Transportation
Transportation news includes all the present and future ways people and packages get from Point A to Point B. Coverage includes scooters and e-bikes to autonomous vehicles, EVs, transit, and evTOLs. We cover auto tech players big and small, from Tesla, GM, Uber, and Lyft, to small startups entering the automotive tech space.
Swiss startup Neural Concept raises $27M to cut EV design time to 18 months
Neural Concept lets designers model how components will perform before they can be manufactured.
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Inside EV startup Fisker’s collapse: how the company crumbled under its founders’ whims
Update: Fisker has since filed for bankruptcy, after last-ditch efforts to rescue the company failed. An autonomous pod. A solid-state battery-powered sports car. An electric pickup truck. A convertible grand tourer EV with up to 600 miles of range. A “fully connected mobility device” for young urban innovators to be…
Feds tell Zoox to send more info about autonomous vehicles suddenly braking
U.S. federal regulators have requested more information from Zoox, Amazon’s self-driving unit, as part of an investigation into rear-end crash risks posed by unexpected braking. The National Highway Traffic Safety…
Tesla shareholder sweepstakes and EV layoffs hit Lucid and Fisker
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! Okay, okay…
Archer, Kakao Mobility partner to bring electric air taxis to South Korea in 2026
Archer Aviation is partnering with ride-hailing and parking company Kakao Mobility to bring electric air taxi flights to South Korea starting in 2026, if the company can get its aircraft…
Battery recycling startups have emerged in Europe in a bid to tap into the next big opportunity in the EV market: battery waste. Among them is Cylib, a German-based startup…
Fisker cuts hundreds of workers in bid to keep EV startup alive
Struggling EV startup Fisker has laid off hundreds of employees in a bid to stay alive, as it continues to search for funding, a buyout or prepare for bankruptcy. Workers…
Chinese EV makers, and their connected vehicles, targeted by new House bill
Chinese EV manufacturers face a new challenge in their pursuit of U.S. customers: a new House bill that would limit or ban the introduction of their connected vehicles. The bill,…
The Cadillac Optiq EV starts at $54,000 and is designed to hook young hipsters
Cadillac may seem a bit too traditional to hang its driving cap on EVs. And yet, that hasn’t stopped the GM brand from rolling out — or at least showing…
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Onyx Motorbikes was in trouble — and then its 37-year-old owner died
James Khatiblou, the owner and CEO of Onyx Motorbikes, was watching his e-bike startup fall apart. Onyx was being evicted from its warehouse in El Segundo, near Los Angeles. The company’s unpaid bills were stacking up. Its chief operating officer had abruptly resigned. A shipment of around 100 CTY2 dirt…
Indian EV startup Zypp Electric secures backing to fund expansion to Southeast Asia
Indian startup Zypp Electric plans to use fresh investment from Japanese oil and energy conglomerate ENEOS to take its EV rental service into Southeast Asia early next year, TechCrunch has…
Feds add nine more incidents to Waymo robotaxi investigation
Federal safety regulators have discovered nine more incidents that raise questions about the safety of Waymo’s self-driving vehicles operating in Phoenix and San Francisco. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration…
Lucid Motors is laying off about 400 employees, or roughly 6% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring ahead of the launch of its first electric SUV later this…
Spotify to shut off Car Thing for good, leading users to demand refunds
Spotify is notifying customers who purchased its Car Thing product that the devices will stop working after December 9, 2024. The company discontinued the device back in July 2022, but…
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! Is it…
After multiple delays, Apple and the Paris area transportation authority rolled out support for Paris transit passes in Apple Wallet. It means that people can now use their iPhone or…
Redwood Materials is partnering with Ultium Cells to recycle GM’s EV battery scrap
Redwood Materials, the battery recycling startup founded by former Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, will be recycling production scrap for batteries going into General Motors electric vehicles. The company announced Thursday…
The new Kia EV3 will have an AI assistant with ChatGPT DNA
The Kia EV3 — the new all-electric compact SUV revealed Thursday — illustrates a growing appetite among global automakers to bring generative AI into their vehicles. The automaker said the…
India’s BluSmart is testing its ride-hailing service in Dubai
Indian ride-hailing startup BluSmart has started operating in Dubai, TechCrunch has exclusively learned and confirmed with its executive. The move to Dubai, which has been rumored for months, could help…
Uber’s and Lyft’s ride-hailing deal with Minnesota comes at a cost
Uber and Lyft drivers in Minnesota will see higher pay thanks to a deal between the state and the country’s two largest ride-hailing companies. The upshot: a new law that…
Porsche Ventures invests in battery startup South 8 to boost cold-weather EV performance
All cars suffer when the mercury drops, but electric vehicles suffer more than most as heaters draw more power and batteries charge more slowly as the liquid electrolyte inside thickens.…
Aurora and Volvo unveil self-driving truck designed for a driverless future
A new self-driving truck — manufactured by Volvo and loaded with autonomous vehicle tech developed by Aurora Innovation — could be on public highways as early as this summer. The…
VinFast crash that killed family of four now under federal investigation
The top vehicle safety regulator in the U.S. has launched a formal probe into an April crash involving the all-electric VinFast VF8 SUV that claimed the lives of a family…
UK’s autonomous vehicle legislation becomes law, paving the way for first driverless cars by 2026
The U.K.’s self-proclaimed “world-leading” regulations for self-driving cars are now official, after the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act received royal assent — the final rubber stamp any legislation must go through…
VCs and the military are fueling self-driving startups that don’t need roads
A new crop of early-stage startups — along with some recent VC investments — illustrates a niche emerging in the autonomous vehicle technology sector. Unlike the companies bringing robotaxis to…
What a wild week for transportation news! It was a smorgasbord of news that seemed to touch every sector and theme in transportation.
Forget EVs: Why Bedrock Materials is targeting gas-powered cars for its first sodium-ion batteries
Bedrock Materials is developing a new type of sodium-ion battery, which promises to be dramatically cheaper than lithium-ion.
Uber is taking a shuttle product it developed for commuters in India and Egypt and converting it for an American audience. The ride-hail and delivery giant announced Wednesday at its…
Orange Charger thinks a $750 outlet will solve EV charging for apartment dwellers
Charging has long been the Achilles’ heel of electric vehicles. One startup thinks it has a better way for apartment dwelling EV drivers to charge overnight.
Motional cut about 550 employees, around 40%, in recent restructuring, sources say
Around 550 employees across autonomous vehicle company Motional have been laid off, according to information taken from WARN notice filings and sources at the company. Earlier this week, TechCrunch reported…
