TechCrunch Mobility: Is $16B enough to create a profitable robotaxi business?

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility – your central hub for news and insights on the future of mobility. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free – just click TechCrunch Mobility!

That’s itThe momentum of the last 18 months is undeniable. Alphabet’s self-driving car company now operates commercial robotaxi services in six markets, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, and Miami. It has plans to expand its driverless taxi service this year to more than a dozen cities around the world, including London and Tokyo.

And now it has $16 billion encourage that growth. Is that enough?

In talking to a few industry insiders, the answer went further into the “squishy” area and the “it depends” part.

First the case of the cow. Alphabet is clearly committed to Waymo’s success; A large company is, and continues to be, a large investor. Which means Waymo isn’t exposed like other AV startups that suddenly lost money after their backers (usually automakers) became lukewarm or lenient.

His mileage and mileage numbers are on the rise and will probably continue that way unless they are tampered with by the regulators. (Waymo provides 400,000 rides each week across the six largest US regions, and in 2025 alone, it plans to triple its annual volume to 15 million rides.)

This doesn’t guarantee success, though, especially if the gauge is set to gain. Waymo still has to overcome a number of issues, including cost and increased attention from regulators (the company’s chief security officer testified Senate Commerce Hearing). If Waymo wants to be just a licensee of its AV technology, it needs to move away from being an operator, which means giving up control. This is a challenge with the nascent technology under review.

And while some of you will fight me on this, it also needs to be manufactured in-house Tesla he is. Yes, Waymo has car friends. But it doesn’t come with the same funding opportunities or the ability to lower costs and scale.

Do you disagree? Send your dispute to my email at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com.

A little bird

Investors who launched the defunct EV Canoo it was always mysterious – in fact, it was revealed as part of the criminal proceedings. Six years ago, I received a warning to look into one of them in particular: David Stern. She joined Prince Andrew but was a ghost.

However, he was on my mind when the Justice Department started releasing his files Jeffrey Epstein. My curiosity to know if he would appear in the documents was quickly shaken by the fact that he was indeed a close friend of the guilty man. He brought Epstein the opportunity to sell around the world, and more importantly, he got him to invest Faraday Future, Lucid Motorsand Canoo in the past days of travel expenses. Read my article on Stern and Epstein’s relationship and how the originals were in the mix.

– Sean O’Kane

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!

Autonomous vehicle technology is much more than robotaxis — it’s a complex and expensive business that only a handful of companies with significant capital are interested in. Tesla, way, and Zoox they are following. Many startups are using the AV systems they have developed for other applications, including road safety, trucking, forklifts, mining, and construction. Investors, worried about missing out on the AV party, are jumping into these groups.

Bedrock Robotics is the latest example of investor interest. The Silicon Valley Autonomous Car Startup, founded by veterans Waymo and Segment, is developing self-driving cars that can be retrofitted into construction equipment. And it just raised $270 million in Series B funding led by CapitalG and the Valor Atreides AI Fund. Other investors include Xora, 8VC, Eclipse, Emergence Capital, Perry Creek Capital, NVentures (Nvidia’s venture capital arm), Tishman Speyer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgian, Incharge Capital, C4 Ventures, and others.

Bedrock raised more than $350 million in a short period of time (the company was formed in 2024). And while this may not seem like much compared to the growth of other crops in the AI ​​labs sector, it shows that money is flowing into AI startups. I hope to travel more; More importantly I expect startups that focus on using automation to attract talent – if they can afford it. Bedrock, for example, hired Vincent Gonguet, who previously led AI security and reconciliation at Meta for all Llama models, as its head of analytics. It also hired John Chu away from Waymo.

Check out my interview with Bedrock Robotics co-founder and CEO Boris Sofman.

Some products that caught my eye this week…

German car manufacturer Additional Information earned €25 million ($29.5 million) from Nordic Alpha Partners.

Introduction of submarines Apeiron Labs closed for $9.5 million Series A round led by Dyne Ventures, RA Capital Management Planetary Health, and S2G Investments. Assembly Ventures, Bay Bridge Ventures, and TFX Capital participated.

GoCabfintech startups in Africa, earned $45 million financing round consisting of $15 million in equity and $30 million in debt. The equity round was led by E3 Capital and Janngo Capital, and KawiSafi Ventures and Cur8 Capital.

Mitra EVan EV fleet company in Los Angeles, earned $27 million for financing, including equity funding from investor Ultra Capital and debt from S2G Investments.

Down AIa Seattle-based manufacturer of self-driving cars designed for military applications, earned $100 million around led by 8VC. Other investors included Point72 Ventures, Ascend Venture Capital, Shasta Ventures, Overmatch Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and StepStone Group.

Plugused EV market, he earned $20 million in Series A led by Lightspeed with participation from Galvanize and existing investors Autotech Ventures, Leap Forward Ventures, and Renn Global.

R3 Roboticsa European start-up aiming to build an EV hybrid system at scale, earned €20 million ($23.6 million) including grant and investment funds. €14 million ($16.5 million) Series A funding funded by HG Ventures and Suma Capital. The Oetker Collection, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund), and previous partners, including BONVENTURE, FlixFounders, and EIT Urban Mobility also participated.

In partsThe El seigno, based on $300 million in Investment Series C. The round, led by Autopilot Ventures, pushes its value to $1.15 billion. Other investors include Fidelity Management & Research Company, ArrowMark Partners, Atreides Management LP, BAM Elevate, Baron Capital Group, Durable Capital Partners, Positive Sum, Qatar Investment Authority, RCM Private Markets Fund managed by Rokos Capital Management, and Woodline Partners.

Popular reading and more

China he is prohibited Electric hidden door products popularized by Tesla. The decision, published by China’s Ministry of Industry and Technology, states that all new cars sold in the country must be equipped with a door seal by January 1, 2027. There is talk that Europe may soon follow suit.

Uber continues to develop products to remain competitive in the autonomous vehicle segment. The company has encouraged Balaji KrishnamurthyIts VP of Strategic Finance and Investor Relations, becoming its CFO. This may not seem connected to AVs, but it is. Krishnamurthy promotes the partnership of independent companies and has a seat in the company AV Waabi. On the company’s Q4 earnings call, he talked about AVs, saying the company will sell its investments to AV software partners, work with AV manufacturers to create premium or non-disclosure agreements, and “support our AV partners.”

Meanwhile, a high-profile lawsuit Uber has filed a mixed verdict against the ride-hailing company, which was sued after a woman claimed that she was sexually assaulted by her Uber driver in November 2023. The jury determined that Uber had a duty to appear to the driver and awarded $8.5 million to the plaintiff. The court rejected claims that Uber was responsible for negligence or design defects and declined to impose penalties. An Uber spokesperson, who sent an email to TechCrunch, said “this decision confirms that Uber acted responsibly and has invested heavily in protecting riders. We will continue to put safety at the heart of everything we do.” Uber plans to appeal the decision.

One thing…

Last week in our article, we did a survey asking what a name or ticker is Elon Musk‘s plus supercompany should be. Thanks to those who emailed their ideas, many of which had spatial themes, such as Galactic X (large). As for the vote, most chose plain ol’ X.

This makes sense, considering Musk often talks, and puts, about X, the whole program. About 50% voted for X, while 20.7% chose ELON, 17.2% chose SpaceAI, and 12.1% chose K2, meaning one of the company’s products it was made in January.

My choice? I think in the end it will be X, and the company will combine more than SpaceX and xAI.

To participate in our polls, sign up for our newsletter!