Welcome again to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for information and insights on the way forward for transportation.
Earlier than I bounce into the all of the information — and boy there was lots! — I’ve an vital replace for all of you pretty readers. TechCrunch Mobility is transferring to Thursdays! It will likely be the identical e-newsletter full of information and insights on the sector, however simply touchdown in your inboxes Thursday morning. Join right here totally free — simply click on TechCrunch Mobility!
EV startup Fisker laid off extra workers to “protect money” as chapter inches ever nearer; ride-hailing firm Ola minimize about 180 jobs and ousted its chief government, Hemant Bakshi, merely 4 months after appointing him to the put up; and lidar firm Luminar slashed its 700-person workforce by 20% as a part of a restructuring to undertake an “asset gentle” enterprise mannequin.
Oh, after which there was Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who axed the automaker’s international Supercharger community workforce. That perplexing choice comes simply as non-Tesla EV drivers achieve entry to the community.
That’s to not say the whole transportation sector was surrounded by financial storm clouds. There have been brighter moments as effectively. Let’s go test it out!
A little bit chook
Within the fallout from Tesla’s nice Supercharger culling, we’ve spoken to a number of little birds, together with those that had been laid off and people working at different automakers. As I discussed above, Elon Musk gutted Tesla’s international Supercharger group of about 500 folks. Insiders at a number of completely different automakers — all of that are adopting Tesla’s charging tech — mentioned they didn’t see this coming. “Shocked” and “shocked” had been the commonest phrases I heard.
On the worker entrance, there was a scarcity of communication from human assets within the hours immediately following the mass layoff. Some advised me they and their fellow former co-workers had not obtained details about severance and that communication had stopped altogether. A number of of these people had obtained severance emails by Friday. The entire folks I communicated with had been nonetheless struggling to know why Musk would minimize the Supercharger workforce — a company that’s basic to Tesla and its EV gross sales. Others surmised solely Elon and perhaps the previous head of the Supercharger workforce, Rebecca Tinucci, would ever know the reply.
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Offers!
It’s been a minute since we heard of an autonomous car startup elevating a considerable amount of cash — or heck any cash in any respect. That every one modified this week when Motional scored a necessary multi-million-dollar win, courtesy of Hyundai.
Hyundai’s whole dedication is $1 billion, however there are vital particulars. Right here’s the way it breaks down. Hyundai invested $475 million immediately into Motional as a part of a broader deal that features shopping for out three way partnership associate Aptiv. Hyundai is spending one other $448 million to purchase 11% of Aptiv’s widespread fairness curiosity in Motional.
The short backstory: Motional was shaped in 2019 as a $4 billion three way partnership between Hyundai and Aptiv. Motional has spent the previous a number of years plugging away at its autonomous car tech, working towards a objective of launching a robotaxi service utilizing driverless Hyundai Ioniq 5 automobiles in 2024. As Motional and Hyundai bought nearer — the businesses introduced plans in November to co-develop production-ready variations of the all-electric Ioniq 5 robotaxi — it appears Aptiv started to know its personal monetary limitations. By January, Aptiv chairman and CEO Kevin Clark flagged that the corporate would scale back its possession curiosity in Motional and cease allocating capital to the enterprise as a result of excessive value of commercializing a robotaxi enterprise and the lengthy highway forward to income.
The choice, whereas not notably stunning to the trade insiders I spoke to, nonetheless put Motional and Hyundai in a sticky spot. Would Hyundai step up? Would exterior buyers step in? Hyundai answered the decision.
My query is will Motional, with the blessing of Hyundai, hunt down different buyers? That can all come all the way down to how a lot capital Motional is burning via and whether or not it continues to chase the identical robotaxi targets. If that’s the case, it appears the corporate will ultimately want extra capital.
Different offers that bought my consideration …
LiNova Vitality, a California-based startup creating polymer cathode batteries, raised $15.8 million in a Sequence A funding spherical led by Catalus Capital, which was joined by Saft, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, Chevron Expertise Ventures and a syndicate of buyers.
Rivian was awarded an eye-popping $827 million incentives bundle from the state of Illinois, funds that shall be used to construct out manufacturing strains for its next-generation EV, the R2.
Viking Holdings, the luxurious cruise operator backed by non-public fairness agency TPG and the Canada Pension Plan Funding Board, raised $1.54 billion in its IPO.
X Shore, a Swedish electrical boat maker based in 2016, raised €8.5 million in new funding from a number of unnamed present backers, together with founder Konrad Bergström.
Notable reads and different tidbits
ADAS
The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration opened an investigation into Ford’s hands-free driver-assistance system, BlueCruise, after it was discovered to be energetic throughout two latest crashes that killed a number of folks.
The NHTSA made one other huge transfer within the sector and finalized a brand new Federal Motor Automobile Security Normal that may make automated emergency braking, together with the power to detect and routinely brake for pedestrians, customary on all passenger automobiles and lightweight vehicles by September 2029. The company mentioned the protection customary is anticipated to considerably scale back rear-end and pedestrian crashes. Now, the NHTSA isn’t choosing the expertise automakers have to make use of. Various pc imaginative and prescient and lidar firms have reached out to me to notice the way it may very well be useful to their enterprise fashions.
Autonomous automobiles
TC contributor Tim Stevens takes us behind the scenes of the primary Autonomous Racing League occasion in Abu Dhabi that pitted a self-driving automotive in opposition to a Formulation 1 driver. His take? Sure, there have been struggles; he additionally noticed a variety of progress.
Electrical automobiles, charging & batteries
Bear in mind final 12 months when Henrik Fisker proudly debuted two prototypes designed to catapult his eponymous EV startup into the mainstream? TC reporter Sean O’Kane realized the engineering agency that helped develop these automobiles is suing Fisker for $13 million in damages. Learn extra to study this lawsuit, plus a number of others.
This week’s wheels
Picture Credit: Emme Corridor
I turned the wheel over to TC contributor Emme Corridor this week for a take a look at drive of the brand new all-electric Acura ZDX Kind S. You possibly can learn the total overview right here, plus I recommend you watch her video of the hands-free superior driver-assistance system within the car. For many who desire a sneak peek earlier than committing to the longer learn, right here’s the gist.
Corridor anticipated pleasure and delight. As an alternative, it was extra meh. Right here’s one of many whys. The Kind S weighs over 6,000 kilos. Even when the load is evenly distributed entrance to rear, that’s a variety of heft to get round a flip. She favored the hefty steering, however there wasn’t a lot suggestions taking place.
“The torque is at all times there on nook exit and physique roll is saved in examine, but I’m not feeling the delight,” she wrote, including that the 275/40 Continental Premium Contact 6 summer time tires on the Kind S supplied up loads of grip, however the low-profile sidewall mixed with the more durable run-flat rubber compound meant that the journey was only a contact harsh.
Corridor’s pursuit of an all-electric SUV that’s enjoyable via the twisties continues.
