The Station - Tesla Autopilot creeps closer to a recall and what went down at the Up Summit

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.

I spent a few days in Bentonville, Arkansas this past week at the Up Summit, an invite-only gathering backed and jointly hosted by investment firm UP.Partners, Tom and Steuart Walton, and Ross Perot Jr.

The event had a few of the traditional trappings of a conference, including high-profile interviews with folks like Jared Isaacman and a stunningly long list of on-stage presentations from startups and business execs from Alaska Airlines, Airbus, Chevron and Walmart. There were lots of nifty gee-whiz moments too like demonstrations of Beta’s electric aircraft and a chance to use Teleo’s tech to teleoperate a skid steer.

Of course, the really interesting stuff happens in those “in between” times with the startup founders, billionaires, tech titans, builders and investors who attended. Private conversations were off record, but I can share a few insights that are noteworthy. There was a dizzying amount of investable capital from among the 250 participants who attended; an estimated $1 trillion, to be exact.

If this year’s Up Summit ends up being anything like their last one in 2019, the startup founders who attended may find themselves with a fresh injection of capital. (More than $500 million of direct investment was committed by attendees into companies that presented at the 2019 event.)

The event in many ways felt like a reunion — lots of storytelling and remember whens — and there was a palatable sense of excitement among attendees for what autonomous vehicles, electric and autonomous aircraft and other future of transportation tech could provide. Many of those conversations were tinged with a sense of urgency too, however. People in the room seemed itchy for action. Climate change, reshoring jobs and supply chain constraints were also top of mind, suggesting that startups that in some way touch these areas will experience an uptick in investor interest.

Housekeeping note: I will be turning over the reins next week to reporter Rebecca Bellan as I head out for a little R&R. I will see you all soon.

As always, you can email me at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com to share thoughts, criticisms, opinions, or tips. You also can send a direct message to @kirstenkorosec. If you want to reach someone while I am gone, please reach out to reporters jaclyn.techcrunch@gmail.com or rebecca.techcrunch@gmail.com.

Micromobbin'

The biggest, and saddest, news of the week was the layoffs at Bird. The shared micromobility is laying off 23% of its staff after poor Q1 2022 results. When Bird shared its last earnings report, it was clear layoffs were on the horizon because the company said it would be streamlining in order to try to reach profitability. What micromobility companies are next?

Bolt plans to deploy 16,000 shared e-bikes across 30 European cities in the next six months.

Nimbus came out of stealth with a tiny electric vehicle prototype that’s pretty much a motorbike with a roof and some storage in the back. It’s a perfect urban vehicle that combines the convenience of micromobility with the safety of a car.

Omvos, a new e-scooter company based out of Shenzhen, launched a kickstarter for its Vida-a-gogo, a foldable scooter with a seat. The scooter has a 400W motor, a range of 31 miles and a top speed of 19 miles per hour. Plus it’s got all the smart scooter capabilities, like an anti-theft alarm and a keyless remote start. The kickstarter reached its goal within three hours and is still collecting funds.

Rotterdam, a city in the Netherlands, has a scheme where people can now borrow e-cargo bikes for free to transport bulky waste.

Segway has caught onto the scooter ADAS trend finally and built a new e-scooter for shared applications with full AI technologies like lane and parking detection. Similarly, Okai introduced two shared e-scooters that come with camera vision and robotics tech.

Shared micromobility is expanding across smaller and mid-sized American cities, and those cities are facing a lot of the same problems with it that should have been solved years ago.

Spin is investing $2 million in support of academic research on micromobility through its new ‘Campus as a Living Lab initiative.’ The Tier-owned operator will partner with academic institutions like Michigan State and The University of Utah to scope and fund projects focused on optimizing transportation outcomes in campus environments. Notably, Spin will also provide and manage its shared micromobility service at no charge to the universities.

Ubco is launching brick-and-mortar hubs in the U.S. so people can test rides, get daily rentals, service their bikes and get lessons on how to perform simple maintenance and repairs on their vehicles. Iconic New Zealand pie stations and coffee will also be included at the containerized and scalable hubs.

— Rebecca Bellan

A little bird

It seems that Walmart has tapped Serve Robotics to test its sidewalk delivery bots.

While I was in Bentonville, Arkansas one of the Serve Robotics sidewalk bots was spotted delivering for Walmart.

Serve Robotics, the startup led by Ali Kashani that spun out of Postmates, had never publicly talked about a pilot with Walmart. But during my visit to Bentonville, Arkansas — where Walmart is based — the Serve bot was spotted on public streets making a delivery.

Serve has since confirmed the pilot partnership.

It’s interesting to watch Walmart experiment with different mobility and logistics technology. Running through the list, it’s starting to look like the retail giant is seeking a multi-modal solution. Walmart is running pilots with middle mile AV startup Gatik, sidewalk delivery bot startup Serve Robotics and two drone companies, Zipline and DroneUp.

Word on the street is that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is close to releasing troves of data from the Standing General Order it issued last year requiring automakers and operators of AVs to report crashes of any vehicles equipped with SAE Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems or automated driving systems.

Deal of the week

This isn’t so much as a deal as an interesting new way of building startups. I’m talking about UP.Labs, a new company that launched during Up Summit 2022 in Bentonville, Arkansas and is structured as a venture lab with a new kind of financial investment vehicle.

The premise is to address the world’s most pressing problems around transportation and mobility by working with corporations. The devil, of course, is in the details.

UP.Labs starts by locking in a corporate partner. Porsche is the first, and another corporation will follow as early as this summer. Under the three-year agreement with Porsche, UP.Labs will establish six companies, or two a year, with new business models focused on the automaker’s core activities such as predictive maintenance, supply chain transparency or digital retail.

UP.Labs has created a corporate investor venturing agreement in which its partner corporation can own up to 25% of the founder’s shares. UP.Labs doesn’t allow the corporate partner to invest more than their pro rata in any of the financing rounds because it can make it difficult to attract talent and future investors.

After three years, a corporate partner like Porsche will have the option to acquire the remaining shares of the startup. They will use a third-party valuation firm to determine the fair market value.

I’m very curious to see what kind of startups come out of this and if they succeed.

Other deals that got my attention …

Aptera raised $40 million to bring its 3-wheeled, solar powered EV to production later this year.

BrightDrop, GM’s last-mile delivery subsidiary, acquired fleet optimization software startup Marain. Terms were not disclosed.

J.D. Power acquired the data and predictive analytics business of We Predict, the UK-based provider of global automobile service and warranty analytics. Terms were not disclosed.

TrueCar acquired online dealer sales platform Digital Motors as the vehicle listings company looks to launch of its new digital retailing service, TrueCar+. Terms were not disclosed.

Teleo, a construction robotics company that retrofits construction and mining heavy equipment to turn them into semi-autonomous robots, raised $12 million in Series A funding led by UP.Partners. F-Prime Capital, K9 Ventures and several angel investors also joined the round as well as Trucks Venture Capital, which led their seed round.

Upway, a French used micromobility startup, has closed a $25 million Series A round led by Sequoia Capital and Exor Seeds.

Notable reads and other tidbits

ADAS

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “upgraded” its investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot advanced driver assistance system after discovering new incidents of the EVs crashing into parked first-responder vehicles.

The preliminary evaluation of Tesla Autopilot systems has been expanded to an engineering analysis. This means that NHTSA will extend its existing crash analysis, evaluate additional data sets and perform vehicle evaluations as well as evaluate whether Autopilot and associated Tesla systems may exacerbate human factors or behavioral safety risks by undermining the effectiveness of the driver’s supervision, according to the agency.

The escalation is a critical and required step before NHTSA can issue a recall. An estimated 830,000 Tesla vehicles are involved in the probe, according to agency documents.

Autonomous vehicles

Einride expanded its partnership with oat drink company Oatly to deploy its electric trucks in the U.S.

Gatik, the autonomous vehicle startup focused on the “middle mile,” will start using its self-driving trucks this summer to deliver Georgia-Pacific paper goods to several dozen Sam’s Club stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The deliveries, which are slated to begin in July, are part of a multiyear commercial partnership with Georgia Pacific and KBX, the transportation arm for Koch Industries.

Kodiak Robotics is partnering with Southern Tire Mart to demonstrate that its proprietary “sensor pod” – a pre-calibrated, pre-built sensor stack – can replace the truck’s side-view mirrors and can be completely removed and replaced by a mechanic without specialized training.

May Mobility is now a member of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association.

San Francisco officials have major concerns about the readiness of autonomous vehicles like Cruise, and the regulations that govern them, the San Francisco Examiner reports in this illuminating article.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe has proposed extending ‎automated driving from the current limit of 60 km/h to up to 130 km/h and to allow automated lane changes. The draft amendment will be submitted to the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations for adoption at its next session June 21 to 24. If adopted, it will enter into force in January 2023 in those contracting parties which decide to apply it.

Waymo Via, the delivery division of Alphabet’s self-driving unit, is embarking on a long-term, strategic partnership with Uber Freight, Uber’s logistics spinout. Remember way back when Waymo sued Uber?

WeRide released a new generation of its AV sensor suite, designed to connect to different vehicle models with higher efficiency and lower cost, which it says will accelerate the commercialization of its robotaxis.

Car subscriptions, online sales and in-car tech

Apple announced that its next-generation CarPlay system will power the vehicle’s entire instrument cluster, the next move in its battle against Android Automotive OS, Google’s in-vehicle operation system, to dominate dashboards around the world.

Cazoo, online car retailer, is laying off 15% of staff, or about 750 workers.

Go has joined the ranks of digital car subscription companies with its launch this week, and good news, it’s offering up some Teslas.

Jaguar Land Rover is the latest automaker to integrate geocoding company what3words into its cars and SUVs.

Electric vehicles & batteries

The Biden Administration is proposing minimum standards and requirements for federally funded electric vehicle charging stations. The aim is to make sure a national charging network is accessible, user-friendly and can be used by a wide range of vehicles and interoperable among different charging companies.

BYD is reportedly going to be supplying Tesla with battery cells.

Faraday Future said Wednesday during an investor presentation that it plans to open a factory in China as early as 2025, even as it faces a shortage of capital and an SEC investigation. Oh but wait, here’s some bigger news: the EV SPAC has received a preliminary request for information from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Lightyear revealed its $263,000 solar-powered electric vehicle. The EV, called Lightyear 0 is expected to go into production later this year, the Verge reports.

Lucid Group, the maker of long-range, fast-charging luxury EVs, said it is joining with Bank of America to provide customer financing as one way to stand out in the crowded segment.

Polestar released teaser images of its first battery-electric SUV, the Polestar 3, which will make its global debut in October. The Polestar 3, which will be built at the Volvo plant in Charleston, South Carolina, later this year, is the third model from the high-performance EV maker.

Tesla’s cybertruck had a Twitter moment.

Volta is expanding its PredictEV tool, an EV infrastructure planning software, with increased focus on supporting disadvantaged communities. The tool helps cities and municipalities know what infrastructure they need, when, and how to secure federal funding.

People

Celina Mikolajczak, who has held senior roles at Tesla and Panasonic, resigned from QuantumScape less than a year after taking the chief manufacturing officer position at the solid-state battery company. Mikolajczak and QuantumScape are parting ways over “differing management styles between the parties,” the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission states.

Dave Clark, the former Amazon consumer chief, will take over as CEO of freight forwarding and customs brokerage startup Flexport starting September 1, 2022.

Scale AI hired Dennis Cinelli, former Uber VP and heead of mobility for the U.S. and Canada, as Chief Financial Officer. As the first CFO for Scale, Cinelli will oversee strategic finance, accounting and corporate development.