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GM’s choice to not fund its self-driving automobile subsidiary Cruise was a shock to many — and obtained me eager about this startup that I’ve come to know over time.
About 9 years in the past, I discovered a couple of startup known as Cruise Automation. The San Francisco-based startup, co-founded by Kyle Vogt and Dan Kan in 2013, had simply shifted its marketing strategy away from growing direct-to-consumer kits to retrofit automobiles and as a substitute turned its consideration and efforts to self-driving software program.
The autonomous car world was a small and dynamic place again in 2015. Cruise had a number of dozen workers, and Waymo didn’t even exist but, because it was nonetheless described because the Google self-driving mission. The individuals who would go on to discovered Aurora, Nuro, and Argo AI have been nonetheless at different corporations, particularly Google. Zoox had simply been based the 12 months earlier than.
The hype had not engulfed the trade but. However that will come quickly sufficient, and for me, the second that actually kicked it off was March 2016 when GM acquired Cruise for $1 billion, a narrative that Dan Primack and I broke after we each nonetheless labored at Fortune.
There’s an excessive amount of historical past to share on this shortish publication, nevertheless it’s protected to say that autonomous car know-how was on the minds of automaker executives all over the place, and startup founders engaged on the tech have been instantly the darlings of the VC world. (I see a variety of parallels with what’s occurring with AI now, however at a fair bigger scale.)
Quick-forward by the wave of consolidation and quite a few failed startups, and by 2023 just some well-funded giants remained, together with GM’s Cruise, Alphabet’s Waymo, Hyundai-backed Motional, and Amazon-owned Zoox. In August 2023, Cruise lastly obtained the final allow required to function commercially in San Francisco. Hopes have been excessive when I interviewed Vogt at Disrupt 2023, at the same time as criticism over the robotaxis started ramping up.
The whole lot modified on October 2 after an incident left a pedestrian caught below after which dragged by one in every of its robotaxis. By the tip of the 12 months, Vogt had resigned, 24% of Cruise’s workforce had been laid off, regulators had suspended its allow, and the corporate determined to stop operations elsewhere.
Latest strikes by GM steered that Cruise would return — albeit as a leaner, extra tightly managed enterprise. However GM chairman and CEO Mary Barra has totally different plans for Cruise.
This story will probably be ongoing; there may be a lot to dig into. However a few of our preliminary articles cowl GM’s choice, how Cruise workers discovered concerning the change (the time period “blindsided” was used), the monetary impact on Microsoft, and Honda’s logical transfer to chop funding to a joint program in Japan.
Keep tuned. And now on to different information.
Somewhat fowl
Somewhat fowl dropped an aviation tidbit relating to Hyundai’s city air mobility startup, Supernal, that we have been in a position to affirm with the corporate.
The gist: Supernal is shifting world headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Irvine and is asking round three dozen of its employees to relocate. Whereas that quantity represents solely about 5% of its whole workforce, it seems to account for almost all of employees positioned in Washington, in accordance with knowledge from LinkedIn and a supply who spoke to TechCrunch on the situation of anonymity.
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Offers!
Traders nonetheless appear eager to throw cash into future-of-flight SPACs.
Take Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation, two corporations that went public through mergers with particular acquisition corporations.
Archer raised $430 million from current and new institutional traders to fund a brand new enterprise unit devoted to constructing plane for protection purposes. In an attention-grabbing twist, a part of that’s going towards an unique partnership with Anduril to construct a hybrid VTOL.
In the meantime, Joby launched a public providing to promote as much as $300 million of its shares of widespread inventory. That shouldn’t be confused with the $222 million Joby raised in October from underwriters. This newest submitting provides to that providing and would give Joby the prospect to lift a complete of $522 million because it gears as much as launch commercially in 2025.
Different offers that obtained my consideration …
Nikola, a producer of battery and hydrogen-electric vans, has taken a number of steps to repay its money owed and lift fairness, together with providing as much as $100 million in a standard inventory sale.
WeaveGrid, a San Francisco-based startup that’s developed EV charging software program, raised $28 million in a spherical led by Toyota’s Woven Capital. Current traders Activate Capital, Collab Fund, Emerson Collective, and Salesforce Ventures participated, with debt offered by HSBC Innovation Banking.
Notable reads and different tidbits
Autonomous automobiles
San Francisco is essentially the most ready metropolis for new transportation applied sciences like AI, autonomous automobiles, and air taxis, in accordance with a brand new city mobility readiness index.
Uber and WeRide launched a robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi.
Electrical automobiles, charging, & batteries
Fisker resolved one other federal security investigation, this time over the chance that its Ocean SUVs roll away unexpectedly.
You would possibly recall an article I wrote in 2022 about Lightship, a startup constructing an all-electric journey trailer. Welp, the corporate has formally launched its manufacturing mannequin, the AE.1 Cosmos Version, previously referred to as Lightship L1. The corporate plans to make solely 50 items, which is able to price $250,000. Three extra trim ranges are anticipated sooner or later.
The Lucid Gravity SUV is formally in manufacturing on the firm’s Casa Grande, Arizona, manufacturing unit and nabbed an estimated EPA vary of 450 miles.
Rivian’s EVs ranked final on Shopper Reviews’ reliability listing.
Random transpo stuff!
Amazon expanded into on-line automobile gross sales with the launch of Amazon Autos, an e-commerce enterprise that lets prospects discover, order, and purchase new vehicles, vans, and SUVs from dealerships.
Salvatore Palella has resigned as CEO and director of the board at Micromobility.com, the startup previously referred to as Helbiz that has been careening towards chapter for a while. Surprisingly, Palella’s holding firm is taking over all the firm’s debt, in accordance with a regulatory submitting.
Spotify formally discontinued Automotive Factor, its in-car streaming gadget, with all items now disabled.
Uber has 30 days to require sure drivers to get fingerprinted if the ride-hail large intends to proceed transporting unaccompanied teenagers in California, per a ruling from the state’s Public Utilities Fee.
This week’s wheels
This text is just too lengthy this week, don’t ya assume? This week’s wheels will return subsequent week!
What’s “This week’s wheels”? It’s an opportunity to study concerning the totally different transportation merchandise we’re testing, whether or not it’s an electrical or hybrid automobile, an e-bike or perhaps a journey in an autonomous car. Future automobiles embrace the Lucid Air, extra time within the next-gen Rivian R1S, and the Volkswagen ID Buzz. Keep tuned.
