Elon Musk vs. the regulators

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Elon Musk has by no means had the perfect relationship with regulators, usually bumping up in opposition to or outright sidestepping native and state legal guidelines the place his quite a few firms function. 

This week has been notably lively on the regulatory entrance. 

Musk’s tunneling and infrastructure agency The Boring Firm is accused of almost 800 violations by Nevada regulators, together with digging with out approval, dumping untreated water onto metropolis streets, failing to put in silt fences, and monitoring dust from building websites onto close by roadways, a ProPublica investigation found. 

Then there may be Tesla, which was hit with an enforcement motion by California’s Division of Insurance coverage for routinely denying or delaying buyer claims regardless of years of warnings from the state regulator. Reminder: Tesla is an insurance coverage supplier in sure states.  

Tesla additionally has the eye, as soon as once more, of the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration. The company opened an investigation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving tech after receiving experiences the software program brought on automobiles to run crimson lights or cross into unsuitable lanes. 

The NHTSA has investigated Tesla earlier than. However this one is notable as a result of it particularly targets Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver-assistance software program. And Musk, in addition to Tesla shareholders, have pinned the corporate’s future on its skill to be a frontrunner in autonomous automobile know-how, in addition to robotics and AI. 

This single investigation doubtless received’t derail Tesla’s plans; the corporate simply rolled out the most recent model of FSD (v14). However it’s one other instance of elevated scrutiny on the know-how that Tesla is attempting to place entrance and middle and raises questions on its robotaxis, which makes use of a model of its FSD software program.

A bit chicken

A Wired article from July found that Common Motors repurposed just a few Chevy Bolt EVs that had been a part of the shuttered Cruise robotaxi program and was driving them on choose highways in Michigan close to Austin, Texas, and the San Francisco Bay Space to develop simulation fashions and new driver-assistance know-how.

Now evidently Common Motors could be shifting ahead with its autonomous automobile improvement however in probably shocking methods. When GM absorbed Cruise in December 2024, it stated it might mix Cruise’s tech with its personal ADAS efforts to develop absolutely autonomous private automobiles.

We’re listening to chatter right here and there that GM is constructing out an AV workforce throughout Austin and Mountain View. This comes only a couple months after GM began rehiring laid-off Cruise staff, per Bloomberg.

We’re poking round and if you recognize something, attain out.

Bought a tip for us? Electronic 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!

Joby Aviation bought 30.5 million shares to lift about $514 million, cash that the corporate stated can be used to fund certification and manufacturing efforts and put together for business operations, in addition to for basic working capital and different basic company functions. The corporate plans to begin carrying passengers in its electrical vertical takeoff and touchdown plane in Dubai in 2026, adopted by america. 

Traders didn’t react too favorably, although, as a result of shares went for a reduction. Underneath the deal, they bought for $16.85 per share, almost 11% decrease than the earlier shut.

Different offers that bought my consideration this week …

I forgot this one final week. Futurail, a European startup creating an autonomy stack for self-driving trains, raised €7.5 million in seed funding co-led by Asterion Ventures and Leap435, joined by EIT City Mobility and U.S. buyers Zero Infinity Companions and Heroic Ventures. Aspect be aware: The Autonocast, a podcast I co-host, just lately had Alex Haag, CEO and co-founder of Futurail, on the present. Take a listen. 

Nexcade, a London-based startup creating end-to-end automation for freight forwarders, raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed spherical led by Join Ventures. MMC Ventures, Entropy Industrial Capital, and Inovia additionally participated.

Toyota and Steel Mining have struck a deal to work collectively on the mass manufacturing of cathode supplies for all-solid-state batteries to be put in in battery electrical automobiles.

Tycho AI, an autonomous drone navigation startup, raised $10 million in a Sequence A spherical led by FirstMark.

Utilimarc, a Minneapolis-based fleet analytics and benchmarking firm, was acquired by Smith System. The phrases weren’t disclosed.

Notable reads and different tidbits

California governor Gavin Newsom signed a invoice that provides Uber and Lyft drivers within the state the best to unionize as unbiased contractors. 

Simply final week, we featured DoorDash’s efforts to construct its personal autonomous supply robotic. However that inner program isn’t stopping the corporate from outdoors partnerships. DoorDash and Serve Robotics introduced a multi-year partnership that might see them utilizing autonomous robots to make deliveries throughout america.

Lucid delivered a report variety of EVs within the third quarter. Whereas it’s nonetheless nowhere close to the projections it shared again when it was going public, the latest gross sales report does present progress.

Lyft has locked in another AV partnership — this time with Tensor Auto. The plan, the businesses stated, is to deploy robotaxis in Europe and North America beginning in 2027. Tensor Auto won’t sound acquainted, however Chinese language robotaxi firm AutoX may. Tensor Auto’s roots are from AutoX, though the San Jose-based firm has instructed TechCrunch previously that AutoX’s Chinese language operations had been absolutely divested.

Transportation contains infrastructure like bridges. Local weather tech reporter Tim De Chant regarded into Allium Engineering, a startup creating paper-thin stainless-steel that would change how bridges are constructed.

Tesla revealed bare-bones variations of the Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y, which begin at $36,990 and $39,990, respectively. These “normal” variations are fairly stripped down. Senior reporter Sean O’Kane supplies extra element right here. 

Just a few issues jumped out at me. For one, I used to be stunned this normal model doesn’t embody Autopilot. Additionally, Tesla is basically identified for innovating, from its manufacturing course of and software-first method to its enterprise mannequin. However this wasn’t an act of innovation and even cleverness. It was merely stripping away — and the tip outcome wasn’t the deep reductions that had been beforehand touted. Keep in mind, Elon Musk was as soon as pushing a $25,000 automobile, a program that was later scrapped. 

Zero Bikes has moved its key operations from California to a brand new European headquarters within the Netherlands. The corporate instructed TechCrunch the transfer is designed to speed up progress and sharpen concentrate on international alternatives.

Yet one more factor …

Should you’re in San Francisco later this month, come say hiya. I’ll be at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, which shall be held October 27 to October 29 at Moscone West. And there are just a few transportation-related talks you received’t wish to miss.

As an illustration, TechCrunch shall be interviewing Uber chief product officer Sachin Kansal and Nuro co-founder and president Dave Ferguson in regards to the evolving relationship between AI and mobility. The dialogue is anticipated to cowl how predictive fashions and laptop imaginative and prescient are bettering street security, why last-mile supply is an autonomy proving floor, and what it is going to take to convey AI-driven transportation to scale.