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I’m positive you’re ready to be taught the outcomes of final week’s ballot. (Reminder: Join the Mobility publication to take part in our polls!) Here’s what I requested: “What’s the greatest enterprise mannequin for autonomous car tech? (Hold profitability in thoughts.)”

Far and away, readers assume longer-haul supply is the very best guess, with 40% choosing this feature. Robotaxis got here in subsequent with 25.5% of the vote, adopted by licensing tech to automakers at 19.1% and last-mile supply with 14.9%. One reader emailed to level out that I didn’t embrace warehouse functions like autonomous forklifts. The longer-haul supply class may be damaged down additional, although, and is price one other ballot, which we included on this week’s publication.

Within the lengthy listing of arguments one would possibly make to justify a $1 trillion compensation bundle, having management over a robotic military was definitely not on my thoughts. And but, that is the argument Elon Musk made throughout Tesla’s third-quarter earnings name. 

Right here’s the rundown: On November 6, shareholders will vote whether or not to approve a board-endorsed compensation bundle that may grant Musk as much as 12% of Tesla’s inventory. If the corporate hits its goal market worth of $8.6 trillion, that bundle can be price about $1 trillion. 

The board and Musk have spent weeks lobbying shareholders to approve the measure, whilst proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Companies and Glass Lewis have really useful that traders reject it. Musk is now in assault mode, which was on show on the finish of the earnings name when he referred to as the corporations company terrorists and made his last pitch. His robotic military argument facilities on energy and management, not a lot cash. Though, hey, cash can present each.

“My largest concern line: If we construct this robotic military, do I’ve a powerful affect over that robotic military? I don’t really feel snug constructing a robotic military if I don’t have a powerful affect,” Musk stated throughout the earnings name. He was referring to Tesla’s Optimus robotic program and used it for instance of merchandise he desires full management over. 

That argument will hardly persuade Musk’s critics, significantly within the wake of his position as head of the Division of Authorities Effectivity. However Musk doesn’t have to persuade his rising listing of critics, except, after all, they personal Tesla shares.

Slightly chook

This week, Normal Motors dropped the ax on the BrightDrop electrical van program after 4 brief years. It was not the largest shock on the earth; in any case, a whole lot of unsold vans have been sitting untouched in heaps in Michigan and Canada for months now. (One little chook reached out to inform us that a whole lot of them are in so much in Flint, Michigan.) GM cited a slower-than-expected marketplace for industrial electrical vans, but it surely didn’t go into element about why, precisely, BrightDrop failed so miserably.

One other little chook has given us a clue, although. The vans are dear however well-liked and will save fleet house owners cash over time. And electrical drivetrains are a terrific match for last-mile supply. What GM seems to have missed was the infrastructure piece, in line with one insider. The corporate leaned onerous on exterior partnerships to construct out so-called depot charging, as a substitute of providing it as a part of the fleet purchases. That turned numerous potential prospects away and simply usually brought about complications.

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

Offers!

The large deal this week is about EVs and AI information facilities. Sure, there’s a connection. 

Redwood Supplies raised $350 million in a Collection E spherical led by enterprise agency Eclipse, and included a brand new strategic funding by Nvidia’s enterprise capital arm, NVentures. The corporate’s valuation was not disclosed, however a supply aware of the spherical instructed TechCrunch it was about $6 billion, a billion {dollars} larger than its earlier valuation.

The chunk of this cash goes towards Redwood’s new vitality storage enterprise, which is giving a brand new function to EV batteries it has collected and which have an excessive amount of life left to place by way of the recycling course of. The corporate ties these retired EV batteries to renewable vitality sources like wind and photo voltaic, or the grid, to energy AI information facilities or industrial websites.

Different offers that bought my consideration this week …

Avride secured strategic investments and different commitments of as much as $375 million, backed by Uber and Nebius. None of those corporations gave me specifics when requested if this was all fairness. One insider did say to concentrate to the “different commitments” bit, which suggests it was not a straight money injection.

Spiro, the African electrical bike startup headquartered in Dubai, raised $100 million in a spherical led by the Fund for Export Improvement in Africa (FEDA), the event arm of Afreximbank. That is the biggest increase ever for African e-mobility.

Notable reads and different tidbits

Normal Motors made a number of bulletins at an occasion in NYC that have been meant to point out the place it’s headed. And, sure, AI performs a central position. Earlier than AI may take the stage, GM stated it is going to overhaul {the electrical} and computational guts of its future autos. The corporate will roll out a brand new electrical structure and centralized computing platform in new autos, beginning with the Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028. That basis will enable the corporate to ship quicker software program; extra succesful automated driving options, together with eyes-off driving; and a customized, conversational AI assistant.

Earnings season is upon us, and this quarter I’m anticipating information and govt commentary that helps me perceive how tariffs and the expired EV tax credit score are affecting the automotive sector. I don’t have any clear takeaways but — and doubtless gained’t till the following quarter. 

Tariffs are hitting, Q3 stories from GM and Ford point out. As an illustration, GM forecast that tariffs will cut back its 2025 earnings by $2.3 billion and Ford stated it might take a $2 billion chew out of the underside line. However each of these projections are billions of {dollars} higher than the automakers predicted earlier this 12 months, and the automakers hope to offset these prices. CEOs from each automakers thanked President Trump for extending a reduction measure from tariffs on automotive elements sourced from Canada and Mexico. 

Another GM and Ford information: Ford will proceed to pause manufacturing of its F-150 Lightning vans because it prioritizes fuel and hybrid F-Collection variations in a bid to get better from a fireplace at its main aluminum provider Nevolis. In the meantime, GM CEO Mary Barra instructed the Verge’s Decoder podcast that the corporate will drop help for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from all of its autos. Oh, and late-breaking: GM has laid off 200 salaried staff from its Warren Tech Middle.

Tesla delivered a document variety of autos within the third quarter of 2025, outcomes buoyed by U.S. prospects who took benefit of the expiring federal EV tax credit score. That didn’t translate to higher earnings. Tesla’s third-quarter revenue was $1.4 billion, 37% decrease than it was in the identical quarter final 12 months. 

The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration opened an investigation after seeing footage from early October of a Waymo autonomous car maneuvering round a stopped faculty bus that was unloading children in Atlanta. 

Rivian is present process a little bit of a shake-up that features chopping 600 individuals from its workforce (its third spherical of layoffs this 12 months), and its founder and CEO is taking over one more place: chief advertising officer. Rivian additionally agreed this week to pay $250 million to settle a class-action shareholder lawsuit filed after the corporate all of the sudden hiked costs on its R1 pickup truck and SUV in 2022.

In the meantime, I spent a while within the Bay Space with executives from Rivian’s micromobility spinout firm Additionally. The corporate revealed three new merchandise, and if Additionally president Chris Yu and Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe (and Additionally board member) are to be believed, there can be much more coming. For now, it’s a slick modular pedal-assist e-bike and two pedal-assist quad autos — the supply van model that Amazon has already agreed to purchase. The large compelling tech story right here is vertical integration and software program.