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I’m sure you’re all looking forward to the results of last week’s poll. (Reminder: Sign up for the Mobility Newsletter to take part in the survey!) Here’s what I asked: “What is the best business model for self-driving car technology? (Keeping profitability in mind).”
Many of our readers believe that long-distance delivery is their best bet, with 40% choosing this option. Robotaxis came next with 25.5% of votes, followed by technology licensing to automakers with 19.1% and last-mile delivery with 14.9%. One reader emailed to point out that warehouse applications like autonomous forklifts were not included. However, the long-distance delivery category can be broken down even further, so it’s worth conducting a separate survey that we included in this week’s newsletter.
Of the long list of arguments I would make to justify a $1 trillion compensation package, controlling an army of robots certainly wasn’t on my mind. Still, this is the claim made by Elon Musk during Tesla’s Q3 earnings call.
Here’s the synopsis: On November 6, shareholders will vote on whether to approve a board-approved compensation package that gives Musk up to 12% of Tesla stock. If the company achieves its target market value of $8.6 trillion, the package would be worth about $1 trillion.
The board and Mr. Musk have spent weeks lobbying shareholders to approve the proposal, despite recommendations from proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis that investors reject the proposal. Musk is now in attack mode, as evidenced by his final sales pitch at the end of an earnings call, calling the company a corporate terrorist. His discussion of robot armies focuses on power and control, not money. Well, if you have the money, you can provide both.
“My biggest concern is, if I’m going to build this robot army, do I have a lot of influence over that robot army? If I don’t have a lot of influence, I’m not comfortable building a robot army,” Musk said during an earnings call. He mentioned Tesla’s Optimus robot program and used it as an example of a product he wants to have complete control over.
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This argument is unlikely to persuade Musk’s critics, especially after his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. But Musk doesn’t need to win over a growing list of detractors, unless, of course, they own Tesla stock.
small bird
This week, General Motors exited the BrightDrop electric van program after a short four-year run. It wasn’t the biggest surprise in the world. After all, hundreds of unsold vans have been sitting untouched on lots in Michigan and Canada for months. (A little bird reached out and told me there were hundreds of them in Flint, Michigan.) GM cited a weaker-than-expected commercial electric van market, but didn’t elaborate on exactly why BrightDrop failed so miserably.
But another little bird gave me a hint. Vans are expensive but popular and should save fleet owners money in the long run. Electric drivetrains are also ideal for last-mile deliveries. One source said what GM overlooked was infrastructure. The company focused on external partnerships to build out so-called depot charging, rather than offering it as part of a fleet purchase. It turned away many potential customers and caused headaches in general.
Have a tip? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.Korosec@techcrunch.com, email my Signal at korosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.
Great deal!
This week’s big topic is EVs and AI data centers. Yes, there is a connection.
Redwood Materials has raised $350 million in a Series E round led by venture firm Eclipse, which also includes a new strategic investment from Nvidia’s venture capital arm NVentures. The company’s valuation was not disclosed, but a person familiar with the round told TechCrunch that the valuation is about $6 billion, $1 billion more than its previous valuation.
The bulk of this funding will go toward Redwood’s new energy storage business, giving new purpose to salvaged EV batteries that have too much life left to undergo the recycling process. The company connects these used EV batteries to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, or to the power grid to power AI data centers and industrial sites.
Other sales that caught our attention this week…
Avride has secured up to $375 million in strategic investments and other commitments, with support from Uber and Nevius. When I asked if these were all stocks, none of the companies would provide details. One insider said he would pay attention to the “other commitments” section, suggesting it was not a direct cash injection.
Spiro, an African electric motorcycle startup headquartered in Dubai, has raised $100 million in a round led by Afreximbank’s development arm, the African Export Development Fund (FEDA). This is the largest price increase ever for African e-mobility.
Notable reads and other trivia
General Motors made several announcements at an event in New York City aimed at showing where the company is headed. And yes, AI is playing a central role. Before AI arrives, GM said it will overhaul the electrical and computational underpinnings of its future vehicles. The company plans to roll out a new electrical architecture and centralized computing platform in new vehicles, starting with the Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028. This foundation will allow the company to deliver faster software. More capable self-driving features, including eye-off driving. and a custom conversational AI assistant.
Earnings season is upon us, and this quarter I’m keeping an eye on data and management commentary to help understand how tariffs and the expiring EV tax credit are impacting the auto sector. We don’t have clear results yet, but we probably won’t know until next quarter.
According to GM and Ford’s third quarter reports, the tariffs are in effect. GM, for example, predicted the tariffs would reduce its 2025 profits by $2.3 billion, and Ford said it would take $2 billion off its bottom line. But both of those projections are billions of dollars better than what automakers predicted earlier this year, and automakers are hoping to offset those costs. The CEOs of both automakers expressed their gratitude to President Trump for extending tariff relief on auto parts sourced from Canada and Mexico.
In other GM and Ford news: Ford continues to suspend production of the F-150 Lightning truck as it prioritizes gasoline and hybrid F-Series versions as major aluminum supplier Neboris recovers from fire. Meanwhile, GM CEO Mary Barra said on The Verge’s Decoder podcast that the company will remove support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from all vehicles. Oh, and belatedly, GM laid off 200 salaried workers at its Warren Tech Center.
Tesla delivered a record number of vehicles in the third quarter of 2025, helped by U.S. customers who took advantage of the expiring federal EV tax credit. It did not lead to an increase in income. Tesla’s third-quarter profit was $1.4 billion, down 37% from a year ago.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation in early October after a video of a self-driving Waymo vehicle swerving around a parked school bus that was dropping off children in Atlanta.
Rivian is going through a bit of a shakeup, cutting 600 people from its workforce (the third round of layoffs this year), and its founder and CEO taking on yet another role: chief marketing officer. This week, Rivian also agreed to pay $250 million to settle a shareholder class action lawsuit brought after the company suddenly raised prices on its 2022 R1 pickup truck and SUV.
During that time, I spent some time in the Bay Area with executives from Alzar, a Rivian micromobility spinout. The company announced three new products, and if Also president Chris Yu and Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe (Also board member) are to be believed, there will be more on the way. For now, it’s a sleek, modular pedal-assist electric bike and two pedal-assist four-wheelers in the delivery van version that Amazon has already agreed to buy. The big fascinating technology story here is vertical integration and software.
