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Welcome again to The Station, your central hub for all previous, current and future technique of transferring folks and packages from Point A to Point B.
This week, we’ll maintain issues brief as a result of Veteran’s Day vacation; don’t fear, we nonetheless have lots so that you can compensate for.
But first, one enjoyable factor.
LTA Research, the Sergey Brin-backed startup, took the wraps off its prototype electrical airship — the most important plane on this planet — proper in coronary heart of Silicon Valley. As contributor Mark Harris wrote, the airship — its snow-white steampunk profile seen from the busy 101 freeway — has taken drone know-how corresponding to fly-by-wire controls, electrical motors and lidar sensing, and supersized them to one thing longer than three Boeing 737s, probably in a position to carry tons of cargo over many tons of of miles.
Let’s go!
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Micromobbin’
Ridepanda, the D2C micromobility market that a few Bird, Lime and Scoot alumni launched in 2020, has made a vital enterprise pivot that focuses on enterprise-level enterprise. Now, as a substitute of promoting a variety of e-bike and e-scooter fashions from prime manufacturers to prospects throughout the nation, Ridepanda has turn out to be an end-to-end answer for employers — like Amazon and Google — to supply staff commuter advantages.
The key takeaways listed here are 1) What wasn’t working with D2C; and a couple of) Why they selected B2B2E. The tl;dr is that getting the availability chain and servicing arrange for a number of totally different manufacturers all around the U.S. was extremely tough, and enterprises are doing essentially the most proper now to get folks again into the workplace and meet sustainability objectives.
Tech continues to seep into micromobility. For occasion, Gogoro, the Taiwanese two-wheeler battery-swapping large, stated that its sensible electrical scooters can now be unlocked and turned on by way of a key in a rider’s Apple Wallet on their iPhone or Apple Watch. Vehicle house owners will even be capable to share their scooter key with different iOS customers.
— Rebecca Bellan
Deal of the week
Robotaxi firms Cruise and Waymo get the majority of the eye — and recently, not the great type. Meanwhile, one other autonomous car startup referred to as May Mobility has been working quietly within the background, which co-founder and CEO Edwin Olson instructed TechCrunch is by design.
That under-the-radar method — which is probably going helped by its B2B enterprise mannequin — hasn’t prevented it from elevating cash. May Mobility raised $105 million in a Series D spherical led by Japan’s telecom large NTT. Toyota Ventures, BMW i Ventures, Trucks VC and State Farm Ventures additionally participated within the deal, amongst different traders. To date, the corporate’s raised round $300 million.
Other offers that obtained my consideration …
EasyPark Group, a cell paid parking firm, stated it intends to amass Flowbird Group, which operates below manufacturers Flowbird, YourParkingSpace, TPARK, Extenso Cloud, and Yellowbrick. Flowbird presents a variety of providers corresponding to pay and show machines, software program, and “park and charge.”
Flitter, a Paris-based pay-by-mile insurance coverage tech startup, raised €3.5 million ($3.75 million) in seed funding led by Swiss insurer Helvetia. The Frenchfounders fund, former Sarenza CEO Stéphane Treppoz, Optimind founder Christophe Eberlé, Voodoo co-founder Laurent Ritter and Sorare co-founder Adrien Montfort additionally participated.
Getir, the Turkish prompt grocery supply startup, acquired FreshDirect, a web-based grocery supply service based mostly in New York.
Niron Magnetics, a Minnesota-based startup growing uncommon earth-free everlasting magnets, raised $33 million with new investments from GM Ventures and Stellantis Ventures. Previous traders Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and the University of Minnesota additionally participated. The firm plans to make use of the funds to develop its pilot manufacturing amenities and scale manufacturing capability of its “clean earth magnet.” The CEO instructed me the corporate plans to double its 60-person workforce by the tip of 2023 and double it once more in 2024.
Zeekr, one other Geely firm, is gearing up for a U.S. IPO.
Notable reads and different tidbits
Autonomous automobiles
Cruise, and its mother or father firm GM, proceed to cope with the aftermath of an October 2 incident that left a girl, who was initially hit by a human driver, caught below after which dragged by a robotaxi. This week alone, the corporate paused manufacturing of its custom-built Origin car, recalled its fleet of 950 car outfitted with autonomous car software program and laid off contract employees who had been chargeable for the upkeep and driverless operations. Meanwhile, the California Public Utilities Commission issued an order to halt the implementation of Cruise’s allow to cost for robotaxi rides throughout San Francisco 24/7 as they think about town’s request for a redo of the listening to that granted the allow.
Ghost Autonomy stated it plans to start exploring the functions of multimodal giant language fashions (LLMs) — AI fashions that may perceive textual content in addition to photographs — in self-driving by the OpenAI Startup Fund, which offers early entry to OpenAI techniques and Azure sources from Microsoft, OpenAI’s shut collaborator, plus a $5 million funding. TechCrunch reporter Kyle Wiggers discovered specialists had been skeptical and stated LLMs are the incorrect device for self driving.
Motional and Uber Eats are teaming as much as autonomously ship meals from Shake Shack.
Waymo began winter testing its robotaxis in Buffalo, New York.
Electric automobiles, batteries & charging
Ram launched the 2025 Ramcharger — an electrical truck that will get its EV juice from a gas-powered generator. Based on suggestions from some readers, this shall be a polarizing car. Some folks had been extremely excited and referred to as it the right truck; others took offense to the EV branding.
Polestar held its inaugural Polestar Day to showcase its imaginative and prescient for the longer term: new tech and next-generation automobiles that the Swedish EV firm owned by China’s Geely Holdings hopes will spark gross sales and spur an period of progress. But as contributor Abigail Bassett famous, the occasion stood in stark distinction to its current.
Earnings
Lucid didn’t have the rosiest of earnings studies. The firm revised its 2023 manufacturing outlook amid softening demand for luxurious electrical automobiles. Meanwhile, the corporate jumped on the Tesla charging customary bandwagon.
Lyft reported 22.4 million lively riders within the third quarter, up from 21.5 million within the second quarter and 19.6 million within the first. The progress means that its technique of slashing ride-hail fares to compete with Uber has resulted in gradual and regular positive aspects for the corporate, however competitors stays fierce. Get the full Q3 rundown right here. The ride-hailing firm additionally stated it should introduce a “more affordable sort of higher-end ride” in an try to supply ride-hail merchandise that prospects really need, in accordance with CEO.
Rivian continued to shut the hole on losses, scale back prices and ramp up manufacturing within the third quarter with outcomes that beat Wall Street expectations and advised a rosier future, together with elevating its annual manufacturing steerage from 52,000 to 54,000 automobiles. The large information: Rivian and Amazon are now not unique. Oh, and Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe additionally weighed in on subscriptions. Tl;dr: he’s eyeing software program upcharges round AR and autonomy, not heated seats.
Uber’s third-quarter earnings present a worthwhile ride-hail and supply firm that’s chugging alongside despite slowing progress in some sectors.
Future of flight
Archer Aviation partnered with India’s journey and hospitality conglomerate InterGlobe Enterprises to launch an all-electric air taxi service within the nation in 2026.
Skyryse, the aviation software program startup, accomplished a completely autorotation emergency touchdown process in a helicopter. The milestone places the corporate on the trail to unveil the primary manufacturing helicopter that includes it know-how within the first quarter of subsequent yr.