Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part.\u00a0To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free \u2014 just click TechCrunch Mobility<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Uber<\/strong> seemed to be everywhere, all at once<\/a> in the emerging autonomous vehicle technology sector. The Financial Times has now put a number on it. The FT calculated that Uber has committed more than $10 billion<\/a> to buying autonomous vehicles and taking equity stakes in the companies developing the tech, according to public records and discussions with folks behind the scenes. About $2.5 billion of that is in direct investments, with the remaining $7.5 billion to be spent on buying robotaxis over the next few years, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve reported on Uber\u2019s numerous investments and deals with autonomous vehicle companies across drones, robotaxis, and freight. Some of its investments include WeRide<\/a>, Lucid and Nuro<\/a>, Rivian<\/a>, and Wayve<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n This rather large number (and particularly that $7.5 billion) got me thinking about another transformative era in Uber\u2019s history and how it has visited these asset-heavy shores before. Uber might have started with a plan to be asset light, but for a brief period it did quite the opposite.<\/p>\n Uber went on a moonshot spree between 2015 and 2018. It launched electric air taxi developer Uber Elevate and the in-house autonomous vehicle unit Uber ATG, which would be boosted by its acquisition of Otto<\/a> in 2016. It also snapped up micromobility startup Jump<\/a> in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n And then in 2020, Uber pulled the asset-heavy rip cord, ostensibly leaving all of those moonshots behind. Uber sold Uber ATG<\/a> to Aurora, Jump to Lime<\/a>, and Elevate to Joby Aviation<\/a>. But it didn\u2019t completely divest; it kept equity stakes in all of them.<\/p>\n Uber is now entering into a new and different asset-heavy era. It\u2019s not plunking down millions, or even billions, to develop the technology in-house, although I\u2019m sure folks there would be quick to pipe up that there is always R&D happening over at Uber. Instead, it appears to be focused on owning (or perhaps leasing) the physical assets.\u00a0<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> That could mean interesting line items on Uber\u2019s balance sheet in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n Owning fleets of robotaxis built by other<\/em> companies might not have been the original vision of Uber, or its former CEO Travis Kalanick, who has said the company made a mistake<\/a> when it abandoned its AV development program. But this new approach could still get it to the same end point.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, I interviewed Eclipse<\/strong> partner Jiten Behl<\/strong> about the venture firm\u2019s new $1.3 billion fund<\/a> and where that money might be headed. The firm, as I wrote, intends to incubate more startups (e.g., it was behind the Rivian spinout Also<\/a>). Behl wouldn\u2019t give me details, only stating, \u201cWe\u2019re definitely working on a couple of really cool ideas.\u201d He also said Eclipse is particularly interested in startups that work across enterprises.<\/p>\n Thanks to one little bird and some document diving by senior reporter Sean O\u2019Kane, it looks like a seed round announcement is imminent for a San Francisco-based startup working on an autonomous hauler that I\u2019ve been told doesn\u2019t have a driver cab. This sounds similar to what Einride has built, but since we haven\u2019t seen it, we\u2019ll have to wait.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company\u2019s roster isn\u2019t big, but it is chock-full of Silicon Valley tech elite, including a founder who was at Uber ATG, Pronto, and Waabi. Stay tuned for more.\u00a0<\/p>\n Slate<\/strong> is back with more capital as it prepares to put its first affordable pickup trucks into production by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n The electric vehicle startup, which got its start with backing from Jeff Bezos, raised another $650 million <\/a>in a Series C funding round led by TWG Global. Keep your eye on TWG. This is the firm run by Guggenheim Partners chief executive (and Los Angeles Dodgers owner) Mark Walter and investor Thomas Tull.\u00a0<\/p>\n Slate has raised about $1.4 billion to date, and its previous investors include General Catalyst, Jeff Bezos\u2019 family office, VC firm Slauson & Co., and former Amazon executive Diego Piacentini, as TechCrunch first reported last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other deals that got my attention \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Glydways<\/strong>, a San Francisco-based startup developing personal autonomous pods designed to operate on dedicated 2-meter-wide lanes in cities, raised $170 million in a Series C funding round co-led by Suzuki Motor Corporation, ACS Group, and Khosla Ventures. Existing investors Mitsui Chemicals and Gates Frontier and new investor Obayashi Corporation also participated. But wait, there\u2019s more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n GM<\/strong> and Ford<\/strong> are reportedly talking to the Pentagon about whether the auto industry can help the military revamp its procurement program and find cheaper, faster ways to buy vehicles, munitions, or other hardware, the New York Times reported<\/a>, citing anonymous sources.<\/p>\n Loop<\/strong>, a San Francisco-based startup, raised $95 million<\/a> in a Series C funding round led by Valor Equity Partners and the Valor Atreides AI Fund, and includes investments from 8VC, Founders Fund, Index Ventures, and J.P. Morgan\u2019s late-stage fund, Growth Equity Partners.<\/p>\n Monarch Tractor<\/strong>, the startup developing electric, autonomous tractors, has moved on to (ahem) a different pasture. The startup\u2019s assets have been acquired by Caterpillar<\/a> after struggling to pivot to a software services business.<\/p>\n Uber<\/strong> is increasing its stake in Delivery Hero<\/strong> by 4.5%, the Financial Times reported<\/a>. Uber agreed to buy about 270 million euros in shares from Prosus, the Dutch investment group and Delivery Hero\u2019s largest shareholder.<\/p>\n Doug Field<\/strong>, the high-profile executive who shaped Ford<\/strong>\u2019s electric vehicle and technology strategies over the past five years, is leaving<\/a>. Notably, Ford is shaking up the organization as well, creating a \u201cproduct creation and industrialization\u201d team to be led by COO Kumar Galhotra<\/strong>. Any guesses where Field is headed next? Perhaps he\u2019ll return to Silicon Valley.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lightship<\/strong>, the all-electric RV startup, is expanding<\/a> its Colorado-based factory by another 44,000 square feet, which will allow it to quadruple its manufacturing capacity.<\/p>\n Rivian<\/strong> and battery recycling and materials startup Redwood Materials partnered years ago. We\u2019re now seeing the fruits of that relationship. Redwood is installing battery energy storage at Rivian\u2019s factory in Illinois. The catch? Redwood is using 100 second-life Rivian battery packs<\/a>, which will provide 10 megawatt-hours (MWh) of dispatchable energy to reduce cost and grid load during peak demand periods.<\/p>\n Tesla<\/strong> created a new self-driving app that makes it easier for owners to subscribe to its Full Self-Driving software and see statistics<\/a> on how \u2014 and how often \u2014 they use it. This may not be huge news, but it did catch my eye because of the gamified qualities of these new stats.\u00a0<\/p>\n Waymo<\/strong>, as per usual, has a few news items this week. The Alphabet-owned company started testing its autonomous vehicles on public roads in London<\/a>. It also removed its waitlist in Miami and Orlando to scale its robotaxi services in the two cities.\u00a0<\/p>\n This newsletter isn\u2019t my only project that is leaning more heavily into robotics. My podcast, the Autonocast<\/strong>, is too, as the worlds of autonomous vehicles, AI, and robotics mash together. Check out this interview<\/a> with Foxglove<\/strong> founder Adrian MacNeil<\/strong>, who previously worked at Cruise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\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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One more thing \u2026<\/h2>\n