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It looks as if a day doesn’t go by with out Waymo making some type of growth announcement. Detroit, Las Vegas, Nashville, San Diego, and Washington, D.C., are just some of the cities the corporate plans to deliver its robotaxi to within the coming months. However as I’ve argued on this e-newsletter earlier than, there may be one other “growth” I believe is extra vital. 

Freeways. 

And now after years of testing and improvement, the corporate’s business robotaxi service is utilizing freeways across the San Francisco Bay Space, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. 

It is a important growth for the corporate. It’s the concrete and asphalt connective tissue in sprawling metro areas just like the Bay Space. This new freeway entry is fueling Waymo’s growth in that area, which is now 260 sq. miles and encompasses Silicon Valley and San Francisco. 

Robotaxi rides can have extra environment friendly routes too. Waymo informed me it should cut back experience occasions by as much as 50%. 

And utilizing freeways can be important for Waymo to supply rides to and from the San Francisco Airport, a location the corporate is at present testing in. 

That freeway-to-airport second would be the large unlock for Waymo. However will it’s sufficient to assist push it within the black? Till somebody over there slides me their stability sheet, I can’t say. It’ll actually be a well-liked choice for vacationers. That doesn’t imply the economics will pencil out. 

Learn on for extra information, together with Einride’s SPAC bid, offers for Harbinger and Teradar, in addition to how Through fared in its first earnings and a looming shutdown for Rad Energy Bikes. Plus! Scroll all the way down to get the outcomes of the Tesla ballot. 

A little bit chicken

It’s been practically 9 months since Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson abruptly resigned, leaving the corporate with no everlasting alternative. That could be about to vary, although.

Just a few little birds informed us Lucid Motors has zeroed in on a candidate for the highest position. It’s anticipated to be somebody outdoors the group, which is maybe no shock; in August, we shared right here that the corporate and the chief hiring agency it’s utilizing had solid a really broad web and was even cold-calling some candidates. This is able to possible imply that Marc Winterhoff, who’s been serving as interim CEO, would slide again to the COO position he occupied earlier than Rawlinson left.

Acquired a tip for us? E-mail Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Sign at kkorosec.07, or electronic mail Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com. 

Offers!

One other SPAC has entered the AV world! Mergers with particular acquisition corporations will not be formally “again,” however they’re actually fashionable amongst autonomous car corporations. 

Einride, the Swedish electrical and autonomous truck startup, plans to go public by way of a merger with a particular goal acquisition firm, simply six weeks after it raised $100 million from traders. The SPAC merger with Legato Merger Corp. values Einride at $1.8 billion in pre-money fairness.

Einride does generate income, which can sound apparent however there have been loads of pre-revenue transportation corporations which have SPAC’d in recent times. 

For now, its main income is coming from its software-as-a-service product and a fleet of 200 heavy-duty electrical vehicles utilized by corporations like Heineken and PepsiCo. Its unusual-looking autonomous podlike vehicles are nonetheless in pilot mode. 

The merger is predicted to shut within the first half of 2026, with Einride making its debut on the New York Inventory Alternate.

Different offers that received my consideration this week …

Forterra, an organization growing autonomous tech for protection, raised $238 million in fairness and debt funding. Moore Strategic Ventures led the fairness piece of the funding, whereas Crescent Cove supplied the debt financing. 

Gopuff, the rapid-delivery startup, raised $250 million in a spherical led by Eldridge Industries and Valor Fairness Companions. Baillie Gifford, Robinhood, Equalis Capital, George Ruan, Yakir Gabay, and Gopuff’s co-founders. The funding put its valuation at $8.5 billion, in accordance with Bloomberg, a big markdown from its final elevate in 2021. 

Harbinger, the Los Angeles-based electrical truck startup, raised $160 million in a Collection C funding spherical co-led by FedEx. As a part of the funding, FedEx ordered 53 of Harbinger’s electrical truck chassis.

Octopus Electrical Autos, a U.Okay.-based electrical vehicle-leasing enterprise, has struck a cope with lenders, together with Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Stanley, and Credit score Agricole, to take its whole funding line to £2 billion ($2.6 billion), Sky Information reported.

Teradar, a Boston-based startup growing a solid-state sensor, raised $150 million in a Collection B funding spherical from traders Capricorn Funding Group, Lockheed Martin’s enterprise arm, mobility-focused agency Ibex Traders, and VXI Capital, a brand new defense-focused fund led by the previous CTO of the U.S. army’s Protection Innovation Unit.

Upway, an e-bike refurbishment startup, raised $60 million in a Collection C funding spherical led by A.P. Moller. Impress, Ora International, and Sequoia Capital additionally participated. The corporate has raised greater than $125 million since its founding in 2021.

Vay, a German startup that remotely pilots rental automobiles to prospects, introduced a $60 million funding from Singaporean tech heavyweight Seize. The deal, which is topic to regulatory approval and anticipated to shut by the tip of the yr, could also be adopted by “an extra $350M as joint milestones are achieved throughout the first yr.”

Notable reads and different tidbits

Ford is increasing the supply of its BlueCruise hands-free freeway driving expertise in Europe. The automaker will make the system out there in a number of autos, together with the Puma, Puma Gen-E, Kuga, and Ranger PHEV 5 fashions beginning in spring 2026.

Joby Aviation carried out the primary flight of its turbine electrical, autonomous VTOL plane. This demonstrator shouldn’t be confused with its all-electric air taxi, though it was constructed off that platform. This plane has a hybrid turbine powertrain and is designed for protection purposes.

Lyft has partnered with Curb, a ride-hailing platform for licensed taxis. Below the deal, Lyft riders will likely be related with Curb’s community of drivers via an integration with the Curb Move platform, which is already in Los Angeles. Different cities will quickly observe. 

Rad Energy Bikes, one of many extra fashionable e-bike corporations, will not be lengthy for this world. The corporate has knowledgeable its staff that it’ll shut down in January whether it is unable to search out new funding or get acquired, in accordance with an inside employees electronic mail seen by TechCrunch.

Tesla would possibly deliver Apple CarPlay to its EVs. However at this level, ought to it? In the meantime, the corporate’s power storage division is coping with an expanded recall of its consumer-based Powerwall 2 product after stories of fires.

The Boring Firm, an Elon Musk firm, is below scrutiny once more. This time due to stories that firefighters performing a security drill at one in all The Boring Firm’s development websites in Las Vegas obtained burns from chemical substances used within the tunnel-excavation course of. And the controversy doesn’t cease there. 

Toyota began manufacturing at a brand new $13.9 billion battery plant in North Carolina. Whereas Toyota has a number of services within the U.S., that is its first battery plant to be constructed outdoors of Japan. And it’s not accomplished investing within the U.S. The corporate stated it plans to speculate as much as $10 billion greater than beforehand anticipated over the subsequent 5 years.

Uber has quietly begun piloting in-app video recording for its drivers in India. The ride-hailing firm can be searching for extra premium prospects via new efforts like Uber Ski, which lets riders schedule a car upfront to just about 40 fashionable ski locations in North America and Europe, together with Vail in Colorado and Park Metropolis in Utah.

Through had its first earnings because it grew to become a publicly traded firm, and, welp, it misplaced cash. The tech transit software program firm reported a lack of $36.9 million in its third quarter, a 73% improve for the reason that identical interval final yr. Its income grew to $713 million, an 11% improve YoY.

Another factor …

Keep in mind the ballot in final week’s e-newsletter? I requested which product objective is Tesla most probably to realize by 2035? The choices are primarily based on actual targets specified by Musk’s $1 trillion compensation bundle:

• 20 million Tesla autos delivered
• 10 million lively Full Self-Driving subscriptions
• 1 million robots delivered
• 1 million robotaxis in business operation
• None of those will likely be reached

And y’all are break up between two choices: Tesla delivering 20 million autos, which obtained 34.7% of the vote, and “None of those will likely be reached,” which obtained 32% of the vote. 

The one merchandise you appear to agree on is that Tesla is unlikely to ship on the opposite three targets. About 9.5% of readers picked the 1 million robots choice, 12.6% selected 10 million lively Full Self-Driving subscriptions, and 10.5% picked 1 million robotaxis in business operation inside 10 years.

Notice: If you wish to take part in our polls, join the Mobility e-newsletter right here!