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Your usual server Kirsten has reset the rein to me , Rebecca Bellan , for the day , and I require to babble about Aurora Innovation and its last - moment save .
Aurora had been promise to plunge the U.S. ’ first fully self-directed commercial-grade hauling service in April this twelvemonth , after push back its original 2024 launching . With just ( proverbial ) minute to give up , Aurora pull off the win .
Aurora articulate it has run over 1,200 miles of freight this week between Dallas and Houston with launching customers Hirschbach Motor Lines and Uber Freight . That ’s with a individual motortruck , for now . Aurora project to ramp up up to “ tens of self - drive truck ” and expand to El Paso and Phoenix by the end of 2025 as it continue to hunt more freightage for customers with its fleet of supervised self-directed trucks .
It ’s a immense whole step for Aurora , and for the manufacture . But as Trump ’s tariffs grind many despatch to a halt , is Aurora well positioned to seize the mo , or could extend delays peril its survival ?
A little bird
Got a tip for us ? Email Kirsten Korosec atkirsten.korosec@techcrunch.comor my Signal at kkorosec.07 , Sean O’Kane atsean.okane@techcrunch.com , or Rebecca Bellan atrebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com . Or fit outthese instructionsto ascertain how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop .
Deals!
AeroVironment , a drone Creator , hascompleted its acquisitionof outer space and defense technology troupe BlueHalo . The $ 4.1 billion all - strain plenty will see the merged companies become a new kind of defense tech called Ab that can progress tech across all warfighting domains : air , domain , sea , infinite , and cyber .
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True Anomaly , a defense - focalize aerospace startup building spacecraft and software for U.S. national security missionary work , raised $ 260 millionin a Series C round lead by VC firm Accel .
Notable reads and other tidbits
Autonomous vehicles
May Mobilityis the a la mode to joinUber ’s roll of sovereign fomite collaborators . The two announced this workweek plan to deployMay ’s autonomous vehicles on the Uber platformby the end of 2025 , starting in Arlington , Texas , as part of a multi - yr partnership .
Momenta , the Chinese AV startup , is also forge withUber . The two plan tolaunch Momenta robotaxis on the Uberplatform set out in Europe in 2026 .
WaymoandToyotaareexploring a dealthat could one sidereal day result to a Modern self - beat back vehicle project for ride - hailing and possibly even personal autonomous vehicles . It ’s still early days , so think of it as more of a soft - launching of their budding human relationship .
Electric vehicles, charging, & batteries
Canoo ’s bankruptcy proceedings are still going on , and now a cryptical London investor has ask the justice tostop the saleof the EV startup ’s assets to its chief operating officer , calling it a “ flawed process . ” He ’s throwing down an offering of $ 20 million for the assets , which trumps Canoo CEO Anthony Aquila ’s $ 4 million bid .
Rivianis sit pretty on astockpile of batteriesfor its trucks , SUVs , and commercial-grade vanguard that it built up before and after Donald Trump ’s election . That ’ll cushion the coke of the president ’s tariffs , which are hit the auto industry intemperately .
Slate Auto , the buzzy raw Jeff Bezos - backed EV startup that break out of stealing last week , is eyeinga printing plant locate in Warsaw , Indiana , as the future place where it ’ll produce its cheap electric truck .
Tesla ’s board reportedly beganshopping for a successorto CEO Elon Musk as the head ’s cavorting in Washington has devalued the trade name , and its margin , intemperately . Tesla death chair Robyn Denholm deny the reporting from The Wall Street Journal .
While we ’re on the field of Tesla ’s add-in , let ’s deform our attention to board penis Joe Gebbia ( who is alsoconnected to DOGE ) . Gebbiaacquired about 4,000 sharesof Tesla gunstock at a $ 1 million value , which is far-famed because it ’s so rare to see plug-in members straight up buy breed .
Miscellaneous
Fordhasshut down its FNV4 software system architecture initiative , a project it had once thought of as critical to compete with EV leaders like Tesla . Closing the initiative mean an destruction to geezerhood of growing that would vertically integrate vehicle package across Ford ’s gas and electric lineups .
Joby Aviationtransitionedits eVTOL from horizontal to vertical flight for the first metre with a pilot on board . It ’s a necessary step as the company wreak toward FAA certification .
Ride-hailing and delivery
DoorDashwants a California jurist todismiss a lawsuitfiled byUberthat impeach the delivery troupe of stifling competition by intimidating restaurant owners into single heap . DoorDash said the case was nothing but a scare maneuver from Uber to avoid “ real competition . ”
