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The autonomous vehicle industry is from mature years to decades – perhaps a few decades. So despite the stable flow of announcements showing significant progress, the sector still has west west quality. Two such news items this week are my progress, potential, and even a little dangerous (at least on the ups and downs that the open market can offer).
The first is Gatik, an AV and logistics startup. This applies the technology to middle mile tracks. The startup, which first wrote in 2019, has announced a multi-year and expanded commercial partnership with Loblaw, Canada’s largest retailer. Under the contract, Gatik will deploy 20 self-driving trucks by the end of 2025, providing driverless distribution to Loblaw’s network of stores in the Toronto area. Co-founder and CEO Gautam Narang told me that by the end of 2026 the company will add 30 more autonomous trucks to its fleet.
The deal is notable and not just for the size of the fleet. As Naran explained to me, the track handles Lobrow’s complete regional network. This means that these third generation AV trucks will operate autonomously to pick up products from two distribution centers and deliver them to over 300 retailers. “These are multiple brands under the Robloux umbrella,” he said.
In other words, this is not a fixed pilot program. It’s commercial and complicated.
Next is Kodiak Robotics. This is another startup I’ve reported on since its inception. The company, which develops autonomous trucks for highways, industrial and defense, began trading on NASDAQ under Ticker KDK and KDKRW this week.
Now known as Kodiak AI, the company was made public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company Ares Acquisition Corporation II, an affiliate of ARES Management. The deal valued the startup at around $2.5 billion.
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Kodiak raised $275 million in funding. More than $222.5 million was supplied by certain institutional investors. This includes $145 million in pipe funds and approximately $62.9 million in trust cash from ARES. It should be noted that Trust Cash is low ($562 million) as some SPAC investors redeemed their shares.
I spoke to founder and CEO Don Burnette the day before Kodiak’s massive debut about why he made the company public. It was a huge moment for Barnett. Burnett’s family was on hand to watch him ring the bell and mark a milestone. The shares traded at around $7.70 on Friday, down about 10% from the market opening.
“As you can imagine, the building and scaling of a transformative autonomous driving company was very capital-intensive and we were trying to access the open market as a way to advance the company. “From a timing standpoint, I felt that was the right decision for the company (taking the SPAC route).”
It should be noted that Burnett is also very bullish on defense. Here’s why:
“I think autonomy is the future of ground transport,” he said. Later, we focused on the interests within the logistics and reconnaissance operations. “One important thing is that defense requires unstructured autonomy, which is one area where we become experts.”
Little bird
A few weeks ago we wrote about some troubles at Hyundai’s electric taxi startup Supernal.
This week, the little bird told us that a wider rollk in Supernal’s C-suite is ongoing – something the Hyundai Motor Group confirmed with us.
According to the Korean conglomerate, Chief Strategy Officer Jaeyong Song and Chief Safety Officer Tracy Lamb are part of the “transition to a new leadership.” Song’s departure is particularly noteworthy as he was once VP of Hyundai’s Advanced Aviation Mobility division.
Any tips for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or email my signal at kkorosec.07 or sean.okane@techcrunch.com to sean o’kane.
Great deal!
Remember Moxion Power, a portable battery startup that raised $110 million before bankrupting? The founder is back with a new startup called Anode Technology Company. AnodeTechnology Company has designed mobile batteries and inverters that can be used to charge and supply remote power sources to construction sites and live events. The startup raised $9 million in seed funding in a round led by Eclipse Ventures. This partner, Jiten Behl, led the contract, but was previously Rivian’s chief growth officer. Apparently, Behl’s interest was sparked by his experience in Libian.
Side note: Eclipse, a venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, is busy this year. The VC company also led the $105 million round of micromobility startups spinning out of Libian, and recently hired longtime T. Low Price Group investor Joe Fass as partner and head of growth.
The company does not explicitly focus on transportation, but some of the portfolio companies in the sector include ARC, Bedrock Robotics, Reliable Robotics, Skyryse and Wayve.
Other deals that caught my attention…
Rapido, a popular ride platform in India that competes with Uber, has doubled its valuation to $2.3 billion after secondary stock sales by food delivery giant Swiggy. A few weeks after Rapido starts steering food delivery and borders Swiggy’s core area, stock sales occur.
Tily Electric Truck developer Telo raised $20 million in the funding round for the co-founder Series A by designer and co-founder Yves Béhar on the board of directors of terrorism and co-founder of Tesla. Additional investments have come from early stage funds like Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and VC, E12 Ventures and Neo.
Thetrump Administration is seeking up to 10% stake in Lithium America in exchange for renegotiation of the repayment period for its $2.26 billion Department of Energy loan. GM is a leading investor in Canadian companies, developing lithium mines in Nevada, and is expected to be the largest in the Western Hemisphere.
Notable readings and other information
The hackers had a very active week in the transport sector. Stellantis has confirmed a data breaches that include customer personal information. Violations are linked to a hack in the Salesforce database. Meanwhile, the hack, which began last Friday and targeted the check-in system offered by Collins Aerospace, caused delays at airports in Brussels, Berlin, Dublin, and at London’s Heathrow. The UK’s National Crime Agency has arrested a man in connection with a ransomware attack. And finally, Jaguar Land Rover said it would not resume production at its factory for another week as it continues to tackle fallout from cyberattacks.
Battery materials startup Sila has begun operations at its facility in Lake Moses, Washington. This is a milestone that can open the path of faster EVs over longer ranges. The factory was the first large silicon anode factory in the west, and can produce enough battery materials with EVs starting from 20,000 to 50,000. Future expansion can meet the demand for as many as 2.5 million vehicles.
Automakers continue to pull back EVs and electrified vehicles. Honda has stopped US production of the Acura ZDX electric vehicle, which was being built by General Motors in Tennessee, CNBC reported. Stellantis has also cancelled plans to produce a 4XE plug-in hybrid Jeep gladiator in North America by the end of 2025. Which EV is next to the chopping block?
According to Bloomberg, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into seat belt issues in electric distribution vans.
Tesla has asked the Environmental Protection Agency not to roll back current vehicle emission standards and has broken in from other major automakers who want to ease the rules.
Tunein, an audio streaming service, works with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide emergency alerts directly to drivers.
Volvo Cars pledges its commitment to US production. The company said it would continue to invest in a US auto factory near Charleston, South Carolina, and announced plans to expand its factory to produce hybrid vehicles by the end of the decade.
Waymo has launched Waymo for Business, a new service designed for businesses to set up accounts so employees can access Lobotaxis in cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco.
Zoox is asking federal regulators for an exemption that will allow Amazon-owned self-driving vehicle companies to commercially deploy custom built Robotaxis, which lack traditional controls such as pedals and steering wheels.
One more
Finally, evidence of life from Luminar founder Austin Russell.
Russell may remember that he was suddenly replaced in May as CEO of the Lidar Company, which he created. The company has never truly explained his departure, but it was only the result of the “Code of Business Behavior and Ethics Research” launched by the Board.
Russell is silent. He remains on Luminar’s board of directors, but has not signed an application the company filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since his replacement. This week he reappeared as the co-founder of a new company called Russell AI Labs. It is billed as a “platform that supports and builds transformative AI and frontier technology companies.”
His troubles at Luminar do not appear to have affected his ability to attract famous support or make eyebrow-raising deals. Russell co-founders were Markus Schäfer, CTO and board member of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, and managed director of Goldman Sachs before joining SoftBank, a partner in the $100 billion vision fund and a managing partner in the 5 billion Latin America fund.
As part of the Russell AI Lab debut, the startup has announced that it has acquired a $300 million stake in agent AI company Engeral AI.
