Lyft Tries to Catch up to Uber on AV Deals
Welcome to the Ride AI Newsletter, your weekly digest of important events and new developments at the intersection of technology and transportation.
What You Need to Know Today
Trumpworld insiders say one of the president-elect’s top priorities is to?create a federal framework for self-driving cars . What would that entail? For starters, the incoming administration could revise federal regulations limiting the deployment of driverless vehicles to 2,500 units annually. Already many in the industry are lobbying to raise the number to 100,000. (Related:?Trump reveals his pick for Sec of Transportation : former Wisconsin Rep. and Fox News host Sean Duffy.)?
The new DOT chief might also rethink the rule prohibiting the use of self-driving vehicles without traditional controls. In fact, Amazon-backed Zoox may be banking on that outcome, because it just rolled out its?its custom robotaxi—which features neither pedals nor a steering wheel—in San Francisco and Las Vegas .
Speaking of the feds, GM’s self-driving unit?Cruise is getting fined another $500k for submitting a false crash report ?to NHTSA.
Waymo has ended its waitlist in LA , meaning anyone within the company’s 80-square-mile service area can now hail a robotaxi whenever they want. (It also means you will be able to catch a ride in a Waymo to?our first-ever Ride AI summit ?in Hollywood next spring.)
Lyft, apparently feeling the pressure to keep up with Uber’s nonstop barrage of autonomous driving collaborations, just?announced three new self-driving partnerships: ?One with May Mobility to introduce AVs on the Lyft app in Atlanta by 2025; another with Mobileye which will enable vehicles equipped with the Intel-owned company’s technology to connect with the Lyft platform; and lastly a data-sharing agreement with Nexar which will give Lyft insights to improve the training of autonomous driving systems.
Related: What happens when Uber and Lyft don’t have to pay drivers? How robotaxis could?reshape the economics of ridehailing. ?
As part of a?broader update to its AV test reporting requirements , California will now require companies to report incidents where AVs get stuck during operations.?
Nuro is?expanding the deployment area ?for its L4 test fleet in both Houston and the Bay Area. The news comes two months after the startup announced it was pivoting its business model to focus on licensing its driverless tech to manufacturers and TNCs.?
Amazon has?earned FAA approval ?to fly its newer, smaller delivery drones in Arizona beyond the visual sight line of pilots.?
Meanwhile Skydio, the largest manufacturer of drones in the US,?has raised a $170M extension round ?amid a spike in defense investments.?
Waymo compiled a?massive dataset ?on pedestrian, cyclist, and motorcyclist injuries to analyze safety risks for vulnerable road users.
Chinese AV startup?Pony is seeking to raise up to $224M ?through its upcoming US IPO.
Monarch Tractor is laying off 10% of its staff ?and will shift its business strategy to license its autonomous technology, including to non-agricultural customers.
Computer vision startup?Roboflow has raised $40M in a Series B round ?led by Scale Venture Partners.
Baidu says it has brought the production cost for the new generation of its Apollo robotaxi down to?$34,525 per unit .
Vecna Robotics, a Massachusetts-based warehouse automation startup,?has raised $14.5M . The company also appointed Karl Iagnemma, former CEO of Motional, as its new chief executive.
After announcing their partnership earlier this year, Uber Eats and Avride have officially?begun dispatching sidewalk robots ?to deliver food in Austin.
NHTSA warned Tesla ?not to share online posts that imply its cars are robotaxis.
A new video answers the question of who would win in a race,?Waymo or Zoox ?
Sponsored by?Quectel : Does your work involve managing fleets—ride-hail, robotaxis, and such? This timely?new whitepaper ?discusses the advantages of combining GNSS modules with a broad range of connectivity options (antenna, RTK correction services, design review) into a “one-stop-shop” solution that could transform your high-precision IoT projects. Learn more?here .