TechCrunch Mobility: Elon’s Confession | Results TechCrunch

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Tesla gains came and went, and many fell into the “we expected this” category. Investors seemed surprised by $1.4 billion in free movement, that led to a slight decline in shares, and earnings met or slightly exceeded expectations, depending on the group of analysts you reviewed.

The earnings call, however, provided an eyebrow-raising moment that prompted readers (including some former Tesla engineers and other founders of the business) to reach out to me with some notes of schadenfreude. CEO Elon Musk agreed that millions of Tesla owners would they need to upgrade the hardware to launch a future-proof, capable version of its Full Self-Driving program that does not require human supervision.

There are financial and legal problems for Tesla. Like senior reporter Sean O’Kane he wroteOwners of Tesla with hardware 3 cars have spent many years shaking the company and Musk to answer directly if they will be able to run this advanced program of Full Self-Driving – which, it should be noted, Tesla has not yet released or even confirmed that they can release it. Tesla sold three Hardware 3 cars between 2019 and 2023.

Now, this is the shooter and it made me angry. Musk said the company would have to upgrade all of these vehicles, which would require Tesla to set up small factories in major cities to process millions of vehicles.

Microfactories? Yes, you heard that right. This won’t be cheap, and could be one of the things being used in Tesla’s budget, which has grown. $25 billion this year.

A little bird

Senior reporter Sean O’Kane found (and verified) internal memo posted by Redwood Materials founder and CEO JB Straubel which announced layoffs and restructuring. (Thanks to the little bird who shared it.) Straubel is the former CTO of Tesla.

The company laid off about 135 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, as it restructures to accommodate its growing energy storage business. Later O’Kane learned several officials they will also leave soon. With Chief Operating Officer Chris Lister retiring, and three other VPs leaving in recent months, the company tells TechCrunch that there has been interest in reducing management roles.

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Last week, I shared that a new independent launcher (think big independent cable) supported by Eclipse it was about to break the cover and spread the seeds around, because of the little bird. Well, that happened a few days later.

A startup based out of San Francisco, named Humble Robotics, earned $24 million in the crop line. Eclipse led the round, which also included support Energy Impact Partners and The value of RedBlue Capitala small early stage VC firm that is doing amazing.

As I was told, Humble is full of Silicon Valley elite, including the founder Eyal Cohenwhich previously had special services for Apple, Uber ATG, Pronto, and Waabi. He also launched Spark AI, which was acquired by John Deere in 2023.

Other execs include Drew Graywho has a CV-heavy CV, including early days at Cruise, before jumping to self-driving cars Otto, which was acquired by Uber. After leaving Uber, he became CTO at Voyage, which was acquired by Cruise.

A spin-off moment, fueled by this interesting fact: Humble Robots is in the same building Cruise was in just before he left Kyle Vogt’s startup garage. I know, we only circle until 2016.

Except it’s not 2016, and Cohen and Gray told me about how things have changed since then, why now is the time for AV startups, and where the industry is headed. Stay tuned for that story next week.

Do you have a warning 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.

Sales!

Lyft it stuck to the North American market for the most part, while Uber took a global, all-expenses-filled approach. Lyft has been trying to catch up since last year when it bought Freenow, a German multi-vehicle app from BMW and Mercedes-Benz Mobility, for about $197 million.

Now it’s getting you ride-hailing app Gett’s UK business. Lyft says the deal will provide more registered black cab drivers across Greater London on the Lyft platform. The company did not reveal the word, but Calcalist report it was $55 million.

The company is also developing other transport options in the region, including their recent partnership with Serco to deliver bicycles and stations European bike sharing company Santander Cycles. Lyft is also planning to test ride-hailing in London with Baidu later this year.

Some products that impressed me…

A&K Roboticsindependent car manufacturer in Vancouver, Canada, earned $8 million CAD Series A round led by BDC’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and Vantage Futures.

Decade Energywhich provides electrical energy to storage facilities, raised €22 million in a fund led by Eiffel Investment Group and SET Ventures, along with its predecessors.

Reliable Robotsa Silicon Valley startup developing autonomous flight systems, earned $160 million round led by Nimble Partners, existing backers Eclipse, Lightspeed, Coatue, and Pathbreaker Ventures, and new investors Island Green Capital, Socium Ventures, AE Ventures (partner of Boeing Company), RTX Ventures, Presidio Ventures (Sumitomo Corporation), UP.PartnersKAS Venture Partners, What If Ventures, Calm Ventures, Gaingels, and Mana Ventures. Background Study: Co-founder and CEO Robert Rose he had a short stint at Tesla where he was the head of Autopilot and helped launch the first in 2015.

PlusAI it is an empty company History of Churchill Capital Corp IX to be terminated its joint venture SPAC due market.

Porsche and selling the price in the Bugatti Rimac partnership, which was created in 2021, and the electric car manufacturer Rimac Group. Porsche, which has a 20.6% stake in Rimac and a 45% stake in the joint venture, is selling to HOF Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Popular reading and more

The last drive it adds 75 of its own heavy duty electric vehicles to Amazon‘s Relay freight network as part of a deal that gives Swedish startups the ability to work for the e-commerce giant.

Ford is a Chinese automaker Geely he is said to have discussed expanding European cooperation with the US, The Wall Street Journal said. As a result, it would be Chinese cars entering the US market. But it looks like negotiations have stalled, leaving the next deal in limbo. Bloomberg reported that Ford did he denied these claims.

Porsche is adding another EV to its lineup. The Cayenne electric coupe will hit the market at the end of the summer. There is some interesting data in my case so this could be a Porsche winner.

First customer ready Rivian R2 SUVs rolled off the production line at its plant in Normal, Illinois, just days after an EF-1 tornado ripped through the roof. Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said Rivian does not expect any delays for the R2, which is expected to reach customers in June.

One thing…

As diligent readers of this article know, I test-drive a lot of cars, and sometimes they aren’t EVs. Take it Aston Martin Vantage RoadsterFor example. I was dying to get into the roadster, not least because this $205,000 chiltern green machine is good looking, powerful, and versatile. I wanted to try it Apple CarPlay Ultraa next-generation infotainment system that displays iPhone content on the car’s dashboard (including the instrument panel) and integrates car controls such as radio, settings, and climate. CarPlay Ultra was first introduced in Aston Martin, which is not easy to lay my hands on.

My first experience with Apple Ultra CarPlay last summer was mixed. It was great – when it worked, but often it didn’t. The problem seems to be tied to a bug that showed two car models in the Bluetooth settings.

This time, the installation was live and did not go smoothly. Hooray. And it always worked. This is a big deal for Aston Martin, which for years was stuck with Mercedes-Benz’s old COMAND system. (Mercedes abandoned this system in 2018 for its new MBUX).