What We’re Reading
Lyft partners with May Mobility, Mobileye to bring autonomous vehicles to the app (Tech Crunch, November 6, 2024)
Lyft is making a big push into the autonomous vehicle market, partnering with several companies to build a network of self-driving cars. They've signed a deal with May Mobility to launch autonomous vehicles on the Lyft app in Atlanta starting in 2025. Lyft is also partnering with Mobileye, allowing vehicles equipped with Mobileye's self-driving technology to be integrated into the Lyft platform. Additionally, Lyft has partnered with Nexar to use dashcam data to improve autonomous vehicle technology development. These partnerships build on Lyft's previous experiences with autonomous vehicles, including its collaboration with Motional and Argo AI. This strategy aims to help Lyft catch up with Uber, which has already partnered with several companies in the autonomous vehicle industry.
Elon Musk says its ‘pointless’ to build a human-driven $25,000 Tesla (Fast Company, November 5, 2024)
During an earnings call last month, Elon Musk indicated that Tesla has backed out of its plans for the long-promised $25,000 electric vehicle, stating that building an affording electric vehicle is “pointless” without fully autonomous technology. As recently as January of 2024, Musk confirmed rumors of Tesla’s new affordable EV arriving in 2025, and called it the beginning of a “growth wave” for the company.
However, Tesla appears to be shifting focus to autonomous technology and producing its robotaxi, the “Cybercab.” “It is my understanding that the original plan was to make the more-affordable vehicle on a new platform. I think Tesla realized they were late to making an affordable vehicle versus their Chinese-EV peers. . . So, they changed their strategy rather than make a large investment to produce a new vehicle,” stated Seth Goldstein, a Morningstar Research Services analyst.
Waymo is now valued at a staggering $45 billion (Electrek, November 1, 2024)
Alphabet's Waymo received $5. 6 billion in funding, now valued at $45 billion. With investors like Google, it plans to expand robotaxi service in major cities. Despite setbacks, financial support from Alphabet fuels Waymo's success. The company is growing rapidly, with plans to enter new markets and expand autonomous operations. Existing investors include Andreessen Horowitz and T. Rowe Price. Tesla poses potential competition in the self-driving sector. Currently, Tesla offers ride-hailing services with safety drivers for its Bay Area employees.