Tesla's latest earnings were a predictable affair - revenue met expectations, investors got briefly excited about $1.4 billion in free cash flow, and everyone went about their day. But the earnings call delivered a moment of pure schadenfreude fuel: CEO Elon Musk admitted that millions of Tesla owners will need hardware upgrades to run a future, more capable version of Full Self-Driving that doesn't require human supervision. The catch? That software hasn't been released, or even proven capable of being released.
Tesla sold these Hardware 3 cars between 2019 and 2023, and owners have spent years bugging the company for a straight answer. Now Musk says Tesla will need to physically upgrade each vehicle, requiring microfactories in several major cities to service potentially millions of cars. Microfactories! This won't be cheap, especially since Tesla expanded its capital expenditures budget to a whopping $25 billion this year.
Meanwhile, Redwood Materials - founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel - laid off around 135 employees, or roughly 10% of its workforce, as it restructures for its growing energy storage business. COO Chris Lister is retiring, and at least three other VPs have left recently, with the company citing a focus on reducing management layers.
Humble Robotics, a San Francisco-based autonomous hauler startup, raised $24 million in a seed round led by Eclipse, with backing from Energy Impact Partners and RedBlue Capital. The startup is full of Silicon Valley elite, including founder Eyal Cohen (Apple special projects, Uber ATG, Pronto, Waabi) and Drew Gray (Cruise, Otto, Voyage). Fun fact: Humble Robotics is in the same building Cruise was in after it left founder Kyle Vogt's garage. It's not 2016, but the vibes are strong.
Lyft acquired ride-hailing app Gett's U.K. business for $55 million, giving it access to the majority of registered black cab drivers across Greater London. The company also renewed its partnership with Serco for Santander Cycles and plans to test autonomous rides in London with Baidu later this year.
In other funding news: A&K Robotics raised $8 million CAD Series A for airport autonomous vehicles; Decade Energy raised €22 million for logistics depot power infrastructure; and Reliable Robotics raised $160 million for autonomous aircraft systems, led by Nimble Partners and a gaggle of other investors.
PlusAI and Churchill Capital Corp IX terminated their SPAC merger due to market conditions. Porsche is selling its stakes in Bugatti Rimac and Rimac Group to HOF Capital. Einride added 75 electric heavy-duty trucks to Amazon's Relay freight network. Ford reportedly held talks with Geely about extending a European tie-up into the U.S., but those talks have stalled.
Porsche's Cayenne electric coupe arrives in late summer. The first customer-ready Rivian R2 SUVs rolled off the line in Normal, Illinois, days after an EF-1 tornado tore off part of the roof - but founder RJ Scaringe says no delays are expected.
Finally, the author test-drove a $205,000 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster to test Apple CarPlay Ultra. Last time it glitched; this time it worked. Progress!