Latest from Rebecca Bellan
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Investors rebel as TuSimple pivots from self-driving trucks to AI gaming
TuSimple, once a buzzy startup considered a leader in self-driving trucks, is trying to move its assets to China to fund a new AI-generated animation and video game business. The pivot has not only puzzled and enraged several shareholders, but also threatens to pull the company back into a legal…
Uber users in Austin and Atlanta will be able to hail Waymo robotaxis through the app in early 2025 as part of a partnership between the two companies.
Keith Rabois, managing director of Khosla Ventures, was having dinner with a “very successful CEO” in October 2018 when the CEO asked him a question: How many people does it…
On today’s episode of Equity, Rebecca Bellan sat down with Alok Sama, a Morgan Stanley veteran and former president and CFO of SoftBank Group International.…
Featured Article
Nuro pivots to license self-driving tech to carmakers, mobility companies
After multiple rounds of layoffs in 2022 and 2023, Nuro is pivoting its business strategy to focus more on the startup’s core autonomous driving technology instead of owning and operating a fleet of low-speed, on-road delivery bots. The company said on Wednesday it would start licensing its autonomous vehicle technology…
Cities spend hundreds of millions each year on paratransit services, or public rides for disabled residents, yet those services remain limited and unpredictable. Wheelchair users often face late pickups, hindering…
In the summer of 2023, Lyft was contemplating the sale of its micromobility business after receiving strong interest from prospective buyers. Today, the ride-hail company is doubling down on its…
On today’s episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Devin Coldewey kicked off our Deals of the Week rundown with Piramidal, a startup that offers a foundational model…
Google suffered a major defeat when U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta found that the tech giant had acted illegally to maintain its monopoly in…
Transportation
UK’s Wayve secures strategic investment from Uber to further develop self-driving tech
Uber is making a strategic investment into Wayve as an extension of the U.K.-born startup’s previously announced $1.05 billion Series C round. The partnership will also see the two companies…
Featured Article
Fluid Truck’s board ousted its sibling co-founders amid allegations of mismanaging funds
Fluid Truck, a startup that was founded to disrupt the commercial vehicle rental industry, has ousted its sibling co-founders — CEO James Eberhard and chief legal counsel Jenifer Snyder — according to sources familiar with the matter. The shakeup, which employees have described as a hostile takeover, was led by…
It’s been more than a year since Tesla agreed to open its Supercharger network to electric vehicles from other automakers, like General Motors and Ford. But Tesla’s network of nearly…
Transportation
Beam Mobility secretly deployed ‘phantom’ e-scooters in Australia and NZ to dodge fees and boost profits
Shared e-scooter startup Beam Mobility has placed hundreds of extra “phantom” scooters on city streets in Australia and New Zealand to avoid paying vehicle registration fees to local governments, according…
Cruise, General Motors’ self-driving subsidiary, said it has signed a multi-year partnership with ride-hailing giant Uber to bring its robotaxis to the ride-hailing platform in 2025. Cruise didn’t say when…
WeRide is delaying plans to go public, according to CNBC. The self-driving tech company aimed to hit the Nasdaq this week, but now says it needs more time to complete…
Apps
Meta axed CrowdTangle, a tool for tracking disinformation. Critics claim its replacement has just ‘1% of the features’
Journalists, researchers and politicians are mourning Meta’s shutdown of CrowdTangle, which they used to track the spread of disinformation on Facebook and Instagram. In CrowdTangle’s place, Meta is offering its…
Waymo regularly takes its autonomous vehicles on winter road trips to test the cars in snowy environments. In 2017, it was Michigan. Last year, it was Buffalo. This year, Waymo…
Chinese autonomous vehicle company WeRide has received the green light to test its driverless vehicles with passengers in California. The step comes as WeRide begins the process to go public…
Transportation
UAW files federal labor charges against Trump, Musk for intimidating workers at X Spaces event
The United Auto Workers union said Tuesday that it filed federal labor charges against Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The union alleges that Trump and Musk attempted to “threaten and…
In line with Elon Musk’s increasing rhetoric on X of going back to the good old days, Tesla looks like it’s finally getting ready to open its 1950s-style diner. Tesla…
Waymo plans to start testing its fully autonomous vehicles with no human safety driver on freeways in the San Francisco Bay Area this week. Its employees will be the first…
WeRide, a Chinese autonomous vehicle company, is officially gearing up for a U.S. public debut, over a year after China started easing its effective ban of foreign IPOs. The company is…
Elon Musk doesn’t want Tesla to be just an automaker. He wants Tesla to be an AI company, one that’s figured out how to make cars drive themselves. Crucial to…
Los Angeles is notorious for its back-to-back traffic. Three events that promise to bring in millions of spectators from around the world — the 2026 World Cup, the Super Bowl…
Just three months after Maven’s public launch, Kenneth Stanley — the former OpenAI researcher who co-founded the social media platform designed to facilitate serendipitous interactions — is stepping down. Stanley…
Ride-hail giant Lyft will pilot a new feature called Price Lock that will let a rider purchase a monthly subscription “that caps the price for a specific route at a…
Uber is highlighting the success of its autonomous vehicle effort — likely to assuage investors concerned about incoming competition from Tesla.
Google will appeal a U.S. District Court judge’s opinion Monday that found the technology giant acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search. The decision from Judge Amit P.…
Dojo is Tesla’s custom-built supercomputer that’s designed to train its “Full Self-Driving” neural networks.
Transportation
Self-driving truck startup Aurora Innovation raises $483M in share sale ahead of commercial launch
Self-driving technology company Aurora Innovation was hoping to raise hundreds of millions in additional capital as it races toward a driverless commercial launch by the end of 2024. The company, which…
