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I spent the last week at sxsw, the annual tech, film, comedy, and music festival in austin. I recommend scrolling through our live blog To catch up on all the transportation, AI, Social Media, Creator Economy – Basically Tech – News that Happy DURANGE The Conference.
I’ve Watched Austin Evolve Over the Years With Some Good and Bad Outcomes. Protected Bike Lanes Have Been One Positive Development, which I appreciated as I Rode a less Lime Scooters and Two Mod Bikes e-bakes e-bakes erand the right. Austin is also decided a hub for autonomous vehicle activity with avride headquartered there, zoox testing on public roads, and youmo launching a commercial robotxi service.
I was lucky enough to be matched with two waymo Robotaxis-all ride-hairs occur through the uber app, so it’s never a guarantee. I also Had one coordinated match courtesy of waymo. As I Wrote Earlier this week, it is absolutely wild that waymo and uber are working togetra. Here’s why,
Oh, and here is what i Discovered in My Waymo -uber Robotaxi RideHint: some updates to the user interface.
A Little Bird
Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com Or my signal at kkorosec.07, sean o’kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.comOr rebecca bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com, Or check out these instruments To learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or securedrop.
Deals!
Senior Reporter Sean O’Kane Took a Deep Dive an new venture firm called Leitmotif That’s been quietly making loads of deals for the past 16 months. The firm, which has funded Around 20 Startups, Broadly focuses on decarbonization with a portfolio that includes ev companies, space and battery plays, and Four Nuclear Fusion Startups.
That’s not the interesting part. Here’s what is: all of the money in its fund came from the Volkswagen group. Check out the full story About why the German Automotive Giant has Committed $ 300 Million to Leitmotif’s first fund.
Other deals that get my attention…
Carpool logisticsA vehicle logistan platform, Raised $ 12 Million In a series a funding live by wavecrest growth partners, with participation from carmax, impel founders devin daly and michael quigley, and automotive industry veteran david metteter.
Daqus energyA Startup Working on Battery Materials, Raised $ 6 Million in a seed round by morning with participation from unnamed individual investors.
NirvanaAn AI-Based Insurance Platform That Uses Real-Time Driving Telematics and 20 Billion Miles of Truck Driving Data to build and manage insuction policies for truckers, Raised $ 80 Million In a series c round of fund by general catalyst. LightSpeed Venture Partners and Valor Equity Partners also participate. The Investment Values Nirvana at $ 830 Million Post-Money.
Northvolt Filed for Bankruptcy In Sweden, the latest blow to europe’s attempts to create a battery-manufacturing juggernaut that Cold Rival The Chinese Giants.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Adas
Rivian rolled out a Hands-Free Version of its Driver-Assistant System for Highway Driving, Which Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe Discussed Onstage at SXSW IN Austin. The new hands-free feature puts rivian in competition with ford and gm, which have similar hands -free systems that control careing, acceleration, and breaking under certain conditions and locations.
Autonomous Vehicles
Hugging face Teamed up with AI Startup Yaak to Expand Lerobot -A collection of Open AI Models, Datasets, and Tools to Help Build Real-WORLD ROBOTICS Systems-With a training set to allow robots and cars to navigate environments like cite streets streets.
Trucks VC General Partner reilly Brennan Had an interesting column, Don’t mistake ridehailing for av ridehaling,
Travis kalanickThe Former Ceo of Uber, Thinks the company’s decision to Abandon Its Autonomous Driving Program was a mistake. Reminder: Uber Atg was burning through cash when it was Sold to Aurora in 2020,
Waymo Keeps expanding – this time in Silicon valleyAnd that expansion has come with Hundreds of Parking Tickets,
Electric Vehicles, Charging, & Batteries
The Mint 400 Off-road race put two evs-a rivian r1t truck and a chevrolet silverrado Ev ZR2 off-road race truck concept- to the test,
Rad power Lost Its CEO and Gained a new one in a span of a less days.
President Donald Trump Said He Will Label Violence Against Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorism – Yet another sign of his deep support for elon musk. As reporter Sean O’Kane Notes, “Tesla takeovers” have been breaking out across the globe at tesla dealerships as people protest what they see as a hopile takeover of the federal government by mus larxest sharehlder) and his Department of Government EfficiencySome of the protests have resulted in graffiti on tesla signs, charging stations
This week’s wheels
This week I tared two e-bakes from Austin-based Mod BikesI’ll focus on its newest one, the GrooveWhich launched earlier this week,
I spent 24 hours with the GrooveAn all-electric step-through bike with a south-up beach cruiser look and feel. The Groove Existed Before, but mod bikes discontinued it. Now it’s back and has been updated throughout, including the frame, battery, torque sensor, smart display, and motor.
The bike itself is sporty and polished with lots of thoughtful details that make the $ 1,999 price Seem Like a Steal. The design is thought-to-to-red and easy-to-operate controls and an integrated bike lock that folds Neatly on the frame.
The Groove is a throttle and pedal assist bike, and I found it easy to switch between the various modes. I rarely relied on the throttle alone because the assist provided planty of oomph. The bike has a payload capacity of 275 pounds and reaches a top speed of 28 mills per hour. The Groove has 50 miles of range; However, there is a dual-bittery option that pops it up to 100 mills.
One Note, Thought: Wow, this bike is Hefty. And while that is generally a good thing, folks should give themselves a bit of time to adjust to its weight.
I also tested Mod connect. The Connected Bike Helmet Made Me Feel Far More Visible to Drivers as I Navigated The Busy Streets of Downtown Austin.
What is “this week’s wheels”? It’s a chance to learn about the different transportation products we’re testing, whither it’s an Electric or Hybrid Car, An e-Bike, or even a ride in an autonomous student.