[TECH AND FINANCIAL]
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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.
A little bird
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 kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com, or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.
Deals!
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.)
Other deals worth noting …
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.
What Uber’s executive shuffling is telling us
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.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Autonomous vehicles
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.
Electric vehicles, batteries, & charging
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.
Future of flight
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.
People
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.
[NEWS]
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