TechCrunch Mobility: Who is poaching all the self-driving vehicle talent?
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part.
Transportation
Battery recycler Ascend Elements files for bankruptcy
Ascend Elements said that it will be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the wake of a canceled government grant and a challenging market for lithium-ion batteries.
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Volkswagen drops all-electric ID.4 in the US in pivot back to gas SUVs
All resources at its U.S. factory are aimed at the upcoming Atlas SUV.
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Waymo robotaxis are tracking potholes and sharing that data with Waze users
Two Alphabet-owned businesses are teaming up to find potholes and share that information with cities.
Ex-Tesla engineer’s startup taps Pronto to help automate a copper mine
Pronto’s autonomous haulage trucks are about to start operating at Mariana Minerals’s Utah copper mine — the first such deal since Pronto got acquired by Travis Kalanick’s Atoms Inc.
A self-driving car in Texas hit and killed a mother duck, sparking neighborhood outrage
An Avride autonomous vehicle near Austin hit the duck, facing backlash from the community. “It didn’t slow down or hesitate at all, just steamrolled right through,” according to a witness.
Volkswagen begins testing its self-driving microbuses in Los Angeles ahead of launch with Uber
Volkswagen subsidiary MOIA America still has a long and winding regulatory road before it can launch a commercial robotaxi service.
VC Eclipse has a new $1.3B to back — and build — ‘physical AI’ startups
Eclipse will put some of that money towards incubating, or building startups.