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I remember Aurora encountering a massive milestone last week – just squealing under its own deadline, starting driverless, self-driving truck service? Welp, Aurora made headlines again this week, but for a surprising change in leadership.
Co-founder Sterling Anderson is Chief Product Officer and has resigned from his position and board of directors. There is no real word about what prompted him to resign. “Leaving the Aurora is one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever made, especially given the exciting stage in which the Aurora exists,” he said. “This really gave me the confidence that now is the right time.”
He didn’t say exactly where he was headed except that it would be a “exciting external opportunity in the role of senior leadership in an iconic global company.”
I’ll have you put a bet.
Aurora pushes without Anderson. In a revenue call, the company began sending autonomous trucks at night, and announced by the second half of 2025 during unfavourable weather conditions such as rain and strong winds.
Little bird
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It’s not every day that a public company reverses the course and makes it private. But again, these are not normal times. Especially for companies caught up in the US-China trade war.
For example, take Zeekr. A year ago, Chinese EV made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. Now, parent company Geely Auto wants to keep Zeekr private in response to the Trump administration’s idea of warding Chinese companies off the US stock exchange.
Other deals that caught my attention…
Bosch Ventures has a new $270 million fund that continues its tradition of investing in deep tech startups. Managing Director Ingo Ramesohl told TechCrunch the plan was to put more money into North American startups.
An investor who previously backed India’s Uber rival Blusmart proposed a plan to suddenly inject $30 million last month. But there’s a catch.
Battery software startup Breathe raised $21 million in the Series B round, led by Kinnevik Online AB. Low Carbon Capital and Volvo Cartech Fund participated.
Doordash has announced two major acquisitions expanding to Europe. The company agreed to buy its UK rival Deliveroo for around £2.9 billion (approximately $3.87 billion) and said it was buying Severroom separately. It provides CRM, marketing and operational software to fill restaurants, hotels and public venues with $1.2 billion in cash with guest management.
Meanwhile, Uber has been busy this week, buying and investing in the company.
Uber has increased its investment in Chinese self-driving car companies by $100 million as part of its expansion of its partnership agreement to provide services to another 15 cities over the next five years. In another deal, Uber has gained 85% control of Trendior GO, an Istanbul-based online meal and grocery delivery business.
Notable readings and other information
Self-driving cars
This is a personnel change that I hadn’t expected. Mo Elshenawy is now former president and CTO of Shutter’s self-driving car company Cruise and has been appointed Chief Technology Officer of Telehealth and Wellness Company Hims & Hers. I spoke with Andrew Dudum, co-founder and CEO of Hims & Hers. He said he is focusing on the AV industry in order to find his next CTO. This is why.
Nuro has begun testing its AV technology on the Las Vegas Strip. I recently sat down with co-founder and president Dave Ferguson. Stay tuned for the latest information on why the company has shifted its business model.
Tesla’s “Robotaxi” and “Cybercab” trademarks have reached several obstacles. The US Patent and Trademark Office has denied Tesla’s attempt to trademark the term “Robotakshi” because vehicles are too common. Meanwhile, Tesla’s application for the trademark for the term “CyberCab” has been suspended as it pursues a similar “Cyber” trademark.
Uber has locked in partnerships with three Chinese self-driving car companies, Pony AI, Momenta and Weride, to boost Robotaxi market share in the Middle East and Europe. Footnote: These transactions are not operated in China.
Waymo announced that it will have a new 239,000-square-foot factory through a contract with Magna in the Phoenix suburbs of Mesa, and has built more than 2,000 autonomous Jaguar I-Pace cars. It clearly attracted a lot of attention. However, I was ultimately most interested in learning the size of Waymo’s existing commercial fleet. This is currently 1,500.
Wayve plays rounds with the well-known executive set. You may remember a video of Bill Gates on one of Wayve’s autonomous test vehicles. Now it’s the turn of Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group. PS Branson is Wayve Investor. By the way, Fortune Brainstorm held an AI conference in London, with Wayve CEO and co-founder Alex Kendall being there. He had some interesting comments about the company’s end-to-end approach and Tesla’s Elon Musk.
Zoox has suspended its driverless testing program for over a week and issued a voluntary recall of the software after a crash in Las Vegas.
Electric cars, charging, batteries
Cadillac Celestiq ev – yes, that monster – is here, and contributor Emme Hall has the idea after spending the day behind the wheel.
It’s a revenue season, and the US-China trade war is beginning to leave scratches on automaker paint everywhere. And, well, I don’t think we can buff it.
Ford and General Motors elicited the leadership of that year, citing economic uncertainty related to Trump’s tariffs. Meanwhile, Libian said it is likely to offer fewer vehicles (40,000-46,000 eV) this year than previously forecast due to changes in tariffs and other regulations. Reminder: The company has already tracked for the third year in a row, with no volume growth before guidance was reduced. However, there was some good news for Libian. It generated gross profit (yeah, gross profit is not my favorite either). However, this met a contractual milestone that unlocked about $1 billion in funding from the Volkswagen Group as part of a joint venture with a German automaker.
Ford is increasing the price of the all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUV and Maverick pickups up to $2,000 due to the import taxes Trump has been imposed on vehicles made in Mexico.
Lucid Motors has been working through several high-quality “hiccups” in the early stages of delivering the much-anticipated electric gravity SUV.
Mitsubishi Motors is in consultation with Foxconn to source electric vehicle models that Japanese automakers are planning to sell in Australia and New Zealand in the second half of 2026.
Tesla sales have surpassed Europe despite the rise in EV sales in April.
The future of flights
According to the first quarter revenue report, Joby Aviation appears to be settling for its first commercial passenger service in 2026. Turned into an electric vertical takeoff and landing startup, Spac was targeting 2025. It’s now 2026, suggesting that it might not be early next year.