Electric vehicle sales in the U.S. are showing signs of life
The electric vehicle market in the U.S. has been growing for the last three consecutive quarters.
Transportation
Rivian spinoff Mind Robotics hires former Ford EV chief Doug Field
Field also worked on Apple’s secretive car project and oversaw development of the Tesla Model 3.
Laplace Intelligence red-teams robots and self-driving cars before they hit the real world
University of Michigan spinout Laplace Intelligence uses AI agents and interactive simulation to stress-test robots and self-driving vehicles before deployment. The profitable startup is competing in Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt, October 1…
MIT startup says it can turn diesel trucks into cheaper hydrogen haulers — see it at Disrupt
Diesel is expensive and polluting, and LNK Energies says it has come up with a way to replace it with hydrogen, all while undercutting diesel on cost.
TechCrunch Mobility: A roadblock clears for self-driving trucks
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, the role AI is playing in it.
Tesla renames ‘Full Self-Driving’ to ‘Tesla Assisted Driving’ in Europe
The name change is enough for Germany’s transport minister to start advocating for Europe-wide adoption of the driver assistance software.
Surveillance company Flock cuts staff as privacy backlash grows
Flock would not say if CEO Garrett Langley would take a pay cut following the reduction in workforce.
Waymo locks in $5B loan from Blackstone, PIMCO to fuel robotaxi expansion
This is the first time the Alphabet-owned company has turned to debt financing.
Uber and China’s Pony.ai plan to launch robotaxis in London
The two companies said on Thursday that they would begin testing Pony.ai’s Gen-7 robotaxis in London in the coming weeks.
SpaceX alumni nab $100M to rethink shipping with autonomous freight trains
Parallel Systems raised $100M to scale production of its autonomous electric rail vehicle, which can shuttle thousands of pounds of freight up to 500 miles.