This week, Elon Musk identified a new constraint for his Mars-bound ambitions. It wasn’t the -85°F surface temperature, or the 140 million miles he’ll need to travel. Rather, it’s something far more pedestrian: “The fundamental problem is that humanity will forever be confined to Earth unless there is radical reform at the FAA,” he posted on X.
That post followed a previous one in which he vowed to sue the government agency, arguing in a series of X posts that the FAA was politically motivated when it levied $633,009 in fines against SpaceX on Tuesday. One fine was for allegedly using an unapproved rocket propellant farm in a launch last year; the other was for using an unauthorized launch control room. SpaceX said in a letter to Congress Thursday it “forcefully rejects” the notion that the company didn’t follow FAA procedure.
“The FAA space division is harassing SpaceX about nonsense that doesn’t affect safety,” Musk posted, adding, “I am highly confident that discovery will show improper, politically-motivated behavior by the FAA.”
But Billy Nolen, the former acting administrator of the FAA in 2023, pushed back against Musk’s assertion that the FAA was unfairly targeting SpaceX because, as Musk implied, the billionaire’s choice of political candidates to support.
As an agency, the FAA “is about as apolitical as it gets,” he told TechCrunch.
Nolen, who is now the chief regulatory affairs officer of aircraft company Archer Aviation, pointed out that FAA heads purposefully have five-year term limits. That means presidential administrations don’t automatically get to appoint a new FAA leader each time a new party is sworn in. “We don’t operate on behalf of Republicans or Democrats,” he said.
Musk’s meatier complaint was about the perpetual slowness of the agency. “It really should not be possible to build a giant rocket faster than the paper can move from one desk to another,” Musk said at the All-In Summit on Sept. 10.
That was an argument that Nolen could empathize with. The FAA, he said, is burdened with an enormous mandate, yet “there’s never enough money.”
The roughly $24 billion budget he was given during his time at the agency may seem like a lot of money. But, he said, about $19 billion was committed to salaries and operations and about $4 billion went to upkeep on an increasingly aging infrastructure.
“The agency still has a lot of legacy systems,” he said, pointing out that the FAA itself maintains over 200 air traffic control towers. “Some towers are still using paper strips,” he said, referring to how some towers are still tracking flights on paper.
Nolen said that the agency often doesn’t have the budget for new technologies that could help it better regulate a rapidly growing space industry. “The FAA has to be funded to the level of what our expectations are of having a world-class, best-in-class system,” he said.
Now that Nolen is at Archer, a company working on newfangled electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft — one of the upstarts that tends to chafe against FAA bureaucracy — he’s thought a lot about what agency changes could help new technology. Within his lifetime, he wants the FAA to become “100% fully predictive” using artificial intelligence, he said.
Think of the sheer amount of data soaring through the sky every minute: a single Boeing 787 flight generates a half terabyte of data, according to a 2017 interview with a Boeing engineer. Imagine, Nolen said, “the ability to pull all of that together, synthesize it and say, is there anything in that data that gives us pause?”
He emphasized that it would help the agency move faster and speed up approvals for things like, say, SpaceX launches.
But Nolen also points out that the FAA relies heavily on experts, turning to engineers, founders and academics to guide its policy, and Musk’s anti-FAA rhetoric is damaging. Nolen said it’s crucial for someone like Musk, who is “one of the greatest creative minds we have,” to cooperate and help the FAA understand what new age space companies need.
“We don’t ever want to be in a place where there’s one set of rules, but if you’ve got enough money, they don’t really apply to you,” he said.
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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!
The latest news cycle is a good reminder that even a grizzled old reporter who thinks she has seen it all can still be surprised — and nothing lasts forever. Intrigued? Read on.
Welp, it sure is getting spicy over at TuSimple, according to several little birds.
The company disclosed last month a new business segment focused on — wait for it — AI-generated animation and video gaming. That action, our little bird network told us, has prompted backlash among some shareholders. Now it seems a fight is brewing over roughly $450 million in funds, the bulk of which remains in the United States. And arguments over the company’s mission lie at the center of it.
TechCrunch reporters Rebecca Bellan and Rita Liao chased down the story, and there are quite a few interesting details. For instance, TuSimple was beefing up its autonomous vehicle workforce in China late last year but then changed course in early 2024. Hundreds were laid off, although when asked, CEO Cheng Lu told Rebecca that these folks (about 500) resigned en masse.
Where does TuSimple go from here? There have been threats of lawsuits, although nothing new just yet. While the threats loom in the background, TuSimple is moving forward with development of an animated feature film and video game based on the science-fiction series “The Three-Body Problem.”
This whack-a-doodle pivot had me thinking: Sheesh, maybe I’ve been covering this industry simply too long.
Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at [email protected], Sean O’Kane at [email protected] or Rebecca Bellan at [email protected]. Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.
Deal flow in the transportation industry is a bit light this week. Here are some highlights.
Alaska Airlines completed its $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines. The acquisition is yet another example of consolidation in the airline industry.
AIfleet, a trucking tech startup, raised $16.6 million in a Series B funding round led by Tom Williams at Heron Rock. Notably, Volvo Group VC participated, along with Obvious Ventures, Ibex Investors, Compound, Winthrop Square, and Cooley. The company has raised $50 million to date.
Clean Electric, an Indian battery tech startup, raised $6 million in a funding round co-led by Info Edge Ventures, Pi Ventures, and Kalaari Capital. Lok Capital and other investors also participated.
SiLC received an undisclosed investment from Honda to develop next-generation FMCW lidar solutions for all types of mobility.
ZeroAvia, a startup developing hydrogen-electric (fuel cell-powered) engines for planes, extended its Series C financing round to a total of $150 million, with an investment from Scottish National Investment Bank. The round was co-led by Airbus, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, and NEOM Investment Fund, with UK Infrastructure Bank joining as a cornerstone-level investor. Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Summa Equity, Alaska Airlines, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, and AP Ventures also participated.
Oxa, a Google-backed startup developing software for autonomous vehicles, acquired industrial logistics company StreetDrone for an undisclosed sum.
Motional president and CEO Karl Iagnemma — an early pioneer in the AV industry — has stepped down from the top leadership spot. CTO Laura Major is now interim CEO. Whether Major keeps that position is unknown. My inside sources suggest this is very much an evolving situation. Stay tuned.
Waymo and Uber expanded their relationship in a deal that is bigger than some folks might realize. Uber users in Austin and Atlanta will be able to hail Waymo robotaxis through the app in early 2025 as part of an expanded partnership between the two companies. Why so notable? For one, Uber, not Waymo, will be the operator.
Faraday Future is doling out big raises and bonuses to its CEO and its founder. Remember that this company is barely hanging on and has delivered just 13 cars in its 10-year history.
Fisker, the bankrupt EV startup, is reversing course just a few days after telling owners they would have to pay labor costs for recall repairs.
GM’s electric vehicle customers can now officially access Tesla’s Superchargers, more than a year after the automaker first announced that it would adopt its rival’s charging standard. But what about all the other non-Tesla EVs out there? Stay tuned for a list that we’ll be keeping updated.
Gogoro CEO Horace Luke resigned as an investigation into subsidy fraud continues at the Taiwanese electric scooter manufacturer and battery-swapping company.
U.K. startup Apian, Alphabet’s drone company Wing, and the U.K.’s National Health Service have launched a pilot program that will use drones to fly urgent blood samples between two hospitals in London.
United’s chief customer officer, Linda Jojo, explained to TechCrunch why the airline picked SpaceX’s Starlink to power its free Wi-Fi.
Remember that apparent cyberattack at the Port of Seattle, which also operates the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport? We now have official confirmation that it was targeted by a ransomware attack.
This week’s wheels will return next week with insights into the GMC Sierra EV. Future vehicles include the Mazda CX-90 PHEV and e-bikes.
What is “This week’s wheels”? It’s a chance 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.
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Cruise is returning to the streets of Sunnyvale and Mountain View for the first time since it paused operations in the Bay Area after a robotaxi struck a pedestrian in October 2023.
The company said Thursday that it will put “several” vehicles driven by humans in the two cities that will initially perform mapping. The company said it hopes to progress to supervised AV testing of up to five robotaxis “later this fall.”
“Resuming testing in the Bay Area is an important step forward as we continue to work closely with California regulators and local stakeholders,” the company said in a post on X. “This will allow our local employees to engage directly with our product as they refine and improve our tech through R&D.”
The decision to bring Cruise’s autonomous Chevy Bolts back to the Bay Area comes just a few months after the company reached a settlement with California’s Public Utilities Commission. As part of that deal, Cruise paid a $112,500 fine for failing to provide full information about the October 2023 crash.
That crash, which involved a Cruise AV hitting and then dragging a pedestrian after she was struck by a human-driven car, kicked off a series of events that ultimately led to a restructuring of the robotaxi company.
Shortly after the crash, Cruise divorced itself from much of its leadership team, including co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt. Parent company General Motors installed new leadership and, this past June, plugged another $850 million into the robotaxi subsidiary. (Cruise also settled with the pedestrian earlier this year.)
Since June, Cruise slowly returned its AVs to the streets of Phoenix and Dallas, and simultaneously scrapped its purpose-built robotaxi, known as the Origin.
Cruise also issued a series of software updates to resolve a recall of its robotaxis, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed a probe into reports of braking problems. In August, Cruise announced that it had signed a multi-year partnership agreement with Uber to bring its robotaxis to the ride-hailing platform in 2025 — joining rival Waymo, which has had its robotaxis available on Uber’s platform since 2023.
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United Airlines announced last week that it came to an agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring the Starlink internet service to its entire fleet. That’s a huge partnership for both parties, and as this rollout takes place, anyone who flies United will be able to access free Wi-Fi on their flight.
Right now, United uses a mix of four different in-flight wi-fi providers, which each have different capabilities and limitations – this inconsistency isn’t ideal for customers, not to mention, it costs $8. Since Starlink’s satellites are closer to aircrafts, they should be able to offer a better user experience.
TechCrunch’s Frederic Lardinois spoke with an executive at United to break down how this deal came together, and we’ve got the details.
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When Elon Musk published Tesla’s first “master plan” in 2006, it seemed a bit far-fetched that batteries would end up changing the automotive industry, much less global power production and consumption. Today, as electric vehicles continue to gain market share and massive batteries displace smoke-spewing power plants from the electrical grid, that notion seems less improbable. This year in the U.S. alone, developers are planning to add 15 gigawatts of grid-scale battery capacity.
Yet Michael Spencer thinks that the shift that’s occurring in places like the U.S., Europe, and China is just the beginning. “The Tesla master plan has more legs and more room to run with lower hurdles in emerging markets,” he told TechCrunch.
To prove the point, Spencer, a Tesla alumnus, founded Zeno in 2022. The startup, which until now has operated in stealth, has been methodically exploring how batteries might transform life in emerging markets, beginning in East Africa. The company has attracted considerable talent, including Swaroop Bhushan, who helped design Lucid’s powertrain; Rob Newberry, who helped oversee development of Apple’s AirPort and Apple TV; and others from Gogoro, Tesla and more. Zeno’s first product is a motorbike with a swappable battery.
But in Spencer’s vision, that’s just the start. Swappable batteries won’t just be powering motorbikes in Africa, but other parts of their lives as well.
Motorbike taxis, known as bodaboda, are ubiquitous in East African cities, helping people navigate choking gridlock for far less money than a taxi or personal car. For drivers, though, the costs can be astronomical. Motorbike taxi drivers spend a disproportionate amount of their income on fuel, about 50% compared with a few percent for commuters in California, Spencer points out.
Taking a cue from Taiwanese-startup Gogoro, which helped pioneer the battery swap concept in scooters, entrepreneurs throughout Africa put their own spin on it. The bikes are sold with holes in their chassis where drivers plug in rented batteries. When the packs are near empty, drivers can find a nearby location to exchange it for a fully charged one. As a result, swap stations from startups like Ampersand Solar, Arc Ride, Roam, Spiro, and Zembo have sprouted like grass after a monsoon rain.
Zeno is the latest entrant to the field. The company started by testing around 40 Chinese-made electric motorbikes in various models in Kenya to see how they’d fare. It only took a couple months before the bikes were trashed — they simply weren’t designed for taxi duty on East Africa’s harsh roads — but Spencer said the experience validated his thesis. It also turned up something else.
“There were lots of questions around, like, ‘Why can’t I use this battery for other things?’” Spencer recalled. “We saw some people trying to hack batteries when the power went out, to try to run the lights or to run the flour mill in their shop.”
The Zeno team knew they’d need more durable, heavier bikes that could carry a driver, a passenger or two, and possibly some cargo. It’s working with a manufacturer in India to produce bikes to its specifications, and soon after that model launches, additional manufacturers will release their own two-, three-, and light four-wheel vehicles that will be compatible with the startup’s batteries, Spencer said.
Bigger bikes demand more power, which means they need bigger batteries. Zeno’s lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery packs store 2 kilowatt-hours of electricity, and its motorbike will accept two packs. That will give the bike slightly more range than most taxi drivers need in a day, Spencer said.
The extra capacity “opens up all these other doors.” Spencer and his colleagues started building docks so people could use the motorbike’s spare power to charge phones and run various appliances.
“We prototyped an induction cook stove that ran off of our swappable motorcycle battery and got a pretty cool little microcosm,” Spencer said.
Motorbike taxi drivers could drive home after a day of work, hook their batteries up to the stove to cook dinner and then breakfast the next morning. At that point they would have 10 to 15% charge left, which is enough to drive back to town to swap for a full battery at a self-service station. Every part of the system will have internet connectivity so the company can monitor the batteries, anticipate demand, and facilitate financing. The bikes use a Type 6 connector so that drivers can plug into public chargers during a lunch break, for example, or charge overnight at home if the need arises. The company is also building a charging network that will be available to non-Zeno drivers.
Zeno’s first motorbikes will hit roads in East Africa and India in early 2025. Customers will have to buy or lease the vehicle, which will cost less than a new gasoline-powered model when configured without a battery. The startup will lease the batteries under a subscription model (though people can also buy the battery outright if they choose). Customers can add energy to the subscription bundle or buy it separately on a pay-per-use model. Zeno’s goal is to undercut gas-powered bikes with the upfront cost of a bike and initial battery subscription. And because the power costs of electric motorbikes are about half that of a gas model’s fuel bill, Spencer said the savings improve over time.
Shortly after the bike launches, the company plans to release its home battery dock with an available solar panels, which Spencer hopes will open new markets.
“If you don’t have grid connectivity, you can bring your batteries home from a swap station, and you can use them to power your home. If you want to put solar on your house, that home docking station works as a solar inverter to charge those batteries. So you can be a Zeno battery subscriber for a decade and never swap batteries.”
To fund its launch and expansion, the company recently raised an oversubscribed $9.5 million seed round led by Lowercarbon Capital and Toyota Ventures with participation from 4DX Ventures, Active Impact, Advantedge, MCJ, and RedBlue.
Zeno’s playbook certainly has echoes of Tesla’s, offering customers electrified transportation with a lower cost of ownership. But by focusing on a portable battery, Zeno is selling the ability to use energy whenever, something more akin to how people use fossil fuels today. The motorbike is a central part of the sales pitch, but the battery might be the real selling point.
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From the standpoint of any advertising executive, Kiwibot has left a lot of money on the table since its robots began making food deliveries on the UC Berkeley campus back in 2017. After all, the semi-autonomous wheeled systems tend to traverse high-traffic areas. In 2024, they can still draw a crowd of curious onlookers. However you ultimately feel about advertising, you can’t deny that there’s ample opportunity in the form of a mobile billboard.
Kiwibot is so convinced of this fact that it plunked down $25 million to purchase Nickelytics. Founded in 2019, the Tampa-based firm specializes in car wrap advertising. It has since branched out into truck advertising, as well as digital ads through displays like the tablets found in the backseat of ride-sharing cars.
In March, the company partnered with Kiwi competitor, Starship, to bring wrapper ads to robots designated for the University of Utah and UCLA. That pilot program launched with the “Love, Your Mind” campaign from Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council.
Clearly Kiwi liked what it saw. The robotics firm is particularly interested in Nickelytics’ data analytics. That, combined with Kiwibot’s route mapping, offers advertisers an opportunity to spread the word in high-traffic spots spread out across more than 20 states.
As part of the deal, Nickelytics CEO Judah Longgrear will join Kiwibot as a co-founder. The ad firm currently has a number of high-profile customers, including AWS, Coinbase, Nationwide, and DirectTV. Those clients, in turn, will have access to more than 500 mobile Kiwibots.
“This acquisition is all about strategically positioning ourselves as a market leader and elevating our offering with Nickelytics added approach,” Kiwibots CEO Felipe Chavez said of the deal. “By integrating our technologies and scaling our operations, we’re laying the groundwork for global expansion and continued innovation that will bring a new edge to advertising.”
Nickelytics, a 2020 Techstars grad, recently made an aquisition of its own, purchasing Miami print shop Signs Printing Solutions.
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