Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility. Here, we focus on the future of transportation, which is now even more at the center of AI's role. If you want to receive this content directly in your email, you can register for free here—just click TechCrunch Mobility!

On an ordinary day in San Francisco, you might see dozens, or even hundreds, of Waymo robot taxis shuttling through the city, and they hardly cause any disruption. However, as TechCrunch reported earlier, robot taxis have on several occasions obstructed traffic, driven into crime scenes, and interfered with emergency personnel; and this is not a phenomenon that only occurs in the Bay Area. In some cases, the companies even rely on emergency personnel to move their robot taxis away.

These disruptions occurred in the early days of the robotic taxi era. California has already enacted a new law, hoping to resolve this issue before the next wave of robotic taxis arrives.

Senate Bill No. 1246, signed into effect this week by Governor Gavin Newsom, establishes a series of new rules for autonomous vehicles aimed at enhancing safety and improving response times in cases where the vehicles fail or obstruct emergency personnel. The law also creates a mechanism for holding these companies accountable when they fail to meet the requirements.

Tesla, Waymo, and Zoox among other autonomous driving technology companies will be required to provide local, on-site support for emergency personnel in the event of issues with robotic taxis; if a robotic taxi blocks police or firefighters for more than 30 minutes, they may also face penalties.

The law also stipulates that autonomous vehicle developers may only employ remote drivers located within the United States, and these drivers must hold U.S. driver's licenses. They are also required to report the location and status of the vehicles to cities, towns, and other local jurisdictions during system failures, and to provide "local accident technicians" who can assist in handling accidents and obstacles involving autonomous vehicles.

There are still some details that need to be finalized, and this will be the responsibility of the Motor Vehicle Administration, as it is the main regulatory body for autonomous vehicles in California. However, when this law comes into effect in July 2028, will it truly prevent robot taxis from interfering with emergency personnel?

It's highly unlikely, but I hope this law can reduce chaos and increase accountability when such incidents occur.

Perhaps a better question is, will other states follow California's lead, or will they wait for the federal government to intervene?

Transaction Updates

• Harbinger This electric vehicle startup has secured a deal worth $300 million to supply 2,000 electric trucks to FedEx.
• Israeli tourism technology startup HyperGuest raised $25 million from the investment department AMI of Apax Partners.
• The developer and manufacturer of all-electric Seaglider, REGENT Craft, has extended its collaboration with the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Laboratory, with the total contract value rising to 19.25 million US dollars.
• A maritime intelligence startup headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Quartermaster, has completed a $140 million Series B financing round. Of this amount, approximately $100 million came from Insight Partners, Overmatch Ventures which focuses on national defense, and First Round Capital; the remaining $40 million was provided as debt financing by investment bank Stifel.
• French team management software startup Voltaback raised 2.8 million euros from European investment fund Serena.

When Aurora announced that there would be 30,000 autonomous trucks on the road by the end of 2030, I admit I raised an eyebrow at least once. I interviewed the Chief Financial Officer David Maday to find out how the company plans to achieve this goal and why he is so confident of success.

BMW has released the new 2027 3 Series, and the fuel-powered version is almost identical to the electric version. Guess which one is cheaper?

Kodiak has already secured IKEA as a customer and will begin driverless delivery on public roads later this year. According to the company, these trucks will transport IKEA products along a 219-mile section of Interstate 45 between Houston and Dallas, with no one in the cab.

Lyft agreed to pay $272.5 million to settle a lawsuit. The lawsuit alleged that the ride-hailing company violated California law by incorrectly classifying drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. This settlement resolves violations that occurred before Prop was approved by voters; Prop allowed companies such as Uber and Lyft to classify drivers as contractors.

Northeastern University tested 21 models from 17 automobile companies in recent years, as well as 30 supporting mobile applications. The result is that cars are collecting a large amount of personal data and sharing it with many technology companies, including Adobe, Contentsquare, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Snap, and Yahoo.

The Starship rocket of SpaceX successfully entered Earth's orbit for the first time, but there were no smooth sailing along the way.

Rivian has benefited from the new R2 SUV, setting a sales quarter record. The company still expects to deliver between 65,000 and 70,000 units this year. However, this latest electric vehicle has also encountered some issues. The company has initiated a recall due to the possibility that the fasteners on the R2 SUV high-voltage battery pack may not have been properly tightened, which could lead to a loss of power while driving.

To conclude, here are a few notable Tesla news items: The company sold over 480,000 electric vehicles in the third quarter, marking its second strong quarter in a row after a weaker start to the year. The company once again stated that its performance was affected by adverse weather conditions.

Moreover, despite the successful operation of Tesla's traditional automobile business, what it truly aspires to be is considered a AI and robotics company. A year ago, Elon Musk presented his fourth version of the overall plan, stating that it would bring "amazing prosperity" through robotic taxis, robots, and AI. As Sean O Kane pointed out in a recent article, "More than a year has passed, and it is still difficult to precisely define what this statement actually means."

However, Tesla has just raised more funds to continue its efforts. The company has obtained a new credit line of $30 billion that can be used to expand the scale of future products, including the Optimus robot and the Cybercab robotic taxi.

One more thing...

Why go? Because on October 13th, I will be interviewing Rivian, the CEO of RJ Scaringe, on stage. I will also participate in a roundtable discussion titled "Building AI Systems When Failure Is Not an Option" with GM, the Director of Robotics Strategy; Nathan Michael, the Chief Technology Officer; Waabi, the founder and CEO of Raquel Urtasun. Sean O will interview Also, the CEO; General Catalyst, the Managing Partner; and Baillie Gifford, the Investment Manager, with the topic "How to Win When You're Not Building AI." In addition, you will hear from executives and engineers from companies such as Cerebras, Nvidia, OpenAI, and Replit. For the full agenda, see here.

Speaking of Disrupt, there's also a brief introduction to MyMonthly Car here; it was one of the participants in Startup Battlefield 200 and even earned the qualification to be exhibited at the event site.