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Welcome to the station, which is the central hub of all means of past, present and future for moving people and luggage from Point A to Point B.
I am dubbing the month of EV trucks in July. Well, at least for me.
I drive for a week Ford F-150 Lightning (XLT, dual motor trim) and just owned Libyan R1T, AdventureLaunch Edition is trimmed with compass yellow. (Both vehicles are provided by the car manufacturer for a week and I am responsible for the charging costs).
After spending 7 days in Lightning and 2 days in Rivian, I’m really sorry that these car makers didn’t build a car together (don’t forget).
Both EV trucks have been well received in my book. Still, each automaker is clearly shining in a particular area.
Rivian shatters it completely with interesting and unexpected details, and its UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) are some of the best I’ve ever experienced. Ford knows how to mass produce rugged, healthy, high-performance trucks. In addition to Lightning’s performance, some thoughtful touches show that Ford also knows its customer base.
More coming to these two trucks.
In the meantime, let’s dig deeper. This week’s edition has lots of executive shuffle and recruitment, restructuring, and layoff news. This is not the end. The ripples of these restructurings are expected to continue in the coming weeks.
As always, you can send me an email kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com To share thoughts, criticisms, opinions or tips.You can also send a direct message to @kirstenkorosec..
Micromobbin’
Before jumping in, I wanted to spotlight the TechCruncher Annie Saunders article. Why micromobility isn’t really an enhancement to public transport, it’s just a fun way to get around. Check out (TechCrunch + subscription required).
In other micromobbin news …
ÄikeAn Estonian scooter maker, founded by some Comodule graduates, has produced a tank-like electric kick scooter called the Äike T. The scooter has a USB-C charging port that can handle heavy loads and allow you to ride like a dream. Also, for some reason it’s only $ 1,025.
AutolivA Swedish car safety supplier is working on bicycle and electric bicycle helmets equipped with airbag technology.
Bloomberg We’ve put together a few top e-scooters that can actually help reduce vehicle emissions.
Ducati Dropped two new foldable electric bikes.
hacker In China, we are hacking electric motorcycle software to bypass the speed limit control and reach speeds above 31 mph. The current legal speed limit is approximately 16 mph.
Honda We are affiliated with Japanese lifestyle and home brands Mujirushi Ryohin We will cooperate in the design of minimalist electric bicycles for the Chinese market.
HumanForest Launched the first shared e-moped scheme in London, using 200 vehicles throughout the city to allow business delivery riders to rent.
lime Has built a unique camera-based computer vision system that detects and modifies sidewalk vehicles. Watch out for Drover AI and Luna.
Trek Bicycle A survey found that 80% of respondents are considering replacing car trips with bicycle trips to save on gasoline.
Zoomo Affiliated with SG fleet To bring an electric bicycle to the mail delivery.
— Rebecca Belan
This week’s trading
This isn’t the biggest funding round we’ve highlighted here at The Station, but “transactions of the week” can be more than just scale.
I’m talking May mobility — One of the last independent, unacquired self-driving car companies.
The Michigan-based autonomous Ridehail and Shuttle startup has raised $ 111 million in Series C rounds and said it will help launch a driver-out business in 2023.
May initially announced the first closing of the $ 83 million Series C in January. It was led by Mirai Creation Fund II and included repeaters such as Tokio Marine, Toyota Tsusho, Bridgestone Americas, and Toyota Ventures and LG Technology Ventures. New investors in the round include Softbank, State Farm Ventures, Next Century Ventures, SAIC, Manmukai, Karma and 10x Group. Taken together, the total funding for May will be $ 194 million.
Other transactions that caught my attention …
Aurora Lab Raised $ 63 million through a Series C funding round led by Moore Strategic Ventures. Existing investors Porsche Automobile Holding SE and Colmobile Corporation also participated. This round is Aurora The lab will be about $ 100 million.
Divergence technology We have closed a $ 60 million venture loan facility led by Horizon Technology Finance Corporation and a new $ 20 million revolving credit line from Bridgebank, a division of Western Alliance Bank. The new facility follows Divergent’s successful $ 160 million Series C funding earlier this year.
LightshipA new all-electric RV startup run by Tesla graduates has raised $ 23 million in Series A, led by Prelude Ventures’ Victoria Beasley.
Nuiel Raised about $ 2 million for eTrailers from European clean tech investor EIT Inno Energy. It is designed to solve the problem of product delivery in the city center by adapting to existing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
RoadBoticsRoad infrastructure image analysis startup, was acquired by Michelin. The terms have not been disclosed, but we know that all Roadbotics employees and their CEO and co-founder Ben Schmidt have headed for Michelin.
Xpeng RoboticsA bionic robot manufacturer affiliated with XpengRaised $ 100 million in a series A round led by IDG Capital during a period of slowing venture investment in China.
Wonder RoboticsIn collaboration with Besadno Investment Group, an autonomous drone technology startup, we raised $ 4 million in a round led by Elron Ventures.
Notable readings and other information
Self-driving car
Anthony Levandowski I was interviewed on the stage of Brainstorm Tech in Fortune. It covers many familiar areas, but there were some new bites worth seeing.
Apple According to the information, the eight-year struggle included meaningless demonstrations, false hopes, and map handicaps.
Aurora Fault management systems, especially self-driving car systems, have demonstrated the ability to detect problems and respond by safely parking the vehicle on the side of the road without human involvement.
Of the cruise The robotaxi service is a few weeks old and has already been reviewed by California regulators. This is an action prompted by an anonymous letter from someone who claims to be an employee.
MomentalExtending AV-Test to San Diego, describes an encounter with a trolley.
Nuro Will close its Phoenix facility to shift its commercial strategy from the desert metropolis to the San Francisco Bay Area and Houston. As a result, several employees were dismissed. Several other employees in Houston and Mountain View, California have also recently been fired.
Zoox Completed self-certification of a dedicated fully autonomous all-electric passenger car that complies with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
Electric vehicle and battery
arrivalUK-based commercial EV companies plan to reduce costs and reduce 30% of their workforce in an attempt to protect their business from the harsh economic environment while achieving production targets.
Audi Started construction of an EV plant in China, which is expected to start operations in 2024.
Battery recycling TechCrunch’s Jaclyn Trop reported that it could be the next investor in the EV era. Her report was timely: Redwood material I was just trapped in a partnership between Volkswagen of America and Audi.
General Motors He said he would partner with Pilot Flying J to build a nationwide fast charging network for EVs. The plan requires 2,000 charging stations, including a 350 kW DC quick charger, at approximately 500 Pilot Flying J Travel Centers at 50 mile intervals.
Hyundai Announcing the new Ioniq 6 EV sedan, which has announced that it will offer the same range as the Tesla Model 3. Hyundai also announced that it will begin manufacturing electric vehicles under the high-performance N brand created to compete with Mercedes-Benz luxury sports cars. And BMW.
Panasonic The company announced plans to build a $ 4 billion plant in Kansas to manufacture lithium-ion batteries and supply them to EV makers. The factory will be larger than the Giga Factory operating in Tesla, Spark, Nevada. This factory is already one of the largest lithium-ion battery factories in the world.
Pole star, The electric car maker, which made its debut in Nasdaq in June, said it is on track to reach its annual sales target of 50,000 units this year.
Rimac Started production of the $ 2.5 million Nevera Hypercar EV. But $ 2.5 million isn’t the only EV hypercar blocked this summer. These two duel vehicles have an interesting twist.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe An internal email read by TechCrunch told employees that restructuring could lead to headcount reductions. This email was sent to employees following reports that EV car makers plan to dismiss about 5% of their employees.
VinFastVietnam EV maker received $ 1.2 billion as an incentive to build a factory in North Carolina.
Walmart Signed a contract with an electric vehicle company Canoe Purchase 4,500 last mile delivery vehicles. Oh, but an interesting line of contract first discovered by Bloomberg is preventing canoeing from selling to Wal-Mart’s rival Amazon.
others
Amazon Drone delivery is heading to Texas.
BMW in North AmericaFollowing media coverage that caused consumer backlash, it revealed how its feature-on-demand strategy would be implemented in the US market. Tl; dr: Vehicles ordered with heated seats always have that option for the life of the vehicle.
In texasA pregnant woman was pulled to drive alone in a HOV lane. She claimed that her fetus was counted as a second person under the state’s abortion ban.
Uber Faces proceedings from as many as 550 female passengers across the United States alleging that they have been assaulted by drivers on the platform.
people
Andrey CalpathyThe deep learning and computer vision experts who were hired five years ago as Tesla’s AI director and led the Autopilot Vision team will officially leave the company.
Fisker Appointment Alpeigs As Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing. He reports to CEO Henrik Fisker. In his role at Fisker, Alpey oversees the company’s global manufacturing as Fisker grows towards its goal of producing one million cars a year in 2027.
Ford Announced two long-time employees, How Titan When Frederik Tony, Retired. Thai-Tang is Ford’s Chief Industrial Platform Head and Toney is Vice President of Global Ford Customer Service. in the meantime, Dave Boseman After a successful tenure at Amazon, Caterpillar, and Harley-Davidson, he joined the company to help drive the Ford + project.
Rhodes Town Motors Promoted Edward High Tower to CEO. Hightower has been the first black CEO of a US car maker for over 100 years, Automotive News reported. He used to be the president of the company. Many other executives have been appointed. Daniel A. Ninivaggi He was elected chairman of the board of directors. Dr. Donna BellHe has been appointed Vice President of Product Creation, Engineering and Supply Chain, a longtime Ford executive. Andrew Reyntjes He is currently Senior Vice President of Sales, Services and Marketing.When Zirconi Rio-Kirk Appointed Vice President of People and Culture. finally, Jane Ritson-Persons He resigned from his position as Chief Commercial Officer and became an advisor to the company.
Tesla According to a California regulatory filing, it has fired 229 data annotation employees who are part of the company’s larger autopilot team and closed the office in San Mateo, California, where they worked.
