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Lucid Motors delivered a shock this week when it introduced that CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson was resigning. Speculation in regards to the departure, which incorporates vacating a board seat, was amplified when Rawlinson didn’t attend the fourth-quarter earnings name.
Senior reporter Sean O’Kane has all the small print, together with how the EV maker carried out, who’s filling the highest spot (for now), and what the corporate’s objectives are shifting ahead. Rawlinson can be round in some capability, though it ought to be famous that he won’t be there each day, nor will he have any decision-making authority. The firm mentioned he’ll function “strategic technical adviser” to Turqi Alnowaiser, who’s chairman of the board and a prime government at Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund — Lucid’s majority proprietor.
So the place does Lucid go from right here? It must promote extra EVs — particularly its new Gravity SUV — and cut back prices. That’s no small feat, particularly contemplating Lucid can be growing a brand new midsize automobile platform (extra $$$) that’s anticipated to launch on the finish of 2026.
Before we bounce into the remainder of the information, I needed to focus on an article about Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen and a collection of recent merchandise and options that the freight forwarding and logistics startup is rolling out. Many of those new merchandise use AI, which isn’t what caught my eye.
It is the tempo of the rollout. Petersen advised TechCrunch that is the primary in a sequence of semi-annual bulletins of this sort — à la Airbnb. Petersen mentioned Airbnb founder Brian Chesky’s speak about founder mode is what impressed the technique. The viral second for “founder mode,” which was fueled by Paul Graham’s essay, is likely to be over. But Petersen’s newest transfer reveals this administration technique isn’t fading anytime quickly.
A bit of chook
Remember the massive spherical of Cruise layoffs that occurred earlier this month? For those that don’t, guardian firm GM introduced it might slash Cruise’s workforce by practically 50%. The stays of Cruise are supposed to maneuver below guardian firm General Motors because the automaker directs its sources towards bettering its hands-free driver-assistance system Super Cruise — and ultimately rolling out private autonomous autos.
Some little birds advised us a couple of extra layoffs have occurred for the reason that preliminary spherical, particularly that the Cruise advertising staff — about eight individuals — has been dismissed. We hear that finance and authorized departments will possible comply with as soon as the transition is full.
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Deals!
Let’s begin with the transportation-adjacent world of supply. Last month, Dutch meals supply big Just Eat Takeaway bought off Grubhub for $650 million, a fraction of the $7.3 billion valuation the supply startup had when it was acquired in 2020. Now, Just Eat Takeaway is the one being wolfed up.
Global tech firm Prosus reached an settlement to purchase Just Eat Takeaway for €4.1 billion in money. If the deal is accomplished, Prosus will develop into the fourth largest meals supply group globally.
Other offers that acquired my consideration …
AIRO Group, an aerospace and protection firm based mostly in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C., filed for an estimated $100 million Initial Public Offering. The firm plans to record on the Nasdaq change.
Circuit, a short-trip, electrical shuttle options startup, raised $17 million as a part of a Series B spherical. Private funding agency MKB, in addition to current traders Tribeca Venture Partners and Impact Engine, participated.
Donut Lab, a subsidiary of Verge Motorcycles growing electrical motors and different associated expertise, raised €15 million. The firm’s anchor investor is Risto Siilasmaa, founding father of cybersecurity corporations F-Secure and WithSecure and former chairman of Nokia’s board. Siilasmaa can even be part of Donut Lab’s board.
Gozem, an African startup that provides ride-hailing, commerce, automobile financing, and digital banking throughout Togo, Benin, Gabon, and Cameroon through its app, raised $30 million in a Series B funding spherical. The spherical, which incorporates $15 million in fairness and $15 million in debt, was led by SAS Shipping Agencies Services and Al Mada Ventures.
Vidyut, a Bengaluru, India-based startup that gives financing for industrial and passenger EVs, raised $2.5 million from Flourish Ventures.
Notable reads and different tidbits
Autonomous autos
AAA launched its annual survey that’s designed to gauge shopper curiosity and acceptance of superior driver-assistance methods and robotaxis. TL;DR: Enthusiasm for self-driving autos is low — simply 13% of surveyed drivers think about it a precedence, a lower from 18% in 2022. And it appears many usually are not concerned about utilizing them, both, with 53% saying they might not select to experience in a single. Meanwhile, curiosity in ADAS is excessive, particularly round options like Automatic Emergency Braking.
Avride autonomous sidewalk supply robots have made it to Japan. The Yandex spinout has launched industrial operations in central Tokyo with a fleet of about 10 robots.
Electric autos, charging, & batteries
Aston Martin lower 170 jobs and pushed again plans to launch an EV (will it ever occur?). The firm will as a substitute work on an ultra-luxury hybrid mannequin.
Last week, I highlighted Sean’s article that seemed into how and who organized the Tesla Takeover motion, which led to protests at Tesla showrooms in dozens of U.S. cities. Now it appears the Tesla Takeover motion is gaining some traction. The query is how lengthy it can persist and whether or not it can have an effect on Tesla’s backside line as protestors hope.
Range Energy, a startup that developed electrified semitrailers, is shuffling its government deck. Founder and CEO Ali Javidan is shifting into the president and CTO function, the corporate advised TechCrunch. Jon Foster, the previous CFO of Zoox who helped architect the autonomous automobile firm’s acquisition by Amazon, is Range’s new CEO.
Future of flight
Joby Aviation launched its earnings and right here’s what we all know. The electrical vertical takeoff and touchdown startup says it’s on observe to ship an plane to Dubai by mid-2025, when it can reveal the automobile’s readiness to hold passengers. The firm now has 5 plane in its take a look at fleet and made progress on stage 4 of sort certification. Joby mentioned it expects to undergo the ultimate step of the FAA certification course of inside the subsequent 12 months. But that is an costly pursuit: Joby’s web loss for 2024 was $608 million.
In-car tech
Four years in the past, Google was hit with a €100 million antitrust fantastic by Italy’s competitors authority for refusing to let a third-party electrical car-charging app developed by Enel combine with its Android Auto platform. Senior reporter Natasha Lomas wrote a few new ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that affirmed the watchdog group’s view that Google’s preliminary block can represent antitrust abuse.
The upshot? The CJEU judgment units out situations for tech giants in relation to interoperability that would have wider applicability for app makers searching for to plug their wares into key platforms.
This week’s wheels
Nothing this week, however keep tuned.
What is “This week’s wheels”? It’s an opportunity to be taught in regards to the totally different transportation merchandise we’re testing, whether or not it’s an electrical or hybrid automotive, an e-bike, or perhaps a experience in an autonomous automobile.
