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It seems like a day doesn’t go by without Waymo making some kind of expansion announcement. Detroit, Las Vegas, Nashville, San Diego, and Washington, D.C., are just a few of the cities the company plans to bring its robotaxi to in the coming months. But as I have argued in this newsletter before, there is another “expansion” I think is more important.
Freeways.
And now after years of testing and development, the company’s commercial robotaxi service is using freeways around the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.
This is a critical expansion for the company. It’s the concrete and asphalt connective tissue in sprawling metro areas like the Bay Area. This new freeway access is fueling Waymo’s expansion in that region, which is now 260 square miles and encompasses Silicon Valley and San Francisco.
Robotaxi rides can have more efficient routes too. Waymo told me it will reduce ride times by up to 50%.
And using freeways is also essential for Waymo to offer rides to and from the San Francisco Airport, a location the company is currently testing in.
That freeway-to-airport moment will be the big unlock for Waymo. But will it be enough to help push it in the black? Until someone over there slides me their balance sheet, I can’t say. It will certainly be a popular option for travelers. That doesn’t mean the economics will pencil out.
Read on for more news, including Einride’s SPAC bid, deals for Harbinger and Teradar, as well as how Via fared in its first earnings and a looming shutdown for Rad Power Bikes. Plus! Scroll down to get the results of the Tesla poll.
A little bird
It’s been nearly nine months since Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson abruptly resigned, leaving the company without a permanent replacement. That may be about to change, though.
A few little birds told us Lucid Motors has zeroed in on a candidate for the top role. It’s expected to be someone outside the organization, which is perhaps no surprise; in August, we shared here that the company and the executive hiring firm it’s using had cast a very wide net and was even cold-calling some candidates. This would likely mean that Marc Winterhoff, who’s been serving as interim CEO, would slide back to the COO role he occupied before Rawlinson left.
Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.
Deals!
Another SPAC has entered the AV world! Mergers with special acquisition companies may not be officially “back,” but they are certainly popular among autonomous vehicle companies.
Einride, the Swedish electric and autonomous truck startup, plans to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, just six weeks after it raised $100 million from investors. The SPAC merger with Legato Merger Corp. values Einride at $1.8 billion in pre-money equity.
Einride does generate revenue, which may sound obvious but there have been plenty of pre-revenue transportation companies that have SPAC’d in recent years.
For now, its primary source of revenue is coming from its software-as-a-service product and a fleet of 200 heavy-duty electric trucks used by companies like Heineken and PepsiCo. Its unusual-looking autonomous podlike trucks are still in pilot mode.
The merger is expected to close in the first half of 2026, with Einride making its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
Other deals that got my attention this week …
Forterra, a company developing autonomous tech for defense, raised $238 million in equity and debt funding. Moore Strategic Ventures led the equity piece of the funding, while Crescent Cove provided the debt financing.
Gopuff, the rapid-delivery startup, raised $250 million in a round led by Eldridge Industries and Valor Equity Partners. Baillie Gifford, Robinhood, Equalis Capital, George Ruan, Yakir Gabay, and Gopuff’s co-founders. The funding put its valuation at $8.5 billion, according to Bloomberg, a significant markdown from its last raise in 2021.
Harbinger, the Los Angeles-based electric truck startup, raised $160 million in a Series C funding round co-led by FedEx. As part of the investment, FedEx ordered 53 of Harbinger’s electric truck chassis.
Octopus Electric Vehicles, a U.K.-based electric vehicle-leasing business, has struck a deal with lenders, including Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Stanley, and Credit Agricole, to take its total funding line to £2 billion ($2.6 billion), Sky News reported.
Teradar, a Boston-based startup developing a solid-state sensor, raised $150 million in a Series B funding round from investors Capricorn Investment Group, Lockheed Martin’s venture arm, mobility-focused firm Ibex Investors, and VXI Capital, a new defense-focused fund led by the former CTO of the U.S. military’s Defense Innovation Unit.
Upway, an e-bike refurbishment startup, raised $60 million in a Series C funding round led by A.P. Moller. Galvanize, Ora Global, and Sequoia Capital also participated. The company has raised more than $125 million since its founding in 2021.
Vay, a German startup that remotely pilots rental cars to customers, announced a $60 million investment from Singaporean tech heavyweight Grab. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close by the end of the year, may be followed by “an additional $350M as joint milestones are achieved within the first year.”
Notable reads and other tidbits
Ford is expanding the availability of its BlueCruise hands-free highway driving technology in Europe. The automaker will make the system available in several vehicles, including the Puma, Puma Gen-E, Kuga, and Ranger PHEV 5 models starting in spring 2026.
Joby Aviation conducted the first flight of its turbine electric, autonomous VTOL aircraft. This demonstrator shouldn’t be confused with its all-electric air taxi, although it was built off that platform. This aircraft has a hybrid turbine powertrain and is designed for defense applications.
Lyft has partnered with Curb, a ride-hailing platform for licensed taxis. Under the deal, Lyft riders will be connected with Curb’s network of drivers through an integration with the Curb Flow platform, which is already in Los Angeles. Other cities will soon follow.
Rad Power Bikes, one of the more popular e-bike companies, may not be long for this world. The company has informed its employees that it will shut down in January if it is unable to find new funding or get acquired, according to an internal staff email viewed by TechCrunch.
Tesla might bring Apple CarPlay to its EVs. But at this point, should it? Meanwhile, the company’s energy storage division is dealing with an expanded recall of its consumer-based Powerwall 2 product after reports of fires.
The Boring Company, an Elon Musk company, is under scrutiny again. This time because of reports that firefighters performing a safety drill at one of The Boring Company’s construction sites in Las Vegas received burns from chemicals used in the tunnel-excavation process. And the controversy doesn’t stop there.
Toyota started production at a new $13.9 billion battery plant in North Carolina. While Toyota has several facilities in the U.S., this is its first battery plant to be built outside of Japan. And it’s not done investing in the U.S. The company said it plans to invest up to $10 billion more than previously expected over the next five years.
Uber has quietly begun piloting in-app video recording for its drivers in India. The ride-hailing company is also seeking more premium customers through new efforts like Uber Ski, which lets riders schedule a vehicle in advance to nearly 40 popular ski destinations in North America and Europe, including Vail in Colorado and Park City in Utah.
Via had its first earnings since it became a publicly traded company, and, welp, it lost money. The tech transit software company reported a loss of $36.9 million in its third quarter, a 73% increase since the same period last year. Its revenue grew to $713 million, an 11% increase YoY.
One more thing …
Remember the poll in last week’s newsletter? I asked which product goal is Tesla most likely to achieve by 2035? The options are based on real goals laid out in Musk’s $1 trillion compensation package:
- 20 million Tesla vehicles delivered
- 10 million active Full Self-Driving subscriptions
- 1 million robots delivered
- 1 million robotaxis in commercial operation
- None of these will be reached
And y’all are split between two options: Tesla delivering 20 million vehicles, which received 34.7% of the vote, and “None of these will be reached,” which received 32% of the vote.
The one item you seem to agree on is that Tesla is unlikely to deliver on the other three goals. About 9.5% of readers picked the 1 million robots option, 12.6% chose 10 million active Full Self-Driving subscriptions, and 10.5% picked 1 million robotaxis in commercial operation within 10 years.
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