TechCrunch Mobility: Elon’s admission | TechCrunch

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Tesla Profits came and went, and most of them fell into the “we expected this” category. Investors seemed surprised by the $1.4 billion in free cash flow that gave the stock a brief rally, and revenues met or slightly exceeded expectations, depending on which group of analysts you checked.

However, the earnings call did produce a surprising moment that prompted readers (including some former Tesla engineers and other industry founders) to reach out to me with some schadenfreude-tinged prose. CEO Elon Musk Tesla has acknowledged that millions of Tesla owners will need hardware upgrades to run a more capable future version of its full self-driving software that does not require human supervision.

There are financial and legal implications for Tesla. As senior reporter Sean O’Kane wrote, Tesla owners with Hardware spent 3 years eavesdropping on the company and Musk to get a straight answer on whether they could power this advanced version of full self-driving — which, it should be noted, Tesla has yet to launch or even prove it can launch. Tesla sold these Hardware 3 cars between 2019 and 2023.

Now, here’s the kicker that made me giggle. Musk said the company will need to physically upgrade each of these vehicles, a feat that would require Tesla to set up small factories in several major cities to service potentially millions of vehicles.

Microfactories? Yes, you heard correctly. This won’t be cheap, and could be one of the line items in Tesla’s capital expenditure budget, which expanded to $25 billion this year.

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Senior correspondent Sean O’Kane Obtained (and verified) an internal memo sent from the founder and CEO of Redwood Materials J.B. Straubel Which announced layoffs and restructuring. (Thanks to the little birdie who shared it.) Straubel is the former chief technical officer of Tesla.

The company has laid off about 135 employees, or roughly 10% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring to better accommodate its growing energy storage business. O’Kane later learned that several executives had recently left. Chief Operating Officer Chris Lister is retiring, and at least three other deputies have departed in recent months, with the company telling TechCrunch that there has been a focus on reducing layers of management.

Last week, I shared that a new autonomous trucking startup (think a large autonomous platform without cables) was backed by eclipse He was about to break cover and announce the seed round, thanks to a little bird. Well, it happened a few days later.

The San Francisco-based startup is called Humble robots, It raised $24 million In the seed round. Eclipse led the tour, which also included support Energy Impact Partners and Red Blue Capitala small, surprisingly active early-stage venture capital firm.

As I’ve been told, Humble is filled with Silicon Valley elite, including the founder Eyal Cohenwho previously worked on Apple’s own projects, Uber ATG, Pronto, and Waabi. He also founded Spark AI, which was acquired by John Deere in 2023.

Other executives include Drew Graywho has a similar resume, including early days in cruising, before moving on to self-driving truck startup Otto, which was acquired by Uber. After leaving Uber, he became CTO at Voyage, which was then acquired by Cruise.

Perfect moment, enhanced by this fun fact: Humble Robotics is located in the same building that Cruise was in right after the startup moved out of founder Kyle Vogt’s garage. I know we keep going back to 2016.

Except it’s not 2016, and Cohen and Gray talked to me about how much has changed since then, why this is the right time to launch an AV startup, and where the industry is headed. Stay tuned for this story next week.

Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosek at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com Or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

Offers!

Lyft Uber has remained committed to the North American market for most of its history, while Uber has pursued a global strategy of expansion at all costs. Lyft has been trying to catch up since last year when it bought German multi-mobility app Freenow from BMW and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for about $197 million in cash.

now It’s gaining Horse riding application Gates Business in the United Kingdom. Lyft says the deal will give it the majority of black cab drivers registered across the Greater London area on the Lyft platform. The company did not disclose the terms, but Calcalist I mentioned It was $55 million.

The company is also building other modes of transportation in the region, including its recently renewed partnership with transportation provider Serco Bicycles and stations For Europe’s bike-sharing system Santander Cycles. Lyft also plans to start testing self-driving rides in London with Baidu later this year.

Other deals that caught my attention…

A&K Roboticsa company based in Vancouver, Canada that makes autonomous vehicles for airports, It raised $8 million Canadian dollars The first round was led by BDC’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and Vantage Futures.

Nodal energywhich provides energy infrastructure in logistics warehouses, It raised 22 million euros The financing was led by Eiffel Investment Group and SET Ventures, along with existing investors.

Trusted robotsa Silicon Valley startup that develops autonomous systems for aircraft, It raised $160 million In a round led by Nimble Partners, existing backers Eclipse, Lightspeed, Coatue and Pathbreaker Ventures, and new investors Island Green Capital, Socium Ventures, AE Ventures (a strategic partner of Boeing), RTX Ventures and Presidio Ventures (a Sumitomo Corporation). UP.PartnersKAS Venture Partners, What If Ventures, Calm Ventures, Gingels, and Mana Ventures. History Lesson: Co-Founder and CEO Robert Rose He had a short stint at Tesla where he was a senior director of Autopilot and helped ship that first iteration in 2015.

PlusAI And the blank check company Churchill Capital Corp. IX It has been terminated Its SPAC merger deal due to market conditions.

Porsche He is Selling its share In the Bugatti Rimac joint venture, which it founded in 2021, as well as the electric car maker Rimac Group. Porsche, which owns a 20.6% stake in Rimac and a 45% stake in the joint venture, is selling them to HOF Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Notable Readings and Other Stories

Final drive It adds 75 heavy electric trucks to it AmazonRelay charging network as part of a deal that gives the Swedish startup a foothold in the e-commerce giant’s operations.

Ford And the Chinese automaker jelly He reportedly held talks about expanding European engagement with the United States, The Wall Street Journal reported. The implications of this will certainly be the entry of Chinese cars into the American market. But the talks appear to have stalled, leaving this important deal in limbo. Bloomberg reported that Ford has He denied these allegations.

Porsche It adds another EV to its lineup. The Cayenne Electric Coupé will go on sale in late summer. There is some interesting data in my article about why this one is a winner for Porsche.

The first client is ready Rivian The R2 SUV rolled off the production line at its factory in Normal, Illinois, just days after it was hit by an EF-1 tornado that tore off part of the roof. Founder and CEO Scaring RJ Rivian said it doesn’t expect any delays in the R2, which is expected to reach customers in June.

Another thing…

As diligent readers of this newsletter know, I’ve test driven a fair number of vehicles, and sometimes those vehicles aren’t electric. Take Aston Martin Vantage RoadsterFor example. I was eager to get in the car, and not just because this $205,000 green-tinted car is a sleek, powerful convertible. I wanted to test Apple CarPlay Ultraa next-generation infotainment system that displays iPhone content on vehicle displays (including the instrument cluster) and integrates vehicle controls such as radio, performance and climate settings. CarPlay Ultra debuted in an Aston Martin, which isn’t easy to come by.

My first experience with Apple Ultra CarPlay last summer was mixed. It was great – when it worked, but it didn’t work very often. The problem appears to be related to a glitch that showed two versions of the car in the Bluetooth settings.

This time, setup was instant and never had a glitch. Hello! And it always worked. This is really important for Aston Martin, which for years was stuck with Mercedes-Benz’s outdated COMAND system. (Mercedes ditched this system in 2018 for the new MBUX system.)