The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Friday proposed a new national framework that could make it easier for companies to deploy at scale autonomous vehicles without traditional manual driving controls — like steering wheels, pedals, and sideview mirrors.  The guidelines also require AV companies to share a whole lot more safety data with […]

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TuSimple has completed its pivot away from autonomous trucking to AI animation and gaming with a rebrand. The company shall henceforth be known as CreateAI.  The rebrand comes as TuSimple is embroiled in controversy over the company’s plans to move its remaining U.S. assets to China to fund the new business, which it initially announced […]

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“I think the most ironic way the world could end would be if someone makes a memecoin about a man’s stretched anus and it brings about the singularity.” That’s Andy Ayrey, the founder of decentralized AI alignment research lab Upward Spiral, who is also behind the viral AI bot Truth Terminal. You might have heard […]

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TuSimple co-founder and former CEO Xiaodi Hou is on a war path in the lead up to Friday’s annual shareholder meeting that will decide the makeup of the company’s board of directors.  Over the past several weeks, Hou has sued TuSimple for control of his voting rights, demanded the company immediately liquidate and return all […]

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Tesla is trying to boost its Model S sales before the year is out, but it’s got a funny way of doing it.  After initially abandoning its free Supercharging for life offer in 2018, the automaker is bringing it back for some Tesla Model S cars at the end of the year. It’s something of […]

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The all-electric 2025 Lucid Air Pure is a dreamy, sexy car that’s no less luxurious for being the cheapest trim in Lucid’s Air lineup. I felt fancy and discerning driving around, but in an understated way – as if I were wearing designer sweatpants.  But does fancy equal value? I spent about 10 days driving […]

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These startups have fascinating new technologies, business models, founder stories or are pushing an industry forward in exciting ways.

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Electric vehicle charging startup EVgo is the latest company to secure funds from the U.S. Department of Energy as the Biden administration races to approve clean energy loans before Donald Trump takes over.  Trump has promised to cancel any unspent funds from Biden’s bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act, including the $7,500 tax credit for new EV […]

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon plan to donate $1 million each to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, according to reports from Fox and The Wall Street Journal.  TechCrunch has confirmed Altman’s plans to personally commit the money, which is not coming directly from OpenAI.    The donations from the billionaires follow plans by […]

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Roundabouts. They trapped Clark Griswold in “National Lampoon’s European Vacation” and now they’ve tripped up a Waymo robotaxi. A video is circulating on social media showing a Waymo robotaxi going round and round on a roundabout — as if it is stuck in a loop. A Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch there were no passengers onboard […]

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Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pulling off a lobbying-public relations combo move by gifting President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund $1 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. The money came from Meta, to be clear, but Zuckerberg sweetened the gift further — while doing great marketing — by sending Trump a pair of Meta’s smart […]

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Funding to defense tech companies has boomed in 2024 as geopolitical tensions rise, advancements in AI abound, and investors seek out a new growth area amid a broader tech sector slowdown.  Archer Aviation wants in on the action.  The aviation startup, which is building vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, said Thursday that it has […]

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Honda Motor Co. will stop funding a joint venture with General Motors and Cruise to launch a robotaxi service in Japan, now that GM has pulled the plug on Cruise and its commercial robotaxi ambitions, reports The Nikkei. GM said Tuesday it would cease funding Cruise and instead absorb the company and combine it with […]

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Apple is working with semiconductor company Broadcom on its first server chip designed to handle AI applications, according to The Information, which cited three people with knowledge of the project.  Apple is known for designing its own chips — called Apple Silicon and primarily manufactured by TSMC — for its devices. But those chips weren’t […]

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The news came by Slack message.  Cruise CEO Marc Whitten, who took the top post in June, posted a message Tuesday afternoon in the company’s announcements channel along with a link to a press release entitled “GM to refocus autonomous driving development on personal vehicles.” GM, which acquired the self-driving car startup in 2016, would […]

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Electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle startup Joby Aviation has launched a public offering to sell up to $300 million of its shares of common stock, per a regulatory filing. Separately, Joby raised $222 million in October from underwriters. This latest filing adds to that offering and would give Joby the chance to raise a […]

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Nikola Corp., a producer of battery and hydrogen-electric trucks, has taken several steps to repay its debts and raise equity, including offering up to $100 million in a common stock sale.  The beleaguered company is still dealing with the aftershocks of its founder, Trevor Milton, being convicted of fraud for making exaggerated claims about the […]

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Fresh campaign financing data shows that Elon Musk poured more than $260 million into political groups in 2024 that helped Donald Trump win the presidential election and, consequently, secured a position for himself as the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, according to the Federal Election Commission. The New York Times reported that Musk and […]

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Ride-hail giant Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company WeRide have launched a commercial robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi. The launch marks Uber’s first international autonomous vehicle offering.  Uber has been snatching up partnerships with autonomous vehicle companies across sectors, including ride-hail, delivery, and trucking. Other partners include Wayve, Serve Robotics, Aurora Innovation, Waabi, and […]

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Uber has 30 days to require certain drivers to get fingerprinted if the ride-hail giant intends to continue transporting unaccompanied teens in California.  The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a ruling Thursday that requires taxi and ride-hail drivers who are carrying unaccompanied minors in the state to pass a fingerprint background check. The ruling […]

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