Rebecca Bellan, Author at TechCrunch

Cruise clears key hurdle to getting robotaxis back on roads in California

Rebecca Bellan — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 17:21:13 +0000

Cruise, the self-driving subsidiary of General Motors, has agreed to pay a $112,500 fine for failing to provide full information about an accident involving one of its robotaxis last year. The settlement with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) not only avoids litigation, it puts Cruise in a position to restart operations in the state. […]

Why Fisker failed

Kirsten Korosec, Rebecca Bellan — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 17:05:00 +0000

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’m back from holiday in Denmark and Germany, where I managed to try just about every kind of transportation, from bikes to scooters, to driving on the […]

Waabi’s GenAI promises to do so much more than power self-driving trucks

Rebecca Bellan — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 09:00:00 +0000

For the last two decades, Raquel Urtasun, founder and CEO of autonomous trucking startup Waabi, has been developing AI systems that can reason as a human would. The AI pioneer had previously served as the chief scientist at Uber ATG before launching Waabi in 2021. Waabi launched with an “AI-first approach” to speed up the […]

Tesla shareholders vote yes again to approve Elon Musk’s $56B pay plan

Rebecca Bellan, Sean O'Kane — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 21:30:06 +0000

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has secured enough shareholder votes to have his 2018 stock option compensation package approved. Shareholders also approved the company’s decision to re-incorporate Tesla in Texas, moving it away from the state where Musk’s pay package was struck down: Delaware. Shareholders present at the company’s annual meeting Thursday, held at Tesla’s Texas […]

Tesla shareholders sue Musk for starting competing AI company

Rebecca Bellan, Sean O'Kane — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 18:44:09 +0000

Tesla shareholders are suing CEO Elon Musk and members of the automaker’s board of directors over Musk’s decision to start xAI, which they say is a competing AI company, and then divert talent and resources from Tesla to the new startup. The lawsuit is one of the most direct challenges to Musk’s decision to start […]

Tesla shareholders to vote today on $56B pay package

Rebecca Bellan — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 17:05:00 +0000

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! Kirsten Korosec is still off on holiday, so you’ve got me once again! Today is the big Tesla shareholder vote. We’ll finally get to learn, among other […]

Tern AI wants to reduce reliance on GPS with low-cost navigation alternative

Rebecca Bellan — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 18:27:42 +0000

The most critical systems of our modern world rely on GPS, from aviation and road networks to emergency and disaster response, from precision farming and power grids to weather forecasting and military defense. That dependence is becoming a problem. “We’ve got an increased threat from foreign adversaries who have shown capabilities to jam, to destroy, […]

Waymo issues second recall after robotaxi hit telephone pole

Rebecca Bellan — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 14:41:42 +0000

Waymo has voluntarily issued a software recall to all 672 of its Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis after one of them collided with a telephone pole. This is Waymo’s second recall. The Alphabet-owned company recalled previous software in February after two of its robotaxis crashed into the same pickup truck that was being towed by a tow […]

GM gives Cruise $850M lifeline as it relaunches robotaxis in Houston

Rebecca Bellan — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 18:25:28 +0000

General Motors is investing $850 million into Cruise as the autonomous vehicle subsidiary slowly makes its way back to testing in Phoenix, Dallas and, as of Tuesday, Houston. GM’s CFO Paul Jacobson announced the capital infusion onstage at Deutsche Bank’s Global Automotive Industry Conference on Tuesday. “This will help bridge Cruise funding until we can […]

Inside Fisker’s collapse and robotaxis come to more US cities

Rebecca Bellan — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 17:05:00 +0000

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! Your usual host Kirsten Korosec is taking a much deserved vacation, so I’ll be walking you through this week’s transportation news. Top of mind is my colleague […]

Revel to lay off 1,000 staff ride-hail drivers, saying they’d rather be contractors anyway

Rebecca Bellan — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 16:43:37 +0000

New York-based Revel has made a lot of pivots since initially launching in 2018 as a dockless e-moped sharing service. The BlackRock-backed startup briefly stepped into the e-bike subscription business. It launched and now operates a handful of electric vehicle charging stations across the five boroughs. And it started an all-Tesla, all-employee ride-hail service, in […]

Zoox to test self-driving cars in Austin and Miami

Rebecca Bellan — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 17:59:29 +0000

Zoox, Amazon’s self-driving unit, is bringing its autonomous vehicles to more cities. The self-driving technology company announced Wednesday plans to begin testing in Austin and Miami this summer. The two cities mark Zoox’s fourth and fifth test cities, following Las Vegas, San Francisco and Seattle. The news comes as federal regulators increase their scrutiny of […]

Whizz wants to own the delivery e-bike subscription space, starting with NYC

Rebecca Bellan — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 16:08:57 +0000

New York City, home to over 60,000 gig delivery workers, has been cracking down on cheap, uncertified e-bikes that have resulted in battery fires across the city. Some e-bike providers may see such regulations as a problem for business. But e-bike subscription startup Whizz sees it as an opportunity. “I think the market is moving […]

GM’s Cruise is testing robotaxis in Dallas again

Rebecca Bellan — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 18:24:41 +0000

Dallas is the second city that Cruise is easing its way back into after pulling its entire U.S. fleet late last year.

Feds tell Zoox to send more info about autonomous vehicles suddenly braking

Rebecca Bellan — Fri, 31 May 2024 15:31:10 +0000

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 Administration (NHTSA) opened a preliminary investigation into Zoox on May 10 after it received two reports of Zoox vehicles unexpectedly braking, leading to rear-end collisions […]

Archer, Kakao Mobility partner to bring electric air taxis to South Korea in 2026

Rebecca Bellan — Thu, 30 May 2024 15:31:00 +0000

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 developed in time. The move to South Korea is part of an international strategy that will also see Archer commercially launch in the United Arab […]

Cylib wants to own EV battery recycling in Europe

Rebecca Bellan — Thu, 30 May 2024 13:55:00 +0000

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 with a pitch automakers may find financially compelling. The company says it can extract pure forms of all materials in a battery using a fraction […]

Chinese EV makers, and their connected vehicles, targeted by new House bill

Rebecca Bellan — Wed, 29 May 2024 21:50:00 +0000

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, introduced by U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, comes as the trade war between the U.S. and China heightens in the aftermath of the Biden administration’s decision […]

Onyx Motorbikes was in trouble — and then its 37-year-old owner died

Rebecca Bellan — Mon, 27 May 2024 15:02:07 +0000

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 bikes from Chinese supplier Suzhou […]

How Maven’s AI-run ‘serendipity network’ can make social media interesting again

Rebecca Bellan — Sun, 26 May 2024 14:30:00 +0000

Everything in society can feel geared toward optimization — whether that’s standardized testing or artificial intelligence algorithms. We’re taught to know what outcome you want to achieve, and find the path toward getting there. Kenneth Stanley, a former OpenAI researcher and co-founder of a new social media platform called Maven, has been preaching for years […]