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Elon Musk has frequently found himself at odds with regulators, often clashing with or bypassing local and state rules where his various businesses are based.
Regulatory matters have been especially prominent this week.
The Boring Company, Musk’s tunneling and infrastructure venture, is facing nearly 800 alleged violations from Nevada officials. According to a ProPublica report, these include unauthorized digging, releasing untreated water onto city roads, neglecting to install silt fences, and tracking dirt from worksites onto public streets.
Meanwhile, Tesla is under scrutiny from California’s Department of Insurance, which has taken enforcement action against the company for repeatedly delaying or denying customer claims, despite multiple warnings. As a reminder, Tesla provides insurance in select states.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has also turned its attention back to Tesla. The agency has launched a probe into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system after receiving complaints that the software led vehicles to run red lights or drift into incorrect lanes.
While the NHTSA has looked into Tesla before, this investigation stands out because it specifically focuses on the Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver-assist technology. Both Musk and Tesla investors have staked the company’s future on its leadership in autonomous vehicles, robotics, and AI.
Although this investigation alone probably won’t halt Tesla’s ambitions—the company just introduced FSD version 14—it does highlight the growing regulatory attention on Tesla’s technology and raises further questions about its robotaxi plans, which rely on FSD.
A little bird
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
A Wired report from July revealed that General Motors had reassigned several Chevy Bolt EVs, previously used in the discontinued Cruise robotaxi project, to highways in Michigan, near Austin, Texas, and the San Francisco Bay Area for simulation and new driver-assist tech development.
It now appears GM is advancing its autonomous vehicle initiatives, possibly in unexpected directions. When GM absorbed Cruise in December 2024, it announced plans to merge Cruise’s technology with its own ADAS work to create fully self-driving personal vehicles.
There’s talk that GM is assembling an AV team in both Austin and Mountain View. This follows news from Bloomberg that GM has started rehiring former Cruise staff.
We’re investigating further—if you have any insights, let us know.
Deals!
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
Joby Aviation raised approximately $514 million by selling 30.5 million shares. The funds will support certification, manufacturing, commercial launch preparations, and general corporate needs. The company aims to begin passenger flights in its electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft in Dubai by 2026, with U.S. operations to follow.
However, investors weren’t thrilled, as the shares were sold at a discount—$16.85 each, about 11% below the previous closing price.
Other deals that stood out to me this week …
I missed this one last week. Futurail, a European company building an autonomy stack for driverless trains, secured €7.5 million in seed funding, co-led by Asterion Ventures and Leap435, with participation from EIT Urban Mobility and U.S. investors Zero Infinity Partners and Heroic Ventures. Side note: I recently interviewed Alex Haag, Futurail’s CEO and co-founder, on The Autonocast podcast. Give it a listen.
Nexcade, a London startup working on end-to-end automation for freight forwarders, brought in $2.5 million in a pre-seed round led by Connect Ventures. MMC Ventures, Entropy Industrial Capital, and Inovia also joined the round.
Toyota and Metal Mining have entered into a partnership to mass-produce cathode materials for all-solid-state batteries intended for electric vehicles.
Tycho AI, a company specializing in autonomous drone navigation, closed a $10 million Series A led by FirstMark.
Utilimarc, a Minneapolis-based fleet analytics and benchmarking firm, was acquired by Smith System. The financial details were not made public.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
California’s governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation granting Uber and Lyft drivers in the state the right to unionize as independent contractors.
Last week, we highlighted DoorDash’s in-house autonomous delivery robot project. That hasn’t stopped the company from forming outside partnerships, though. DoorDash and Serve Robotics have agreed to a multi-year deal to deploy autonomous delivery robots across the U.S.
Lucid reported record EV deliveries for the third quarter. While the numbers still fall short of the company’s earlier projections from its public debut, the latest sales figures indicate progress.
Lyft has secured another autonomous vehicle partnership, this time with Tensor Auto. The companies plan to launch robotaxi services in Europe and North America starting in 2027. If you’re not familiar with Tensor Auto, it has roots in the Chinese robotaxi firm AutoX, though the San Jose-based company has previously stated that its Chinese operations were fully separated.
Transportation also covers infrastructure like bridges. Climate tech journalist Tim De Chant explored Allium Engineering, a startup working on ultra-thin stainless steel that could revolutionize bridge construction.
Tesla has introduced basic versions of the Model 3 and Model Y, starting at $36,990 and $39,990, respectively. These entry-level models are quite minimal. Senior reporter Sean O’Kane has more details here.
A few things caught my eye. For starters, I was surprised that Autopilot isn’t included in the standard version. Tesla is recognized for its innovation, whether in manufacturing, software, or business models. But this move wasn’t about innovation or ingenuity—it was simply about removing features, and the result wasn’t the significant price cuts that had been promised before. Don’t forget, Elon Musk once promoted a $25,000 car, a project that was eventually abandoned.
Zero Motorcycles has relocated its main operations from California to a new European headquarters in the Netherlands. The company told TechCrunch this shift is intended to speed up growth and focus more on global markets.
One more thing …
If you’re in San Francisco later this month, stop by and say hi. I’ll be attending TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 from October 27 to 29 at Moscone West. There will be several transportation-focused sessions you won’t want to miss.
For example, TechCrunch will host a conversation with Uber’s chief product officer Sachin Kansal and Nuro’s co-founder and president Dave Ferguson about the evolving intersection of AI and mobility. The talk will explore how predictive models and computer vision are making roads safer, why last-mile delivery is a proving ground for autonomy, and what’s needed to scale AI-powered transportation.
