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Remember last week when Aurora Did he meet a great-historic moment-just moving under his own deadline-and launched a self-driving-free truck service? Welp, this week Aurora made titles again, but for a startling change of leadership.
FOUNDER Sterling Andersonwho has been the main product official, is resigning from his position and the board. No real word about what he resigned, beyond some of the comments he made while calling the Q1 company profits. “Leaving Aurora is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made, especially given the exciting stage Aurora is in,” he said. “This is exactly what gave me the belief that now is the right time.”
He did not say exactly where he was going, or, in addition to being an “exciting external opportunity in a high leadership role in a global iconic company.”
I will let you all set your bets.
Aurora is pressing without Anderson. The company announced during its profits call that it will start sending its self-driving trucks at night and during adverse weather conditions such as rain or heavy wind until the second half of 2025.
A small bird
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Deals!
It is not every day that a public company changes the course and goes private. But then again, these are not normal periods. Especially for every company captured in the US-China trade war.
Take ZeekrFor example. A year ago, the Chinese company EV debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. Now, parent company Geely auto wants to get private Zeekr in response to the Trump administration idea to start Chinese companies from US scholarships.
Other deals that got my attention
Bosch ventures There is a new $ 270 million fund that will continue its tradition of investing in the beginnings of deep technology. Manager Ingo ramahl Techcrunch the plan told is to put his money more in the beginnings of North America.
Investors who previously supported the Indian Uber rival Blusmart They have proposed a plan to inject another $ 30 million at the start of the greeting of cabins, which suddenly stopped operations last month. But there is a catch.
BreatheA battery software start, collected $ 21 million in a series B led by Kinnevik Online AB, the company exclusively told Techcrunch. Participated in the Lowercarbon Capital and Volvo Cars Tech technology fund.
pigeon announced two major purchases as he expands in Europe. The company agreed to buy its rival in the UK Driver for about £ 2.9 billion (about $ 3.87 billion) and said you are buying Seven rooms – which provides CRM software, marketing and operations to help restaurants, hotels and public places with reserves and guest management – for $ 1.2 billion in cash.
Meanwhile, Jacket It was busy this week, acquiring companies and investing in them.
Uber increased its investment in the Chinese autonomous Weride Autonomous Weride Vehicle Company as part of an extended partnership agreement to bring service to 15 other cities over the next five years. In a particular deal, Uber also gained an 85% control share in Trendyol goIstanbul -based internet food and food provision for about $ 700 million in cash.
Visible readings and other announcements
Autonomous vehicles
Here is a staff that I didn’t expect. PrayerFormer President and CTO of Car Company Closed now cruiseJust named Technology Main Technology Officer and Wellness Company Its Hims & its. I spoke to Hims & Co -founder and CEO Andrew DudumAnd he said he focused specifically on the AV industry to find the other CTO. That’s why.
Single It has begun testing its AV technology in the Las Vegas bar. I recently sat down with co -founder and President Dave Ferguson. Stay awake for an update why the company moved its business model.
Tesla“Robotaxi” and “Cybercab” brands have hit some road barriers. US Patent and Brand Brand Office Denied Tesla’s attempt to brand the term “robotaxi” market about its vehicles because it is very generic. Meanwhile, Tesla applications for the trademark with the term “Cybercab” were banned due to companies that follow similar “cyber” brands.
Jacket Partneries blocked with three Autonomous Chinese Automotion Companies – glide, TentAND Savage – In an attempt to swallow the market share robotaxi in the Middle East and Europe. Note: These agreements should not act in China.
path It announced that there is a new 239,000 square meter factory in the Phoenix suburb through a magna deal to build more than 2,000 autonomous Jaguar I-Pace vehicles. This obviously got a lot of attention. But I was finally interested in learning the size of Waymo’s existing trading fleet, which is now 1,500.
Pay is making rounds in the high profile executive group. You can remember Bill Gates’ video in one of Wayve’s autonomous test vehicles. Is now the founder of Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson’s Back PS Branson is a Wayve investor. Btw, Storm held her conference in London, and CEO and co -founder Wayve and co -founder Alex Kendall It was there. He had some interesting comments about the access to the end of the company and Elon Musk Tesla.
Zamx He stopped his driverless test program for more than a week and issued a voluntary attraction of his software after a collision in Las Vegas.
Electric vehicles, charging and batteries
Cadillac Celestic EV – Yes, he monster – is here, and the contributor Emme Hall has thoughts as he passed the day after the wheel.
Season the profit season, and the US-Kosovo trading war has begun to leave a scratch on the motorists everywhere. And, well, I don’t think we will be able to remove it.
Ford AND General Motors drew their instructions for the year, citing economic uncertainty about Trump’s tariffs. Meanwhile, Redeem He said he was likely to provide fewer vehicles this year (40,000 to 46,000 EV) than previously provided due to tariffs and other regulatory changes. Reminder: The company was already tracking for its third year fairly without increasing volume before lowering the instructions. There was some good news for Rivian, though: she generated gross profit (yes I know, gross profit is not exactly my fave). But this met a historic contracting moment that unblocked about $ 1 billion in funds from the Volkswagen Group as part of a joint venture with the German automobile.
Ford It is raising the all-electric price of Mustang Mach-E SUV and receiving Maverick up to $ 2,000 due to import taxes Trump is putting on vehicles made in Mexico.
Sober She has worked through some quality “hiccups” in the early stages of giving her long-awaited electric gravity SUV.
Mitsubishi Motors is in talks with Fox To source a model of electric cars, the Japanese automobile plans to sell in Australia and New Zealand in the end of 2026.
Tesla Sales continue to fall throughout Europe, despite a bounce of sales in April EV.
Future of flight
Aviation of work It seems to be settling in 2026 for the first service of its trade passengers, according to the first quarter profits report. The vertical electric rise and the start of the soil turned into a spraying was targeted in 2025, then saying “at the beginning of 2026.” Now it’s only 2026, suggesting that it may not be early next year.
