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 While Rebecca Bellan held down the transportation fort, I headed to UP Summit, an invite-only event focused on mobility (and mostly aviation) held at Ross Perot Jr\u2019s Circle T Ranch near Dallas that brought together founders, investors, C suite executives, industrialists, designers, pilots, high-ranking military and even politicians, notably former UK prime minister Boris Johnson. As you might imagine, the conversations over coffee and cocktails were fascinating.<\/p>\n I was there to find founders, scout out startups and the investors who might fund them. And yup, I found them.<\/p>\n Some news came out of the event as well, including that electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle company Wisk Aero<\/strong> started flight testing<\/a> a version of its autonomous air taxi aircraft in Los Angeles and Alaska Airlines<\/strong> tapped UP.Labs to help it build and launch aviation startups<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other tidbits included Google\u2019s Wing<\/strong> starting drone deliveries from a Walmart in Frisco, Texas, Zipline<\/strong> partnering with Mendocino Farms, California-based evTOL company Opener<\/strong>, which is backed by Larry Page, rebranding to Pivotal and revealing its first \u201cscalable production vehicle\u201d called Helix and Beta Technologies<\/strong> opening its first electric-aircraft assembly plant in Vermont, a 188,500-square-foot facility that will eventually have the capacity to produce 300 aircraft per year.<\/p>\n There were funding announcements as well. Jetson<\/strong>, the personal electric aerial vehicle startup, closed a $15 million seed round from angel investors including will.i.am<\/strong>, who will also train to become a Jetson pilot; and Electric seaglider startup Regent<\/strong> announced a $60 million raise<\/a> co-led by 8090 Industries and Founders Fund and an MOU with Japan Airlines.<\/p>\n The tl;dr: evTOL startups, and more broadly, the future of flight sector, is no longer just a collection of far-flung ideas and dreams anymore. While there is certainly quite a bit of hype and excitement around the nascent sector, real progress has been made. Of course, challenges, including the multi-year certification process with the FAA, remain. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of the autonomous vehicle technology sector five years ago.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll leave you with one other fun fact that might be under your radar. Remember the Estes Industries<\/strong> rockets from your childhood? John Langford<\/strong>, the founder of Aurora Flight Sciences (Boeing acquired) and founder of Electra.Aero, bought the failing company out of bankruptcy back in 2018. He was at the event and shared a bit about his story and why he wanted to keep these rockets flying.<\/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 Bird <\/b>is <\/span>laying off more staff<\/span><\/a>, according to an internal email viewed by TechCrunch. The company didn\u2019t confirm to us how many people would be affected, nor from which teams, but we\u2019re not surprised.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A little over a week ago, Bird was delisted from the NYSE. A week before that, the company acquired <\/span>Spin<\/b>, the e-scooter operator that was previously owned by Tier, and before that Ford. The letter from Bird\u2019s interim CEO Michael Washinushi said the layoffs were due to redundancies from integrating the two teams.<\/span><\/p>\n If anyone has been affected by the layoffs and wants to share information with us, don\u2019t hesitate to reach out!<\/span><\/p>\n Meet <\/span>Bastille<\/b>, the makers of a <\/span>low-tech folding bike<\/span><\/a> that has normal sized wheels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, pour some out for Karim Slaoui, the co-founder of legendary e-bike company <\/span>Cowboy<\/b>, who <\/span>passed away at 36-years-old<\/span><\/a>. His raison d\u2019etre was to \u201cbe optimistic and innovate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Electric Hydrogen<\/b>, a Massachusetts-based green hydrogen technology company, raised a <\/span>$380 million Series C<\/span><\/a>, bringing its valuation up to $1 billion. That, folks, makes Electric Hydrogen (EH2) the green hydrogen industry\u2019s first unicorn.<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re starting to see an uptick in green hydrogen investment as investors begin to recognize that batteries aren\u2019t ideal when it comes to decarbonizing aviation and long-haul trucking, not to mention steel mills and chemical plants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n EH2 brought on some heavy hitters like Microsoft\u2019s Climate Innovation Fund, United Airlines, BP and Fortescue Metals. The company says its electrolyzers can produce more hydrogen at a cheaper price. That\u2019s partly due to EH2\u2019s tech, but partly due to the IRA\u2019s renewable energy incentives. EH2 says those offers will help it make green hydrogen that\u2019s actually competitive in today\u2019s market and doesn\u2019t use cheap natural gas to generate greenhouse-gas emissions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Other deals that got my attention\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n Bolt.Earth<\/b>, an Indian startup that offers charging infrastructure and software solutions for EVs, <\/span>raised $20 million<\/span><\/a> to expand its presence in India and beyond. The round was funded by new and existing investors, including Union Square Ventures, Prime Venture Partners and ITIGO Funds, among others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n More like no deal. Tiny EV maker <\/span>ElectraMeccanica <\/b>has <\/span>terminated its plan<\/span><\/a> to merge with hydrogen EV truck maker <\/span>Tevva.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Kinetic Automation<\/b> closed a $<\/span>10 million Series A<\/span><\/a> to expand its network of EV-focused service centers. Lux Capital and Construct Capital led the all-equity round, with participation from Haystack Ventures, Automotive Ventures and Shakti Ventures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Loop<\/b>, a Chicago-based provider of audit and payment systems for logistics companies, secured <\/span>$35 million<\/span><\/a> in funds from JP Morgan, Growth Equity Partners and Index Ventures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Rivian<\/b> said it intends to offer $1.5 billion of green convertible senior notes, which sent shares plummeting. The automaker also shared a preliminary forecast into its Q3 earnings. Alex Wilhelm broke down what this all means in a <\/span>TC+ post<\/span><\/a>, but here are a couple of financial highlights:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Vayu Robotics<\/b> closed a $12.7 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, ReMY Investors and others. Vayu is working on a low-cost sensing technology to replace lidar.<\/span><\/p>\n Tesla<\/b> scored a win this week when a judge ruled that a group of <\/span>Tesla owners couldn\u2019t pursue claims in court <\/span><\/a>that the company falsely advertised its Autopilot and FSD systems. This isn\u2019t a win for the tech in itself, but rather for Tesla\u2019s terms and conditions. The judge found that the plaintiffs had all agreed to arbitrate any legal claims when they signed up for their services, which they could have opted out of within 30 days. Tesla\u2019s success in dodging a class action lawsuit could encourage other automakers to lean more heavily on this tactic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A <\/span>Cruise <\/b>robotaxi was <\/span>involved<\/span><\/a> in yet another scandalous incident, which is currently being investigated by the San Francisco police. TechCrunch saw video of the incident, showing how a pedestrian was struck by a human-driven vehicle. The pedestrian landed in the lane where the Cruise robotaxi was. The Cruise vehicle \u201cbraked aggressively\u201d but the pedestrian was still run over and then stuck under the vehicle.<\/span><\/p>\n Polestar<\/b> delivered 13,900 units in the third quarter, a 12% decline from Q2, but a 50% rise from the same period last year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Rivian <\/b>reported it <\/span>produced 16,304 vehicles<\/span><\/a> and delivered 15,564 to customers in the third quarter. Those results are 23% higher than the previous quarter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tesla\u2019<\/b>s Q3 numbers were <\/span>7% lower than the previous quarter<\/span><\/a>. The automaker delivered 435,059 vehicles in Q3, missing Wall Street expectations. Tesla attributed the miss to planned downtime at its factories.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ford<\/b> is launching another <\/span>version of its electric F-150 Lightning <\/span><\/a>pickup that prioritizes tech and battery range over other premium features. The Lightning Flash will start at $68,995 and will come with an extended battery range of 320 miles, a 1.2 version of Ford\u2019s hands-free ADAS, a 15.5-inch touchscreen and other fun features.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hyundai<\/b> and <\/span>Kia<\/b> are the latest to promise future EVs built with Tesla\u2019s NACS charging standard. <\/span>What we want to know is<\/span><\/a>, when will \u200b\u200b<\/span>Volkswagen<\/b> join the party?<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>Lucid Air Pure RWD<\/b>, the automaker\u2019s lower-end offering, is available to order at a starting price of $77,400.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Uber <\/b>was found to have<\/span> failed to comply <\/span><\/a>with EU algorithmic transparency requirements in a legal challenge brought by two drivers whose accounts were terminated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Uber<\/b> also introduced a <\/span>feature<\/span><\/a> that allows you to courier your packages to the post office, UPS or FedEx. And no, it\u2019s not a pivot away from the sketchy, drug-mule-attracting peer-to-peer courier service Uber currently has going. We asked.<\/span><\/p>\n Dave Clark<\/strong>, the former Amazon exec who was ousted as CEO of <\/span>Flexport<\/b> a year into the job, fired back at Flexport\u2019s founder and board calling a recent reporting on the logistics company \u201c<\/span>deeply concerning<\/span><\/a>.\u201d He said he discovered extensive problems when he joined in September 2022 including a \u201crevenue forecasting model that was consistently providing overly optimistic outputs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nMicromobbin\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n
Deal of the week<\/h2>\n
![\"money](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/money-the-station.png\")
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Notable reads and other tidbits<\/h2>\n
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<\/a><\/h3>\nADAS<\/b><\/h3>\n
Autonomous vehicles<\/b><\/h3>\n
Deliveries<\/b><\/h3>\n
Electric vehicles, charging & batteries<\/h3>\n
Gig economy<\/b><\/h3>\n
Miscellaneous\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n