Techcrunch Mobility: The Tesla Robotaxi Rorschach Test and the next big act of Redwood

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Less than a week ago, Tesla Robotaxis began to deploy And give trips to guest customers to Austin. As Sean O’kane and I wrote it this week, the deployment is the first major test of the CEO of the CEO Elon Musk that it is possible to securely deploy completely autonomous vehicles using just cameras and an end -to -end AI – an approach that differs from other players in space, like Waymo.

According to all accounts (including Tesla), this is a first limited race. The operating area covers South Austin, the vehicle fleet is less than 20, and there is always a safety “instructor” sitting in the front passenger seat.

This does not mean that there has been a moderate reaction. Social media provided a burst of video and personal accounts – riders and spectators – crushing the Robotaxie about Austin. And in many cases, vehicles seemed to violate the laws of traffic such as moving through the double yellow lines in the traffic lane coming in the opposite direction and suddenly hit the brakes in the middle of the intersections.

The videos invited Federal security regulators to contact Tesla And request information about deployment.

The reaction to the deployment of Tesla Robotaxi – and more specifically, to social videos – has provided an informative vision on how the company is polarizing. While O’kane joked me the other day, “it’s like a Rorschach test.”

Tesla’s Robotaxi walks are either proof of the pride of the company and the broken promises of Musk on automated driving, or the start of the end for Waymo, Uber and Lyft.

Here is what is getting closer to the truth: a week, and we have a lot of noise and very little signal.

Let’s move on to the rest of the news.

A little bird

Following a series of executive departures in the past year, we hear that Tesla provides for another series of layoffs throughout the company this month. CEO Elon Musk spent last year working on politics, which resulted in a dramatic outing of his duties as chief of Doge. Now, he is ready to bring this dam and burning energy to his own organization and Ider the team in Tesla, with performance that is not included on the cutting block, according to a source that is connected to the company.

Meanwhile, Tesla goes forward on the production of cybercab. One source noted that she had created a sub-press environment that led some employees to leave the company.

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Offers!

The news cycle of this week gives me 2016 vibrations. Conclude this agreement involving Uber Co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick.

Kalanick would be Work with investors To buy the American branch of the Chinese company of autonomous vehicles Pony AI, and Uber could even help to get there.

This is an interesting decision. In 2017, Kalanick was forced to resign due to reports that he favored a toxic work culture filled with sexual harassment, among other complaints. His resignation intervened a year after Uber bought Otto, the startup of autonomous trucks co-founded by Anthony Levandowski (CEO Pronto AI), Lior Ron (CEO Uber Freight), Don Burnette (founder of Kodiak Robotics) and Claire Delaunay (former Nvidia, former Farm-Ng and current seeds). This agreement, which was absorbed by what became Uber ATG, was controversial from the start and finally led Waymo to pursue Uber on the theft of commercial secrets.

Fast eight -year advance: Waymo and Uber are in friendly commercial terms, and Kalanick always wonders: “What if?” The founder expressed his opinion on the fact that Uber would have his own autonomous fleet if he had always been responsible.

Then there is Pony, who has operations in the United States which are in danger due to national security rules. The company has been ready to sell its American arm for at least 2022.

Other offers deserve to be noted …

Emerging materialsA new startup developing cathode materials to reduce the cost of LFP batteries, Rise $ 2.3 million In a tower of seeds led by Sosv. The New Jersey Innovation Evergreen Fund and UM6P Ventures also participated.

Raphe MphibrThe Indian drone startup, lifted $ 100 million In a series B in investment B led by General Catalyst.

Notable readings and other songs

ADAS

THE National Road Safety Administration sent Ford A Long list of questions About his hand -free driver of driver’s driver system in the context of an investigation that started over a year ago after two fatal accidents involving the software.

Autonomous vehicles

There was a time when AV startups tried to avoid talking about distance driving as a way to support its driver -free technology. Now companies are talking about it openly. Take an autonomous truck company Kodiak Robotics And Get a loanA distance driving startup from Berlin. The two companies, which announced a partnership This week have been working together since last year.

Waymo And Uber officially entered another market. The companies, which launched the “Waymo on Uber” service to Austin earlier this year, now operate in a Atlanta 65 square miles area.

In addition to that, Uber eats Sidewalk delivery robots launched in Atlanta with Serve roboticsA Uber spin-out which became public last year.

The Upshot: Momentum seems to build for the three companies. Uber turns into a network connector in autonomous technology (it has 18 AV partnerships around the world). Waymo is the Robotaxi market leader. It provides 250,000 Robotaxi routes each week in five major cities. With Atlanta joining this list and this extension on its existing markets, this figure has surely exceeded the 300,000 mark. And Atlanta Marks Service the fourth commercial city of IS it works to go to 2,000 boots on the sidewalks by the end of 2025.

Electric vehicles, batteries and charges

Sequoia materials launches a energy storage company This will take advantage of the thousands of EV batteries which he collected from his battery realization activity to provide energy to companies. And it starts with – what else? – AI data centers.

Rivian a licensed 140 employees Before its launch of the more affordable R2 SUV R2 in 2026. The manufacturing team was the hardest hit.

Tesla‘s The senior sales manager would have obtained Elon Musk’s boot. Omead AFSHAR was one of the closest confidants of Musk who, this week, published on X on the “Historical Day for Tesla” when the company deployed its robotaxis to Austin.

Car technology

There was a moment towards 2017 when Intel Was going on the verge of becoming a dominant automotive actor. The company had acquired Mobileye and its VC arm invested millions in the sector. It was part of the future of transport conversation. Now Intel says Goodbye to its automotive architecture activity – including its system design on a chip improved by AI for vehicles that had been placed for production by the end of 2025 – and licensed most of its staff in the context of a wider restructuring.