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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
TechCrunch Mobility: The Tesla robotaxi Rorschach test and Redwood's next big act
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! Less than a week ago, Tesla robotaxis began rolling out and giving rides to invited customers in Austin. As Sean O'Kane and I wrote this week, the rollout is the first big test of CEO Elon Musk's belief that it's possible to safely deploy fully autonomous vehicles using just cameras and end-to-end AI — an approach that differs from other players in the space, like Waymo. By all accounts (including Tesla's), this is a limited first run. The operating area covers South Austin, the fleet of vehicles is fewer than 20, and there is still a safety 'monitor' sitting in the front passenger seat. That doesn't mean there was a subdued reaction. Social media provided a flurry of video and personal accounts — from riders and onlookers — of the robotaxis milling about Austin. And in numerous cases, the vehicles appeared to be violating traffic laws such as moving across double yellow lines into the oncoming traffic lane and abruptly hitting the brakes in the middle of intersections. The videos prompted federal safety regulators to reach out to Tesla and ask for information on the deployment. The reaction to the Tesla robotaxi rollout — and more specifically, to the videos on social — provided an informative view on just how polarizing the company is. As O'Kane quipped to me the other day, 'It's like a Rorschach test.' Tesla's robotaxi rides are either evidence of the company's hubris and Musk's broken promises on automated driving, or the beginning of the end for Waymo, Uber, and Lyft. Here's what gets closer to the truth: One week in, and we have a lot of noise and very little signal. Let's get into the rest of the news. On the back of a series of executive departures over the past year, we're hearing that Tesla is planning another round of layoffs across the company this month. CEO Elon Musk spent the last year working on politics, which culminated in a dramatic exit from his duties as head of DOGE. Now he's poised to bring that slash-and-burn energy to his own organization and DOGE-ifying the team at Tesla, with low performers on the chopping block, according to one source who is connected to the company. Meanwhile, Tesla is pushing ahead on Cybercab production. One source noted it's created a pressure-cooker environment that has caused some employees to leave the company. Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O'Kane at or Rebecca Bellan at Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop. The news cycle this week is giving me 2016 vibes. Take this deal involving Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick. Kalanick is reportedly working with investors to buy the U.S. arm of Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony AI, and Uber might even help make it happen. That's an interesting move. In 2017, Kalanick was pressured to resign due to reports that he fostered a toxic workplace culture rife with sexual harassment, among other complaints. His resignation came a year after Uber purchased Otto, the self-driving trucks startup co-founded by Anthony Levandowski (CEO Pronto AI), Lior Ron (CEO Uber Freight), Don Burnette (founder of Kodiak Robotics), and Claire Delaunay (former Nvidia, former farm-ng CTO, and current seed investor). That deal, which was absorbed into what became Uber ATG, was controversial from the start and ultimately led to Waymo suing Uber over trade secrets theft. Fast-forward eight years: Waymo and Uber are on friendly business terms, and Kalanick is still wondering, 'What if?' The founder has been pretty vocal about saying Uber would have its own self-driving fleet had he still been in charge. Then there's Pony, which has operations in the U.S. that are at risk due to national security rules. The company has been poised to sell off its U.S. arm since at least 2022. Nascent Materials, a new startup developing cathode materials to drive down the cost of LFP batteries, raised $2.3 million in a seed round led by SOSV. The New Jersey Innovation Evergreen Fund and UM6P Ventures also participated. Raphe mPhibr, the Indian drone startup, raised $100 million in an all-equity Series B round led by General Catalyst. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent Ford a lengthy list of questions about its hands-free driver-assistance system BlueCruise as part of an investigation that started more than one year ago following two fatal crashes involving the software. There was a time when AV startups tried to avoid talking about remote driving as a means of supporting its driverless tech. Now companies are openly talking about it. Take self-driving trucks company Kodiak Robotics and Vay, a remote driving startup out of Berlin. The two companies, which announced a partnership this week, have been working together since last year. Waymo and Uber have officially entered another market. The companies, which launched the 'Waymo on Uber' service in Austin earlier this year, are now operating in a 65-square-mile area of Atlanta. On top of that, Uber Eats launched sidewalk delivery robots in Atlanta with Serve Robotics, an Uber spinout that went public last year. The upshot: Momentum seems to be building for all three companies. Uber is turning into the network connector to autonomous tech (it has 18 AV partnerships globally). Waymo is the robotaxi market leader. It provides 250,000 paid robotaxi rides every week across five major cities. With Atlanta joining that list and expansions in its existing markets, that figure has surely exceeded the 300,000 mark. And Atlanta marks Serve's fourth commercial city as it works to scale to 2,000 bots on sidewalks by the end of 2025. Redwood Materials is launching an energy storage business that will leverage the thousands of EV batteries it has collected from its battery-recycling business to provide power to companies. And it's starting with — what else? — AI data centers. Rivian has laid off 140 employees ahead of its launch of the more affordable R2 SUV in 2026. The manufacturing team was hit the hardest. Tesla's top sales executive has reportedly gotten the boot from Elon Musk. Omead Afshar was one of Musk's closest confidants who just this week was posting on X about the 'historic day for Tesla' when the company rolled out its robotaxis in Austin. There was a moment around 2017 when Intel appeared poised to become a dominant player in automotive. The company had acquired Mobileye, and its VC arm was investing millions into the sector. It was part of the future of transportation conversation. Now Intel is saying goodbye to its automotive architecture business — including its AI-enhanced system-on-chip design for vehicles that had been set for production by the end of 2025 — and laying off most of its staff as part of a broader restructure.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
TechCrunch Mobility: The cost of Waymo
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! The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced late this week that it plans to streamline the Part 555 exemption process to make it faster for automakers that want to deploy self-driving vehicles built without human controls like a steering wheel or pedals. The letter sent to 'stakeholders' (meaning those companies working on AVs) is fairly opaque still. And manufacturers will still have to demonstrate that vehicles without traditional steering wheels, driver-operated brakes, or rearview mirrors provide an equivalent safety level as compliant vehicles and that the exemption is in the public interest. The main gist here is that the NHTSA contends the current Part 555 exemption process is not well suited for automated driving system-equipped vehicles and that it is a lengthy and complex process. In short: The agency wants to speed things up. In other federal agency-related news, Trump issued a few executive orders related to drones and fast-tracking supersonic travel. Side note: I see that my predictions (from last edition) that the Trump-Elon Musk fallout would turn into one of those on-again, off-again relationships was correct. Let's get into the rest of the news. Last week, I shared our scoop about Jony Ive's LoveFrom firm working alongside Rivian designers and a skunkworks team that would end up spinning out into Also, a micromobility startup. Well, a few more little birds have popped up to share a bit more and to clarify the relationship. I learned that the project was code-named Inder. Rivian actually applied for a trademark of the name Inder but later abandoned it. Sources also shared that while the LoveFrom team brought its industrial design expertise to the effort — and apparently a cool motor design — it was not involved in any UI/UX. Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O'Kane at or Rebecca Bellan at Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop. JetZero, the Long Beach, California-based zero-emissions jet aircraft company working on blended wing airplanes, plans to build a factory in Greensboro, North Carolina. The company, which has backing from a variety of venture capital (like Trucks VC) and from strategic investors like United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, said it will invest $4.7 billion over the next decade on the project, The Wall Street Journal reported. Construction on the facility is expected to begin in the first half of 2026, with first customer deliveries in the early 2030s, the company said. There is an important detail in this deal: It includes more than $1.1 billion in state performance incentives that would be paid over nearly 40 years and are contingent on JetZero creating over 14,000 jobs between 2027 and 2036, Reuters reported. Mitra Chem, a battery material startup, raised $15.6 million of a planned $50 million funding round. Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft — and people are paying anyway, according to Obi, an app that aggregates real-time pricing and pickup times across multiple ride-hailing services. The company published what it's calling the 'first in-depth examination of Waymo's pricing strategy.' The TL;DR: Waymo's self-driving car rides are consistently more expensive than comparative offerings from Uber and Lyft — and it doesn't seem to matter. Waymo robotaxis became a symbol of the LA protests after imagery showing several driverless vehicles — with anti-ICE graffiti and slashed tires — on fire. Waymo removed its remaining vehicles from the downtown LA area and plans to pursue criminal prosecution of and collect damages from those who vandalized its robotaxis. The incident raises some important surveillance questions about how the numerous cameras and sensors on Waymo vehicles are used and whether it is providing camera footage to authorities to identify protesters. Waymo didn't answer our questions about that. June 22 is the big Tesla robotaxi launch day in Austin, Texas, at least according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Wayve and Uber announced plans to launch a fully driverless robotaxi service in London. This isn't happening right away, though, and the timing is notable here: The U.K. government recently announced an accelerated framework for self-driving commercial pilots to roll out in spring 2026, up from late 2027. Infinite Machine, the New York-based micromobility startup backed by a16z, revealed a seated scooter called Olto that will cost $3,495 when it starts shipping later this year. The Olto will feature 40 miles of range, pulled from an easily swappable 48V lithium-ion battery. During Apple's WWDC 2025 event, a few car-related items were revealed, including that the company is adding widgets and message tapbacks to CarPlay with iOS 26.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pinterest tests an AI feature that lets advertisers turn their catalogs into shoppable collages
Pinterest is experimenting with "auto-collages," an AI feature that allows advertisers to quickly turn their product catalogs into shoppable collages, the company announced this week. The new feature is designed to make it easier for advertisers to reach customers while saving time and creative resources, Pinterest says. The company notes that collages are one of the most popular and engaging content types among Gen Z users, with over tens of millions of collages created on the platform. In early tests, Pinterest found that users saved auto-collages at twice the rate of standard product Pins. Auto-collages work by grouping together product images into shoppable visual content based on things like outfit ideas, user engagement, similar products, and user saves. For instance, the feature may group together clothing that makes up a stylish outfit based on existing looks. Or, it may create a new collage that is similar to existing collages that have seen strong user engagement. Plus, the feature may select similar products and group them together into a collage. In another case, auto-collages may generate a collage that includes products that are similar to ones that users have saved on their boards. 'Auto-collage was born out of the Pinterest Ads Labs program that launched last year, where we innovate new generative AI products that help brands stay ahead of the curve,' said Julie Towns, Pinterest Vice President for Product Marketing and Operations, in an announcement. 'The auto-collages tool is an exciting leap that harnesses AI to instantly transform how brands turn their product catalog into fresh creative that resonates with Gen Z and beyond.' Pinterest also announced that it's updating its "Trends" tool to help advertisers better understand and predict what users are planning to purchase next. The updated tool will leverage insights into what users are saving, curating, and shopping. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Yahoo
Apple introduces live translation across Messages, FaceTime, and Phone at WWDC 25
Apple is introducing Live Translation, powered by Apple Intelligence, for Messages, FaceTime, and Phone calls. 'Live translation can translate conversation on the fly,' Leslie Ikemoto, Apple's director of input experience, said Monday during the WWDC event. The translation feature is 'enabled by Apple Built models that run entirely on your device so your personal conversations stay personal.' In Messages, Live Translation will automatically translate text for you as you type and deliver it in your preferred language. Similarly, when the person you're texting responds, each text can be instantly translated. When catching up on FaceTime, Apple's translation feature will provide live captions. And on a phone call -- whether you're talking to an Apple user or not -- your words can be translated as you talk, and the translation is spoken out loud for the call recipient. As the person you're speaking to responds in their own language, you'll hear a spoken translation of their voice. 'For developers, it's easy to enable live translation for calls within your communication apps with a new API,' Ikemoto said. Apple did not yet share how many languages this would be available in. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Yahoo
At WWDC 2025, Apple introduces an AI-powered Shortcuts app
At WWDC 2025, Apple showed off a new AI-powered Shortcuts app. The company says Shortcuts can now tap into Apple Intelligence directly, and developers will be able to access Apple's on-device large language model (LLM). With Shortcuts, users will be able to access the AI models either on device or with Private Compute to generate responses that feed into the rest of their shortcut. For instance, a student could create a shortcut that uses AI to compare their audio transcription of their class lecture to their notes, then add key points they missed. They can also tap into ChatGPT to provide further responses that feed into their shortcut's input. Users will be able to tap into intelligent actions, which are a new type of shortcut that's enabled by Apple Intelligence. For instance, there are dedicated actions like those for summarizing text with AI (Apple Intelligence's Writing Tools) or creating images with Image Playground. Apple says the new features are available for testing starting Monday. The AI-assisted Shortcuts app follows the company's announcement last year of an AI-enhanced upgrade to its virtual assistant Siri, offering more personalized features and support. However, Apple then pushed back the launch, saying it would take longer to deliver than anticipated. At WWDC 2025, the company continued to make AI promises, including the introduction of an updated version of its Shortcuts app for scripting and automation. These AI changes could make Shortcuts easier to use for the less technically inclined, who have likely avoided using the app that has so far been more a part of a power user's toolkit. For example, popular shortcuts today can help you do things like make custom memes or GIFs, create meeting notes, track time spent on certain activities, create playlists, save PDFs, find out where a photo was taken, set location-based reminders, speed dial a friend, combine screenshots, shorten URLs, download files, save items to read later, and more. The update could also work as something of a stop-gap for Apple's delays to fully upgrade Siri with AI capabilities, as leveraging AI-assisted automation could make using the iPhone at least feel more efficient. (If you're willing to put in the work around shortcut creation, that is.) This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Sign in to access your portfolio
