{"id":759265,"date":"2026-07-12T22:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T22:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/759265\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T22:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T22:26:10","slug":"techcrunch-mobility-a-robotaxi-ultimatum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/759265\/","title":{"rendered":"TechCrunch Mobility: A robotaxi ultimatum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free \u2014 just click TechCrunch Mobility<\/a>!<\/p>\n

I am back from vacation. What did I miss? Turns out, quite a lot \u2014 including the end of the Uber-Waymo partnership in Phoenix<\/a>. Uber and Waymo still have robotaxi service partnerships in Atlanta and Austin. The question is not if, but when will these agreements end? But that isn\u2019t the most intriguing question, in my opinion. I am far more intrigued by how these two companies will behave once the remaining partnerships end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is already tension with Uber executives taking not-so-subtle shots at Waymo. I expect that once the partnerships end, these thinly veiled barbs will be replaced with more direct action. One battleground will be policy, specifically markets where robotaxi companies are angling to get access.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This week, we saw another interesting development in the autonomous vehicle industry on the federal stage. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administrator Jonathan Morrison issued a directive to autonomous vehicle developers, stating that it is unacceptable for their vehicles to interfere with first responders or law enforcement.<\/p>\n

The money quote: \u201cLet me be clear: the inability to detect and appropriately respond to such situations represents a functional insufficiency. Emergency scenes are not rare or extreme \u2018edge cases.\u2019 As such, NHTSA is today issuing a call to action for AV developers and operators to immediately focus their resources on fixing this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morrison\u2019s letter never calls out any one robotaxi company and it was sent to every AV developer listed in the Department of Transportation\u2019s Standing General Order<\/a>. But it sure seems like Morrison is directing the agency\u2019s ire at Waymo.<\/p>\n

A previous TechCrunch investigation<\/a> found that Waymo \u2014 which operates the largest robotaxi fleet in the United States, with vehicles in cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco \u2014 has had repeated run-ins with first responders.\u00a0And just this week, San Francisco supervisor Bilal Mahmood said he plans to submit a letter of inquiry<\/a> to examine how autonomous vehicles affected public transit services and emergency responders following a July 4 fireworks show that resulted in massive gridlock. Local news outlets reported that numerous Waymo robotaxis had to be towed<\/a> after running out of power during the lengthy traffic jam.<\/p>\n

Morrison\u2019s letter has gravitas. But will there be substantive consequences for AV developers? It\u2019s hard to tell at this point. For now, the NHTSA has demanded companies present the agency with \u201csolutions\u201d by the end of the month.<\/p>\n

One more news item from the feds. Take a look at the new 2026 Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda<\/a>, which was updated last week. It contains a long list of proposed changes to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) requirements, which govern vehicle design and equipment requirements. These proposed changes could help autonomous vehicle companies like Tesla and Zoox, which are developing vehicles without steering wheels, pedals, or other features required on human-driven cars.<\/p>\n

A little bird<\/p>\n

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

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

Deals!<\/p>\n

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

We usually focus on venture deals, but this week I wanted to highlight Rivian and the sale of 86.25 million Class A common shares priced at $15.50 each (that includes an added 11.25 million in additional shares that underwriters opted to buy).<\/p>\n

In all, Rivian said it expects to raise $1.32 billion<\/a> in new capital. The raise comes at a notable time for the EV maker. The company started delivering its new R2 SUV last month and recently raised its sales forecast<\/a> for 2026. The company said it now expects to deliver between 65,000 and 70,000 vehicles after outperforming its own expectations in the second quarter due to robust growth quarter-over-quarter in EDV and R1, coupled with the introduction of R2 deliveries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company didn\u2019t explain the reason for the raise. But as a reminder, Rivian is not yet profitable and scaling up production of the R2 \u2014 or any vehicle for that matter \u2014 isn\u2019t cheap!<\/p>\n

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

Bidbus, a Los Angeles-based startup that built a digital marketplace where multiple dealers can bid on a car, raised $15 million<\/a> in a Series A funding round led by Ibex Investors. Mucker Capital, FJ Labs, Motley Fool Ventures, Data Point Capital, Walter Ventures, and the Car Dealership Guy\u2019s Yossi Levi also participated.<\/p>\n

Lyft said it plans to acquire<\/a> Serveo\u2019s bike-share business in Spain. Terms weren\u2019t disclosed, but the ride-hailing company said it is expected to close this year.<\/p>\n

TaiSan, a U.K. battery startup, raised \u00a34.65 million<\/a> in a seed funding round co-led by Eos Advisory and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II. InnoEnergy, AFI Ventures, EverQuest Capital Partners, Exergon, Heartfelt Ventures, Adeline Arts & Science, Techmind, angel investor Fran\u00e7ois Badelon, and matched funding from Innovate UK also participated.<\/p>\n

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

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

AssuranceAmerica, a U.S. insurance provider, confirmed a data breach<\/a> that affected the personal information and driver\u2019s license numbers of 6.9 million people, making it the largest known spill of Americans\u2019 driver\u2019s license information this year.<\/p>\n

Beta Technologies, the electric vehicle takeoff and landing developer, completed operational flights<\/a> conducted under the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s new eVTOL Integration Pilot Program. The flights covered about 275 nautical miles covering Virginia and Maryland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Longtime followers of Tesla will remember the heady days when Elon Musk battled various short sellers of the company\u2019s stock. Musk is more polarizing than ever, and one exchange-traded fund creator has found a way to tap into that negative sentiment with two new anti-Elon exchange-traded funds<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

GM brand Chevrolet built an all-American EV truck. Senior reporter Tim De Chant asks, Why is nobody buying it<\/a>?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manna Aero, the Ireland-based autonomous drone delivery startup, is scaling up<\/a> in the United States with a factory and operations center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that it says will employ 1,000 in the next few years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Slate Auto teamed up with Crayola to offer its EV truck and SUV customers vehicle wraps in five crayon colors<\/a>. (Reminder: The basic Slate EV vehicle isn\u2019t painted. Instead, it comes in a gray composite material that can be customized with a vehicle wrap. The company has hundreds of options to choose from.)<\/p>\n

One more thing \u2026<\/p>\n

TechCrunch podcast Build Mode just launched its third season, and it\u2019s a banger. Build Mode is hosted by Isabelle Johannessen, who heads TechCrunch\u2019s Startup Battlefield program. Unlike Equity \u2014 the TC podcast I co-host along with Anthony Ha and Sean O\u2019Kane \u2014 Build Mode is designed to help early-stage founders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new season kicks off with Precursor Ventures founder and managing partner Charles Hudson, who talks about what early-stage founders need to know before raising their first institutional round.<\/p>\n

Check it out: The new rules of early-stage fundraising with Charles Hudson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,11,132450,6777,154479,74,38687,27958],"class_list":["post-759265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-elon-musk","tag-rivian","tag-robotaxi","tag-techcrunch-mobility","tag-technology","tag-uber","tag-waymo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}