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WaymoThe acceleration over the last 18 months is undeniable. The Alphabet-owned self-driving company now operates commercial robotaxi services in six markets, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and Miami. This year, it plans to expand its fleet of driverless taxis to more than a dozen new cities internationally, including London and Tokyo.
And now it has $16 billion to support that expansion. is that enough
When we spoke to several observers in the industry, the answer kept landing in the mangled “sort of” and “it depends” on the territory.
First the bull case. Alphabet is clearly committed to ensuring Waymo’s success; the parent company is and continues to be the primary investor. Which means Waymo isn’t exposed like other AV startups that suddenly lost funding after their backers (often legacy automakers) balked or pivoted.
Its ridership and autonomous mileage stats are also exploding, and will likely continue on that trajectory unless derailed by regulators. (Waymo provides 400,000 rides each week in six major U.S. metro areas and will more than triple its annual volume to 15 million rides in 2025 alone.)
However, this does not guarantee success, especially if the gauge is set to profitability. Waymo still has several issues to work out, including costs and growing attention from regulators (the company’s chief security officer just testified at a Senate Commerce hearing). If Waymo simply wants to be a licensor of its AV technology, it will have to give up the operator, which means giving up some control. That’s tough with a nascent technology under scrutiny.
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And while some of you will fight me on this one, it also lacks in-house manufacturing Tesla has. Yes, Waymo has automotive partners. However, it does not come with the same financial leverage or ability to reduce costs through scale.
Disagree? Send your argument to my email at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com.
Little bird
The investors behind the now-defunct EV startup Canoe they were always mysterious—in fact, they were only revealed as part of the legal process. Six years ago I got a tip to look at one of them in particular: David Stern. He had a connection to Prince Andrew but was otherwise a ghost.
I had him in mind when the Justice Department started releasing its files Jeffrey Epstein. My curiosity to see if he would appear in the documents quickly overcame the fact that he was in fact a close business associate of a convicted sex offender. He brought Epstein investment opportunities from around the world, and in particular led him to invest in Faraday’s future, Lucid Motorsand Canoo during Mobility Funding Days. Read my story on Stern and Epstein’s relationship and how mobility startups were once in the mix.
-Sean O’Kane
Do you have a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07 or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.
Offers!
Autonomous vehicle technology is more than just a robotic axis — it’s a difficult and expensive business that only a handful of well-capitalized companies enjoy. tesla, Waymo, and Zoox they chase Many startup founders are using the AV systems they have developed in other use cases, including off-road defense, trucking, forklift, mining and construction. Investors are jumping into these sectors, fearing that they will lose the AV party.
Bedrock Robotics is the latest example of investor interest. Founded by Waymo and Segment veterans, the Silicon Valley autonomous vehicle technology startup is developing a self-driving system that can be retrofitted to construction machinery. And it just raised $270 million in Series B funding, co-led by CapitalG and the Valor Atreides AI Fund. Other investors include Xora, 8VC, Eclipse, Emergence Capital, Perry Creek Capital, NVentures (Nvidia’s venture capital arm), Tishman Speyer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgian, Incharge Capital, C4 Ventures and others.
Bedrock raised more than $350 million in a short period of time (the company was founded in 2024). And while that may not seem like a lot compared to the size of some seed rounds in the AI labs sector, it does show that money is flowing into physical AI startups. I expect more business flow; Importantly, I expect startups focused on practical applications of automated driving systems to attract talent—if they can afford it. For example, Bedrock has hired Vincent Gonguet, who previously led security and AI alignment at Meta for all Llama models, as its head of evaluation. He also hired John Chu away from Waymo.
Watch my interview with the co-founder and CEO of Bedrock Robotics Boris Sofman.
Other deals that caught my eye this week…
German manufacturer of electric motors Additive drives raised €25 million ($29.5 million) from Nordic Alpha Partners.
Launch of autonomous underwater vehicles Apeiron Labs closed a $9.5 million Series A round led by Dyne Ventures, RA Capital Management Planetary Health and S2G Investments. Assembly Ventures, Bay Bridge Ventures and TFX Capital participated.
GoCaban African mobility fintech startup, has raised a $45 million funding round, including $15 million in equity and $30 million in debt. The equity round was jointly led by E3 Capital and Janngo Capital with participation from KawiSafi Ventures and Cur8 Capital.
Mitra EVa commercial electric vehicle fleet company in Los Angeles, has raised $27 million in financing, including equity financing from lead investor Ultra Capital and a credit facility from S2G Investments.
Ground AIa Seattle-based developer of self-driving systems designed for military operations, raised $100 million in a round led by 8VC. Other investors included Point72 Ventures, Ascend Venture Capital, Shasta Ventures, Overmatch Ventures, Valor Equity Partners and StepStone Group.
Plugused electric car marketplace, raised $20 million in Series A led by Lightspeed with participation from Galvanize and existing investors Autotech Ventures, Leap Forward Ventures and Renn Global.
R3 Roboticsa European startup that wants to automate the dismantling of EV systems at scale has raised €20 million ($23.6 million) in a combination of grants and venture funding. The €14 million ($16.5 million) Series A funding was co-led by HG Ventures and Suma Capital. The Oetker Collection, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) and existing shareholders including BONVENTURE, FlixFounders and EIT Urban Mobility also participated.
SkyrysEl Segundo, Calif.-based aviation automation company, has raised more than $300 million in Series C investment. The round led by Autopilot Ventures brings its valuation to $1.15 billion. Other investors include Fidelity Management & Research Company, ArrowMark Partners, Atreides Management LP, BAM Elevate, Baron Capital Group, Durable Capital Partners, Positive Sum, Qatar Investment Authority, RCM Private Markets Fund managed by Rokos Capital Management and Woodline Partners.
Remarkable reading and other tidbits
China banned the hidden electronically controlled door handles popularized by Tesla. A ruling released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says all new cars sold in the country must have mechanical releases on door handles by January 1, 2027. There is talk Europe could soon follow suit.
Uber continue activities designed to be competitive in the autonomous vehicle sector. The company promoted Balaji Krishnamurthyits vice president of strategic finance and investor relations to be its chief financial officer. It may not appear to be connected to AV, but it is. Krishnamurthy actively promotes autonomous driving and hailing partnerships and has a board seat at AV Waabi. He talked about AV during the company’s fourth-quarter call, saying the company will invest capital in its AV software partners, work with AV manufacturers through equity investments or subscription agreements, and “support our AV infrastructure partners.”
Meanwhile, a high-profile lawsuit against Uber issued a mixed verdict for a ride-hailing company that was sued after a woman claimed she was raped by her Uber driver in November 2023. The jury found Uber liable as an apparent agent of the driver and awarded the plaintiff $8.5 million. The jury rejected claims that Uber was liable for negligence or design defects and declined to award punitive damages. An Uber spokesperson, who emailed a statement to TechCrunch, said “the verdict confirms that Uber has acted responsibly and invested meaningfully in rider safety. We will continue to put safety at the center of everything we do.” Uber plans to appeal the decision.
One more thing…
Last week we ran a poll in our newsletter asking for a name or ticker Elon Muskthe merged super company should be. Thanks to those who emailed in their designs, many of which had space themes like Galactic X (cool). When it comes to polling, most chose the plain X.
This makes sense considering that Musk has often talked and published about X, the everything app. About 50% voted yes
My pick? I think it will eventually be X and the company will include more than just SpaceX and xAI.
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