Alphabet pours $5B into Waymo, Cruise scraps the Origin and Elon’s bet on autonomy

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

I don’t know about you, but for me, the past few days have offered up even more evidence that our world is vulnerable to software bugs. Yep, I’m talking about the CrowdStrike outage. Hopefully you weren’t trying to fly home (like I was) this past weekend. 

There was a lot of other news beyond the blue screen of death that airlines, suppliers, healthcare centers and banks encountered. (Side note: I’m not sure the $10 Uber Eats gift card is the best way to apologize.) And since it’s now earnings season, we have even more to write about. (Ahem: Tesla, GM/Cruise and Waymo!) Of course, startups are also on our minds, and this week we have a few deals worth noting as well. 

So, let’s jump in! 

Oh, and I would be remiss not to mention a recent episode on my podcast, the Autonocast. Listen to this interesting chat with Wayve founder and CEO Alex Kendall and his U.K. startup’s “AI-first” approach to autonomy.

A little bird

A little bird suggested I pay closer attention to Waymo and the company’s expansion plans in the San Francisco area. Specifically, the autonomous vehicle company’s efforts to gain access to the San Francisco International Airport. 

Email exchanges between Waymo, SFO officials and the city, provided via a Freedom of Information Act request, show the company restarted conversations around April with an eventual aim to get the required permit for pickups and drop-offs at the airport. 

Now, to be clear, this promises to be a long process. And this is just the beginning. Access to the airport requires a separate approval from the San Francisco Airport Commission.

Technically, permits can be issued at the airport’s discretion, according to SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel. However, this will not be simple and may mirror the process SFO officials went through when Uber and Lyft first sought access more than a decade ago. 

Waymo would need a ground transportation permit to operate at SFO, which has yet to be approved. “Given that this is a new mode of transportation, we would need to create a new permit structure, similar to what we did 10 years ago for companies like Uber and Lyft,” Yakel wrote in response to questions. To read the whole story, click here. 

Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at [email protected], Sean O’Kane at [email protected] or Rebecca Bellan at [email protected]. Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.

Deals!

Welp, here we are talking about Waymo again. Earlier this week, parent company Alphabet disclosed it was investing $5 billion into Waymo.

I’ve heard rumors from folks in the industry for months now that Waymo was seeking fresh investment — so the announcement wasn’t too surprising. 

But now that it has arrived, I am struck by a few things. Alphabet shared very little about the investment except to describe it as “multi-year” and co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana noted on social media site X that it was “up to” $5 billion. These pieces of information suggest the funds are somehow gated and that Waymo will have to meet certain milestones to unlock them. 

I was also surprised that external investors were not involved, as they have been in the past. The fundraising environment hasn’t been easy for AV companies. A handful of companies, including Motional, Wayve and Stack, have raised considerable funds. But many others have struggled to lock down the capital needed. 

My big question — beyond the terms of the deal — is why didn’t others join in? 

Other deals that got my attention …

ACEL Power, a Vancouver, Canada-based marine electric startup, raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Abu Dhabi venture capital firm Tau Capital. 

Chope, the Singapore-based dining reservation platform, was acquired by Grab for an undisclosed amount.

Monarch Tractor raised $133 million in a Series C funding round co-led by agri-food tech impact firm Astanor and HH-CTBC Partnership L.P., an affiliate fund of Foxconn. The new round values the startup at more than $500 million and will help it escape “quite a challenging time,” CEO Praveen Penmetsa told TC senior reporter Sean O’Kane. 

ReliON, a Canadian EV infrastructure startup, raised CA$3 million in funding led by Diagram Ventures. MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF), AQC Capital, Anges Québec and Cycle Momentum also participated. 

Saronic, a defense tech company that makes autonomous surface vessels, raised $175 million in a Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The company has a post-money valuation of $1 billion. Other investors included 8VC, Caffeinated Capital, Elad Gil, and NightDragon.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Autonomous vehicles

Cruise is scrapping plans to build the Origin — a purpose-built robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals — and will instead use the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt in its operations. That news, which was shared in parent company GM’s earnings report, elicited a spicy retort from Cruise’s co-founder and now ex-CEO Kyle Vogt, who expressed his disappointment and said, “GM repeatedly finds themselves with a 5-10 year head start, but then fumbles the ball, shuts things down, and loses the lead.” GM president Mark Reuss wasn’t amused. 

Elon Musk said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call that Tesla will now show off its robotaxi October 10. (If you recall, it was delayed.) The Q2 call (and earnings report) also revealed an interesting tension between Tesla’s profit center — selling EVs — and Musk’s future bets, which today are only costing the company money. Musk, who called everything beyond autonomy “noise,” is clearly focused on the future. 

Kodiak Robotics passed another self-driving truck milestone. Founder and CEO Don Burnette talked to TechCrunch about how his aha moment led to a breakthrough. 

Vayu Robotics, co-founded by Anand Gopalan, the former CTO and CEO of lidar leader Velodyne, is working to make delivery robots cheaper and more scalable. Ditching LiDAR and embracing foundation models is a piece of that puzzle, TC editor Brian Heater reports. 

Waymo has started testing a new robotaxi — built by Chinese electric automaker Zeekr — on public roads in San Francisco.

Electric vehicles, charging & batteries

TechCrunch reporter Rebecca Bellan has been tracking battery factory projects since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed in August 2022. Now, two years later, she has provided a comprehensive update on all of the battery factory projects — and which ones are now on hold. 

Ford reported Q2 earnings and investors were none too happy with the results. Tl;dr: Ford fell short of Wall Street’s earnings expectations. The company’s traditional gas-powered vehicle business and its commercial unit are plugging along and driving profits. Its EV business unit, known as Ford E, is the money loser. I listened in on the call and CEO Jim Farley still sounds determined to bring a next-generation and more cost-efficient EV to market. One standout quote:

“We’re focusing on very differentiated vehicles priced under $40,000 or even $30,000 and we’re going to focus on two segments, work and adventure.” 

This week’s wheels

What is “This week’s wheels”? It’s a chance to learn about the different transportation products we’re testing, whether it’s an electric or hybrid car, an e-bike or even a ride in an autonomous vehicle. In the coming weeks, we’ll share our views on e-bikes made by Lectric and Pedego, the 2024 Fiat 500e, and a few other EVs that are coming my way in August.