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President-elect Trump has wasted little time picking cabinet members, including naming former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy as the next secretary of transportation. If Duffy’s appointment is confirmed by the Senate, the new secretary will oversee an annual budget of about $107 billion, not to mention a broad range of issues that will touch the tech world, including fuel efficiency standards, advanced driver assistance technologies, and autonomous vehicles.
I took a look at his legislative record and there’s nothing really related to transportation, save for a bill pertaining to logging vehicles. That makes it difficult to predict exactly what his priorities will be. Stay tuned.
Two more fun things. During an episode of TechCrunch’s Equity, Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff talked about some of his favorite gadgets. And you guessed it, cars and trucks — many of which are EVs — were on top.
And this is not quite transportation-related, so forgive me. Tesla’s Optimus bot has a new friend: Kim Kardashian.
Before we jump into the news, one housekeeping item: We will not have an edition of TechCrunch Mobility next Thursday due to the Thanksgiving holiday. For all my U.S.-based readers — plus those abroad who celebrate the holiday — stay safe out there on those roads. I know what I will be giving thanks to this holiday: good health and the ability to do what I love, which includes writing this very newsletter.
A little bird
Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com, or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.
Deals!
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
Last month, Pony AI joined the list of Chinese firms going public on the U.S. stock market after a multiyear ban from Beijing on offshore capital raising. Now we know what Pony AI is aiming for.
Pony AI wants to raise around $260 million, up from its previous target of around $224 million, Sean O’Kane reported. To meet the goal, Pony will sell as many as 20 million American depository shares.
That’s still down from the much higher target of $425 million, which Pony was aiming for earlier this year before its board approved a reduction of its minimum valuation from around $8 billion to $4 billion.
Other deals that got my attention …
Ample, the San Francisco-based EV battery-swapping company, raised $25 million from new investor Mitsubishi Corporation.
Class8, a Toronto-based trucking fleet operations startup previously called FleetOps, raised $22 million in a Series A round led by Xplorer Capital. New investor Commerce Ventures and returning backers Inspired Capital and Resolute Ventures also joined.
Ecolectro, which makes hydrogen-producing electrolyzers, raised $10.5 million in a Series A round led by the Toyota Ventures climate fund with participation from Cornell University, New Climate Ventures, Starshot Capital, and Techstars.
ePlane, an Indian-based startup developing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, raised $14 million in a Series B round co-led by Speciale Invest and Antares Ventures. The all-equity round also included participation from Micelio Mobility, Naval Ravikant, Java Capital, Samarthya Investment Advisors, Redstart (from Naukri), and Anicut. The round has valued the startup at $46 million post-money — over 2x its previous $21 million valuation.
Flipturn, a New York-based startup that developed software to help fleets manage their EV charging, raised $11 million in a Series A round led by CRV with participation from Accel.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
Autonomous vehicles
Cruise admitted to submitting a false report with the goal of influencing a federal investigation into a safety incident last year. The GM subsidiary agreed to pay a $500,000 criminal fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement.
May Mobility is starting to test driverless shuttles (self-driving Toyota Sienna minivans) in Ann Arbor.
Nuro started rolling out a test fleet of its driverless, passenger-less R3 vehicles across the Bay Area and Houston, two months after changing its business strategy to license its AV tech to automakers and mobility providers. The reason? Show potential customers what they’ve got.
Xiaodi Hou, the co-founder and former CEO of self-driving trucking startup TuSimple, has urged a California district court to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the company from transferring its remaining U.S. assets to China. This fight is getting messy.
Electric vehicles, charging, & batteries
Hyundai revealed the new Ioniq 9, a three-row SUV that is expected to come to the U.S. in the spring of 2025. Read more from contributor Emme Hall about this new EV and its numerous features.
Remember the Ram Ramcharger? Well Stellantis has released new details about STLA Frame, the underlying vehicle platform that the Ram Ramcharger will eventually be built on. TL;DR: This is designed to be a multi-energy platform, which means it can be the foundation for an internal combustion, hybrid, battery-electric, or even gas-extending vehicle like the Ram Ramcharger.
The $7,500 EV tax credit is on Trump’s chopping block.
In-car tech
Ford agreed to pay a $165 million penalty to federal regulators after moving too slowly to recall vehicles with faulty rearview cameras.
People
General Motors has cut another 1,000 jobs in the U.S., none of which were hourly workers. And Ford said it will slash another 4,000 jobs in Europe in a cost-cutting strategy as the growth rate for EVs has slowed.
Rivian’s head of communications, Sarah O’Brien, who once held a similar role at Tesla, has left the EV maker. She has joined LoveFrom, the creative collective founded by Apple’s former chief design officer Jony Ive.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen has tapped former Rivian exec Kjell Gruner to run its U.S. business.
This week’s wheels
What is “This week’s wheels”? It’s a chance to learn about the different transportation products we’re testing, whether it’s an electric or hybrid car, an e-bike, or even a ride in an autonomous vehicle. Future vehicles include the Lucid Air, more time in the next-gen Rivian R1S, and the Volkswagen ID Buzz. Stay tuned.
