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☆ Peter Thiel's VC firm just led a $40 million investment into the self-driving startup ISEE. Here's why it's betting on the little-known player as top firms struggle.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Peter Thiel's venture-capital firm, Founders Fund, just led a $40 million raise for ISEE. CEO Yibiao Zhao told Insider the startup's first focus was software for trucks in logistics yards. Peter Thiel's venture-capital firm just led a $40 million investment into a little-known self-driving-tech startup whose founders plan to help solve the supply-chain crisis. The raise is sizable considering today's economic environment has seen less funding going toward mobility, including autonomous tech. "We don't build trucks," Zhao said.

In August, we spent a day driving around with Mr. Cook and his Tesla to assess the progress of this experimental technology. Tesla is driving But watch as the Tesla struggles to make sense of its environment, veering from the road into a motel parking lot. The experiences of beta testers like Mr. Cook are a window into the enormously ambitious and expensive bet that Tesla is making on self-driving technology. Guided by Tesla’s self-driving technology, the car drove along the river and over a bridge before reaching an intersection lined with trees. These companies are now preparing self-driving car services that will operate without backup drivers in places like San Francisco and Austin, Texas.

☆ Ford vs. GM: Same Industry, two increasingly different companies
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Michael Wayland | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In this article FGM Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTJim Farley, CEO, Ford, left, and Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors Reuters; General MotorsDETROIT — "Same industry. GM has gained an edge in recent years on the back of better financials and early moves into electric and autonomous vehicles. GM most recently reported third-quarter results that, compared to Ford, knocked it out of the park. The investment cases for America's largest automakers are increasingly diverging as the companies — separated by just $1 billion in market value — have taken different tacks around electric and autonomous vehicles. Ford expects at least 40% of its sales globally to be electric vehicles by the end of this decade.

☆ Waymo starts full-fledged robotaxi services in Phoenix
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 10 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Waymo said it was opening up its autonomous ride-hailing service for customers in Phoenix, Arizona on Thursday, pushing ahead with the deployment of robotaxi services in the United States. Investors have been worried about the timeline for autonomous vehicle deployment, as it has been stretched by tough regulatory scrutiny, and delayed commercial adoption of the technology. The autonomous vehicle technology company looks to deploy its Waymo One robotaxi services in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the near future. Customers with the Waymo app can hail a ride within Phoenix's downtown area, the company said on Thursday, after months of test runs. Prior to launching full-fledged services in Phoenix, Waymo operated trips round the clock in Phoenix's East Valley region and provided trips to and from the city's Sky Harbor airport.

☆ Tesla's Cybertruck is finally getting built next year. Here's everything Elon Musk has let slip about the controversial pickup and Tesla's other future vehicles.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk says an electric pickup truck, sports car, and self-driving taxi will follow. The pickup truck is one of several models that Tesla fans are patiently waiting on, including a semi-truck, a supercar, and a self-driving taxi. CybertruckTesla's Cybertruck Frederic J. Brown/AFPTesla made a splash when it unveiled the funky-looking Cybertruck pickup at an event 2019 — and not for all the right reasons. Tesla on YouTubeIn 2020, Musk said Tesla was working on a $25,000 car that would be available "about three years from now." It's unclear whether Musk was referring to the same $25,000 car he mentioned before or the robotaxi.

☆ Self-driving cars were supposed to take over the road. What happened?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Matt Mcfarland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Caitlin O'Hara/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesGeneral Motors bought a self-driving company in 2016. Big talk, smaller resultsUrmson, while leading Google’s self-driving car project before founding Aurora, talked of his preteen son never needing to get a driver’s license. A self-driving car, without a steering wheel or pedals, would have to be able to drive itself in literally every situation possible. “It’s really, really hard,” Waymo’s then-CEO John Krafcik said in 2018 of self-driving technology. Companies developing lidar, widely seen as a key component for self-driving vehicles, as well as self-driving companies, have seen their stocks plummet recently.

☆ Tesla is finally building its Semi truck. Here's what we know about future models like the Cybertruck, Roadster supercar, and more.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The company is working on a semi-truck, a cyberpunk pickup, and a supercar, and Musk has mentioned several other potential projects. CybertruckTesla's Cybertruck Frederic J. Brown/AFPTesla made a splash when it unveiled the funky-looking Cybertruck pickup at an event 2019 — and not for all the right reasons. Tesla on YouTubeIn 2020, Musk said Tesla was working on a $25,000 car that would be available "about three years from now." He said sales of that future model will quickly dwarf all other Tesla vehicles combined. It's unclear whether Musk was referring to the same $25,000 car he mentioned before or the robotaxi.

DETROIT, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) on Wednesday reported a third-quarter net loss driven by its decision to shift spending from the Argo AI self-driving business. Ford posted a net loss in the quarter of $827 million, after taking a $2.7 billion noncash pretax impairment on its investment in Argo AI. The automaker said Argo will be "wound down" and that "talented engineers" will be offered positions with Ford. Chief Executive Jim Farley on Wednesday said Ford will shift its development focus away from fully self-driving systems developed by Argo to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) created internally at Ford. GM on Tuesday reported a net profit of $3.3 billion on record third-quarter revenue of $41.9 billion.

☆ Mobileye goes public, raising millions for Intel
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Matt Mcfarland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington, DC CNN —Intel spun out its driver-assist subsidiary Mobileye Wednesday and raised $861 million in the initial public offering. Intel had purchased Mobileye in 2017 for $15.3 billion, but announced in Dec. 2021 that it would spin out Mobileye. Mobileye, founded in 1999 in Israel, was an early leader in emerging driver-assist technology that can perceive the road and steer accordingly. Mobileye says being a public company again may help it draw attention to its products. “It’s important for us to amplify attention and a public company platform really allows you to do that,” Mobileye spokesman Dan Galves told CNN Business Wednesday.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a research note called the results a "major step in the right direction for the Detroit stalwart." GM reaffirmed its guidance for full-year net income of $9.6 billion to $11.2 billion, and full-year diluted earnings per share of $5.76 to $6.76. The automaker reported net income of $3.3 billion, compared with $2.4 billion a year earlier. The automaker said higher volume in the quarter drove a $5-billion gain, with higher prices contributing a $2.1 billion gain, offset by $3.6 billion in additional logistics costs. GM's China income climbed to $330 million, compared with $270 million a year earlier.

DETROIT, Oct 25 (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) shares rose almost 5% in premarket trade on Tuesday as the company reported a higher quarterly profit that beat analysts' estimates. GM reaffirmed its guidance for full-year net income of $9.6 billion to $11.2 billion, and full-year diluted earnings per share of $5.76 to $6.76. Diluted earnings per share in the third quarter of $2.25 topped estimates of $1.88. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe automaker reported net income of $3.3 billion, compared with $2.4 billion a year earlier. The automaker said higher volume in the quarter drove a $5 billion gain, with higher prices contributing a $2.1 billion gain, offset by $3.6 billion in additional logistics costs.

☆ Waymo to expand robotaxi service to Los Angeles
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Matt Mcfarland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington, DC CNN —Waymo, the robotaxi provider of Google’s parent company Alphabet, said Wednesday that it will expand its ridehail service to Los Angeles. It is taking steps towards offering public robotaxi trips in San Francisco as well as downtown Phoenix, which is close to Chandler. Waymo began operating robotaxis in Arizona in 2017 and opened the service to the public in October 2020. Last year one Waymo robotaxi became stranded on a road while carrying a passenger and then unexpectedly drove away as the company’s roadside assistance arrived. Google gave the first robotaxi ride in October 2015 to a blind man in Austin, Texas.

☆ Waymo Fills Finance Chief Role as Autonomous-Vehicle Company Looks to Expand
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Jennifer Williams-Alvarez | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Waymo LLC hired a new finance chief as the autonomous-vehicle company works to boost self-driving capabilities and expand in multiple regions. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet Inc., on Friday said it named Elisa de Martel as chief financial officer. The company’s interim head of finance and its controller have covered the company’s finances while Waymo looked for a permanent CFO, according to a spokeswoman. Two months earlier, Waymo’s biggest competitor— General Motors Co. subsidiary Cruise—began offering driverless rides to the public in San Francisco. Waymo since 2017 also has tested its driverless technology in semitrucks.

☆ A Tesla executive laid out the company's next 5 years at an invite-only conference
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-12 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tesla executive Martin Viecha spoke at the invite-only Goldman Sachs tech conference on Monday. Tesla wants to eventually put a cheaper vehicle on the road in time for its robotaxi service. As Tesla's head of investor relations, Viecha was speaking during the invite-only Goldman Sachs tech conference in San Francisco on Monday. "EV architecture is so different from internal combustion engine, it allows for a third revolution in automotive manufacturing," Viecha said. A cheaper Tesla EV?

☆ Baidu's robotaxis don't need any human staff in these parts of China
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-08 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Chinese tech company Baidu announced Monday it can sell some robotaxi rides without any human staff in the vehicles. BEIJING — Chinese tech company Baidu said Monday it has become the first robotaxi operator in China to obtain permits for selling rides with no human driver or staff member inside the vehicles. The local government approvals allow Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxi business to eliminate the cost of human personnel in some instances. But the Chinese capital still requires human staff to sit in the robotaxi with passengers. In the U.S., Alphabet's Waymo and General Motors ' subsidiary Cruise can already run public robotaxis with no human staff in the vehicles.

☆ Self-driving robotaxis are taking off in China
▼ + stars: | 2020-12-03 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

On Thursday, AutoX, an Alibaba (BABA)-backed startup, announced it had rolled out fully driverless robotaxis on public roads in Shenzhen. Previously, companies operating autonomous shuttles on public roads in the country were constrained by strict caveats, which required them to have a safety driver inside. In Shenzhen, AutoX has completely removed the backup driver or any remote operators for its local fleet of 25 cars, it said. Race of the robotaxiWhile AutoX has claimed an edge in China, it’s not the first time fully driverless shuttles have hit public roads. In June, Didi, China’s biggest ride-hailing firm, began offering free rides in its autonomous vehicles within a designated area of Shanghai.

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