One other AV firm hits the skids, Scout Motors picks a house and Tesla’s tepid investor day

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FYI, subsequent week I might be in Austin to attend SXSW. I’ll be on stage March 14 and March 15 and you’ll find me by going to the SXSW schedule. See ya there.

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Within the days main as much as Tesla Investor Day, there was a whole lot of chatter and hypothesis about what future merchandise CEO Elon Musk would possibly reveal. Welp, I wouldn’t describe the four-hour occasion as significantly illuminating.

Don’t get me unsuitable, Musk and an unusually lengthy line of senior-level workers, talked so much about how Tesla could be the motive force of a world shift away from fossil fuels and in direction of renewable power. There simply wasn’t a whole lot of specifics on precisely how the corporate was going to realize that. (I give a full rundown of the key highlights right here, together with affirmation that it’s constructing a lithium refinery in Corpus Christi.

The majority of the occasion was targeted on the previous. And there have been no new particulars on Tesla’s next-generation EV and its upcoming manufacturing facility in Mexico (apart from affirmation that it was occurring) nor did they deal with present points with its Full Self-Driving software program that’s presently unavailable to those that opted to purchase the $15,000 possibility resulting from a recall.

The market didn’t reply positively, maybe as a result of the occasion lacked that massive product announcement, particular particulars on the following step in its so-called grasp plan 3 or Musk’s signature “yet one more factor” line.

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Micromobbin’

Aventon has launched its first cargo e-bike, the Abound for $2,199. The bike has choices for entrance and rear storage and a payload capability of 440 kilos. It’s bought a prime velocity of 20 miles per hour, a 750w motor and vary of as much as 50 miles.

Cake is launching a B2B subscription provide for its e-mopeds and bikes. Cake Subscribe is an all inclusive service that offers companies all the pieces from autos to servicing and insurance coverage for a month-to-month cost and no cash down.

Delhi says it would solely allow bike taxis in the event that they’re electrical. Uber stated the town is risking the livelihood of over 100,000 drivers within the metropolis. The announcement comes only a week after this article reported that Delhi was coming down on apps like Ola and Uber working bike taxi companies and not using a allow.

France has proposed a invoice that will require house owners of e-bikes and e-scooters to register their autos.

HumanForest, the shared e-bike and e-moped service, has partnered with Uber Eats to supply couriers who use the platform with discounted charges. Couriers are eligible to obtain a ten% low cost on minute bundles, which interprets to rides as low-cost as £2.25 per hour.

Indonesia will begin introducing a $460+ two-wheeler EV incentive in March.

Mosa has accomplished its first public trial within the UK of its good parking infrastructure to assist combat bicycle theft.

Ola will make investments $920 million in battery and EV manufacturing in India’s state of Tamil Nadu.

Rad Energy Bikes is doubling down on its utility e-bike choices. The corporate launched its next-gen Rad Runner 3 Plus with an prolonged payload capability of 350 kilos, alongside a set of latest cargo equipment just like the Rad Trailer, full with pet storage insert.

Yulu and Bajaj Auto are working collectively to supply a brand new electrical moped for sharing.

— Rebecca Bellan

Deal of the week

Only a bunch of offers this week. Listed here are those that bought my consideration.

Air Firm, a startup backed by JetBlue and Toyota that turns carbon dioxide into aviation gas (and fragrance, vodka and hand sanitizer), struck an up-to $65 million deal to assist the Air Pressure seize CO2 and switch it into “sustainable” aviation gas on base.

Avocargo, a German-based e-cargo bike rental service, filed for insolvency. And Kumpan Electrical, a German moped producer, filed for chapter.

iMotion Automotive Know-how Suzhou Co., a China-based automated driving developer, is contemplating a Hong Kong preliminary public providing that might elevate $200 million to $300 million, Bloomberg reported citing sources acquainted. The itemizing might happen as early as this yr.

Jet Token, a personal aviation reserving and membership platform, plans to go public by way of a merger with particular function acquisition firm Oxbridge Acquisition Corp.

Li-Cycle Holdings, lithium-ion battery recycler in North America, has been conditionally accepted for a $375 million mortgage from the U.S. Division of Power by means of the company’s Superior Know-how Autos Manufacturing program.

PteroDynamics, a vertical takeoff and touchdown (VTOL) plane producer primarily based in Colorado Springs, raised $7.5 million in a seed spherical co-led by present backer Kairos Ventures and new buyers Lavrock Ventures and CS Enterprise Alternatives Fund.

Stellantis agreed to promote its distribution enterprise in Turkey for €400 million euros ($425 million) to its native companion.

Tier is reportedly making an attempt to lift about $1 billion in debt and perhaps in fairness as the corporate tries to succeed in profitability this yr.

Velotric, based by Lime and Didi alumni, raised $7.4 million in a Collection A spherical, which the corporate will use to broaden its e-bikes in america.

Notable information and different tidbits

ADAS

Bear in mind Argo AI, the Pittsburgh-based AV firm backed by Ford and VW that shut down final yr after the 2 automakers pulled help? Ford has resurrected elements of it. The automaker created a Pittsburgh-based subsidiary referred to as Latitude AI that may work on bettering Ford’s present superior driver-assistance system generally known as BlueCruise and growing new automated driving expertise for its next-generation of autos. The 550-person subsidiary is primarily former Argo workers. (Reminder that Ford took a $2.7 billion writedown on Argo)

Autonomous autos

Aurora and Waymo, two corporations trying to industrial autonomous vehicles, desire a five-year exemption from Federal Motor Service Security Administration laws that require reflective triangles to be place round a car if it pulls onto a freeway shoulder. The businesses wish to as a substitute use beacons mounted to the vehicles.

Waymo issued a second spherical of layoffs this yr. Mixed with the preliminary cuts in January, the self-driving expertise firm has let go of 8%, or 209 workers, of its workforce. In the meantime, the corporate stated it would start testing its autonomous Jaguar I-Paces and not using a human security operator in Los Angeles within the subsequent couple of weeks.

Embark Vans is in hassle. The corporate is chopping 70% of its workforce (about 230 workers) and shutting down two workplaces. CEO Alex Rodrigues famous in an electronic mail to workers that the remaining 30% of staff will concentrate on winding down operations.

Earnings

Blink Charging had a blended This autumn and full-year earnings report. Income beat analysts’ expectations by 5.2% with $61.1 million for This autumn, however the firm missed EPS estimates by 4.3%. Blink reported a web lack of $91.6 million. Shares have been down for the corporate as buyers fear that Blink has lower than one yr of money runway. The corporate is unprofitable and doesn’t count on to succeed in that milestone within the subsequent three years.

Innoviz reported $6 million in income for 2022, about an 11% improve from 2021. The corporate, which says its program with Volkswagen remains to be on monitor, did see its web losses shrink yr over yr. Innoviz reported a web lack of $126.8 million in 2022, down 17% from the $153.5 million in losses from the prior yr.

Rivian generated $663 million in income within the fourth quarter and $1.66 billion for the complete yr, a consequence that was buoyed by an uptick in manufacturing and deliveries in direction of the top of the yr however nonetheless wasn’t sufficient to satisfy Wall Avenue’s expectations. Rivian additionally stated it could improve manufacturing in 2023 to 50,000 autos, a determine that was decrease than anticipated. Shares fell on the trio of suboptimal information, together with missed expectations, a recall and an elevated, however nonetheless lower-than-expected manufacturing forecast for 2023.

Electrical autos, batteries & charging

Ford will restart manufacturing of the Ford F-150 Lightning on March 13.

Lynk & CO, owned by China’s Geely Holdings, is bringing an all-electric automobile to enter the U.S. market in 2024.

Redwood Supplies recognized and recovered 1,268 end-of-life battery packs, totaling about half 1,000,000 kilos of fabric a yr after launching an EV battery recycling program in California. The packs have been transported and recycled at its facility in Northern Nevada. From the recovered metals, Redwood stated it’s already starting to supply battery supplies,  anode and cathode that may be returned on to U.S. battery cell producers.

Scout, the EV upstart spun out of VW Group, has picked South Carolina for its $2 billion manufacturing facility. However there’s much more. Tim Stevens interviewed CEO Scott Keogh and realized extra concerning the firm’s plans to carry two rugged EVs — a truck and SUV — to market by 2026. Count on extra data this coming week on the incentives bundle Scout obtained from the state.

TechCrunch+ reporter Tim De Chant explores why there are such a lot of “gigafactories?” Trace: it’s not simply EVs driving the enlargement.

Gig economic system

Chick-fil-A opened a break room at a location in NYC for a restricted time to supply supply staff a spot to relaxation, heat up, cost their telephones and have a snack in between deliveries. In the meantime in India, Zomato is constructing out a collection of Relaxation Factors for gig staff to calm down between deliveries.

Uber rolled out updates to its Store and Pay function that deal with three of probably the most generally raised courier points: out of inventory gadgets, digital funds and order readability earlier than accepting a visit. Rebecca Bellan writes: Uber is coming for Instacart.

In-car tech

Cariad, the software program subsidiary below VW Group, launched a gaggle software retailer (utilizing Harman’s framework) that may carry dozens of apps together with Spotify, Amazon Music, TikTok and gaming hubs Vector Unit and FRVR to Audi and finally different manufacturers below the German automotive group. The intent is for the group software retailer to stretch throughout VW Group’s lineup, together with the remainder of Audi’s portfolio after which onto Porsche and Volkswagen.

Ford utilized for a patent on a system that will use linked automobile tech to assist repossess autos.

Luminar held its investor day and supplied particulars that constructed off its announcement at Mercedes-Benz tech occasion. A couple of gadgets of observe. The corporate acquired lidar-related IP from Seagate (the info storage expertise firm) and launched a semiconductor firm referred to as LSI that takes the chip design corporations it has acquired and places all of them below one entity and with one focus. Luminar additionally unveiled its next-gen Iris lidar and software program, which is the product that might be built-in into Mercedes autos by mid decade.

This was one other attention-grabbing merchandise: Luminar has employed Swiss Re to guage its tech’s security claims and can develop an insurance coverage product primarily based off of these findings.

Tesla paused the rollout of its Full Self-Driving beta software program in america and Canada following a recall of the system that federal security regulators warned might permit autos to behave unsafe round intersections and trigger crashes.

See y’all subsequent week.