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On an average day in San Francisco, you might see dozens (hundreds?) of Waymo robotaxis zipping around the city — and with little disruption. But, as TechCrunch has reported, there have been numerous incidents of robotaxis impeding traffic, driving into crime scenes, and interfering with first responders. And not just in the Bay Area. In some cases, companies have relied on first responders to move their robotaxis.
These disruptions are occurring in the early stages of the robotaxi era. California has a new law hoping to get ahead of the problem before the next impending wave of robotaxis land.
Senate Bill 1246, which was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom this week, sets a series of new rules for AVs designed to improve safety and response times when they become disabled or interfere with emergency responders. The law also creates ways to hold these companies accountable if they don’t.
Autonomous vehicle technology companies like Tesla, Waymo, and Zoox will have to provide first responders with local, on-the-ground support when their robotaxis cause problems and could also face penalties if a robotaxi blocks police or firefighters for more than 30 minutes.
The law also says AV developers can only employ remote drivers who are based in the United States and those drivers must hold a U.S. driver’s license. They must also notify cities, towns, and other local jurisdictions about the location and status of vehicles during system-wide failures and must provide “local incident technicians” who can assist with AV accidents and obstructions.
There are still some details to hammer out, which the Department of Motor Vehicles will handle since it’s the main regulator of autonomous vehicles in the state. But when this law goes into effect in July 2028, will it actually keep robotaxis out of the way of emergency responders?
It likely won’t, but hopefully this law reduces the chaos and raises the accountability when something does happen.
Perhaps the better question is will other states follow California’s lead or wait for the federal government to weigh in?
Deals!
Harbinger, the EV startup, landed a $300 million deal to supply FedEx with 2,000 of its electric trucks.
HyperGuest, an Israeli travel tech startup, raised $25 million from AMI, the investment arm of Apax Partners.
REGENT Craft, the developer and manufacturer of the all-electric Seaglider, extended its collaboration with the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, pushing the total value of the contract to $19.25 million.
Quartermaster, an Arlington, Virginia-based maritime intelligence startup, raised $140 million in a Series B round. About $100 million came from Insight Partners, defense-focused firm Overmatch Ventures, and First Round Capital. The remaining $40 million came in the form of a debt facility from investment bank Stifel.
Voltaback, a French fleet management software startup, raised €2.8 million from European investment fund Serena.
Notable reads and other tidbits
When Aurora announced it would have 30,000 autonomous trucks on the road by the end of 2030, I admit that I raised at least one of my eyebrows. I interviewed CFO David Maday to find out exactly how the company plans to accomplish this and why he’s confident it will succeed.
BMW unveiled its new 2027 3 Series and it’s offering essentially the same car for gas and electric. Guess which one is cheaper?
DoorDash shared more about its new drone delivery business DoorDash Air, including the autonomous aircraft and its ground-based systems approach.
Kodiak has landed Ikea as a customer and will begin driverless deliveries on public highways later this year. The trucks will haul Ikea products without anyone in the cab on a 219-mile stretch of Interstate 45 between Houston and Dallas, according to the company.
Lyft agreed to pay $272.5 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the ride-hailing company of violating California law by misclassifying drivers as independent contractors, instead of employees. The settlement wraps up violations that occurred before Prop 22 was approved by voters, which allows companies like Uber and Lyft to classify drivers as contractors.
Northeastern University tested 21 late-model vehicles from 17 automakers and 30 companion mobile apps. The upshot: cars are collecting a trove of personal data and sharing it with a lot of tech companies, including Adobe, Contentsquare, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Snap, and Yahoo.
SpaceX’s Starship rocket reached Earth orbit for the first time, though not without some drama along the way.
Rivian reported a record-setting quarter of sales thanks to the new R2 SUV. And it’s still forecasting between 65,000 and 70,000 vehicles this year. But it is experiencing a few hiccups with its newest EV. The company issued a recall for its R2 SUV over fasteners on its high-voltage battery pack that might not be properly tightened, which can cause a loss of power while driving.
We’ll finish this roundup with a few notable Tesla news item. The company sold more than 480,000 EVs in the third quarter, the second strong quarter in a row for the company after a softer start to the year. The company has delayed its Roadster 2 event again due to bad weather.
And while Tesla’s traditional automotive business may be clicking along, it really wants to be considered an AI and robotics company. One year ago, Elon Musk laid out his fourth Master Plan, which he claims will deliver “amazing abundance” through robotaxis, robots, and AI. As Sean O’Kane noted in his recent piece, “What that means, more than a year later, is still tricky to pin down.”
It did just pin down more money to try. The company secured $30 billion in fresh credit lines that could be used to scale its future products, including the Optimus robot and the Cybercab robotaxi.
One more thing …
The countdown begins! Disrupt 2026, TechCrunch’s annual tech conference in San Francisco, is just days away. I mentioned this last week and I am here to share this again. I’m offering you a 30% discount on tickets to Disrupt with code mobility30.
Why go? Well, I am interviewing Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe onstage October 13. I will also interview Mikell Taylor, director of robotics strategy at GM; Shield AI CTO Nathan Michael; and Waabi founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun on a panel entitled “Building AI Systems When Failure Is Not an Option.” Sean O’Kane will interview Also CEO Chris Yu; Yuri Sagalov, managing director at General Catalyst; and Shan Shan, investment manager at Baillie Gifford in “How to Win When You’re Not Building AI.” Plus, hear from execs and engineers from Cerebras, Nvidia, OpenAI, and Replit to name a few. Check out the full agenda here.
Speaking of Disrupt, here is a profile of MyMonthly Car, one of the Startup Battlefield 200 participants that earned a spot to exhibit at the event.