Lordstown Motors has enough “binding orders” from customers to fund limited production of its electric pickup truck through May 2022, executives at the company said Tuesday, just a day after an executive shakeup that included the resignation of the company’s CEO and CFO. Reaching that goal will come at a cost. The company is putting… Continue reading Lordstown Motors execs cite binding orders to restore confidence a day after CEO, CFO resignations
Author: Tech Crunch Online News
Chinese startup Pony.ai plans to launch a driverless robotaxi service in California in 2022
Pony.ai, the robotaxi startup that operates in China and the United States, has started testing driverless vehicles on public roads in California ahead of plans to launch a commercial service there in 2022. The company said the driverless vehicle testing, which means the autonomous vehicles operate without human safety drivers behind the wheel, is happening… Continue reading Chinese startup Pony.ai plans to launch a driverless robotaxi service in California in 2022
Autonomous delivery startup Nuro moves into logistics with FedEx
Nuro, the autonomous delivery startup founded in 2016 by former Google engineers Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, is expanding into parcel logistics through a partnership with FedEx. The multiyear, multiphased strategic partnership announced Tuesday aims to test and ultimately deploy Nuro’s second-generation R2 autonomous delivery vehicle within FedEx operations. Unlike others in the autonomous vehicle… Continue reading Autonomous delivery startup Nuro moves into logistics with FedEx
Cruise secures $5B credit line to buy electric, autonomous Cruise Origin vehicles from GM
Cruise, the self-driving subsidiary of GM, has tapped a $5 billion line of credit from the automaker’s financial arm to pay for hundreds of purpose-built electric and autonomous Origin vehicles as they start to roll off the assembly line. The access to the credit provided by GM Financial will push Cruise’s “total war chest” to… Continue reading Cruise secures $5B credit line to buy electric, autonomous Cruise Origin vehicles from GM
How autonomous delivery startups are navigating policy, partnerships and post-pandemic operations
We kicked off this year’s TC Sessions: Mobility with a talk featuring three leading players in the field of autonomous delivery. Gatik co-founder and chief engineer Apeksha Kumavat, Nuro head of operations Amy Jones Satrom, and Starship Technologies co-founder and CTO Ahti Heinla joined us to discuss their companies’ unique approaches to the category. The… Continue reading How autonomous delivery startups are navigating policy, partnerships and post-pandemic operations
Waabi’s Raquel Urtasun explains why it was the right time to launch an AV technology startup
‘This is a combination of my 20-year career in AI as well as more than 10 years in self-driving’ Rebecca Bellan 9 hours Raquel Urtasun, the former chief scientist at Uber ATG, is the founder and CEO of Waabi, an autonomous vehicle startup that came out of stealth mode last week. The Toronto-based company, which… Continue reading Waabi’s Raquel Urtasun explains why it was the right time to launch an AV technology startup
Lordstown Motors CEO and CFO resign amidst production woes
Beleaguered electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors’ stock shares have taken another hit after the company said Monday that CEO Steve Burns and CFO Julio Rodriguez have resigned, just a few weeks after Burns was reassuring investors of the company’s bright future. Lordstown Motors’ Lead Independent Director Angela Strand was appointed executive chairwoman to oversee the… Continue reading Lordstown Motors CEO and CFO resign amidst production woes
The air taxi market prepares to take flight
Twelve years ago, Joby Aviation consisted of a team of seven engineers working out of founder JoeBen Bevirt’s ranch in the Santa Cruz mountains. Today, the startup has swelled to 800 people and a $6.6 billion valuation, ranking itself as the highest-valued electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) company in the industry. As in any… Continue reading The air taxi market prepares to take flight
The rise of robotaxis in China
AutoX, Momenta and WeRide took the stage at TC Sessions: Mobility 2021 to discuss the state of robotaxi startups in China and their relationships with local governments in the country. They also talked about overseas expansion — a common trajectory for China’s top autonomous vehicle startups — and shed light on the challenges and opportunities… Continue reading The rise of robotaxis in China
Why Mate Rimac is working on electric robotaxis
Mate Rimac, the founder and CEO of Croatian electric hypercar and components developer Rimac Automobili, started a separate company nearly three years ago to work on electric robotaxis. Little is known about the company, which still operates in stealth. Rimac told TechCrunch this week at TC Sessions: Mobility 2021 he hopes to keep this separate… Continue reading Why Mate Rimac is working on electric robotaxis