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Image credits: Aurora Innovation |
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Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, the role AI is playing in it. |
I’m back from a sojourn through New Hampshire’s White Mountains — a few days of respite before Disrupt 2026, TechCrunch’s annual tech conference in San Francisco. Now, after a few days immersed in fall colors, I am ready for the action. And there is gonna be a lot of it. |
I want to see you all there, so here is a 30% discount on tickets to Disrupt with code mobility30. For more info on the show, scroll down. |
Now, on to the news! |
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Self-driving truck companies Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI received a federal exemption this week that removes a massive barrier to commercialization. |
Under federal regulations, if a traditional big rig runs into trouble, the human driver must pull over, activate the hazard lights, and then physically place reflective warning triangles on the road within 10 minutes to alert other road users. But if a mechanical problem forces a self-driving truck to pull over, there's no human driver to deploy those warning devices. |
It was a big enough hurdle that Aurora took federal safety regulators to court over the requirement. After the court denied its request for an exemption, the company escalated the fight to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. (Companies did have a temporary waiver as it awaited a decision.) |
Now Aurora and other self-driving truck developers have been given the green light from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The agency has granted a five-year exemption allowing companies to replace roadside warning devices, such as reflective warning triangles, with cab-mounted warning beacons. Check out Aurora’s first responders page to see how it works. |
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Image credits: Aurora Innovation |
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Daniel Goff, vice president of external affairs at Kodiak AI, said the exemption will help the industry “usher in an autonomous era of freight movement on U.S. roads, one that can save lives and improve the efficiency of goods delivery.” |
Gerardo Interiano, Aurora’s head of government relations and public affairs, echoed that sentiment, saying the decision underscores the government’s recognition of the economic and community benefits of autonomous trucking. He described the high-visibility, cab-mounted warning beacons as a “critical, 21st-century solution that enhances roadside safety by immediately alerting other road users without ever needing to put a person in harm's way.” |
One question I'm left with: Could these cab-mounted warning beacons eventually become standard equipment across the entire trucking industry? |
A little bird |
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Image credits: Bryce Durbin |
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It's been a few months since Redwood Materials, the battery-recycling company started by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, kicked off a restructuring to focus more on energy storage. The first stage of the restructuring involved laying off around 135 employees, or 10% of its workforce.
But a little bird recently told us that some more executives were on their way out the door. Sure enough, over the last few weeks, Redwood's vice presidents of engineering, operations, treasury, and external affairs have all left the startup. |
Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O'Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com. |
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Deals! |
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Image credits: Bryce Durbin |
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Waymo has relied on capital from its parent company Alphabet and high-profile venture firms to fund its autonomous vehicle tech plans. This week, the company turned to debt financing for the first time for another bump. A $5 billion bump to be exact. |
PIMCO, Blackstone, and Sixth Street were the lead lenders. But there were so many more, including Capital Group, Loomis Sayles, T. Rowe Price, Apollo, Blue Owl, Diameter Capital Partners, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Management & Research Company, HPS Investment Partners, and Oaktree. |
The debt financing comes as the company accelerates its commercial expansion within existing cities while pushing into new markets in the United States, Europe, and Japan. |
Other deals that got my attention this week … |
Bloom has raised $3.6 million to become the “Alibaba” of American manufacturing. The seed round was led by SNAK Venture Partners and included Flyover Capital, deep tech firm Mana Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Invest Detroit Ventures, and the Michigan Outdoor Innovation Fund. |
Flai, a startup that developed AI software for dealerships, raised $27 million in a Series A funding round led by automation-focused firm Base10 Partners. The round included funding from dealers (Friedkin Group and Findlay Automotive), Toyota’s venture arm, Y Combinator, and First Round Capital. |
Parallel Systems, a startup developing a rail vehicle capable of moving over several tons of freight as far as 500 miles without an operator, raised $100 million in a Series C round led by AVP, with participation from Hillspire, Agility Global, Cobalt Capital, Anthos Capital, Congruent Ventures, Riot Ventures, and Collaborative Fund. |
Uber has agreed to buy catering company ezCater in an all-cash transaction valued at $2.3 billion. |
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Notable reads and other tidbits |
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Image credits: Bryce Durbin |
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Surveillance camera maker Flock cut its workforce by 18%, or around 270 employees, as the company faces ongoing and growing backlash to its license plate readers and people-tracking technology. FYI: Flock founder and CEO Garrett Langley will be at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. |
Lucid Motors built 2,954 electric vehicles in the third quarter of this year, a 54% drop from a year ago, as the company purposely limits production to better meet demand for its EVs. |
Kodiak AI has a new 435-mile autonomous route between Dallas and Laredo, Texas, with carrier Charger USA. The self-driving trucks startup is hauling refrigerated and dry freight for consumer packaged goods and for food and beverage customers. |
Tesla changed the name of its advanced driver assistance system in Europe after pushback from Germany’s transportation ministry. It’s now called “Tesla Assisted Driving” instead of “Full Self-Driving (Supervised).” |
Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle maker Pony.ai plan to launch a robotaxi service in London as part of an expanded partnership to bring driverless cars to Europe. |
One more thing |
Here’s a bit more info on TechCrunch Disrupt 2026! |
I will kick off the conference on October 13 with Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe. Senior reporter Sean O’Kane has a fireside interview with Agility Robotics CTO Jonathan Hurst, as well as a panel featuring Also CEO Chris Yu, General Catalyst’s Yuri Sagalov, and Shan Shan, investment manager at Baillie Gifford. |
I will also interview Shield AI CTO Nathan Michael; Waabi founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun; and Mikell Taylor, director of robotics strategy at GM about building AI systems when failure isn’t an option. And I will interview Foxglove CEO Adrian MacNeil and Bedrock Robotics CTO Kevin Peterson about taking physical AI from prototype to product. |
Not enough? OK, here ya go: We will also have Max Hodak, co-founder of Neuralink and founder of Science Corp.; Ricursive Intelligence co-founders Dr. Anna Goldie and Dr. Azalia Mirhoseini; Hello Robot co-founder and CEO Aaron Edsinger and their robot Stretch 4; and Mark Wahlberg. Plus, hear from engineers and execs from Anthropic, Gamma, Hugging Face, OpenAI, Nvidia, and Replit, as well as investors from Google Ventures, Greylock, Eclipse, Index Ventures, NEA, and Upfront Ventures (to name a few.) |
Check out the agenda here. |
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