Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility<\/strong> \u2014 your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free \u2014 just click TechCrunch Mobility<\/a>!<\/p>\n OK, who placed their bet on General Motors<\/strong> being the landing spot for Aurora<\/strong> co-founder and chief product officer Sterling Anderson<\/strong>? Not me. But here we are. A few days after Anderson announced his resignation from his position and the board at Aurora<\/a>, he spoke to me about his next gig as chief product officer<\/a> at GM. In short, he will oversee the entire product line of GM\u2019s gas-powered and electric vehicles \u2014 a position that will cover the entire life cycle of GM\u2019s portfolio and include hardware, software, services, and user experience.<\/p>\n Anderson couldn\u2019t say too much; plus, he hasn\u2019t started the job yet. Anderson did say he wouldn\u2019t have taken the new job if Aurora had yet to launch its commercial self-driving truck service<\/a> in Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n Let\u2019s jump into the rest of the news.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n In an absolutely wild turn of events, Luminar<\/strong>\u2019s founder Austin Russell<\/strong> appears to have been pushed out as CEO and board chair. You can read my coverage here<\/a>, which provides a bit of an overview of how this unfolded, but I know there is so much more to this story. TL;DR: If you were to only read Luminar\u2019s Q1 earnings report, you would assume Russell was still at the helm. A separate press release, released as the company\u2019s earnings went out, announced a leadership change and that Russell had resigned following an ethics inquiry from the board\u2019s audit committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what I\u2019m hearing from a few little birds. The word \u201cblindsided\u201d came up more than once, and the chaos isn\u2019t over. Luminar board member Jun Hong Heng<\/strong>, who is founder and chief investment officer at Crescent Cove Advisors and a mentor of Russell\u2019s, resigned a day later<\/a>. Heng was also on the audit committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at <\/em>kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com<\/em><\/a> or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O\u2019Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com<\/a> or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com<\/a>.<\/em> Or check out <\/em>these instructions<\/em><\/a> to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.<\/em><\/p>\n Aurora<\/strong> has had an odd couple of weeks filled with highs \u2014 driverless commercial service woohoo! \u2014 and twists \u2014 whoops, there goes a co-founder<\/a>. To cap things off, Uber announced plans to offer $1 billion in exchangeable senior notes<\/a> due in 2028 in private placement. As you might expect, stocks dropped after investors got spooked about potential dilution and what this might mean for the value of Aurora\u2019s stock.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other deals that got my attention \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n AutoUnify<\/strong>, the latest startup that has launched out of the Up.Labs-Porsche<\/strong> partnership, raised $5 million<\/a> in seed money. The Santa Monica, California-based startup, which built an API to allow dealerships and service shops to communicate in real time with the manufacturers and software vendors that power their operations, has been operating quietly for about nine months.<\/p>\n Chinese battery manufacturer CATL<\/strong> is far from a startup. But it\u2019s worth noting this bananas IPO plan. The company wants to raise at least HK$31.01 billion \u2014 that\u2019s just shy of $4 billion<\/a> \u2014 in its Hong Kong listing. This is the largest listing globally in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a potential<\/em> deal that has raised some eyebrows. Federal railroad regulators are in talks with Elon Musk<\/strong>\u2019s <\/strong>tunneling firm, The Boring Company<\/strong>, over a multibillion-dollar Amtrak project<\/a>.<\/p>\n Flock Freight<\/strong>, the shared truckload freight brokerage based in California, raised $60 million<\/a> in a Series E funding round led by O\u2019Neil Strategic Capital. Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, SignalFire, GLP Capital Partners, and Bracket Capital also participated.<\/p>\n Tesla<\/strong>\u2019s plan to launch a robotaxi service in Austin next month has caught the attention of federal safety investigators<\/a>. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration\u2019s Office of Defects Investigation sent the company a detailed list of questions on its upcoming robotaxi service as part of an investigation into how the company\u2019s \u201cFull Self-Driving (Supervised)\u201d software operates in low-visibility conditions.<\/p>\n Recalls are starting to pop up more in the AV sector. Last week it was Zoox<\/strong>. Now Waymo <\/strong>has issued a software recall<\/a> on 1,200 self-driving vehicles after some of its robotaxis were involved in minor collisions with gates, chains, and other gate-like roadway objects.\u00a0<\/p>\n WeRide<\/strong> seems to be trying to ramp in Guangzhou. The Chinese company said it has introduced eight autonomous robotaxi pilot operation routes<\/a> in the central part of the city. The company has also started trialing fully driverless robotaxis in Abu Dhabi<\/a>.<\/p>\n General Motors<\/strong> has been working on a new battery chemistry<\/a> called lithium manganese-rich, which it says should slash costs while delivering driving range. Notably, these LMR batteries dramatically reduce the amount of nickel and cobalt compared with GM\u2019s most advanced cells, two critical minerals that aren\u2019t readily available from domestic sources in the United States.<\/p>\n A footnote in Lucid<\/strong>\u2019s recent Q1 regulatory filing gives a bit more insight into its sales numbers. The EV maker\u2019s record quarter got a lift from rental sales and company leases<\/a>.<\/p>\n Slate Auto<\/strong> has racked up more than 100,000 reservations<\/a> for its customizable low-cost electric pickup truck.\u00a0<\/p>\n Everyone, let\u2019s give a slow clap to Toyota<\/strong> for redesigning \u2014 and more importantly, renaming \u2014 its sole all-electric vehicle for the U.S. market<\/a>. The EV, once called the bZ4X, will now simply be bZ. The original bZ4X was not well received. I\u2019m looking forward to getting behind the wheel to see what improvements Toyota has made. Meanwhile, Toyota has brought back the C-HR nameplate<\/a>, but this time as an EV. Hopefully this time it\u2019s more successful. It arrives in the U.S. in 2026.<\/p>\n Three years ago, reporter Rebecca Bellan noted that Uber <\/strong>was going through an Amazonification<\/a>. Her pitch was that the company, like Amazon<\/strong>, had created a closed business loop to feed customers back into other Uber channels. The second part of that evolution has started<\/a>, she reported this week. Uber appears to be moving beyond its focus on transportation and working to become a convenient super app, an aggregator of services, a daily-use lifestyle platform with its best offerings tucked behind a paywall.\u00a0<\/p>\n U.S. lawmakers introduced the Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act in a bid to revise the FAA\u2019s 52-year ban on supersonic flight<\/a> over U.S. soil. The timing could be crucial for startup Boom Supersonic<\/strong>, which has made progress in developing next-generation supersonic aircraft\u00a0<\/p>\n Vertical Aerospace<\/strong> announced a plan to develop a hybrid-electric variant<\/a> of its VX4, suggesting the company is pursuing opportunities in defense and logistics.\u00a0<\/p>\n Apple<\/strong>\u2019s next generation of its popular CarPlay infotainment software is finally launching. Reminder: It was first announced three years ago. The new version, called CarPlay Ultra<\/a>, will make its debut on new Aston Martin<\/strong> vehicles in the U.S. and Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n Google<\/strong> is bringing Gemini, its generative AI, to all cars that support Android Auto in the next few months. Patrick Brady, VP of Android for Cars, said Gemini will surface in the Android Auto experience in two main ways<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\nA little bird<\/h2>\n
Deals!<\/h2>\n
![\"money](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/money-the-station.png?w=680\")
Notable reads and other tidbits<\/h2>\n
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Autonomous vehicles<\/h3>\n
Electric vehicles, charging, & batteries<\/h3>\n
Gig economy<\/h3>\n
Future of flight<\/h3>\n
In-car tech<\/h3>\n