Elon Musk vs. the regulators

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Elon Musk He never had the best relationship with regulators, often running afoul of or completely avoiding the local and state laws in which his many companies operated.

This week has been particularly active on the regulatory front.

Mask Tunnels and Infrastructure Company Boring company A ProPublica investigation found nearly 800 violations by Nevada regulators, including drilling without approval, dumping untreated water on city streets, failing to install silt fences, and tracking dirt from construction sites onto nearby roads.

Then there Teslawhich has been hit with enforcement action by the California Department of Insurance for routinely denying or delaying customer claims despite years of warnings from the state regulator. Reminder: Tesla is an insurance company in some states.

Tesla is also getting attention, once again, from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency opened an investigation into Tesla’s full self-driving technology after receiving reports that the software caused vehicles to run red lights or travel the wrong lanes.

The NHTSA has investigated Tesla before. But this program is noteworthy because it specifically targets Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance software. Musk, as well as Tesla shareholders, have pinned the company’s future on its ability to be a leader in self-driving vehicle technology, as well as robotics and artificial intelligence.

This single investigation likely won’t derail Tesla’s plans; The company has just rolled out the latest version of FSD (version 14). But it’s another example of the increasing scrutiny of the technology that Tesla is trying to put front and center, and raises questions about its robotic robot, which uses a version of its FSD software.

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A Wired article from July discovered this GM Reusing a few Chevy Bolt EVs that were part of the closed Cruise robotaxi program and were driving on select highways in Michigan near Austin, Texas, and the San Francisco Bay Area to develop simulation models and new driver-assistance technology.

Now it seems that General Motors may be moving forward with developing its self-driving cars, but in ways that may be surprising. When GM acquired Cruise in December 2024, it said it would combine Cruise’s technology with its ADAS efforts to develop fully self-driving personal vehicles.

We’re hearing chatter here and there that GM is building an AV team across Austin and Mountain View. This comes just two months after GM began rehiring laid-off touring employees, according to Bloomberg.

We’re looking around, and if you know anything, get in touch.

Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosek at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com Or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

Offers!

Gobi Aviation It sold 30.5 million shares to raise about $514 million, money that the company said would be used to fund certification, manufacturing and preparation efforts for commercial operations, as well as for general working capital and other general corporate purposes. The company plans to start transporting passengers with its electric aircraft with vertical take-off and landing in Dubai in 2026, followed by the United States.

However, investors’ reaction was not very positive, because the shares went at a discount. Under the deal, they sold for $16.85 per share, roughly 11% below the previous close.

Other deals that caught my attention this week…

I forgot about this last week. the futurea European startup developing a range of self-driving trains, has raised €7.5 million in seed funding co-led by Asterion Ventures and Leap435, joined by EIT Urban Mobility and US investors Zero Infinity Partners and Heroic Ventures. Side note: The Autonocast, a podcast I co-host, recently featured Alex Haag, CEO and co-founder of Futurail. I listen.

Nexquieda London-based startup developing end-to-end automation for freight forwarders, has raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed round led by Connect Ventures. MMC Ventures, Entropy Industrial Capital and Inovia also participated.

Toyota and Metal mining They have reached an agreement to work together on the mass production of cathode materials for all-solid-state batteries to be installed in battery-powered electric vehicles.

Taiko Ia drone navigation startup, has raised $10 million in a Series A round led by FirstMark.

Utelemarka Minneapolis-based fleet analytics and measurement company, has been acquired by Smith System. The terms were not disclosed.

Notable Readings and Other Stories

Governor of California Gavin Newsom They signed a bill giving Uber and Lyft drivers in the state the right to unionize as independent contractors.

Just last week, we showed up DoorDashIts efforts to build its own autonomous delivery robot. But this internal program does not prevent the company from external partnerships. Dash door and Robot service announced a multi-year partnership that will see them use autonomous robots to make deliveries across the United States.

clear It delivered a record number of electric vehicles in the third quarter. Although it’s still a far cry from the expectations it shared when it went public, the latest sales report shows progress.

Lyft We’ve struck another AV partnership – this time with… Automatic tensioner. The plan is to deploy robotaxis in Europe and North America starting in 2027, the companies said. Tensor Auto may not look familiar, but Chinese robotics company AutoX might. Tensor Auto has its roots in AutoX, though the San Jose-based company has told TechCrunch in the past that AutoX’s Chinese operations have been completely divested.

Transportation includes infrastructure such as bridges. Climate technology reporter Tim De Chant looked into the matter Allium engineeringa startup company developing paper-thin stainless steel that could change the way bridges are built.

Tesla It revealed initial versions of the Model 3 and Model Y, which start at $36,990 and $39,990, respectively. These “standard” versions are largely stripped down. Senior correspondent Sean O’Kane provides more details here.

A few things jumped out at me. First, I was surprised that this standard version doesn’t include autopilot. Tesla is also really known for innovation, from its manufacturing process and software-first approach to its business model. But this was not an act of innovation or even intelligence. It was just a matter of abstraction, and the end result was not the deep cuts that had been previously touted. Remember, Elon Musk once paid for a $25,000 car, a program that was later cancelled.

Zero motorcycles It moved its main operations from California to a new European headquarters in the Netherlands. The company told TechCrunch that the move is designed to accelerate growth and increase focus on global opportunities.

Another thing…

If you’re in San Francisco later this month, come say hello. I’ll be in TechCrunch disabled 2025which will be held October 27-29 at Moscone West. There are some transportation-related conversations you won’t want to miss.

For example, TechCrunch will interview Uber’s chief product officer Sachin Kansal Nuru Co-Founder and president Dave Ferguson On the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and mobility. The discussion is expected to cover how predictive modeling and computer vision are improving road safety, why last-mile delivery is a proving ground for autonomy, and what it will take to achieve AI-driven transportation at scale.