wprss domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114wprss domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114wprss domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114wprss domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114wprss domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. This will be the last newsletter of 2024! But don’t worry, we’ll be back in 2025 — sign up here to get it in your inbox every week. Thank you for reading and your emails. I love to get them. Happy holidays and have a Happy New Year.
I didn’t meet Jean Jennings until long after she had cemented her status as an automotive journalism icon. By then, Jennings (formerly Lindamood) had been editor of Car and Driver and had helped found Automobile Magazine — where she would eventually become editor-in-chief — and launched a website called Jean Knows Cars. Jennings died December 16 at age 70 after living with Alzheimer’s disease.
To say she was well known in the industry is an understatement. To give you an idea of her impact, Ford CEO Jim Farley and Chairman Bill Ford issued an official statement on her death, and Stellantis designer Ralph Gilles and many, many others in the industry have posted their own memorials to Jean on social media.
And for good reason. Jennings lived and breathed cars, first as a mechanic and later as a journalist and editor. Her articles and travels are part of automotive lore. I was just dipping my toe into the automotive press pond when she was emerging from it, but I still knew of Jennings. It wasn’t just her writing, which was witty and delightful. It was the whole energetic package, which sometimes made her a central character in other articles, like Brock Yates’ 1983 Baja Mexico Sedan Torture Test article in C&D.
Of course, once you met her (which I was lucky enough to do), there was no forgetting her. Jean, hat’s off to you.
And before we jump into the rest of the news, check out TechCrunch’s 51 most disruptive startups of 2024 to learn about some interesting tech and companies outside of transportation.
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Got 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. Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.
The Biden administration is racing to approve a number of initiatives before President-elect Donald Trump takes over, including clean energy loans. Recent Department of Energy (DOE) loan recipients include StarPlus Energy (a battery joint venture from Stellantis and Samsung) and Rivian.
This week, it was electric vehicle charging startup EVgo’s turn.
The DOE approved a $1.25 billion loan to EVgo to help the startup install 7,500 public chargers at 1,100 charging stations across the U.S. over the next five years. The first deployments will include 350kW DC fast-charging equipment that can charge two cars at once.
Other deals that got my attention …
Bikmo, a U.K. startup that provides insurance for bikes and cyclists, raised £4.75 million ($5.9 million) in a round led by Puma Growth Partners.
Honda and Nissan are reportedly in merger talks. If that were to come together, the merger, which may also include Mitsubishi, would form the world’s third-largest carmaker. The intrigue around the potential deal became even more interesting when Bloomberg reported that discussions accelerated after Foxconn, the Taiwan-based producer of iPhones, approached Nissan about acquiring a stake in the company.
Nanoramic, a Boston-based advanced battery technology startup, raised $44 million in a round co-led by General Motors Ventures and Catalus Capital, with participation from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, Top Material, and existing investors, including Fortistar Capital and WindSail Capital Group.
Orqa, a Croatian developer of advanced autonomous drone systems, raised 5.8 million euros ($6 million) in a seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Radius Capital, Decisive Point, and existing investor Day One Capital.
Slip Robotics raised $28 million in a Series B funding round led by DCVC and saw participation from existing investors Eve Atlas, Tech Square Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Overline, and Pathbreaker Ventures. James Hardiman of DCVC has joined the board.
Vaeridion, a German aviation startup developing an electric aircraft for short-haul commercial flights, raised a €14 million Series A funding round led by World Fund, with participation from Project A Ventures, Vsquared Ventures, Andreas Kupke, Schwarz Holding, and InnovationQuarter.
Zingbus, the Indian intercity bus service, raised $9 million from BP Ventures in a Series A funding round.
Waymo continues to step into the spaces where its previous rivals were planning to set up shop. The latest example: Waymo is bringing its robotaxis to Tokyo in 2025 with partners taxi-hailing app GO and taxi company Nihon Kotsu as part of its Japanese “road trip.” History lesson: Cruise was planning on operating in Japan in 2026 through a partnership with Honda.
Waymo may be dominating, but its robotaxis still have challenges. One recently got caught in a roundabout.
Reuters got its hands on a document from the Trump transition team that shows deep interest in ending a federal rule that requires automakers to report crashes when advanced driver-assistance or autonomous driving technology is engaged. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long opposed the federal crash-reporting rule. The timing of this is notable. If successful, federal safety agencies would lose the ability to investigate and regulate the safety of vehicles with automated-driving systems just as more automation comes to public roads.
Drama at TuSimple continues. This time, co-founder and former CEO Xiaodi Hou is pushing shareholders to change the board and replace it with new members who would support liquidating the company.
Zoox has hired Zheng Gao as director of hardware engineering. Zheng was most recently at Tesla, where he spent eight years and was head of Tesla’s Autopilot hardware engineering team. Prior to Tesla, Zheng was at Apple for nine years.
Canoo is hurting for cash. The EV startup has idled its factory and furloughed workers as it seeks emergency funding.
The Environmental Protection Agency (still under the Biden administration) will allow California to ban most sales of new gas- and diesel-powered cars and light trucks starting in 2035. Keep in mind, though, that this is certain to be reversed by the incoming Trump administration.
Ram delayed its electric truck to 2026 and will instead put the range-extended truck known as the Ramcharger in the front of the queue. Lagging EV demand is behind the decision.
Tesla is bringing back free Supercharging to customers who buy a new Model S. But this appears to be a bit of a shell game, as Tesla also increased the price of the Model S by $5,000.
Rivian released a new software update to its vehicles that brings some long-awaited apps to its in-vehicle experience, including YouTube, Google Cast, and SiriusXM (with a subscription).
Kakao Mobility, the ride-hailing unit of Korean tech firm Kakao, was fined $10.5 million (KRW 15.1 billion) for limiting competitors’ access to its taxi app.
Alphabet’s Wing is expanding its partnership with DoorDash to bring drone delivery to customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
TechCrunch reporter Rebecca Bellan spent time in the 2025 Lucid Air Pure — twice! You can read the whole review here. But for those who want the gist, here it is.
The 2025 Lucid Air Pure is dreamy, sexy, and luxurious — and has some decent tech to boot — even though it is the cheapest trim in the EV maker’s current lineup. As Bellan wrote, “I felt fancy and discerning driving around, but in an understated way — as if I were wearing designer sweatpants.” I guess that means the Lucid Air Pure is the equivalent of expensive athleisure.
Still, did that translate into value? Bellan says yes, but only if Lucid continues to improve its software through over-the-air updates.
As someone who has driven the Lucid Air a few times, I was pleased to learn that some of my biggest complaints, like the vehicle ping-ponging when the lane-centering feature is engaged, have been resolved.
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. Future vehicles include the next-gen Rivian R1S and the Volkswagen ID Buzz. Stay tuned.
Keep reading the article on Tech Crunch
Tesla is evaluating multiple Texas cities where it wants to test a long-promised robotaxi service, including Austin, according to emails obtained by Bloomberg News.
An employee has apparently been in touch with Austin officials since May, and recently held an event in December to “train first responders on how to best work with Tesla’s autonomous vehicle technology,” which is still in development.
The employee told the city that “Austin is obviously on our roadmap, but has not yet been decided where we will deploy first as we have many options available.” (Tesla often pits multiple cities and states against each other when it’s making decisions on where to do business; It caused a bidding war over the location of its original Gigafactory that reportedly inspired Jeff Bezos to do something similar when locating Amazon’s second headquarters.)
Tesla is not testing any vehicles on public streets, according to the report. That could be because, despite unveiling a so-called “Cybercab” prototype in October, the company has yet to deliver on CEO Elon Musk’s years of promises of making a fully self-driving Tesla, let alone a robotaxi service.
Keep reading the article on Tech Crunch
Struggling EV startup Canoo says it has furloughed 82 employees and is idling its factory in Oklahoma while it grasps for the capital needed to survive. The company claims it is in “advanced discussions with various capital sources” to raise emergency funding.
The announcement comes just a few days after board member James Chen resigned, and roughly one month after the company saw its chief financial officer and head lawyer depart. Canoo is also facing multiple lawsuits from suppliers over alleged late payments.
The new furloughs cap what has been a rough year for the startup. The company has undergone multiple rounds of layoffs and furloughs, and closed the Los Angeles office that used to serve as its headquarters. Canoo’s chief technology officer left in August, and all of the company’s founders are now gone. In the meantime, it has been kept afloat by loans from the venture firm run by its CEO, Tony Aquila.
It’s unclear what Canoo was making at its facility in Oklahoma before deciding to pause operations there. So far, the company has delivered electric vans to NASA, USPS, Walmart, and the Department of Defense for testing. But it has failed at its broader ambitions of ramping up manufacturing for other commercial customers.
In an unsigned statement, Canoo said: “We regret having to furlough our employees, especially during the holidays, but we have no choice at this point. We are hopeful that we will be able to bring them back to work soon.” Aquila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Keep reading the article on Tech Crunch
Rivian has released a new software update to its vehicles that brings some long-awaited apps to its in-vehicle experience. Owners who update their R1S SUV or R1T pickup truck can now use YouTube (while parked) or SiriusXM (with a subscription).
The company is also adding Google Cast functionality. That also can only be used while parked, but Rivian says the new capability will allow owners to cast more than 3,000 streaming or other apps to the center console screen.
The new additions should offer a nice quality-of-life boost to long charging sessions — something Rivian is also working on improving as it rolls out new “third space”-style charging stations. The company continues to improve the on-road experience, too. The update Rivian announced Wednesday allows owners of newer “Gen 2” Rivians to schedule their in-cabin climate and also offers improved highway assist functionality.
Keep reading the article on Tech Crunch
The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it will allow California to ban most sales of new gas- and diesel-powered cars and light trucks starting in 2035.
California has long been able to set its own emissions standards under the Clean Air Act provided they are more stringent than federal regulations. Under that authority, the state announced in 2022 a plan to phase out fossil fuel cars in stages, culminating with the ban in 2035.
California’s phase-out would begin in 2026, when the state will require 35% of automakers’ sales to be zero-emissions vehicles (ZEV), either electric or hydrogen. In the third quarter of this year, ZEV market share was 26.4%.
Then, 68% of new cars would have to be zero-emissions by 2030, and 100% by 2035. Plug-in hybrids could make up to 20% of sales, provided they have a range of 50 miles or more.
However, the Biden administration’s decision is certain to be reversed by the incoming Trump administration; the last Trump administration rescinded California’s waiver in 2019, though the EPA under Biden restored it three years later, after 23 states sued the federal government.
Apart from California, 16 states and the District of Colombia have adopted some form of California’s emissions standards, and most of them have a plan to phase out gas-powered cars.
Revoking the standards once more would require more than the stroke of a pen: It took the previous Trump administration 18 months to axe the waiver.
Automakers have wavered on the waiver. Many have agreed to recognize California’s authority in the area, agreeing to limit emissions and wind down sales of fossil fuel vehicles in the state. But they have also asked for more time and have pressed the Trump administration to intervene.
“We expect President Trump will revoke the waiver in 2025,” John Bozzella, CEO of Alliance for Automotive Innovation, said in a statement.
Keep reading the article on Tech Crunch
Alphabet’s Wing announced on Wednesday that it’s expanding its partnership with DoorDash to bring drone delivery to customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Customers in the area will now be able to order food from 50 merchants located in Stonebriar Centre in Frisco and Hulen Mall in Fort Worth.
Wing says its drones can “deliver items and meals to doorsteps in as little as 15 minutes.” The drones can navigate to the customer’s residence at a speed of 65 mph and a cruising height of about 150 feet.
When customers with an eligible address in Dallas-Fort Worth place an order in the DoorDash app, they will now see the option to have their food delivered by drone. You can check if you have an eligible address on Wing’s website. Wing notes that smaller orders are more likely to be eligible for drone delivery and that your order may be delivered by more than one drone if all of your items can’t fit on a single one.
Wing and DoorDash launched their drone delivery pilot in the U.S. in March, giving customers in Christiansburg, Virginia, the option to order food from their local Wendy’s. Wing has operated in the U.S. since 2019.
DoorDash first partnered with Wing back in 2022 when the two companies launched drone deliveries in Australia. Wing has completed more than 400,000 commercial deliveries worldwide.
“Wing’s partnership with DoorDash is guided by the shared goal of providing customers with the convenience and speed of air deliveries for the local products and brands they know and love,” the company wrote in a press release.
It’s worth noting that Wing also has drone deliver partnerships with other companies in the U.S., including Walmart and Walgreens.
Keep reading the article on Tech Crunch