially started production and has manufactured its first 100 salable units, the company told TechCrunch. It's a notable milestone for the California-based startup, which was founded in 2021. Those vehicles will be headed to several customers, including RV giant Thor Industries. Meanwhile, Harbinger has also inserted itself into the bankruptcy proceedings of EV startup Canoo. Harbinger filed an objection to the sale of Canoo's assets to its CEO, potentially throwing a wrench into the 2-month-old bankruptcy case. Rivian delivered just 8,640 vehicles in the first three months of 2025, the company's worst quarterly mark since the end of 2022. The company says it still expects to deliver between 46,000 and 51,000 EVs by the end of 2025. Redwood Materials, the battery materials and recycling startup founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, opened a research and development center in San Francisco. The 15,000-square-foot facility located in the city's Design District is equipped with lab space to support engineers who will eventually work on every point of the battery ecosystem, from chemical engineering and cathode science to software and electrical engineering. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
TechCrunch Mobility: Inside the Rivian skunkworks program, and Trump's gift to Tesla
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Before we jump into the transportation news of the week, it's worth pointing you to a couple of articles that are focused on Elon Musk, the CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla and the founder of several other companies, including SpaceX and Neuralink. You might recall an investigation the team here at TechCrunch published in February on the people in Elon Musk's DOGE universe. The article, which continues to be updated, focused on those working for the Department of Government Efficiency, an entity established via President Trump's executive order. A new report, by another team here at TechCrunch, focuses on the founders and VCs working with DOGE. Check it out! Speaking of Musk, his close ally Trump has placed 25% tariffs on all cars imported to the United States, including those from Mexico and Canada. He's also placed a 25% tariff on certain parts used to build cars. As reporter Sean O'Kane notes, it's a decision that will likely supercharge the cost of new and used cars, but it's also a gift to Tesla, the company run by Musk, his biggest financial supporter in the presidential election. And finally, in other am-I-in-a-simulation news, Trevor Milton, the founder of bankrupt hydrogen trucking startup Nikola who was convicted of fraud, has been pardoned by Trump, the White House confirmed to TechCrunch. Tidbit: We waited for hours and hours before the White House would confirm. OK, onward with the rest of the news of the week. A little bird recently told us that Lucid is eyeing partnerships as a way to reach higher levels of autonomy, particularly with the new Gravity SUV. Could we see a partnership with Mobileye or some other unlikely automated driving technology provider? Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O'Kane at or Rebecca Bellan at Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop. Welp, here is a deal that is not transportation related, but very much deserves some attention. TechCrunch was acquired by private investment firm Regent. No financial terms were disclosed, but our soon-to-be previous owner Yahoo Holdings is maintaining a small share of ownership. The acquisition, which has yet to close, comes just a few days after Regent bought Foundry, the publisher home to tech publications like PCWorld, Macworld, InfoWorld, and CIO. Other deals that got my attention … BetterFleet, the Michigan-based company that developed EV charging fleet management software, raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Aligned Climate Capital, Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF), and Remarkable Ventures Climate (RVC). The Bot Company, the robotics startup founded by former Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt, has raised $150 million in a round led by Greenoaks, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources. DeCharge, an EV charging infrastructure startup, raised $2.5 million in a round led by Lemniscap. Other investors include Colosseum, Daedalus Angels, EV3 Labs, Echo Fundraiser Chainyoda Jedis, and Levitate Labs. Fleetio, a vehicle fleet software management company, raised $450 million in a round co-led by Elephant VC and Goldman Sachs Alternatives. The funds will be used to finance the purchase of maintenance-authorization platform Auto Integrate. Manna, the Dublin-based drone delivery company, raised $30 million in a round led by Tapestry VC and Molten Ventures. Coca-Cola and Dynama Venture also participated. Waymo will begin offering robotaxi rides in Washington, D.C., via the Waymo One app in 2026. There is an important catch: Before Waymo can launch commercially, the company will have to up its lobbying game in the capital, where autonomous vehicle permits still require a human behind the wheel, according to reporter Rebecca Bellan. BYD's breakthrough EV-charging announcement last week prompted reporter Tim De Chant to find out more. Cadillac debuted another EV: the Optiq SUV. Contributor Emme Hall got a chance to drive the Optiq and the new Escalade IQ. Revel, the Brooklyn-based electric vehicle charging infrastructure startup, launched its first fast-charging station in San Francisco. Rivian operated a skunkworks program for years focused on electric micromobility, founder and CEO RJ Scaringe told TechCrunch. Now, Rivian is spinning out the startup — known as Also — with $105 million in funding from Eclipse Ventures. Rivian has a minority stake in Also and Scaringe will serve on its board. Chris Yu, Rivian's VP of future programs, will be its president. Waze has removed Google Assistant from iOS due to ongoing issues. The company plans to introduce an 'enhanced voice interaction solution' sometime in the near future as a replacement. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
TechCrunch Mobility: Inside Waymo's deal with SFO, Elon's moment of truth, and BYD's breakthrough
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Before we jump into the news, just a quick bit of housekeeping. I'm putting 'This week's wheels' on hiatus for a few weeks as I get into more EVs, hybrids, e-bikes, and robotaxis. Stay tuned! Waymo reached a deal with the San Francisco Airport Commission — and by extension the city — to use its vehicles to map the airport roadways. That news received widespread coverage because of the potential for the city to eventually give Waymo permission to expand its robotaxi service to the airport. For now, this only covers mapping and the vehicles will be manually driven. Some little birds shared with us the terms of the agreement, which include two important points. One source described these as 'concessions.' And it's likely these terms will show up in future agreements. Waymo has agreed to data-sharing after each mapping session per vehicle, according to the agreement that TechCrunch viewed. This 'data interface agreement' requires Waymo to track its vehicles as they enter and exit the airport and provide the time, geographic location, identification, trip identifier, transaction type, driver-based unique identifier, and vehicle license plate number, according to the agreement. The agreement also prohibits Waymo from using autonomous vehicles to move commercial goods. Sure Waymo no longer has a self-driving trucks program, but language like this matters for groups like the Teamsters. Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O'Kane at or Rebecca Bellan at Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop. Just a few deals this week … Coreshell, the battery materials startup, raised $24 million in a Series A2 round led by Ferroglobe, which is also Coreshell's silicon supplier. Asymmetry Ventures, Estrada Ventures, Foothill Ventures, Helios Climate Ventures, Lane Venture, Translink Investment, Trousdale Ventures, and Zeon Ventures also participated. Einride, the Swedish driverless truck startup, is in talks about filing for an IPO that could value the company at more than $5 billion, Financial Times reported. Evera, a French EV subscription startup, raised 2 million euro from Groupe Magellim and Newfund NAEH Innopy, MCapital, AstoryaVC, and business angel Eric Ibled. Leta, the African logistics software-as-a-service provider, raised $5 million in seed funding led by European VC firm Speedinvest. Google's Africa Investment Fund and Equator, an Africa-focused climate tech fund, also participated. Pulsetrain, a battery tech startup, secured €6.1 million in a seed round co-led by Vsquared Ventures and Planet. Climate Club also joined. Seadronix, a South Korea-based autonomous ship navigation company, raised $11.3 million in a Series B funding round that included new investors LB Investment, KB Investment, and the Korea Development Bank. The fund included existing backers Wonik Investment Partners and Lighthouse Combined Investment. Ever wonder what inspired Nvidia to go 'all in' on self-driving cars? Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang snuck in a history lesson during his GTC keynote. Speaking of Nvidia's GTC conference, there was a bunch of AV-related announcements. Check out this roundup, which covers deals with Gatik, GM, Torc, and more. Zoox issued a voluntary recall for 258 vehicles due to issues with its autonomous driving system that could cause unexpected hard braking. BYD announced new EV charging technology that, if it comes to fruition, will blow away the competition and be as fast as fueling up a gas-powered car. Honda and its luxury and performance brand Acura will gain access to the Tesla Supercharger network in June. Dig in: We have a handy roundup of all the brands that have access. Tesla and Rivian are nailing the EV-charging experience. The two companies have the fewest problems, according to a survey by Consumer Reports. The worst: Shell's Recharge network, EVgo, and Blink. Meanwhile, Tesla is not doing so well with the Cybertruck — even though it continues to outsell other EV trucks. The automaker issued a recall for around 46,000 Cybertrucks sold to date because of an exterior steel trim panel on the side of the windshield that can peel off. And finally, and still on the Tesla front, analyst Dan Ives at Wedbush Securities pleaded with Elon Musk in a note published Thursday to reduce his role working with the Department of Government Efficiency. He said Musk is facing a 'moment of truth' at his EV company because of a 'crisis' he's created by spending so much time in the Trump administration. Joby Aviation has partnered with Virgin Atlantic to launch electric air taxis in the U.K., marking the seventh country in which the startup hopes to one day commercialize. Reminder: We first reported on this potential partnership in our "A little bird" section last year. Well, I suppose this is an in-car and out-of-the-car tech story. I'm talking about the expanded collaboration between GM and Nvidia, which was announced at the GTC conference. TL;DR: GM will work with Nvidia to build custom AI systems using several of the tech giant's products. The idea is to bring AI to GM's physical world of factories, robots, and cars. More details here. Tesla received a permit from the California Public Utilities Commission, news that some have conflated or inaccurately reported on. Here's what Tesla can and cannot do with this transportation charter permit. Sign in to access your portfolio
