Welcome again to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for information and insights on the way forward for transportation. Enroll right here free of charge — simply click on TechCrunch Mobility!
This week I’m publishing an abbreviated model of the e-newsletter due to the 4th of July vacation. In the event you’re driving, flying, or taking the prepare for the U.S. vacation — which AAA initiatives 72.2 million individuals will journey no less than 50 miles or extra — keep protected on the market. The whole e-newsletter returns subsequent week.
I’ve one vital announcement earlier than I sprinkle in a bit of reports. TechCrunch Mobility is shifting to the Beehiiv publishing platform in a couple of weeks. Beehiiv gives a number of cool options — like polls! — to assist me higher interact with you, the reader. It’s a win for you and me.
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A little bit hen
You might recall final week, a New York Instances article reported that Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick is working with buyers to purchase the U.S. arm of Chinese language autonomous car firm Pony AI, and Uber would possibly even assist make it occur.
A number of little birds inform me Kalanick ally and Uber ATG veteran Eric Meyhofer is concerned. We’re poking round to be taught extra. Within the meantime, here’s a little historical past lesson. Meyhofer was with the Nationwide Robotics Engineering Middle at Carnegie Mellon College earlier than formally shifting over to Uber in 2015. He ultimately grew to become CEO of Uber ATG, the self-driving unit that was later offered off to Aurora. Meyhofer has been linked to Kalanick’s CloudKitchens enterprise by way of a restaurant automation and robotics enterprise referred to as Lab37, which was initially reported by the Spoon again in 2023.
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Notable reads and different tidbits
Autonomous automobiles
A catchy new time period was coined throughout a latest recording of the Autonocast, the podcast I co-host with Alex Roy and Ed Niedermeyer (full credit score goes to Roy). The time period is MVAT, or minimal viable autonomy theater — when corporations deploy the minimal viable autonomy product enough to perpetuate a story of progress.
One attainable instance: Tesla let a Mannequin Y SUV drive roughly 15 miles from its manufacturing unit to the condo complicated the place the automobile’s new proprietor lives, finishing what CEO Elon Musk referred to as the primary “autonomous supply” of a buyer automobile. If this can be a one-off, aka an indication, then it’s an MVAT.
This isn’t simply to choose on Tesla, by the best way. Many different corporations have posted flashy movies to showcase the capabilities of their respective automated driving know-how. However it was a much more frequent observe in 2015 — as AVs had been taking pictures as much as the highest of the hype cycle.
Electrical automobiles, batteries, & charging
The second quarter has ended and meaning gross sales and manufacturing numbers! Whereas many automakers situation month-to-month studies, a few of the EV corporations we monitor solely present quarterly numbers.
The electrical Hummer is sort of outselling the F-150 Lightning
Lucid gross sales inch ahead as EV maker pushes to ramp Gravity manufacturing
Rivian receives the following $1B from Volkswagen as gross sales struggles proceed
Tesla faces second straight yr of falling gross sales after one other unhealthy quarter
In the meantime, Republican legislators handed a reconciliation act that, amongst different issues, unwinds a lot of the Inflation Discount Act, together with that photo voltaic, wind, and clear hydrogen will all lose incentives beneath the brand new invoice. EV tax credit are additionally eradicated for brand new and used electrical automobiles and the set up of dwelling EV-charging tools.
The tip of the EV tax credit score is already rippling by the business, together with corporations that don’t even have an EV but to promote. Slate Auto, the Jeff Bezos-backed EV startup, was planning to promote a pickup truck for lower than $20,000 with the EV tax credit score utilized. However the language on its web site has modified to mirror the invoice’s passage.
Additionally a bit of reports from the world of electrical RVs and vans … Pebble, the California-based startup we’ve written about earlier than, has began buyer deliveries of its flagship all-electric journey trailer. And Grounded, the startup based by former SpaceX engineers and primarily based in Detroit, delivered its new electrical van, referred to as the G3, to its first buyer.
Safety
The FBI and cybersecurity companies are warning that the prolific hacking group generally known as Scattered Spider is now focusing on airways and the transportation sector.
Qantas, the Australian airline big, stated it skilled a knowledge breach that compromised the private data of no less than 6 million passengers.
