Rebecca Bellan, Author at TechCrunch

Norwegian startup Factiverse wants to fight disinformation with AI

Rebecca Bellan — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

In the wake of the U.S. 2024 presidential election, one fact became clear: Disinformation proliferated online at a startling rate, shaping Americans’ views about each candidate as well as a diverse set of topics, including public health, climate change, and immigration. Generative AI – with its ability to produce deepfakes in seconds and its propensity to […]

Former TuSimple co-founder urges courts to block asset transfer to China

Rebecca Bellan — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 23:36:15 +0000

Xiaodi Hou, the co-founder and former CEO of self-driving trucking startup TuSimple, has urged a California district court to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the company from transferring its remaining U.S. assets to China, according to a recent court filing. Hou, who plans to apply for a temporary restraining order in December during […]

GM’s Cruise to pay $500,000 fine to DOJ, admits submitting false report

Rebecca Bellan — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 14:08:53 +0000

Cruise, the autonomous vehicle unit of General Motors, has admitted to submitting a false report with the goal of influencing a federal investigation into a safety incident last year. In penance, the company will pay a $500,000 criminal fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, per the Department of Justice (DOJ). This is one […]

Chinese autonomous driving startup Pony AI seeks up to $224M in US IPO

Rebecca Bellan — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 21:30:52 +0000

Pony AI is inching closer to its initial public offering in the U.S., but as it does so, it continues to drop its minimum target for what it hopes to raise in the transaction. Pony operates a fleet of 190 “robotrucks” in Beijing and Guangzhou and more than 250 robotaxis in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and […]

Ford will pay up to $165M fine for rearview camera recall failures

Rebecca Bellan — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 20:13:00 +0000

Ford has agreed to pay a $165 million penalty to federal regulators after moving too slowly to recall vehicles with faulty rearview cameras. This is the second largest fine the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has handed out in its 54-year history, after the 2019 Takata airbag recalls. Ford also failed to provide accurate […]

Tesla issues sixth Cybertruck recall in a year

Rebecca Bellan — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 13:45:39 +0000

Tesla’s Cybertruck is facing its sixth recall since its launch a year ago. The recall affects 2,431 units, including certain 2024 Cybertrucks built between November 6, 2023 and July 30, 2024. A report from Tesla found that those trucks are or were equipped with a faulty drive inverter. “If the inverter stops producing torque, the […]

Zoox rolls outs custom robotaxi in San Francisco, Las Vegas

Rebecca Bellan — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 17:25:52 +0000

Zoox is testing its custom robotaxis, which are built without a steering wheel or pedals, on public roads in San Francisco and the Las Vegas Strip. The rollout of the autonomous vehicles, which Zoox CTO Jesse Levinson first announced at TechCrunch Disrupt, is a public show of force from the Amazon-backed company. Federal regulations prohibit […]

What Trump’s win might mean for Elon Musk

Rebecca Bellan, Aria Alamalhodaei — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 18:51:03 +0000

Elon Musk — the billionaire CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, and the owner of The Boring Company, Neuralink, and X — took a sharp swing to the right this election to support President-elect Donald Trump, using his vast wealth, influence, and megaphone on X to influence the outcome of the election. Musk’s support came […]

Lyft partners with May Mobility, Mobileye to bring autonomous vehicles to the app

Rebecca Bellan — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 14:00:00 +0000

It seems Lyft is hoping to catch up to Uber’s string of autonomous vehicle partnerships. Lyft announced Wednesday three separate partnerships — with startup May Mobility, automated driving company Mobileye, and smart dashcam firm Nexar — all aimed at establishing a foothold in the emerging autonomous vehicle market. In the announcement, the ride-hailing company said […]

Elon Musk’s false and misleading election claims have been viewed 2 billion times on X

Rebecca Bellan — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 17:08:40 +0000

The world’s richest man buys out one of the most popular social media platforms and uses it as a propaganda and disinformation machine in support of a presidential candidate. What could go wrong? An analysis from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that tracks misinformation, found that Elon Musk posted at least […]

DeepRoute raises $100M in push to beat Tesla’s FSD in China

Rebecca Bellan — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 15:10:00 +0000

DeepRoute.ai, a Shenzhen-based autonomous driving technology startup, raised $100 million from Great Wall Motor. The startup aims to get its automated driving systems into as many vehicles in China before Tesla takes off next year, according to a Reuters report. DeepRoute did not publicly disclose the name of its automaker backer, but reports in the […]

From Lime to Uber to Hertz: Free and discounted Election Day rides

Rebecca Bellan — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 19:00:00 +0000

Election Day is nearly here, and if you haven’t already mailed in your ballot or gone in for early voting, you might need a ride come November 5. Here’s a roundup of all the freebies, discounts, and information on getting to the polls that transportation companies are offering. Micromobility Lime is offering free rides to […]

How national interest startups should be thinking about government contracts

Rebecca Bellan — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 12:00:00 +0000

National interest technology can show up in a lot of ways, like in data analysis and cybersecurity, as well as satellites and weapons. Many startups with dual-use applications are increasingly looking at the government as an attractive customer due to its wide range of use cases and the amount of federal dollars available. And while […]

Ford pauses F-150 Lightning production as Tesla Cybertruck heats up

Rebecca Bellan — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 18:06:50 +0000

Ford will pause production of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck starting in mid-November for almost two months as it struggles with decreased demand, increased competition, and losses in its electric vehicle business. “We continue to adjust production for an optimal mix of sales growth and profitability,” a Ford spokesperson told TechCrunch. The news was […]

Aurora Innovation delays commercial autonomous truck launch to 2025

Rebecca Bellan — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 23:51:37 +0000

Autonomous vehicle technology startup Aurora Innovation is targeting April 2025 for commercial deployment of its autonomous trucks, pushing its timeline back by about a quarter. The company had originally planned to launch by the end of 2024. The company said it delayed the launch so it can continue to validate its self-driving technology. “While this […]

GM CEO Mary Barra on the politics of EVs, the future of AVs, and moving away from China

Rebecca Bellan — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 00:26:04 +0000

“I never thought the propulsion of a vehicle would become a political issue,” GM chairman and CEO Mary Barra said onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt on Tuesday. While the executive didn’t expand on this statement, former president Donald Trump has railed against EVs and claimed, wrongly, that there is a mandate to make and sell electric […]

BANF’s smart tires for trucks promise to save fuel and lives

Rebecca Bellan — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 21:18:37 +0000

Tire health has a huge impact on a truck’s fuel efficiency and safety on the road. And yet, with all of the arguably sexier solutions out there offering driver assist features and self-driving software, tires don’t get the attention they deserve. At least, so says Ron Lee, the head of business development at BANF, a […]

Jon McNeill’s insights on Tesla’s robotaxi and why EV startups fail

Rebecca Bellan — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Jon McNeill — a former Tesla and Lyft executive and current CEO at DVx Ventures — spread the word last week at the World Business Forum on what he calls the “Tesla innovation method” of radical simplification. After his presentation, we sat down to chat about Tesla’s automation goals, its new robotaxi, and why building […]

Jon McNeill’s lessons on innovation through subtraction

Rebecca Bellan — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Before Jon McNeill was CEO at VC firm DVx Ventures, he was the president of Tesla and chief operating officer at Lyft. He helped Tesla grow its revenue run rate from $2 billion to $20 billion in 30 months, and he doubled Lyft’s revenue ahead of its IPO. He’s also on the board of GM’s […]

Joby launches $200M public offering ahead of 2025 commercial eVTOL release

Rebecca Bellan — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 21:54:06 +0000

Electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle startup Joby Aviation has launched a public offering to sell up to $200 million of its shares of common stock, per a regulatory filing. Joby said it will use the proceeds from the raise — together with its existing cash — to fund its certification and manufacturing efforts, prepare […]