TechCrunch Mobility: A robotaxi ultimatum
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part.
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Uber’s robotaxi lobbying effort puts it on a collision course with Waymo
Washington, D.C. has become a battleground for Uber and Waymo’s competing views.
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LAPD lets contract with surveillance giant Flock expire, citing ‘serious concerns’ over civil liberties and privacy
The LAPD, one of Flock’s biggest government customers, is ending its contract with the company citing civil liberties concerns.
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SpaceX cleared to fly Starship again after booster failure in May
This will be the first Starship test flight for SpaceX as a public company, testing the market’s appetite for the company’s “fly, fail, fix” approach to rocket development, which often ends in fireballs.
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AI | TC | Transportation
Uber’s product chief on hotels, robotaxis, and why the company doesn’t want to be ‘everything for everyone’
Uber Chief Product Officer Sachin Kansal walks TechCrunch through the company’s financial services ambitions, its increasingly complicated relationship with Waymo, its new AV Labs data operation, and how AI is starting to show up in ways riders and drivers will actually notice.
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Lucid Motors denies report it’s considering bankruptcy
The company said the “rumors are completely false” after its stock sank more than 50% on a report that it was weighing the option.
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Tesla driver in fatal Texas crash pressed accelerator 100%, NTSB confirms
The safety board confirmed Tesla’s account of the crash, which the company shared days after it happened last month.
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Sheryl Sandberg leads $10 million investment in AI-powered vehicle inspection service
The startup, founded in 2021, lets enterprise customers use smartphones to scan and spot vehicle damage.
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Uber’s $14.8B Delivery Hero deal would nearly double its global footprint
Uber has agreed to acquire Delivery Hero in a $14.8 billion all-stock deal that would nearly double the company’s global footprint and create one of the world’s largest food-delivery platforms outside China.
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SpaceX suddenly aborts second Starship V3 launch after ignition
The company didn’t immediately say what went wrong. SpaceX’s stock plunged more than 4% in after-hours trading before paring losses.
