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Less than a week later, Tesla Robotaxis began to roll out and began giving rides to customers who invited Austin customers. As Sean O’Kane and I wrote this week, The Lollout was the first major test of CEO Elon Musk, which means it is possible to safely deploy a fully autonomous vehicle using cameras and end-to-end AI.
For all accounts (including Tesla), this is a limited first run. The operating area covers South Austin, the fleet of vehicles is less than 20, and there is still a safe “monitor” in the passenger seat.
That doesn’t mean there was a calm response. Social media provided a surge in videos and personal accounts from riders and onlookers via Robotaxis on Austin. And in many cases, the vehicle appeared to be in violation of traffic laws, such as moving across the double yellow line into an approaching traffic lane or suddenly hitting the brakes in the middle of an intersection.
The video urged federal safety regulators to reach out to Tesla and request information about the deployment.
The Tesla Robotaxi rollout, and more specifically the response to the social video, provided a useful view on the company’s polarization. As Okane told me the other day, “It’s like a test of Rorschach.”
Tesla’s Robotaxi Rides is either evidence of a broken promise regarding the automated driving of its Hubris and Musk, or the beginning of the end of Waymo, Uber, and Lyft.
Here’s what comes closer to the truth: There is little noise and signal in a week.
Let’s get into the rest of the news.
Little bird
Behind the series of execution departures over the past year, we hear that Tesla is planning another round of layoffs across the company this month. CEO Elon Musk worked on politics last year. This culminated with a dramatic exit from his duties as head of Doge. Now he’s poised to bring that slash and burn energy to his organization and dodge Tesla’s team.
Meanwhile, Tesla is promoting the production of cybercabs. One source said it created a pressure-regulating environment that caused some employees to leave the company.
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Great deal!
This week’s news cycle gives it a 2016 vibe. He takes the deal, including Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick.
Kalanick is reportedly working with investors to buy the US division of Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony AI, and Uber may help make that happen.
That’s an interesting move. In 2017, Kalanick was pressured to resign due to reports that he had fostered a toxic workplace culture full of sexual harassment. His resignation came a year after Uber bought Otto. Otto has purchased an autonomous truck startup co-founded by Anthony Lewandowski (CEO of Pronto AI), Rior Ron (CEO Uber Freight), Don Burnett (founder of Kodiak Robotics), and Claire Delaune (former Farm NG CTO and current Farm NG CTO), and now Farm NG CTO). The deal, absorbed by what became Uber ATG, was controversial from the start, and ultimately led to Waymo suing Uber over the theft of a trade secret.
Fast forward 8 years: Waymo and Uber are friendly business conditions, and Kalanick still wonders, “What if?” The founders have been quite vocal about Uber having its own self-driving fleet if Uber was still in charge.
Next is Pony, operating in the US, where it is at risk due to national security regulations. The company is ready to sell its US arm since at least 2022.
Other deals worth noting…
New Materials is a new startup that develops cathode materials to reduce the costs of LFP batteries to raise $2.3 million in seed rounds led by SOSV. New Jersey Innovation Evergreen Fund and UM6P Venture also participated.
Indian drone startup Raphe Mphibr raised $100 million in the National Series B round led by General Catalyst.
Notable readings and other information
Adas
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has sent Ford a long list of questions about the Hands Free Driver Assistance System Blue Cruise as part of an investigation that began more than a year ago following two fatal crashes involving software.
Self-driving cars
There was a time when AV startups tried to avoid talking about remote driving as a way to support unmanned technology. Now, businesses are openly talking about it. Check out Kodiak Robotics and Vay, the self-driving truck companies from Berlin. The two companies, which announced their partnership this week, have been working together since last year.
Waymo and Uber are officially entering another market. The company that launched its Waymo on Uber service in Austin earlier this year is currently operating in an Atlanta 65-square-mile area.
In addition to that, Uber Eats has launched a sidewalk delivery robot in Atlanta with Serv Robotics, an Uber spin-out released last year.
Results: The momentum appears to be built on all three companies. Uber is turning into an autonomous technology into a network connector (with 18 global AV partnerships). Waymo is the Robotaxi market leader. It offers 250,000 paid Robotaxi rides per week in five major cities. That figure certainly exceeds the 300,000 mark as Atlanta is taking part in its listing and expansion in existing markets. And Atlanta Marks will serve to the fourth commercial city as it will function to scale to 2,000 bots on the sidewalk by the end of 2025.
Electric cars, batteries, charging
Redwood Materials is launching an energy storage business that powers businesses by leveraging thousands of EV batteries collected from its battery recycling business. And it’s starting – what else? – AI data center.
Libian fired 140 employees ahead of the launch of the more affordable R2 SUV in 2026. The manufacturing team was the most intense hit.
Tesla’s top sales executive reportedly acquired the boots from Elon Musk. Omead Afshar was one of the closest confidants of Mask who posted to X about “historic day for Tesla” just this week when the company deployed Robotaxis in Austin.
In-car technology
There was a moment around 2017 when Inter seemed poised to become the dominant player of the car. The company acquired Mobileye, and its VC ARM had millions of investments in the sector. It was part of the future of traffic conversation. Currently, Intel is bidding farewell to the automotive construction business, including the Ai-Enhanced System-on-Chip design of vehicles that were set up for production by the end of 2025, and is firing most of its staff as part of a wider restructuring.
