Fisker failed because it wasn’t ready to be a car company

Two years ago, an employee at Fisker Inc. told me that the most pressing concern inside the EV startup was not whether its Ocean SUV would get built. Fisker was outsourcing the manufacturing of its first EV to highly respected automotive supplier Magna, after all. The startup’s November 2022 start-of-production target was aggressive, but not… Continue reading Fisker failed because it wasn’t ready to be a car company

Bitsensing raises $25M for its high-resolution radar in autonomous driving

Self-driving vehicles rely on many sensors to detect objects and the world around them. The conventional approach is to work with cameras and lidars. But some tech companies and startups have built advanced high-resolution radar technology for autonomous vehicles, also known as 4D imaging radar.   Among them is a South Korea-based startup called bitsensing. The… Continue reading Bitsensing raises $25M for its high-resolution radar in autonomous driving

Waabi’s genAI promises to do so much more than power self-driving trucks

For the last two decades, Raquel Urtasun, founder and CEO of autonomous trucking startup Waabi, has been developing AI systems that can reason as a human would.  The AI pioneer had previously served as the chief scientist at Uber ATG before launching Waabi in 2021. Waabi launched with an “AI-first approach” to speed up the… Continue reading Waabi’s genAI promises to do so much more than power self-driving trucks

EV startup Fisker files for bankruptcy

Fisker Inc., the EV startup founded by famed designer Henrik Fisker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection —  a capstone to months of problems with its Ocean SUV that included recalls and dozens of lemon law lawsuits. The California-based company, which filed for bankruptcy in the Delaware Court, had been seeking a deal with another… Continue reading EV startup Fisker files for bankruptcy

Tesla shareholders vote yes again to approve Elon Musk’s $56B pay plan 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has secured enough shareholder votes to have his 2018 stock option compensation package approved. Shareholders also approved the company’s decision to reincorporate Tesla in Texas, moving it away from the state where Musk’s pay package was struck down: Delaware.  Shareholders present at the company’s annual meeting Thursday, held at Tesla’s Texas… Continue reading Tesla shareholders vote yes again to approve Elon Musk’s $56B pay plan 

Tesla shareholders sue Musk for starting competing AI company

Tesla shareholders are suing CEO Elon Musk and members of the automaker’s board of directors over Musk’s decision to start xAI, which they say is a competing AI company, and then divert talent and resources from Tesla to the new startup.  The lawsuit is one of the most direct challenges to Musk’s decision to start… Continue reading Tesla shareholders sue Musk for starting competing AI company

Tesla and its fans waged an unprecedented battle over Elon Musk’s $56B pay package

The Tesla fans posted. And over the last few months, Elon Musk engaged. Every time he did, Tesla’s legal team had to get to work, writing and submitting regulatory filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It’s all part of an effort to say that, this time, when the shareholders vote to approve his… Continue reading Tesla and its fans waged an unprecedented battle over Elon Musk’s $56B pay package

Unigrid wants to make batteries cheaper and safer using sodium

If there’s one thing holding batteries back, it’s cost. The most widespread type of battery, lithium-ion, still costs around $140 per kilowatt-hour for a pack. While that’s low enough to have triggered quickening adoption of electric vehicles, even the cheapest lithium-ion chemistries are still too expensive to put a big battery in every home to… Continue reading Unigrid wants to make batteries cheaper and safer using sodium

Ahead of Tesla’s big shareholder vote, let’s re-read the judge’s opinion that got us here

There has been a silly amount of drama in the run-up to Tesla‘s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. The company is set to hold a vote on “re-ratifying” the $56 billion compensation package awarded to Elon Musk in 2018, which was struck down by a Delaware Chancery Court judge earlier this year. It will also… Continue reading Ahead of Tesla’s big shareholder vote, let’s re-read the judge’s opinion that got us here

Ford’s secretive, low-cost EV team is growing with talent from Rivian, Tesla and Apple

There has been a lot of chaos recently in the world of electric vehicles, and Ford has capitalized on it to build out its secretive low-cost EV team. A TechCrunch review of LinkedIn data found that Ford has built this team up to around 300 employees over the last year. That includes around 50 coming… Continue reading Ford’s secretive, low-cost EV team is growing with talent from Rivian, Tesla and Apple