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I just returned from a brief break in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, stepping away for a few days to recharge before heading to San Francisco for TechCrunch’s annual Disrupt 2026 conference. After immersing myself in the autumn colors, I’m ready for the busy schedule ahead.
I hope to see you there too, so here’s a 30% discount code for Disrupt: mobility30. For more information about the conference, keep reading.
Now, let's move on to the news.
Autonomous trucking companies Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI received a federal exemption this week, removing a major barrier to commercialization.
Under federal regulations, if a traditional heavy-duty truck breaks down on the road, a human driver must pull over, turn on hazard lights, and personally place reflective warning triangles on the roadway within 10 minutes to alert other road users. However, if an autonomous truck is forced to pull over due to a mechanical failure, there is no human driver available to deploy these warning devices.
The barrier was so significant that Aurora took the federal safety regulator to court over the requirement. After the court denied its exemption request, the company escalated the dispute to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. (During the waiting period for a ruling, these companies were granted temporary exemptions.)
Aurora and other autonomous truck developers have now received the green light from the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The agency has approved a five-year exemption allowing these companies to use warning lights mounted in the cab in place of roadside warning devices such as reflective warning triangles. You can visit Aurora’s first responders page to learn how it works.
Daniel Goff, Vice President of External Affairs at Kodiak AI, said the exemption will help the industry “unlock the era of autonomous trucking on U.S. roads, an era that can save lives and improve the efficiency of goods delivery.”
Gerardo Interiano, Head of Government Relations and Public Affairs at Aurora, expressed a similar view, stating that this decision demonstrates the government’s recognition of the economic and community benefits brought by autonomous trucks. He described the highly visible, cab-mounted warning lights as a “critical 21st-century solution” that immediately alerts other road users without putting anyone at risk, thereby enhancing roadside safety.
One question I left open: Will these warning lights mounted in the cab eventually become standard equipment across the entire trucking industry?
Rumors
Several months have passed since Redwood Materials, the battery recycling company founded by Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel, began restructuring to shift greater focus toward energy storage. The first phase of the restructuring involved laying off approximately 135 employees, or about 10% of the workforce. However, we have recently been informed that several executives have also been departing. Indeed, over the past few weeks, the vice presidents of engineering, operations, finance, and external affairs have all left the startup.
If you have any tips, please email Kirsten Korosec at [email protected] or reach out to me on Signal at kkorosec.07; you can also email Sean O’Kane at [email protected].
Trade!
Waymo has long relied on funding from its parent company Alphabet and prominent venture capital firms to support its autonomous driving initiatives. This week, the company turned to debt financing for the first time to secure another round of funding—specifically, $5 billion.
PIMCO, Blackstone, and Sixth Street are the lead lenders. However, the participants extend far beyond these, including Capital Group, Loomis Sayles, T. Rowe Price, Apollo, Blue Owl, Diameter Capital Partners, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Management & Research Company, HPS Investment Partners, and Oaktree.
This debt financing comes as the company accelerates its existing urban commercial expansion and advances into new markets in the United States, Europe, and Japan.
This week, there were also some trades that caught my attention...
Bloom has raised $3.6 million with the goal of becoming the "Alibaba" of U.S. manufacturing. This seed round was led by SNAK Venture Partners, with participation from Flyover Capital, deep tech firm Mana Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Invest Detroit Ventures, and the Michigan Outdoor Innovation Fund.
Flai, a startup developing AI software for dealerships, raised $27 million in an A-round led by Base10 Partners, which focuses on automation. Participants included dealership-related investors Friedkin Group and Findlay Automotive, Toyota’s venture arm, Y Combinator, and First Round Capital.
Parallel Systems, a startup developing rail vehicles capable of transporting several tons of cargo up to 500 miles without an operator, raised $100 million in a Series C round led by AVP, with participation from Hillspire, Agility Global, Cobalt Capital, Anthos Capital, Congruent Ventures, Riot Ventures, and Collaborative Fund.
Uber has agreed to acquire the catering company ezCater in an all-cash transaction valued at $2.3 billion.
Surveillance camera manufacturer Flock has laid off 18% of its workforce, approximately 270 employees, as the company continues to face growing external backlash against its license plate recognition and people-tracking technologies. Incidentally, Flock’s founder and CEO, Garrett Langley, will be speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026.
Lucid Motors produced 2,954 electric vehicles in the third quarter of this year, a 54% decline from a year earlier, as the company intentionally limited production to better align with demand for its electric vehicles.
Kodiak AI has launched a new 435-mile autonomous trucking route from Dallas, Texas, to Laredo in partnership with carrier Charger USA. The autonomous trucking startup is transporting refrigerated and dry goods for consumer products and food and beverage customers.
Following opposition from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport, Tesla has renamed its advanced driver assistance system in Europe. It is now called “Tesla Assisted Driving,” no longer “Full Self-Driving (Supervised).”
Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle manufacturer Pony.ai plan to launch a robotaxi service in London, as part of their expanded partnership to bring self-driving cars to Europe.
Add a little more.
Here’s more information about TechCrunch Disrupt 2026!
I will kick off the conference on October 13 with Rivian’s CEO, RJ Scaringe. Senior journalist Sean O’Kane will conduct a fireside chat with Agility Robotics’ CTO, Jonathan Hurst, and moderate a panel featuring Chris Yu, CEO of Also; Yuri Sagalov of General Catalyst; and Shan Shan, investment manager at Baillie Gifford.
I will also interview Shield AI’s Chief Technology Officer Nathan Michael, Waabi’s Founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun, and GM’s Director of Robotics Strategy Mikell Taylor on building AI systems where failure is not an option. I will also speak with Foxglove’s CEO Adrian MacNeil and Bedrock Robotics’ Chief Technology Officer Kevin Peterson on how to take physical AI from prototype to product.
Not enough? Here’s more: We’ll also be joined by Max Hodak, co-founder of Neuralink and founder of Science Corp.; Dr. Anna Goldie and Dr. Azalia Mirhoseini, co-founders of Recursive Intelligence; Aaron Edsinger, co-founder and CEO of Hello Robot, along with his robot Stretch 4; and Mark Wahlberg. In addition, you’ll hear from engineers and executives at Anthropic, Gamma, Hugging Face, OpenAI, Nvidia, and Replit, as well as investors from Google Ventures, Greylock, Eclipse, Index Ventures, NEA, and Upfront Ventures.
Agenda can be found here.