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GM’s choice to now not fund its self-driving automotive subsidiary Cruise was a shock to many — and bought me eager about this startup that I’ve come to know through the years.
About 9 years in the past, I discovered a few startup referred to as Cruise Automation. The San Francisco-based startup, co-founded by Kyle Vogt and Dan Kan in 2013, had simply shifted its marketing strategy away from growing direct-to-consumer kits to retrofit autos and as a substitute turned its consideration and efforts to self-driving software program.
The autonomous car world was a small and dynamic place again in 2015. Cruise had a couple of dozen staff, and Waymo didn’t even exist but, because it was nonetheless described because the Google self-driving challenge. The individuals who would go on to discovered Aurora, Nuro, and Argo AI had been nonetheless at different corporations, particularly Google. Zoox had simply been based the yr earlier than.
The hype had not engulfed the business but. But that will come quickly sufficient, and for me, the second that actually kicked it off was March 2016 when GM acquired Cruise for $1 billion, a narrative that Dan Primack and I broke once we each nonetheless labored at Fortune.
There is an excessive amount of historical past to share on this shortish e-newsletter, however it’s protected to say that autonomous car expertise was on the minds of automaker executives in every single place, and startup founders engaged on the tech had been out of the blue the darlings of the VC world. (I see lots of parallels with what’s occurring with AI now, however at an excellent bigger scale.)
Fast-forward by way of the wave of consolidation and quite a few failed startups, and by 2023 just some well-funded giants remained, together with GM’s Cruise, Alphabet’s Waymo, Hyundai-backed Motional, and Amazon-owned Zoox. In August 2023, Cruise lastly obtained the final allow required to function commercially in San Francisco. Hopes had been excessive once I interviewed Vogt at Disrupt 2023, whilst criticism over the robotaxis started ramping up.
Everything modified on October 2 after an incident left a pedestrian caught below after which dragged by certainly one of its robotaxis. By the tip of the yr, Vogt had resigned, 24% of Cruise’s workforce had been laid off, regulators had suspended its allow, and the corporate determined to stop operations elsewhere.
Recent strikes by GM prompt that Cruise would return — albeit as a leaner, extra tightly managed enterprise. But GM chairman and CEO Mary Barra has completely different plans for Cruise.
This story will probably be ongoing; there may be a lot to dig into. But a few of our preliminary articles cowl GM’s choice, how Cruise staff discovered concerning the change (the time period “blindsided” was used), the monetary impact on Microsoft, and Honda’s logical transfer to chop funding to a joint program in Japan.
Stay tuned. And now on to different information.
Slightly chook
Slightly chook dropped an aviation tidbit relating to Hyundai’s city air mobility startup, Supernal, that we had been in a position to affirm with the corporate.
The gist: Supernal is shifting world headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Irvine and is asking round three dozen of its staff to relocate. While that quantity represents solely about 5% of its complete workforce, it seems to account for almost all of staff positioned in Washington, in accordance with information from LinkedIn and a supply who spoke to TechCrunch on the situation of anonymity.
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Deals!
Investors nonetheless appear eager to throw cash into future-of-flight SPACs.
Take Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation, two corporations that went public through mergers with particular acquisition corporations.
Archer raised $430 million from present and new institutional buyers to fund a brand new enterprise unit devoted to constructing plane for protection purposes. In an attention-grabbing twist, a part of that’s going towards an unique partnership with Anduril to construct a hybrid VTOL.
Meanwhile, Joby launched a public providing to promote as much as $300 million of its shares of frequent inventory. That shouldn’t be confused with the $222 million Joby raised in October from underwriters. This newest submitting provides to that providing and would give Joby the prospect to lift a complete of $522 million because it gears as much as launch commercially in 2025.
Other offers that bought my consideration …
Nikola, a producer of battery and hydrogen-electric vehicles, has taken a number of steps to repay its money owed and lift fairness, together with providing as much as $100 million in a typical inventory sale.
WeaveGrid, a San Francisco-based startup that’s developed EV charging software program, raised $28 million in a spherical led by Toyota’s Woven Capital. Existing buyers Activate Capital, Collab Fund, Emerson Collective, and Salesforce Ventures participated, with debt supplied by HSBC Innovation Banking.
Notable reads and different tidbits
Autonomous autos
San Francisco is essentially the most ready metropolis for brand new transportation applied sciences like AI, autonomous autos, and air taxis, in accordance with a brand new city mobility readiness index.
Uber and WeRide launched a robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi.
Electric autos, charging, & batteries
Fisker resolved one other federal security investigation, this time over the danger that its Ocean SUVs roll away unexpectedly.
You would possibly recall an article I wrote in 2022 about Lightship, a startup constructing an all-electric journey trailer. Welp, the corporate has formally launched its manufacturing mannequin, the AE.1 Cosmos Edition, previously often known as Lightship L1. The firm plans to make solely 50 models, which can price $250,000. Three further trim ranges are anticipated sooner or later.
The Lucid Gravity SUV is formally in manufacturing on the firm’s Casa Grande, Arizona, manufacturing facility and nabbed an estimated EPA vary of 450 miles.
Rivian’s EVs ranked final on Consumer Reports’ reliability listing.
Random transpo stuff!
Amazon expanded into on-line automotive gross sales with the launch of Amazon Autos, an e-commerce enterprise that lets prospects discover, order, and purchase new automobiles, vehicles, and SUVs from dealerships.
Salvatore Palella has resigned as CEO and director of the board at Micromobility.com, the startup previously often known as Helbiz that has been careening towards chapter for a while. Strangely, Palella’s holding firm is taking over the entire firm’s debt, in accordance with a regulatory submitting.
Spotify formally discontinued Car Thing, its in-car streaming machine, with all models now disabled.
Uber has 30 days to require sure drivers to get fingerprinted if the ride-hail large intends to proceed transporting unaccompanied teenagers in California, per a ruling from the state’s Public Utilities Commission.
This week’s wheels
This e-newsletter is simply too lengthy this week, don’t ya suppose? This week’s wheels will return subsequent week!
What is “This week’s wheels”? It’s an opportunity to be taught concerning the completely different transportation merchandise we’re testing, whether or not it’s an electrical or hybrid automotive, an e-bike or perhaps a experience in an autonomous car. Future autos embody the Lucid Air, extra time within the next-gen Rivian R1S, and the Volkswagen ID Buzz. Stay tuned.
