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tesla Earnings came and went, and much of it fell into the “we expected this” category. Investors seemed surprised by the $1.4 billion in free cash flow. This gave the stock a brief boost and earnings met or slightly exceeded expectations, depending on which analyst you reviewed.

But the earnings call delivered an eyebrow-raising moment that prompted readers (including some former Tesla engineers and other founders of the industry) to contact me with prose with shades of schadenfreude. CEO Elon Musk Millions of Tesla owners have acknowledged that they will need a hardware upgrade to run a future version of their fully self-driving software that will not require human supervision.

There are financial and legal implications for Tesla. As senior reporter Sean O’Kane writes, Tesla owners with Hardware 3 cars have been pestering the company and Musk for years for a direct answer as to whether this advanced version can run fully autonomous driving. What’s important to note is that Tesla hasn’t yet launched one or proven that it can. Tesla sold these hardware 3 vehicles between 2019 and 2023.

Now, here’s the kicker and it made me laugh. Musk said the company would need to physically upgrade each of these vehicles, a feat that would require Tesla to set up microfactories in several major cities to service potentially millions of vehicles.

Microfactory? Yes, you heard correctly. This won’t be cheap and could be one of the items in Tesla’s capital spending budget, which has expanded to a whopping $25 billion this year.

dickey

senior reporter Sean O’Kane We obtained (and verified) an internal memo from Redwood Materials founder and CEO. JB Straubel They announced layoffs and restructuring. (Thanks to Little Bird for sharing.) Straubel is the former CTO of Tesla.

The company laid off about 135 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, as it restructures to better accommodate its growing energy storage business. O’Kane later learned that several executives had also recently left. With Chief Operating Officer Chris Lister retiring and at least three other VPs leaving in recent months, the company told TechCrunch it is focused on reducing layers of management.

Last week I ceremony Thanks to the little bird, I was about to break cover and announce my seed round. But that happened just a few days later.

A startup based in San Francisco humble roboticsIt raised $24 million in a seed round. Eclipse led the round, which also included support for: Energy Impact Partner and Red Blue CapitalIt’s a small, incredibly active early-stage VC firm.

As I said, Humble is full of Silicon Valley elites, including its founders. Eyal CohenHe previously worked on Apple special projects Uber ATG, Pronto, and Waabi. He also founded Spark AI, which was acquired by John Deere in 2023.

Other officers include: Drew GrayHe has a similarly AV-centric resume, including his early days at Cruise, before jumping to Otto, a self-driving truck startup that was acquired by Uber. After leaving Uber, he became CTO of Voyage, which was later acquired by Cruise.

A full-circle moment further cemented by this fun fact: Humble Robotics is located in the same building that Cruise was in shortly after the startup moved out of founder Kyle Vogt’s garage. I know, we keep going back to 2016.

Except it’s not 2016. Cohen and Gray talked about how much has changed since then, why now is the time to launch an AV startup, and where the industry is headed. Stay tuned for that story next week.

Do you have any tips? Email Kirsten Korosec. kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com Or send my Signal to kkorosec.07 or email Sean O’Kane. sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

Special price!

lift While Uber has focused on the North American market for most of its history, the company has adopted a strategy of global expansion at any cost. Lyft has been trying to catch up since last year, when it acquired German multi-mobility app Freenow from BMW and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for about $197 million in cash.

Now it’s taking over a ride-hailing app. getz UK business. Lyft said the deal will make the Lyft platform available to the majority of registered black taxi drivers across Greater London. The company did not disclose terms, but Calcalist reported that the amount was $55 million.

The company is also building out other modes of transport in the region, including a recently renewed partnership with Serco to provide bikes and stations for Santander Cycles, a European bike-sharing system. Lyft plans to begin testing self-driving cars in London with Baidu later this year.

Other deals that caught my attention…

A&K Roboticsa Vancouver, Canada-based manufacturer of autonomous airport vehicles, has raised an $8 million CAD Series A round led by BDC’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and Vantage Futures.

Decade Energywhich provides power infrastructure for logistics warehouses, has raised €22 million in funding led by Eiffel Investment Group and SET Ventures, along with existing investors.

Robotics you can trustNimble Partners, a Silicon Valley startup developing autonomous systems for aircraft, has raised $160 million in a round led by existing backers Eclipse, Lightspeed, Coatue, and Pathbreaker Ventures, and new investors Island Green Capital, Socium Ventures, AE Ventures (a strategic partner of the Boeing Company), RTX Ventures, Presidio Ventures (Sumitomo Corporation), UP.Partners, KAS Venture Partners, and What If Ventures. Calm Ventures, Gaingels, Mana Ventures. History Lesson: Co-Founder and CEO robert rose He briefly worked at Tesla as senior director of Autopilot, helping launch the first iteration in 2015.

Plus AI and blank check companies. Churchill Capital Corporation IX Due to market conditions, the SPAC merger agreement was terminated.

porsche It is selling its stake in the Bugatti Rimac joint venture formed in 2021 and the electric vehicle manufacturer Rimac Group. Porsche, which holds a 20.6% stake in Rimac and a 45% stake in the joint venture, is sold to HOF Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Notable Reads and Other Useful Information

final drive We plan to add 75 electric heavy trucks. Amazon’s Relay Freight Network is part of a deal that will give the Swedish startup a foothold in the e-commerce giant’s operations.

ford and Chinese car manufacturers geography The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States has reportedly discussed ways to expand cooperation with Europe to the United States. What that means, of course, is that Chinese cars are entering the American market. But with talks stalled, the resulting deal appears to be in limbo. Bloomberg reports that Ford has denied the claims.

porsche It’s adding another EV to its lineup. The Cayenne electric coupe is scheduled to be released in late summer. My article has some interesting data on why this could be a winner for Porsche.

First customer preparation rivian The R2 SUV rolled off the production line at its plant in Normal, Illinois, just days after it was hit by an EF-1 tornado that tore off part of its roof. Founder and CEO RJ Scaring Rivian said it does not expect any delays in R2, which is expected to be released to customers in June.

One more thing…

As diligent readers of this newsletter will know, I’ve test driven quite a few vehicles, and sometimes those vehicles aren’t EVs. Take it. Aston Martin Vantage Roadsterfor example. I wanted a ride in the Roadster because this $205,000 Chiltern Green machine is sleek, powerful, and convertible. I wanted to test it. Apple CarPlay UltraA next-generation infotainment system that projects iPhone content onto the car’s screens (including the instrument cluster) and integrates vehicle controls such as radio, performance settings, and cabin temperature. CarPlay Ultra was first released by Aston Martin, and it’s not easy to get your hands on.

My first experience with Apple Ultra CarPlay last summer was mixed. It was great. It was great when it worked, but often it didn’t. The issue appears to be related to a bug in Bluetooth settings where two versions of the vehicle are displayed.

This time setup was instant and we never had any glitches. Viva. And it always worked. This is really important for Aston Martin, which has been stuck with Mercedes-Benz’s outdated COMAND system for many years. (Mercedes ditched that system in 2018 in favor of the new MBUX system.)