Welcome again to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for information and insights on the way forward for transportation. Enroll right here totally free — simply click on TechCrunch Mobility!
Your traditional host Kirsten is out on trip, however she didn’t go away with out writing up This Week’s Wheels. However for the remainder, you’ve obtained me, Rebecca Bellan, to information you thru the mobility information of this week.
And what every week it’s been — and never simply due to the Tesla Robotaxi occasion on Thursday. Though I will likely be liveblogging that, fueled with loads of espresso to maintain me up previous my bedtime because it begins at *checks X* 7 p.m. PT. And realizing Elon, it’ll in all probability begin late.
Right here’s the right way to watch it, by the best way.
The large query on everybody’s minds, or a minimum of ours, is whether or not Tesla will truly reveal a full product roadmap for its Robotaxi (or Cybercab), full with commercialization plans, or whether or not this will likely be all smoke and mirrors. As a result of in any case, the reveal is going down at a Hollywood studio.
Musk has been hyping up the Robotaxi, and Tesla’s almost-autonomous capabilities, for years. Now that it’s showtime, buyers who’re attracted by the billionaire’s imaginative and prescient to drive Tesla’s valuation to $5 trillion, up from the $750 billion valuation immediately, will need to see an precise automobile in motion and find out how quick Tesla can mass-produce it at a revenue. (Reminder: Musk had beforehand stated Tesla could be mass-producing robotaxis by 2024 …)
We’re additionally inquisitive about whether or not no matter mass-produced automobile Tesla lands on for the Robotaxi will likely be constructed with out steering wheels or pedals, one thing that would delay manufacturing on account of federal security laws that require a method for people to take over. Little doubt a hurdle that Tesla would possibly use as a motive for delaying its Robotaxi rollout.
Slightly fowl
Obtained a tip for us? E-mail Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. Or try these directions to discover ways to contact us by way of encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.
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Lithios raised $10 million in seed funding to get better priceless minerals, particularly lithium, locked in water from reservoirs deep underground. The startup is one in every of many attempting to feed the rising want for lithium batteries, despite the fact that EV purchases have slowed down. Clear Vitality Ventures led the spherical, with participation from GS Futures, Lowercarbon Capital, and others.
Notable reads and different tidbits
ADAS
Kirsten obtained the inside track that Basic Motors is engaged on an automated driving system that not solely helps you to take your palms off the wheel, but additionally your eyes off the street! If GM pulls this off, it might put the automaker forward of virtually each different ADAS in the marketplace immediately. Sure, even Tesla’s FSD.
Autonomous automobiles
Baidu plans to develop its Apollo Go ride-hailing service exterior of China, and phrase is the corporate is Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Center East.
Tesla’s chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen, sat down with Kirsten to debate broad design themes across the upcoming Robotaxi, which he stated he had began doing in his head 12 years in the past. “I just think it felt inevitable we would get there,” he stated.
Electrical automobiles, charging, & batteries
Honda has been teasing the Sequence 0 EVs since CES in 2023, however we lastly obtained a sneak peek after visiting the corporate’s HQ in Japan. The plan is to launch seven Honda 0 Sequence fashions by 2030 globally, every with a good vary of 300 miles.
Lucid Motors has offered extra EVs this yr than it did all of final yr. Lucid delivered 2,781 items within the third quarter, which is a 3rd straight report. That’s nice information for the EV maker because it gears as much as launch its Gravity SUV.
Palantir, the data-mining firm based by Peter Thiel, now owns 8.7% of struggling EV startup Faraday Future. Palantir was granted greater than 800,000 shares as “payment for certain outstanding receivables.”
TezLab is an app that TC’s Sean O’Kane described as “essentially like Strava for EVs.” The startup has not too long ago launched a automobile report that enables EV homeowners (beginning with Tesla and Rivian automobiles) to nerd out on visualized knowledge about how they use their automobiles.
FiskerCrunch
This part is devoted to Fisker since we’ve been preserving tabs on all of the downs and downs over the previous week. Right here we go.
American Lease, the leasing firm that was on the hook to purchase Fisker’s remaining fleet of electrical SUVs, says it won’t full the acquisition as a result of there might not be a method to switch the knowledge related to every automobile to a brand new server not owned by the bankrupt EV startup.
The DOJ says Fisker can’t make homeowners pay for the labor prices associated to its a number of recollects as a result of that’s very a lot unlawful. The company thus objects to Fisker’s proposed chapter liquidation plan.
The SEC is investigating Fisker, but it surely’s not saying why precisely. The company has despatched a number of subpoenas to Fisker and should ship extra because it appears into whether or not Fisker violated federal securities legal guidelines.
Shamrock Properties II, the owner on Fisker’s headquarters, submitted a submitting to Fisker’s Chapter 11 chapter docket saying the startup deserted the area and left it in “complete disarray,” with literal drums of hazardous waste and automobiles mendacity about.
Way forward for flight
Odysee is the first startup born out of an aviation-focused enterprise lab shaped by Alaska Airways and UP.Labs, and its aim is to make use of AI-powered software program that may analyze reams of knowledge to assist business airways get probably the most out of advanced flight schedules.
Micromobility
Ola Electrical’s clients are complaining about its service and scooters, and the corporate’s inventory value is taking successful. And now India’s shopper rights regulator has issued a discover to the struggling startup in addition.
The electrical two-wheeler producer, one of many buzziest Indian IPOs this yr, appears to be falling prey to the identical points that VanMoof had: an excessive amount of hype and never sufficient funding into servicing capability.
Miscellaneous
The Boring Firm’s 2.4-mile underground Loop in Las Vegas is not only house to slow-moving Teslas with automated driving options. Not less than 67 trespassing occurrences have occurred since 2022 as individuals are lured like moths to a flame by that clean, colourful tunnel.
SpotHero will combine its extraordinarily useful parking instrument with Google Maps and Google Search, permitting customers within the U.S. and Canada to order parking spots at over 8,000 areas.
Folks
Waymo has a new program director, Daniel Ho, and he’s come straight from main Tesla’s automobile packages and new product integrations. The shakeup comes just some days earlier than Tesla reveals its Robotaxi.
Journey-hail
Uber will launch an integration with OpenAI’s GPT-4o early subsequent yr as a part of a push to deliver extra electrical automobiles onto its platform. What do EVs must do with OpenAI? Properly, the AI assistant will likely be there to assist drivers study extra about EVs, like which to purchase and the place to cost.
This week’s wheels
I (Kirsten) spent every week within the 2025 Mazda CX-70 Premium Plus — with the soul-red crystal metallic paint and a listing value of $59,420 — and I used to be struck instantly by how related (an identical even?) it’s to the CX-90. So far as I might inform, the first distinction is that the CX-70 Premium Plus doesn’t have a 3rd row.
The CX-70 and CX-90 even have the identical plug-in hybrid guts, which features a 173-horsepower electrical motor, a 14.8-kilowatt-hour battery, an eight-speed transmission, and a 189-hp 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine. Collectively, this produces 323 horsepower and 369 kilos of torque. In EV mode, the automobile has a 26-mile vary. The whole vary (when pairing gasoline and electrical) is 490 miles.
That 26 miles of EV vary didn’t final lengthy as I tooled round city, though Mazda does give drivers the choice of getting some further regen juice by hitting a small button within the heart console (and proper subsequent to the gear selector).
One phrase of meh-ness: The hybrid powertrain on this automobile produces what I describe as less-than-fantastic efficiency off the road and felt clunky as the automated transmission moved by the gears.
The inside within the Premium Plus feels, effectively, premium. It’s full of good, higher-end particulars, together with cooled and heated seats, and I usually favored the combination of actual buttons and touchscreen. What I didn’t like was the gear selector within the heart console, which requires the driving force to recollect to make that further step and push it to the left to park. If you happen to neglect, you’re in reverse. And yeah, I forgot as soon as.
What’s “This week’s wheels”? It’s an opportunity to study in regards to the totally different transportation merchandise we’re testing, whether or not it’s an electrical or hybrid automobile, an e-bike, or perhaps a trip in an autonomous automobile.
