Transportation

Transportation news includes all the present and future ways people and packages get from Point A to Point B. Coverage includes scooters and e-bikes to autonomous vehicles, EVs, transit, and evTOLs. We cover auto tech players big and small, from Tesla, GM, Uber, and Lyft, to small startups entering the automotive tech space.

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…

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

A TechCrunch review of LinkedIn data found that Ford has built this team up to around 300 employees over the last year.

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

The most critical systems of our modern world rely on GPS, from aviation and road networks to emergency and disaster response, from precision farming and power grids to weather forecasting…

Tern AI wants to reduce reliance on GPS with low-cost navigation alternative 

Waymo has voluntarily issued a software recall to all 672 of its Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis after one of them collided with a telephone pole. This is Waymo’s second recall. The…

Waymo issues second recall after robotaxi hit telephone pole

Fisker is issuing the first recall for its all-electric Ocean SUV because of problems with the warning lights, according to new information published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration…

Fisker’s troubled Ocean SUV gets its first recall

General Motors is investing $850 million into Cruise as the autonomous vehicle subsidiary slowly makes its way back to testing in Phoenix, Dallas and, as of Tuesday, Houston. GM’s CFO…

GM gives Cruise $850M lifeline as it relaunches robotaxis in Houston

Rivian needs to sell its new revamped vehicles at a profit in order to sustain itself long enough to get to the cheaper mass market R2 SUV on the road.

Rivian’s path to survival is now remarkably clear

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Your usual…

Inside Fisker’s collapse and robotaxis come to more US cities

New York-based Revel has made a lot of pivots since initially launching in 2018 as a dockless e-moped sharing service. The BlackRock-backed startup briefly stepped into the e-bike subscription business.…

Revel to lay off 1,000 staff ride-hail drivers, saying they’d rather be contractors anyway

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Rivian overhauled the R1S and R1T to entice new buyers ahead of cheaper R2 launch

Rivian has changed 600 parts on its R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck in a bid to drive down manufacturing costs, while improving performance of its flagship vehicles.  The end goal, which will play out over the coming year, is an existential one. Rivian lost about $38,784 on every vehicle…

9:00 am PDT • June 6, 2024
Rivian overhauled the R1S and R1T to entice new buyers ahead of cheaper R2 launch

While the transport industry does use legacy software, many of these platforms are from an earlier era. Qargo hopes its newer technologies can help it leapfrog the competition.

Qargo raises $14M to digitize and decarbonize the trucking industry

Zoox, Amazon’s self-driving unit, is bringing its autonomous vehicles to more cities.  The self-driving technology company announced Wednesday plans to begin testing in Austin and Miami this summer. The two…

Zoox to test self-driving cars in Austin and Miami 

New York City, home to over 60,000 gig delivery workers, has been cracking down on cheap, uncertified e-bikes that have resulted in battery fires across the city.  Some e-bike providers…

Whizz wants to own the delivery e-bike subscription space, starting with NYC

Dallas is the second city that Cruise is easing its way back into after pulling its entire U.S. fleet late last year.

GM’s Cruise is testing robotaxis in Dallas again

Neural Concept lets designers model how components will perform before they can be manufactured.

Swiss startup Neural Concept raises $27M to cut EV design time to 18 months

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Inside EV startup Fisker’s collapse: how the company crumbled under its founders’ whims

An autonomous pod. A solid-state battery-powered sports car. An electric pickup truck. A convertible grand tourer EV with up to 600 miles of range. A “fully connected mobility device” for young urban innovators to be built by Foxconn and priced under $30,000. The next Popemobile. Over the past eight years,…

2:57 pm PDT • May 31, 2024
Inside EV startup Fisker’s collapse: how the company crumbled under its founders’ whims

U.S. federal regulators have requested more information from Zoox, Amazon’s self-driving unit, as part of an investigation into rear-end crash risks posed by unexpected braking. The National Highway Traffic Safety…

Feds tell Zoox to send more info about autonomous vehicles suddenly braking

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Okay, okay…

Tesla shareholder sweepstakes and EV layoffs hit Lucid and Fisker

Archer Aviation is partnering with ride-hailing and parking company Kakao Mobility to bring electric air taxi flights to South Korea starting in 2026, if the company can get its aircraft…

Archer, Kakao Mobility partner to bring electric air taxis to South Korea in 2026

Battery recycling startups have emerged in Europe in a bid to tap into the next big opportunity in the EV market: battery waste.  Among them is Cylib, a German-based startup…

Cylib wants to own EV battery recycling in Europe

Struggling EV startup Fisker has laid off hundreds of employees in a bid to stay alive, as it continues to search for funding, a buyout or prepare for bankruptcy. Workers…

Fisker cuts hundreds of workers in bid to keep EV startup alive

Chinese EV manufacturers face a new challenge in their pursuit of U.S. customers: a new House bill that would limit or ban the introduction of their connected vehicles. The bill,…

Chinese EV makers, and their connected vehicles, targeted by new House bill

Cadillac may seem a bit too traditional to hang its driving cap on EVs. And yet, that hasn’t stopped the GM brand from rolling out — or at least showing…

The Cadillac Optiq EV starts at $54,000 and is designed to hook young hipsters

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Onyx Motorbikes was in trouble — and then its 37-year-old owner died

James Khatiblou, the owner and CEO of Onyx Motorbikes, was watching his e-bike startup fall apart.  Onyx was being evicted from its warehouse in El Segundo, near Los Angeles. The company’s unpaid bills were stacking up. Its chief operating officer had abruptly resigned. A shipment of around 100 CTY2 dirt…

8:02 am PDT • May 27, 2024
Onyx Motorbikes was in trouble — and then its 37-year-old owner died

Indian startup Zypp Electric plans to use fresh investment from Japanese oil and energy conglomerate ENEOS to take its EV rental service into Southeast Asia early next year, TechCrunch has…

Indian EV startup Zypp Electric secures backing to fund expansion to Southeast Asia

Federal safety regulators have discovered nine more incidents that raise questions about the safety of Waymo’s self-driving vehicles operating in Phoenix and San Francisco.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration…

Feds add nine more incidents to Waymo robotaxi investigation

Lucid Motors is laying off about 400 employees, or roughly 6% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring ahead of the launch of its first electric SUV later this…

Lucid Motors slashes 400 jobs ahead of crucial SUV launch

Spotify is notifying customers who purchased its Car Thing product that the devices will stop working after December 9, 2024. The company discontinued the device back in July 2022, but…

Spotify to shut off Car Thing for good, leading users to demand refunds

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Is it…

Tesla lobbies for Elon and Kia taps into the GenAI hype

After multiple delays, Apple and the Paris area transportation authority rolled out support for Paris transit passes in Apple Wallet. It means that people can now use their iPhone or…

Paris transit passes now available in iPhone’s Wallet app