Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your central hub for news and insight on the future of transportation. To receive this content in your inbox, sign up for free here. Just click on TechCrunch Mobility!
We’re entering earnings season, one of my four favorite times of the year. And it’s not just that I like numbers. These required filings will save your company a lot of marketing noise for the rest of the year. It also helps in evaluating the short-term and long-term interests facing the company.
rivian‘s fourth quarter and full year earnings did just that. My takeaway: Software, especially technology joint ventures with the Volkswagen Group, will be the company’s savior in 2025. It will also keep the company afloat in 2026 as Rivian launches its most important product to date, the low-cost R2 SUV (an additional $2 billion is expected from the VW Group).
The company’s earnings also provided a progress report on its bid to lower the cost of products sold per unit. TL;DR is that the cogs per unit of the current portfolio are still high but falling. This means you lose less on each vehicle you sell. According to Rivian, the company’s automotive cog price per delivered unit decreased from $110,400 in 2024 to $100,900 in 2025.
The next big test will be the upcoming R2, which is expected to be significantly cheaper (both in terms of production costs and price tag) than the flagship R1T truck and R1S SUV. We will have insight into the results later this year.
The R2 is expected to enter production in the first half of this year (expected to be announced in June), and based on 2026 guidance, Rivian is confident it has the ability to increase demand and production. The company expects to deliver between 62,000 and 67,000 vehicles in 2026, which could be up to 59% more than last year. Rivian delivered 42,247 vehicles in 2025, including two R1 consumer vehicles and an electric delivery van (EDV).
The market liked the guidance. Rivian’s stock price soared 27% one day after the earnings announcement.
Tech Crunch Event
Boston, Massachusetts
|
June 23, 2026
dickey
Over the past 18 months I have noticed a difference in methods. Uber and lift Accessing AV. Uber is signing AV partnerships with every possible player. Lyft is following suit. It turns out I’m not alone in this observation.
Insiders shared their bewilderment as to why Lyft isn’t more aggressive in this space. They noted that Lyft has about $1.8 billion in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, and recently announced a new $1 billion stock repurchase program, equivalent to about 15% of its market capitalization, according to CNBC. I wonder why Lyft is buying back stock instead of investing in part of the AV value chain like Uber does.
Meanwhile, these little birds also point to several top executives who have left over the past year. Aurélien Nolf leaves his position as Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis and Investor Relations to become Navan’s CFO. Audrey Liu, former Vice President and Head of Rider and Community Safety, is now at Adobe. Ameena Gill, former vice president of safety and customer care, joined competitor Uber.
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!
Those of you familiar with the mobility craze between 2015 and 2019 will remember how many LiDAR companies emerged during that time. While many of the dominant and most active companies went out of business, some of the smaller ones held on and expanded.
take dikefor example. I remember when Ouster opened this little booth in the packed startup area (Eureka Park) at CES. Today, the company is much larger thanks to its size, its merger with competitor Velodyne in 2022, and its acquisition of Sense Photonics in 2021. And it looks like it’s not over yet.
Most recently acquired company Stereo LabThe company, which makes vision-based perception systems for robotics and industrial applications, is trading for a total of $35 million and 1.8 million shares.
As TechCrunch senior reporter Sean O’Kane noted in his article, this deal is the latest in a march toward consolidation among perception sensor vendors. (Last month, MicroVision acquired the LiDAR assets of the popular but now-bankrupt Luminar for $33 million.)
So why do all the activities? As they say, it’s complicated. From my perspective, the enthusiasm for “physical AI” has reignited interest in and investment in sensor technology, especially cameras.
Other deals that caught my attention…
alwaysa marketplace dedicated to EVs, has raised $31 million in a Series A funding round led by Eclipse. Other backers include Ibex Investors, Lifeline Ventures and JIMCO, the investment arm of Saudi Arabia’s Jameel family (an early investor in Rivian).
stolena San Diego-based startup developing mixed-wing aircraft, has raised $28 million in a Series A funding round led by Draper Associates. Other investors include Type One Ventures, The Veteran Fund, and Flexport, as well as new backers New Vista Capital, Soma Capital, Liquid 2 VC, VU Venture Partners, and Wave FX.
Notable Reads and Other Useful Information
Aurora shared in its fourth quarter and annual earnings report that its self-driving trucks can now travel nonstop on the 1,000-mile route between Fort Worth and Phoenix. This is more than what a human driver can legally achieve. The company shared several other interesting tidbits and financial information that you can read about here.
that U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The investigation has ended. fisker Last year, TechCrunch was able to learn thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request.
lift has launched Youth Accounts, a product that allows minors as young as 13 to ride without an adult in 200 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and New York.
A new collection of videos gives us the best look at how to do it. rivian Changed the rear door manual release for the upcoming R2 SUV. This seemingly small design detail is a matter of life and death and is a problem for the EV industry, especially teslaWe’re under pressure to change our hidden electronic door handles.
The Trump administration officially withdrew the EPA’s 2009 “hazard finding” that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane pose a threat to human health and well-being. These changes will only affect tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks. If the EPA goes through the lengthy process to repeal the law, it will certainly include numerous lawsuits to stop it.
Uber Dozens of AV partnerships have been signed and we are starting to see the results of these deals. chinese Baidu Uber and Uber plan to launch robotaxis in Dubai next month, starting with select locations in the Jumeirah area. Meanwhile, Chinese robotaxi companies We Ride Uber and Uber have announced a “significant expansion of their strategic partnership” to deploy at least 1,200 robotaxi across the Middle East by 2027. As part of this, WeRide and Uber have launched robotaxi services in downtown Abu Dhabi.
waymo The Alphabet-owned company has pulled human safety drivers from its autonomous test vehicles in Nashville as it gets closer to launching a robotaxi service in the city. Meanwhile, the technology leader is grappling with the analog problem of ensuring robotaxi doors close properly. What is the solution? pay Door Dash A gig worker closing the door of a Waymo robotaxi. Waymo says this is a pilot program in Atlanta to improve AV fleet efficiency.
One of the last Waymo items: The company has begun rolling out its sixth-generation “Waymo Driver,” which will be integrated into the Zeekr RT (rebranded Ojai) and eventually power the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Waymo has begun “fully autonomous operations” at its Ojai fleet in San Francisco and Los Angeles and is providing access to its employees. The public will have to wait a while.
One more thing…
rivian The upcoming R2 SUV has been introduced as a more affordable model. What does “cheaper” mean? The company invested approximately $45,000 and $50,000 in base prices. The company’s launch version of the R2, which will be a dual-mode and all-wheel drive premium trim, will undoubtedly be more expensive. In this week’s newsletter we asked our readers, “What are your expectations for launch price?”
Sign up for our newsletter to take the survey!
