The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation.\u00a0Sign up here \u2014\u00a0just click The Station<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.<\/p>\n The United Autoworkers<\/strong> strike continued to dominate the news cycle. And the strike, now in its third week, is escalating.<\/p>\n After GM and Ford CEOs went on the attack, UAW chief Shawn Fain responded by announcing the strike would expand. Workers walked off the job at a Ford plant in Chicago and GM\u2019s Lansing, Michigan assembly plant. Stellantis wasn\u2019t part of the expanded strike after making a last-minute concession.<\/p>\n With tempers and tensions running high, it\u2019s hard to see how this will get resolved anytime soon.<\/p>\n Before we jump into the rest of the news, here\u2019s the latest episode of the Equity Podcast<\/a>. OK, let\u2019s goooooo.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Want to reach out with a tip, comment or complaint? Email Kirsten at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Reminder that you can drop us a\u00a0note at\u00a0tips@techcrunch.com<\/a>.\u00a0If you prefer to remain anonymous<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/em>click here to contact us<\/em><\/a>, which includes SecureDrop (<\/em>instructions here<\/em><\/a>) and various encrypted messaging apps.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Bird<\/strong> has finally been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. The official reason was that the company failed to maintain a market cap of over $15 million for 30 consecutive days, but Bird has had a hard time keeping its stock price above $1, as well. The company will continue to trade over-the-counter, and will appeal the decision.<\/p>\n The timing is awkward, given Bird acquired Spin out from Tier only a week before its delisting. In a TechCrunch+ piece<\/a>, I analyze whether the Spin acquisition will be enough to save Bird from crashing entirely.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know how much runway Bird has without access to Spin\u2019s balance sheets. But Spin\u2019s reported revenue is only about a fifth of Bird\u2019s, and based on Bird\u2019s own operating expenses, debts, revenue and available cash \u2014 not to mention its turbulent history \u2014 I\u2019d say the company has a tough road ahead to regain investor confidence.<\/p>\n A quick word on battery fires. Rep. Ritchie Torres<\/strong> introduced legislation<\/a> to Congress that would require a national safety standard for lithium-ion batteries for micromobility devices. The bill came about in part because online retailers like Amazon continue to sell unsafe batteries, despite the increase in battery fires over the years.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure if this sector will maintain its buzzy status forever, but for now investors seem happy to pour money into electric boat startups. Arc<\/strong> is one of those.<\/p>\n The Los Angeles-based EV boat startup just raised $70 million<\/a>\u00a0in a Series B round from a bevy of returning investors, including Eclipse, Andreessen Horowitz, Lowercarbon Capital and Abstract Ventures. New investor Menlo Ventures \u2014 specifically long-time partner and self-proclaimed boating enthusiast Shawn Carolan \u2014 also joined in. Arc\u00a0has raised\u00a0more than $100 million, to date.<\/p>\n Flush with fresh capital, co-founders Mitch Lee and Ryan Cook are planning to scale up with a new higher-volume electric boat designed for wakeboarding, wakesurfing and other watersports such as tubing. That focus could prove lucrative as most EV boat startups are producing hydrofoil-styled boats, which don\u2019t create wakes large enough to be used for watersports.<\/p>\n Other deals that got my attention this week \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n H55<\/strong>, a Swiss developer of electric propulsion and battery management systems for aviation, raised about $49 million in Series C funding fromND Capital, Tippet Venture Partners, RTX Ventures and other \u201cprominent\u201d private investors.<\/p>\n Kneron<\/strong>, which is developing AI chips to power self-driving cars, among other autonomous machines, raised $49 million<\/a> in an extension to its Series B round from investors including Foxconn, Alltek, Horizon Ventures, Liteon Technology Corp., Adata and PalPilot. The company has raised\u00a0$190 million, to date.<\/p>\n Line Man Wongnai<\/strong>, an on-demand delivery app in Thailand, is getting prepped for an initial public offering in Bangkok that could raise around $300 million, Bloomberg reported<\/a>, citing unnamed sources.<\/p>\n Sierra Space<\/strong> raised $290 million<\/a> in a Series B round to scale its Dream Chaser spaceplane and commercial space station projects. The commercial space transportation startup is now valued at $5.3 billion.<\/p>\n Contributor Emme Hall<\/strong> tested Mercedes\u2019<\/strong> hands-off, eyes-off automated driving system on a traffic-laden Los Angeles freeway. Here\u2019s how it went<\/a>.<\/p>\n The International Brotherhood of Teamsters<\/strong> union sent a letter to U.S. auto safety regulators urging the agency to deny a petition by General Motors to grant an exemption to subsidiary Cruise<\/a> to build its Origin AV without traditional vehicle standards like a steering wheel.<\/p>\n Ford<\/strong> has halted work<\/a> on its planned $3.5 billion EV battery plant in Michigan that was supposed to make cheaper lithium iron phosphate batteries using tech from China\u2019s CATL. The factory has been controversial with local residents as well as at the national level, where Republican lawmakers continue to push the automaker to share more documents<\/a> about the agreement with CATL. Ford insists it has shared everything.<\/p>\n Side note: Ford\u2019s timing is curious. Many have linked the decision to the UAW strike. But perhaps it\u2019s something else. One theory floating around my circles is that Ford saw the U.S. Commerce Department\u2019s recently released interpretation of foreign entity of concern<\/a> for the CHIPS Act and is expecting similar language from the Treasury Department for the Section 30D Credit under the Inflation Reduction Act. In other words, it doesn\u2019t expect for the plant to meet requirements to receive incentives.<\/p>\n Honda<\/strong> touted its massive EV partner network<\/a> in the U.S. Now it needs to start selling EVs in the country.<\/p>\n Lucid Group<\/strong> opened its first international factory<\/a> in Saudi Arabia, the home of its largest shareholder. For now the factory will re-assemble Lucid Air vehicle kits that are pre-manufactured at the company\u2019s U.S. factory in Casa Grande, Arizona.<\/p>\n Volkswagen\u2019s<\/strong> $2.1 billion plan to launch a dedicated electric-vehicle factory<\/a> in Wolfsburg, Germany is kaput. The automaker will instead modify two existing plants in the country.<\/p>\n Uber<\/strong>, DoorDash and Grubhub received a blow to their business in New York City after a judge ruled to allow the implementation of the minimum pay rate of $18 per hou<\/a>r for the city\u2019s food delivery workers.<\/p>\n Speaking of Uber, the ride-hailing company struck a multiyear partnership<\/a> with Los Angeles Yellow Cab<\/strong> and its five partner taxi fleets in Southern California. Under the arrangement, taxi drivers will have access to Uber trip referrals in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. (I find it fascinating to watch how Uber and taxi companies are now working together)<\/p>\n The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission<\/strong> filed a lawsuit against Tesla, accusing the automaker of violating federal law by tolerating widespread and ongoing racial harassment<\/a> of its Black employees and subjecting some workers to retaliation for opposing harassment.<\/p>\n Reminder: the lawsuit from the federal agency responsible for enforcing civil rights laws against workplace discrimination is one of several against Tesla for racial bias. The California Civil Rights Department sued Tesla in 2022 over similar allegations.<\/p>\n Volkswagen\u2019s<\/strong> software unit Cariad<\/strong> went through a shakeup earlier this year and now it\u2019s starting to put the pieces back together again. Cariad just hired Sanjay Lal<\/strong> \u2014 who most recently led the development of Rivian\u2019s infotainment and next-gen middleware across the vehicle and cloud \u2014 to take on the 2.0 version of its software architecture that will be an operating system designed for all VW Group brands. Specifically he will lead the establishment of the so-called SDV Hub, where software developers and tech experts from Cariad, Volkswagen and Audi will work together to develop the 2.0 platform. Yup, that\u2019s a big job.<\/span><\/p>\n You might remember Lal\u2019s name. Prior to his VP of software platform job at Rivian, Lal worked held several engineering leadership positions at Cisco, Tesla and for Android Automotive at Google.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nMicromobbin\u2019<\/h2>\n
Deal of the week<\/h2>\n
![\"money](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/money-the-station.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNotable reads and other tidbits<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/the-station-ride-hailing1.png\")
<\/a><\/h3>\nADAS<\/h3>\n
Autonomous vehicles<\/h3>\n
Electric vehicles, charging & batteries<\/h3>\n
Gig economy<\/h3>\n
People<\/h3>\n