TechCrunch Mobility: How Jony Ive’s LoveFrom helped Rivian and what Uber’s next-generation playbook looks like

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I’ve spent a decade protecting Tesla and CEO Elon Musk, so it might be pure for me to weigh in right here in regards to the billionaire’s public fallout with President Donald Trump. Loads of different reporters, armchair analysts, influencers, and bloggers have already performed that. A few of it’s sensible, whereas a few of it misses the mark — by miles.

Since I get pleasure from institutional information, and a helluva good reminiscence, let me supply some temporary reminders and predictions. We’ve been right here earlier than — Musk has an extended, well-documented historical past of making seemingly robust alliances after which burning all of it down. 

As senior reporter Tim De Chant famous, Elon is getting an introduction to politics. The issue right here is that Musk additionally embraces threat and gravitas — which implies that studying one thing doesn’t equate to his habits altering. 

Count on a roller-coaster experience of tentative peace adopted by public outbursts. Rinse. Repeat.

The implications of this fallout promise to be broad and can possible contact all of Musk’s numerous enterprises. I can be monitoring how Tesla EV gross sales numbers fare and the way the “Massive, Lovely Invoice” will truly have an effect on the automaker’s enterprise whether it is handed into legislation. 

Within the brief time period, I can be centered on Tesla’s nice robotaxi experiment in Austin, Texas, and the way Musk’s difficult and more and more poisonous relationship with the Trump administration impacts his dealings with the Division of Transportation. Previous to his public breakup with Trump, Musk was lobbying lawmakers on laws associated to autonomous automobiles — particularly over a invoice launched on Could 15 known as the Autonomous Vehicle Acceleration Act.

Just a little fowl

Ever since Rivian spun out Additionally, a micromobility startup that additionally acquired backing from Eclipse Ventures, we’ve been poking round to search out out extra. A number of little birds have been in contact and helped us higher perceive how the skunkworks program became a stand-alone firm; in addition they revealed a shocking element: Jony Ive’s artistic agency LoveFrom labored alongside Rivian’s design group and the workers below the skunkworks program. Senior reporter Sean O’Kane and I have the full scoop here. 

Acquired a tip for us? E mail Kirsten Korosec at [email protected] or my Sign at kkorosec.07, Sean O’Kane at [email protected], or Rebecca Bellan at [email protected]. Or take a look at these instructions to discover ways to contact us by way of encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.

Offers!

Memorandums of understanding not often seize my consideration. However this one did.

Joby Aviation and Saudi Arabian conglomerate Abdul Latif Jameel signed a memorandum of understanding to discover a distribution settlement for up to 200 electric aircraft. The tentative deal is notable as a result of Abdul Latif Jameel is already an investor of Joby. 

If finalized, the partnership might present Joby with a quick path to monetizing its electrical vertical takeoff and touchdown automobiles in Saudi Arabia. Turning an investor right into a buyer can complicate the connection, too (simply ask Amazon and Rivian.) 

Different offers value noting …

Obvio, a California-based startup that’s combining AI with cameras positioned at cease indicators to root out unsafe driving habits, raised $22 million in a Collection A funding spherical led by Bain Capital Ventures. Obvio plans to make use of these funds to increase past the primary 5 cities the place it’s presently working in Maryland. 

Portless, an e-commerce achievement and logistics startup, raised $18 million in a funding spherical led by Commerce Ventures, with participation from eGateway Capital, Floor Up Ventures, and FJ Labs. Portless makes use of a Shein-like enterprise mannequin and expenses manufacturers duties after an merchandise sells, serving to defer the price of tariffs.

Toma, an AI voice startup that’s making use of its instruments to automobile dealerships, raised $17 million throughout a seed and Collection A spherical led by a16z. Y Combinator (Toma was in YC’s January 2024 cohort), the Scale Angels Fund, and auto trade influencer Yossi Levi, often known as the Automobile Dealership Man, have backed the startup. 

What Uber’s government shuffling is telling us

Current government shuffling coupled with feedback by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi don’t simply trace on the firm’s technique. Nope, this is sort of a neon blinking signal and the phrase “autonomy” is on the middle. 

Earlier this week, Uber introduced it had appointed Andrew “Mac” Macdonald as president and chief working officer. The corporate additionally introduced the departure of Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, who ran Uber’s supply enterprise.

Gore-Coty’s tasks will slot below Macdonald, who has been with the corporate since 2012 and most not too long ago led the mobility and enterprise operations. One other tidbit value mentioning: He launched Uber’s Toronto operations 13 years in the past and spearheaded its autonomous technique.

Mac’s new position will mix mobility, supply, and autonomy. 

At a Bloomberg convention, Khosrowshahi was requested about AVs. He talked about constructing the AV ecosystem and Uber’s stakes in corporations (Aurora and Waabi) creating autonomous automobile expertise.

“We need to primarily help the AV ecosystem and proceed to assist that ecosystem develop after which AVs penetrate into {the marketplace},” he mentioned. “AVs, we predict, signify a safer approach of transportation. Finally, we predict it’ll increase {the marketplace} because it makes type of protected transportation cities accessible to all people.”

In different Uber information, the corporate has added a new type of account with a simpler UI for older people. 

Notable reads and different tidbits

Autonomous automobiles

Tesla filed trademark applications for the time period “Tesla Robotaxi” after the corporate’s earlier makes an attempt to safe emblems for its deliberate self-driving automobile service hit roadblocks.

Electrical automobiles, batteries, & charging

I missed this story from Axios reporter Katie Fehrenbacher and wished to say it right here. Final 12 months, Redwood Supplies quietly walked away from the Division of Power (DOE) mortgage it had acquired conditional approval for. To this point, Redwood has by no means acquired any federal funding.

I reached out to Redwood to grasp why. Redwood initially utilized for a DOE mortgage in 2021. The method dragged on and at appreciable price to Redwood. Corporations that undergo this course of are chargeable for paying the third-party consultants and consultants employed to vet the enterprise and expertise. By 2024, Redwood was nonetheless on the conditional approval limbo. Whereas it was ready, the corporate raised greater than $2 billion in non-public funding and generated almost $200 million in income final 12 months. 

Finally, Redwood decided that the prices and constraints of this mortgage outweighed its worth.

Way forward for flight

Walmart and Alphabet’s Wing are bringing drone supply to hundreds extra clients. Wing, which already operates out of 18 Walmart Supercenters within the Dallas-Forth Value space, is establishing store in five more U.S. cities via the partnership. In all, greater than 100 shops can be added in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, and Tampa.

Folks

Trevor Milton, the not too long ago pardoned founding father of Nikola, has been fighting a subpoena from the collectors of his bankrupt electrical trucking firm. Milton owed Nikola almost $100 million earlier than it filed for chapter in February, which adopted an arbitration case with the corporate in 2023 associated to his legal conviction that he misplaced.