{"id":99393,"date":"2025-10-26T19:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T19:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/99393\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T19:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T19:14:08","slug":"techcrunch-mobility-the-robot-army-argument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/99393\/","title":{"rendered":"TechCrunch Mobility: The ‘robot army’ argument"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility \u2014 your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free \u2014 just click TechCrunch Mobility<\/a>!<\/p>\n

I am sure you are waiting to learn the results of last week\u2019s poll. (Reminder: Sign up for the Mobility newsletter<\/a> to participate in our polls!) Here is what I asked: \u201cWhat is the best business model for autonomous vehicle tech? (Keep profitability in mind.)\u201d<\/p>\n

Far and away, readers think longer-haul delivery is the best bet, with 40% picking this option. Robotaxis came in next with 25.5% of the vote, followed by licensing tech to automakers at 19.1% and last-mile delivery with 14.9%. One reader emailed to point out that I didn\u2019t include warehouse applications like autonomous forklifts. The longer-haul delivery category can be broken down further, though, and is worth another poll, which we included in this week\u2019s newsletter.<\/p>\n

In the long list of arguments one might make to justify a $1 trillion compensation package, having control over a robot army was certainly not on my mind. And yet, this is the argument Elon Musk made during Tesla\u2019s third-quarter earnings call.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the rundown: On November 6, shareholders will vote whether to approve a board-endorsed compensation package that would grant Musk up to 12% of Tesla\u2019s stock. If the company hits its target market value of $8.6 trillion, that package would be worth about $1 trillion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The board and Musk have spent weeks lobbying shareholders to approve the measure, even as proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis have recommended that investors reject it. Musk is now in attack mode, which was on display at the end of the earnings call when he called the firms corporate terrorists and made his final pitch. His robot army argument <\/a>centers on power and control, not so much money.\u00a0Although, hey, money can provide both.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest concern line: If we build this robot army, do I have a strong influence over that robot army? I don\u2019t feel comfortable building a robot army if I don\u2019t have a strong influence,\u201d Musk said during the earnings call. He was referring to Tesla\u2019s Optimus robot program and used it as an example of products he wants full control over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

That argument will hardly persuade Musk\u2019s critics, particularly in the wake of his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency<\/a>. But Musk doesn\u2019t need to convince his growing list of critics, unless, of course, they own Tesla shares.<\/p>\n

A little bird<\/p>\n

\"blinkyImage Credits:Bryce Durbin<\/p>\n

This week, General Motors dropped the ax on the BrightDrop electric van program<\/a> after four short years. It was not the biggest surprise in the world; after all, hundreds of unsold vans have been sitting untouched in lots in Michigan and Canada for months now. (One little bird reached out to tell us that hundreds of them are in a lot in Flint, Michigan.) GM cited a slower-than-expected market for commercial electric vans, but it didn\u2019t go into detail about why, exactly, BrightDrop failed so miserably.<\/p>\n

Another little bird has given us a clue, though. The vans are pricey but well-liked and should save fleet owners money over time. And electric drivetrains are a great fit for last-mile delivery. What GM appears to have missed was the infrastructure piece, according to one insider. The company leaned hard on outside partnerships to build out so-called depot charging, instead of offering it as part of the fleet purchases. That turned a number of potential customers away and just generally caused headaches.<\/p>\n

Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at\u00a0kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com<\/a>\u00a0or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O\u2019Kane at\u00a0sean.okane@techcrunch.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Deals!<\/p>\n

\"moneyImage Credits:Bryce Durbin<\/p>\n

The big deal this week is about EVs and AI data centers. Yes, there is a connection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Redwood Materials raised $350 million<\/a> in a Series E round led by venture firm Eclipse, and included a new strategic investment by Nvidia\u2019s venture capital arm, NVentures. The company\u2019s valuation was not disclosed, but a source familiar with the round told TechCrunch it was about $6 billion, a billion dollars higher than its previous valuation.<\/p>\n

The chunk of this money is going toward Redwood\u2019s new energy storage business, which is giving a new purpose to EV batteries it has collected and that have too much life left to put through the recycling process. The company ties these retired EV batteries to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, or the grid, to power AI data centers or industrial sites.<\/p>\n

Other deals that got my attention this week \u2026<\/p>\n

Avride secured strategic investments and other commitments of up to $375 million<\/a>, backed by Uber and Nebius. None of these companies gave me specifics when asked if this was all equity. One insider did say to pay attention to the \u201cother commitments\u201d bit, which suggests it was not a straight cash injection.<\/p>\n

Spiro, the African electric motorbike startup headquartered in Dubai, raised $100 million<\/a> in a round led by the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), the development arm of Afreximbank. This is the largest raise ever for African e-mobility.<\/p>\n

Notable reads and other tidbits<\/p>\n

\"\"Image Credits:Bryce Durbin<\/p>\n

General Motors made several announcements at an event in NYC that were meant to show where it\u2019s headed. And, yes, AI plays a central role. Before AI could take the stage, GM said it will overhaul the electrical and computational guts<\/a> of its future vehicles. The company will roll out a new electric architecture and centralized computing platform in new vehicles, starting with the Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028. That foundation will allow the company to deliver faster software; more capable automated driving features, including eyes-off driving<\/a>; and a custom, conversational AI assistant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Earnings season is upon us, and this quarter I am watching for data and executive commentary that helps me understand how tariffs and the expired EV tax credit are affecting the automotive sector. I don\u2019t have any clear takeaways yet \u2014 and probably won\u2019t until the next quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tariffs are hitting, Q3 reports from GM and Ford indicate. For instance, GM forecast that tariffs will reduce its 2025 profits by $2.3 billion and Ford said it would take a $2 billion bite out of the bottom line. But both of those projections are billions of dollars better than the automakers predicted earlier this year, and the automakers hope to offset those costs. CEOs from both automakers thanked President Trump for extending a relief measure from tariffs on automotive parts sourced from Canada and Mexico.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some other GM and Ford news: Ford will continue to pause production<\/a> of its F-150 Lightning trucks as it prioritizes gas and hybrid F-Series versions in a bid to recover from a fire at its primary aluminum supplier Nevolis. Meanwhile, GM CEO Mary Barra told the Verge\u2019s Decoder podcast that the company will drop support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto<\/a> from all of its vehicles. Oh, and late-breaking: GM has laid off 200 salaried workers<\/a> from its Warren Tech Center.<\/p>\n

Tesla delivered a record number of vehicles in the third quarter of 2025, results buoyed by U.S. customers who took advantage of the expiring federal EV tax credit. That didn\u2019t translate to greater earnings. Tesla\u2019s third-quarter profit was $1.4 billion, 37% lower than it was in the same quarter last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation<\/a> after seeing footage from early October of a Waymo autonomous vehicle maneuvering around a stopped school bus that was unloading kids in Atlanta.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rivian is undergoing a bit of a shake-up that includes cutting 600 people<\/a> from its workforce (its third round of layoffs this year), and its founder and CEO is taking on yet another position: chief marketing officer.<\/a> Rivian also agreed this week to pay $250 million<\/a> to settle a class-action shareholder lawsuit filed after the company suddenly hiked prices on its R1 pickup truck and SUV in 2022.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I spent some time in the Bay Area with executives from Rivian\u2019s micromobility spinout company Also. The company revealed three new products, and if Also president Chris Yu and Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe (and Also board member) are to be believed, there will be even more coming. For now, it\u2019s a slick modular pedal-assist e-bike <\/a>and two pedal-assist quad vehicles \u2014 the delivery van version that Amazon has already agreed to buy<\/a>. The big compelling tech story here is vertical integration and software.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility \u2014 your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[345,1457,343,344,350,11864,85,46,24992,66035,125,348,56998],"class_list":{"0":"post-99393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-amazon","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence","11":"tag-artificialintelligence","12":"tag-elon-musk","13":"tag-general-motors","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-rivian","17":"tag-techcrunch-mobility","18":"tag-technology","19":"tag-tesla","20":"tag-waymo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}