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You’re here is back in the news cycle and our crystal ball says it’s one of those long-term deals. The week began with layoffs – about 10% of its workforce of more than 140,000 – and the CEO Elon Musk stating that he was going “the bullet in the wall” on autonomy. It ended with a Cybertruck recall. Cool cool.
There’s a lot more to the newsletter than Tesla – although before we continue, check out Sean O’Kane scoop on the company’s 1,800 miles Tesla Semi Charging Corridor program. Read on to catch up Serving robotics debut on the public market, a week of ups and downs for Waymoand more.
Let’s go!
A small bird
Although we focus largely on startups and Silicon Valley, we have a few little birds in Washington, D.C.
A little birdie told us recently that federal regulators are about to release a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on autonomous vehicle regulation, which would be the first set of proposed federal guardrails for the industry.
Our source said that Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which regulates commercial vehicles in the United States, is expected to present a proposal by this summer, at the latest by fall. We’re told the federal ruling on commercial vehicles will likely establish a minimum safety standard for commercial vehicles to operate on public roads, but that state governments could enforce stricter regulations within their own borders. We have been hearing about discussions and projects regarding federal audiovisual regulations for years. Have we finally started to move forward? We will see.
Do you have any advice to give us? E-mail Kirsten Korosec has kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane has sean.okane@techcrunch.com Or Rebecca Bellan has rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, Click here to contact uswhich includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging applications.
Offer of the week
Serving roboticsthe sidewalk robot delivery company backed by Nvidia and Uber, hit the public markets this week via a reverse merger. Serve expects its public debut to bring in around $40 million in gross revenue, funding that will go toward R&D of future robots, manufacturing of new robots, geographic expansion and more.
Serve’s goal is to increase its fleet from 100 robots deployed today around Los Angeles to 2,000 robots in several American cities by the end of 2025, via a partnership with Uber Eats. Serve has huge revenue ambitions, with plans to generate between $60 million and $80 million in annual revenue by the same date. In 2023, Serve generated revenue of $207,545 with a loss of $1.5 million.
FWIW, Uber and Nvidia are still shareholders, but their shares in the company are decreasing with these debuts. Before the IPO, Uber and Nvidia held 16.6% and 14.3% stake, respectively. Once the offer closes, these stakes will increase to 11.5% and 10.1%, per regulatory filings.
Serve’s stock price was $4 when the market opened Thursday and closed that day at around $3.
Other offers that caught my attention…
Energy founda startup that uses scrap aluminum to generate heat and hydrogen, has raised a $12 million seed round, but The story of Tim De Chant about the company, it’s much more.
Getira Turkish delivery company once worth $12 billion, is would have weigh asset sales and exits from non-core markets as investors push to cut losses.
Change energy, a company that makes electric vehicle charging solutions for apartment buildings, raised $27.2 million in a Series B round to expand its charging network and strengthen the technology behind its charging solutions and energy management. Blue Earth Capital led the round with participation from Alantra’s Klima energy transition fund, Active Impact Investments and GIGA Investments Corp.
Notable readings and other information
ADAS
Mobileye secured orders to ship 46 million of its ADAS EyeQ6 Light chips over the coming years for automobile manufacturers. Several models launching this year will feature the chip, which promises to improve detection of wet roads, detection and response to objects at a greater distance, as well as a better ability to read key phrases on signs signaling. TechCrunch had the chance to dig deeper into this, and our main takeaways are that automakers will likely love this chip because it’s more powerful than Mobileye’s latest chip, but it’s priced the same.
Autonomous vehicles
Waymo began initial data collection and mapping in Atlanta, the company’s latest geographic victory. The Alphabet-owned company hasn’t said whether it plans to launch in the Georgia city or any other cities it maps in, such as Washington, D.C. and Buffalo. In addition to San Francisco, Waymo has launched commercial robotaxi services in Los Angeles and Phoenix, with Austin planned for later this year.
But with ups and downs. Six Waymo vehicles were also intercepted block traffic to an on-ramp into San Francisco. The vehicles found themselves stuck between a construction zone and the access ramp and had to stop to wait for help. A spokesperson told TechCrunch that while Waymo had the green light to operate entirely driverless on San Francisco’s highways, the company had not yet removed the driver.
Electric vehicles, charging and batteries
General engines launched a home charger for electric vehicles and home vehicle (V2H) which allows a home to draw energy from an electric vehicle battery in the event of a power outage. Customers in California, Florida, Texas, Michigan and New York can purchase today.
Gogorothe two-wheeler battery exchange company, and TSMC, a global semiconductor company, is partnering to introduce 15 GoStations across Taiwan that use 100% clean energy. They will also launch Gogoro’s scooter sharing service in Hsinchu, TSMC’s headquarters city, and expand the charging network in the city.
TeslaCrunch
We’ve been everywhere You’re here this week, so let’s get to it.
The week started with company-wide layoffs This affected at least 10% of the entire 140,000-person organization, with some teams seeing 20% of their staff gutted. Two high-profile executives also left Tesla: Drew Baglino, Tesla’s senior vice president of powertrain and energy, and Rohan Patel, vice president of public policy and business development. Patel told TechCrunch that he left the company due to “(b)ig global changes” that he declined to specify. In an email to the company, CEO Elon Musk said the cuts were necessary to increase productivity and prepare for Tesla’s “next phase of growth.”
(Psssst! Don’t want to know about the Tesla layoffs and what’s next? You can watch it instead.)
Many of those fired, according to sources, were efficient who happened to be working on less priority projects. Sources at Tesla also told TechCrunch that the company made the cuts because it expects poor first-quarter earnings. Deliveries have been poor and all of last year’s price cuts that have continued into early 2024 have likely had an effect on Tesla’s margins. Deliveries declined in the first quarter year over year, despite Tesla spending $200,000 on X advertising, according to our reports.
Maybe that’s why Tesla abandoned its price discounts on electric vehicle stocks this week. On X, Musk said the move was in line with Tesla’s strategy to “streamline Tesla’s entire sales and delivery system.”
These changes in general, and the layoffs in particular, are made even more striking by Tesla’s proxy statement that calls on the board to reinstate Musk’s $56 billion payment, which a Delaware judge overturned earlier this year. In anger, Musk threatened to reincorporate Tesla in Texas, and it appears that this plan will soon go before the board as well.
Meanwhile, on the charging front, Tesla is move forward with its plan to build a charging corridor for large electric platforms stretching from Texas to California, although it was snubbed by a lucrative federal funding package that is part of Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law .
Tesla also had to this week recall the 3,878 Cybertrucks that it has delivered to its customers so far regarding faulty accelerator pedals that can get stuck. I know what you’re thinking. We finally know how many Cybertrucks Tesla has delivered.
This week’s wheels
I’ve traveled in a handful of new vehicles and can’t wait to share my thoughts, but we’re also running out of space this week. In the next issues, we will discuss the electric bike, the 2024 Lexus LC500hTHE 2024 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter and more.
See you next week !
