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Your usual host Kirsten has passed the reins to me, Rebecca Bellan, for the day, and I want to talk about Aurora Innovation and its last-minute save.
Aurora had been promising to launch the U.S.’ first fully autonomous commercial trucking service in April this year, after pushing back its original 2024 debut. With just (proverbial) minutes to spare, Aurora pulled off the win.
Aurora says it has run over 1,200 miles of freight this week between Dallas and Houston with launch customers Hirschbach Motor Lines and Uber Freight. That’s with a single truck, for now. Aurora plans to build up to “tens of self-driving trucks” and expand to El Paso and Phoenix by the end of 2025 as it continues to run more freight for customers with its fleet of supervised autonomous trucks.
It’s a huge step for Aurora, and for the industry. But as Trump’s tariffs grind many shipments to a halt, is Aurora well positioned to seize the moment, or could prolonged delays threaten its survival?
A little bird
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Deals!
AeroVironment, a drone maker, has completed its acquisition of space and defense engineering company BlueHalo. The $4.1 billion all-stock deal will see the merged companies become a new kind of defense tech called AV that can build tech across all warfighting domains: air, land, sea, space, and cyber.
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True Anomaly, a defense-focused aerospace startup building spacecraft and software for U.S. national security missions, raised $260 million in a Series C round led by VC firm Accel.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Autonomous vehicles
May Mobility is the latest to join Uber’s roster of autonomous vehicle collaborators. The two announced this week plans to deploy May’s autonomous vehicles on the Uber platform by the end of 2025, starting in Arlington, Texas, as part of a multi-year partnership.
Momenta, the Chinese AV startup, is also working with Uber. The two plan to launch Momenta robotaxis on the Uber platform starting in Europe in 2026.
Waymo and Toyota are exploring a deal that could one day lead to a new self-driving vehicle designed for ride-hailing and possibly even personal autonomous vehicles. It’s still early days, so think of it as more of a soft-launch of their budding relationship.
Electric vehicles, charging, & batteries
Canoo’s bankruptcy proceedings are still going on, and now a mysterious London investor has asked the judge to stop the sale of the EV startup’s assets to its CEO, calling it a “flawed process.” He’s throwing down an offer of $20 million for the assets, which trumps Canoo CEO Anthony Aquila’s $4 million bid.
Rivian is sitting pretty on a stockpile of batteries for its trucks, SUVs, and commercial vans that it built up before and after Donald Trump’s election. That’ll soften the blow of the president’s tariffs, which are hitting the auto industry hard.
Slate Auto, the buzzy new Jeff Bezos-backed EV startup that broke out of stealth last week, is eyeing a printing plant located in Warsaw, Indiana, as the future place where it’ll produce its cheap electric truck.
Tesla’s board reportedly began shopping for a successor to CEO Elon Musk as the chief’s cavorting in Washington has devalued the brand, and its margins, hard. Tesla chair Robyn Denholm denied the reporting from The Wall Street Journal.
While we’re on the subject of Tesla’s board, let’s turn our attention to board member Joe Gebbia (who is also connected to DOGE). Gebbia acquired about 4,000 shares of Tesla stock at a $1 million value, which is notable because it’s so rare to see board members straight up buy stock.
Miscellaneous
Ford has shut down its FNV4 software architecture initiative, a project it had once thought of as critical to compete with EV leaders like Tesla. Closing the initiative means an end to years of development that would vertically integrate vehicle software across Ford’s gas and electric lineups.
Joby Aviation transitioned its eVTOL from horizontal to vertical flight for the first time with a pilot on board. It’s a necessary step as the company works toward FAA certification.
Ride-hailing and delivery
DoorDash wants a California judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Uber that accuses the delivery company of stifling competition by intimidating restaurant owners into exclusive deals. DoorDash said the lawsuit was nothing but a scare tactic from Uber to avoid “real competition.”