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In case you missed it, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company would launch a paid ride-hailing service with a fleet of driverless vehicles in Austin in June. For those keeping track, that’s five months away. Musk dropped this announcement during Tesla’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings call.
Musk provided almost no details about this upcoming service, including what its geo-fence (environmental, geographic, and operational constraints) will be at launch. But perhaps that’s the point: drum up excitement and distract from its rather flat automotive business.
I recommend scrolling through our live blog of the Tesla earnings report and call, as there are lots of nuggets in there that may have been lost in the ether, from bitcoin and lithium refinery progress to Dojo’s absence and how Tesla is training FSD in China. Oh, and finally, Elon admitted that yes, all of those hardware 3 vehicles will need an upgrade to fully unlock future capabilities in its Full Self-Drive software (which is an advanced driver-assistance system).
A little bird
A couple of little birds have shared some behind-the-scenes color over at Cruise, which we included in a recent article about GM and the estimated $1 billion savings the automaker expects from shutting down the robotaxi development program.
Tucked inside that article were some tidbits shared by sources at Cruise who told us management began extending retention offers to employees — almost all of whom were engineers — in mid-January.
“While our plans remain subject to Cruise board approval, I wanted to share that we completed our first wave of notifications to those employees whose roles we expect to need as part of the go-forward Cruise,” CEO Marc Whitten said in the email, which TechCrunch has viewed. He also called for continued patience as senior leadership worked out what the next steps would be and waited for the Cruise board to make a call.
Whitten added that those who haven’t yet received a notification aren’t necessarily at risk of losing their jobs.
Sources at Cruise told TechCrunch the board should be meeting in early February, at which time they’ll hopefully come up with a plan for the thousands of now-idle and worried workers.
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Deals!
If you’re not already paying attention to Moove, the African mobility fintech company backed by Uber, you should be. The company has had explosive growth in five years. In 2020, Moove had 76 cars in Lagos, Nigeria; today it has 36,000 cars operating in 19 cities across six continents.
You might recall that Moove announced a partnership with Waymo last year to provide driverless vehicle fleet operations in Phoenix and Miami.
Now the company, which offers vehicle financing to ride-hailing and delivery app drivers across six continents, is expanding via acquisitions. Moove said it has acquired Kovi, a Brazil-based urban mobility provider.
The value of the deal is not being disclosed, but Moove confirmed it was an all-share transaction, and Kovi is now wholly owned by Moove. Moove co-founder and co-CEO Ladi Delano told TechCrunch that the deal bumps the mobility fintech’s annual revenue to $275 million.
Other deals that got my attention …
Angell, a French smart electric bike startup, is nearing bankruptcy.
Bonsai Robotics, an autonomous agriculture startup based in California, raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Bison Ventures. Cibus Capital, Acre Venture Partners, Congruent Ventures, Fall Line Capital, E14 Fund, SNR, and Serra Ventures also participated.
TravelPerk, a Barcelona-based business travel management platform, has raised $200 million at a hefty $2.7 billion valuation — almost double the $1.4 billion valuation at its previous fundraise last year. The Series E round was led by European venture capital firm Atomico, with participation from EQT Growth, Noteus Partners, Kinnevik, General Catalyst, among other existing investors. Alongside the raise, TravelPerk also announced it has acquired Swiss startup Yokoy for an undisclosed amount.
UVeye, the Israeli startup that developed a vision-based “MRI for cars,” raised $191 million in an extension to its 2023 Series D round led by Toyota’s Woven Capital growth fund. The round includes a mix of $41 million in equity financing — with participation from UMC Capital and MyBerg — and a $150 million debt facility structured by Trinity Capital.
Voi, the Swedish shared micromobility giant, eked out its first profitable year in 2024, according to preliminary unaudited results.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Autonomous vehicles
GM said it expects to save up to $1 billion annually by ending its Cruise robotaxi development program.
Kodiak Robotics handed off two autonomous trucks to customer Atlas Energy Solutions — for driverless operations in an off-road environment in the remote Permian Basin — marking the startup’s first commercial launch.
Waymo had a busy week. First up, a hidden Waymo feature in its app allowed a security researcher to display whatever characters she wanted on the robotaxi’s top display. The same security researcher also found a new tipping feature while “reverse engineering” Waymo’s Android app.
On the expansion front, Waymo said it will begin testing driverless vehicles on Los Angeles freeways; for now, only employees will be allowed to ride in them. And it also plans to bring its robotaxis — in manual mode — to 10 U.S. cities this year. Meanwhile, Waymo has increased its lobbying activity in San Francisco, and one major target appears to be unlocking access to the airport.
Electric vehicles, charging, & batteries
Lucid Gravity SUV owners will gain access to Tesla Superchargers on Friday. Here is a roundup of Tesla Supercharger-NACs news, including which automakers now have access to the network.
Tesla is bringing its redesigned Model Y SUV to the U.S., Canada, and Mexico in March, with a starting price just shy of $60,000.
You might recall our reporting last month on a handful of lawsuits filed against Rivian by employees who claim they were harassed by executives. Here are some updates on a few of those cases: One, filed by former clay sculptor Nathan Facciolla in October 2024 against Rivian and chief designer Jeff Hammoud, is now being moved to arbitration. A second, filed in February 2024 by former color, material, and finish team director Elizabeth Curran against Rivian and Hammoud, is now tracking toward a potential September 2025 trial date — though Rivian is trying to get the judge to rule on the case prior to that happening.
In-car tech
Apple admits next-gen CarPlay is late, but says it is still in development.
Space and future of flight
Amazon is expanding its drone delivery service to the U.K., starting with a north England town of Darlington.
Boom Supersonic went supersonic. The startup’s XB-1 demonstrator plane cleared Mach 1 and stayed supersonic for about four minutes in the skies above California’s Mojave Desert.
This week’s wheels
Nothing this week, but look for a write-up in the next newsletter.
What is “This week’s wheels”? It’s a chance to learn about the different transportation products we’re testing, whether it’s an electric or hybrid car, an e-bike, or even a ride in an autonomous vehicle.
