Hey, everything, and a happy Friday! Welcome to TechCrunch Mobility, News, Analysis and Scoop’s future hub. To get this in your inbox, sign up for free here. Click on TechCrunch Mobility!
It was sad to have missed this Montereyker week, especially as there were many publications that interest me. Chevrolet Corvette CX and CX.R Vision Gran Turismo concept. And Lucid Gravity X reveals. But, alas, the vast champagne-soaked grounds of quail and the sea of seersucker suits and vast hats on the Pebble Beach golf course were suboptimal scenery for feet wrapped in newly broken boots. next year!
In the meantime, I reached out to you and thought to my dear readers that if the federal EV tax credit expires on September 30th, I would get a prediction about what is available for US automakers and EV sales.
My prediction? Well, I really don’t want to contaminate the results, but I say this: automakers will have to do something in the short term not only to expiry their EV tax amount, but also to attract customers.
Little bird

Serve Robotics, an autonomous sidewalk delivery robotics company, announced earlier this week that it had acquired Vayu Robotics, an AI Foundation model and a startup that developed simulation-driven data engines for robots. Although the companies did not disclose terms of the transaction, the envelope mathematics and some of the birds helped them decide to provide Vayu with robotics services that are paid between $45 million and $50 million.
Any tips for us? Email kirsten korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my signal on kkorosec.07, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com
Great deal!
A few weeks ago I highlighted the contract between Uber, autonomous vehicle technology startup Nuro, and EV Maker Lucid. You can read about it here, but the important piece to remember is Uber’s commitment to making a private “multiple millions of dollars” investment in Nuro. (Sources said there were more than $300 million people invested in Lucid.)
TechCrunch Events
San Francisco
|
October 27th-29th, 2025
Nuro has raised more money in the Series E round, reaching $203 million from a new group of investors, including NVIDIA, existing backers Baillie Gifford, Icehouse Ventures, Kindred Ventures and Probreding Ventures. And part of Uber’s investment is directed towards the Series E round.
Other deals that caught my attention…
Cathie Wood’s company Ark Invest has invested around $12.9 million in Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.ai, according to the company.
Aero-space startup Grid Aero has raised $6 million in seed funding from Calibrate Ventures and Ubiquity Ventures.
Battery materials startup Group14 has raised $463 million in a funding round led by battery maker SK, which includes participation from ATL, Lightrock, Microsoft, Porsche and Omers. In addition to the round, Group14 announced that it has “acquired full ownership” of its joint venture with South Korea’s SK.
Founded in 2023 and backed by Y-combinators and general catalysts, Oway recently closed its $4 million seed round. Read the company’s plan to build a decentralized “Uber for cargo.”
Via IPO: One update on Renaissance Capital estimates could raise up to $500 million.
Notable readings and other information
Hertz will begin selling its own cars on Amazon Autos.
Redwood Materials said it is working with Caterpillar to recycle battery packs from the company’s battery-electric underground loader.
Tesla plans to introduce in-car voice assistants, powered by Deepseek and Bytedance’s Doubao artificial intelligence.
The routing company is a startup that helps transport match riders quickly and cheaply with the vehicle, and has landed Zoox as its first Robotaxi client. Zoox will be powered by five startup engineers to purchase non-existent licenses for the routing company’s technology and “advance the efficiency and scalability” of fledgling Robotaxi services.
Volkswagen faces a lawsuit in US District Court in New Jersey via a button on the steering wheel of a car, including ID.4. The lawsuit alleges that the buttons are too sensitive to be activated unintentionally.
Waymo has been granted permission to test self-driving cars in New York City. This was first approved by the city. The company told TechCrunch it plans to begin testing “quickly.”
In the world of drones and food, I think it’s inevitable that we’ll get Zipole, a fusion of the terms Zipline and Chipotle. Autonomous drone delivery startup Zipline has partnered with Chipotle to skip digital orders to guest locations in the Dallas area.
One more…
Vanity Fair has the long features of Waymo Co-Ceo Tekedra Mawakana, delving into her past, how she manages, and, as the author points out, her Un-Lon style. It’s worth reading and gives us the opportunity to remind us that Mawakana is on our stage in 2025, which will take place in San Francisco from October 27th to 29th.