TechCrunch Mobility: RIP, Tesla Autopilot, and the...

Welcome again to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for information and insights on the way forward for transportation. To get this in your inbox, enroll right here free of charge — simply click on TechCrunch Mobility!

A fast little bit of breaking information that hit simply as we had been about to ship this article out. The Nationwide Transportation Security Board has opened an investigation into Waymo after its robotaxis have been noticed illegally passing stopped college buses quite a few instances in at the very least two states. Read the full story here.

Now onto our common programming …

Tesla made a few strikes this week — and simply earlier than its quarterly earnings drops — designed to point out its progress, and even dominance, in automated driving expertise. However, maintain up, there may be extra to it than mere optics. 

The week began with Tesla providing passengers robotaxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver within the entrance seat. When you recall, Tesla launched a restricted service in Austin final yr with a fleet of modified Tesla Mannequin Y automobiles operating a extra superior model of the corporate’s driving software program generally known as Full Self-Driving Supervised (this one being “unsupervised”). Human security operators have been using within the entrance passenger seat as a precaution because the rollout.

Not all of Tesla’s fleet in Austin will probably be totally driverless, and there may be apparently a chase automobile behind these which might be. Nonetheless, it’s notable and suggests Tesla is transferring towards a broader ramp-up. 

In the meantime, Tesla has killed Autopilot, the superior driver-assistance system that was initially launched to its automobiles in 2014. Autopilot has gone by way of a number of software program and {hardware} iterations over time with new capabilities. 

Autopilot was immediately standard and controversial, partly as a result of the identify implied the system was extra succesful than it really was. (Drivers are accountable and are purported to have their arms on the wheel when Autopilot is engaged.)

Tesla finally made a primary Autopilot system customary in all of its automobiles, whereas launching and charging for a extra strong system identified now as Full Self-Driving (Supervised). The fundamental model, which is now lifeless, included traffic-aware cruise management, during which the automobile maintains a set distance with vehicles forward, and Autosteer, a characteristic that facilities the automobile within the lane and steers it.

Its resolution to kill what was customary ADAS comes one week after Tesla mentioned it will cease charging a one-time $8,000 payment for the FSD software program and transfer all prospects to a month-to-month subscription. 

These selections when taken collectively supply a easy sufficient rationalization: Tesla needs to acknowledge extra income from FSD because it positions itself as an AI and robotics firm. 

However there may be one other attainable motive. The corporate is going through a 30-day suspension of its manufacturing and vendor licenses in California after a decide dominated in December that Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing by overstating the capabilities of Autopilot and FSD. 

The ruling has been stayed for 60 days to permit Tesla to conform. Dropping the Autopilot identify whereas cashing in on FSD is a somewhat daring transfer. However maybe Tesla believes this is sufficient to satiate the DMV.

Offers!

Zipline, the autonomous drone-delivery and logistics startup, has been round for greater than a decade, beginning in Rwanda delivering blood. Its progress has been sluggish and regular, notching wins in different African nations and increasing to america. That trajectory sped up after it launched a brand new drone platform in 2025 referred to as P2 that focuses on house supply of meals and different items. 

Now, fueled with $600 million in new funding, its growth ambitions have grown. The corporate, which is now valued at $7.6 billion, is bringing its service to Houston and Phoenix and plans to increase to at the very least 4 extra U.S. states in 2026. 

Constancy Administration & Analysis Firm, Baillie Gifford, Valor Fairness Companions, and Tiger World participated within the funding spherical.

Different offers that acquired my consideration …

ABZ Innovation, a Europe-based maker of professional quality agricultural and industrial drones, raised $8.2 million in a funding spherical led by Vsquared Ventures, with participation from Meeting Ventures and Day One Capital.

Ethernovia, a San Jose, California-based startup that makes Ethernet-based programs for autonomous automobiles, raised $90 million in a Sequence B funding spherical led by Maverick Silicon — an AI-focused fund created in 2024 by hedge fund Maverick Capital.

Serve Robotics, the sidewalk supply robotic firm backed by Nvidia and Uber, acquired Diligent Robotics in a deal that values the widespread inventory at $29 million. Diligent builds robots named Moxi which might be designed to help in hospitals by delivering lab samples, provides, and different duties. Be aware: Look ahead to extra autonomous automobile tech-robotics crossovers within the coming yr. 

Terralayr, a German grid-scale battery storage firm, raised €192 million in a spherical led by Eurazeo. RIVE Personal Funding, Creandum, Earlybird, Norrsken VC, and Picus Capital additionally participated.

TrueCar founder Scott Painter reacquired the corporate in a $227 million deal by way of his agency Truthful Holdings, and companions AutoNation, PenFed Credit score Union, Zurich North America, and others. TrueCar will not be publicly traded, and Painter has returned to the CEO spot.

Notable reads and different tidbits

Austin Russell, the founder and former CEO of bankrupt lidar firm Luminar, agreed to accept an electronic subpoena for data on his cellphone pertaining to the corporate. The subpoena is said to Luminar’s ongoing chapter continuing.

Chinese language automaker Geely Holding Group launched its five-year blueprint, and amongst its many targets is a piece on robotaxis. The corporate mentioned that by 2030 its Cao Cao Mobility ride-hailing unit will function a fleet of 100,000 robotaxis overlaying main cities in China. It additionally hinted at plans to increase past China “sooner or later.”

Normal Motors is transferring manufacturing of two gas-powered automobiles away from China and Mexico and to a U.S. manufacturing unit in Kansas. That change can even imply the top of its rebooted Chevrolet Bolt EV, the one automobile at the moment constructed on the Fairfax Meeting Plant in Kansas. Read more to learn when production of the Chevy Bolt EV will end. 

Tesla goals to restart work on Dojo3, the corporate’s previously abandoned third-generation AI chip. Dojo3 gained’t be aimed toward coaching self-driving fashions. As a substitute, CEO Elon Musk says it is going to be devoted to “space-based AI compute.”

Waymo has opened its robotaxi service in Miami. Riders will probably be accepted on a rolling foundation, to the almost 10,000 native residents on its waitlist. 

Yet another factor …

Alex Roy, who co-hosts the Autonocast with me and Ed Niedermeyer, simply traveled from Los Angeles to New York in a Tesla Mannequin S, during which the automobile’s Full Self-Driving Supervised software program handled all of the driving. This “Cannonball Run” route is one Roy is acquainted with; he set the transcontinental driving document in 2007 when he traveled the route in 31 hours and 4 minutes. He has gone on to make different Cannonball Run information in EVs. Others have adopted and since crushed these information. 

In response to Roy, who captured the complete run on video, the FSD (model 14.2.2.3) drove 100% of the three,081-mile journey. That included exiting the freeway and parking at EV chargers. The time was 58 hours, 22 minutes.