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Welcome back to The Station, the central hub for all the ways to get people and packages from point A to point B, past, present and future.
This week, due to the Veterans Day holiday, we’re going to keep it brief; don’t worry, we’ve got plenty more for you to cover.
But first, a fun fact.
Land Transport Authority ResearchA Sergey Brin-backed startup has unveiled its prototype electric airship, the world’s largest aircraft, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Mark Harris wrotethe airship—its snow-white steampunk silhouette visible from the busy 101 Freeway—takes drone technology like fly-by-wire, electric motors, and lidar sensing and supersizes it to a size larger than three A Boeing 737 is even longer, potentially capable of carrying large amounts of cargo across hundreds of miles.
let’s go!
Want to make a suggestion, comment or complaint?Send Kirsten an email at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com
Remind you to leave us a message Tips@techcrunch.com. If you wish to remain anonymous, Click here to contact uswhich includes SecureDrop (Description here) and various encrypted messaging applications.
micromobility
Red Pandais a D2C micro-mobile marketplace launched in 2020 by several Bird, Lime and Scoot alumni and has now become important business hub Ridepanda focuses on enterprise-level business. Now, instead of selling a range of e-bike and e-scooter models from top brands to customers across the country, Ridepanda is becoming an end-to-end solution for employers (like Amazon and Google) — providing commuter benefits to their employees.
The key takeaways here are 1) what doesn’t work for D2C and 2) why they choose B2B2E. All in all, setting up supply chains and services for multiple different brands across the U.S. is difficult, and businesses are now trying their best to get people back into the office and achieve sustainability goals.
Technology continues to penetrate the micromobility space. For example, GogoroTaiwan’s two-wheeler battery-swapping giant says its smart electric scooter can now be unlocked and powered on through the key Stored in Apple Wallet on Knight iPhone or Apple Watch. Owners can also share their scooter keys with other iOS users.
——Rebecca Belland
Trades of the week
Robo-taxis companies Cruise and Waymo are getting most of the attention, but not in a good way lately.Meanwhile, another self-driving car startup claims May Liquidity already Runs quietly in the backgroundCo-founder and CEO Edwin Olson told TechCrunch this is by design.
That low-key approach – likely helped by its B2B business model – hasn’t stopped it from raising capital. May Mobility raised $105 million in a Series D funding round led by Japanese telecom giant NTT. Investors including Toyota Ventures, BMWi Ventures, Trucks VC and State Farm Ventures also participated in the deal. The company has raised about $300 million to date.
Other deals that caught my eye…
Yiyuan GroupMobile paid parking company said it intends to acquire Flowbird Group, whose brands include Flowbird, YourParkingSpace, TPARK, Extenso Cloud and Yellowbrick. Flowbird offers a variety of services, such as pay and display machines, software, and “parking and parking” services. TOLL. “
thumpa pay-per-mile insurtech startup based in Paris, €3.5 million raised ($3.75 million) seed round was led by Swiss insurance company Helvetia. French Founders Fund, former Sarenza CEO Stéphane Treppoz, Optimind founder Christophe Eberlé, Voodoo co-founder Laurent Ritter and Sorare co-founder Adrien Montfort also participated.
Gettier, Turkish instant grocery delivery startup, acquired FreshDirect, a New York-based online grocery delivery service.
Nickel magnetA Minnesota-based startup developing rare earth-free permanent magnets has raised $33 million in new investment from GM Ventures and Stellantis Ventures. Previous investors Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and the University of Minnesota also participated. The company plans to use the funds to expand. The company plans to double its headcount of 60 employees by the end of 2023 and double it again in 2024, the CEO told me.
ZekelAnother Geely company is preparing U.S. initial public offering.
Noteworthy Reads and Other Tidbits
self-driving cars
cruiseand its parent company General Motors, continues to deal with the aftermath of an October 2 incident that resulted in a woman being initially hit by a human driver and then towed away by a robot taxi.This week alone, the company stop production Its customized Origin vehicles, recall its fleet 950 vehicles equipped with self-driving car software Contract workers who were laid off They are responsible for maintenance and driverless operations. California Public Utilities Commission give an order Stop implementing cruise ship licenses Charges for San Francisco’s 24/7 robotaxis as they consider city’s request to redo hearings granting permits
ghost autonomy Expressed plans to begin exploring the application of multimodal large language models (LLM) (artificial intelligence models that can understand text and images) in autonomous driving through the OpenAI Startup Fund, which provides early access to OpenAI systems and Microsoft Azure resources OpenAI of close collaborators, plus an investment of $5 million. TechCrunch reporter Kyle Wiggers discovered Experts are skeptical And said an LL.M. is the wrong tool for autonomous driving.
dynamic and Uber Eats are teaming up to autonomously deliver food from Shake Shack.
Waymo Begins winter testing of its robotaxis in Buffalo, New York.
Electric vehicles, batteries and charging
Memory introduced 2025 Ram Charger — An electric truck that gets EV power from a gasoline generator. Based on feedback from some readers, this will be a polarizing car. Some were excited, calling it the perfect truck; others were offended by the EV brand.
pole star Held the first Polestar Day to showcase its future vision: The Swedish electric car company owned by China’s Geely Holding hopes new technology and next-generation vehicles will spur sales and spur an era of growth. But as contributor Abigail Bassett points out, the event was a stark contrast to the present.
benefit
wide awake Didn’t deliver the most upbeat earnings report. The company revised its production outlook for 2023 due to weak demand for luxury electric vehicles.Meanwhile, the company has also jumped on Tesla charging standards Follow the trend.
Lyft Active passenger numbers were reported at 22.4 million in the third quarter, up from 21.5 million in the second quarter and 19.6 million in the first quarter. The growth suggests that its strategy of cutting ride-hailing fees to compete with Uber has led to slow but steady growth for the company. companies, but competition remains fierce.Obtain Complete summary of Season 3 The ride-hailing company also said it will launch “more affordable high-end ride services” in an attempt to provide ride-hailing products that meet the following needs: What customers really wantAccording to the CEO.
Rivian Continue to narrow the loss gap, reduce costs and increase production third episode The results beat Wall Street expectations and signaled a more optimistic future, including raising its annual production guidance to 54,000 vehicles from 52,000.Breaking news: Rivian and Amazon no longer exclusiveOh, and Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringer return Weigh subscriptionsTl;dr: He’s focused on software upgrades around AR and automation, not heated seats.
Uber’s third quarter earnings Shows a profitable ride-hailing and delivery company that is growing steadily despite slowing growth in some industries.
The future of flight
Archer Air Launched in partnership with Indian travel and hospitality group InterGlobe Enterprises All-electric air taxi service in the country in 2026.
horizonAn aviation software startup has completed a fully autorotating emergency landing procedure for a helicopter. With this milestone, the company expects to launch its first production helicopter using IT technology in the first quarter of next year.