All posts tagged: TechCrunch

TechCrunch Mobility: Is B enough to build a profitable robotaxi business?

TechCrunch Mobility: Is $16B enough to build a profitable robotaxi business?

Published by skeptic

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Waymo’s acceleration over the past 18 months is undeniable. The Alphabet-owned self-driving company now operates commercial robotaxi services in six markets, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, and Miami. It has plans to grow its fleet of driverless taxicabs this year to more than a dozen new cities internationally, including London and Tokyo.  And now it has $16 billion to fuel that expansion. Is it enough?  Talking to a few industry watchers, the answer kept landing in the squishy “sort of” and “it depends” territory.  First the bull case. Alphabet is clearly committed to ensuring Waymo’s success; the parent company is, and continues to be, the primary investor. Which means Waymo isn’t exposed like other AV startups that suddenly lost funding after their backers (often legacy automakers) got skittish or pivoted.  Its ridership and autonomous miles …

AI layoffs or ‘AI-washing’? | TechCrunch

AI layoffs or ‘AI-washing’? | TechCrunch

Published by skeptic

How many of the companies with recent layoffs are truly adapting their workforces to the efficiencies and challenges of artificial intelligence? And how many of them were just using AI as an excuse to cover other problems? That’s the question posed by a New York Times article on the trend of “AI-washing,” where companies will cite AI as the reason for layoffs that might actually be caused by other factors, like over-hiring during the pandemic. AI was the stated reason for more than 50,000 layoffs in 2025, with Amazon and Pinterest among the tech companies who blamed the technology for recent cuts. But a Forrester report published in January argued, “Many companies announcing A.I.-related layoffs do not have mature, vetted A.I. applications ready to fill those roles, highlighting a trend of ‘A.I.-washing’ — attributing financially motivated cuts to future A.I. implementation.” Molly Kinder, a senior research fellow at the Brookings Institute, noted that saying layoffs were caused by AI is a “very investor-friendly message,” especially when the alternative might mean admitting, “The business is ailing.” …

TechCrunch Mobility: The great Tesla rebranding

TechCrunch Mobility: The great Tesla rebranding

Published by skeptic

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Tesla CEO Elon Musk has spent months — years? — trying to position his company as something more than just a maker of electric vehicles. When Tesla acquired Solar City in 2016, he (and his comms team) pitched it as a sustainable energy company. Over the past year, he has pushed the idea of Tesla as an AI and robotics company.  Musk’s aspirational branding has slammed right up against financial reality: The bulk of its revenue comes from selling EVs. Its latest earnings support this.  The company generated $94.8 billion in revenue in 2025. Of that, $69.5 billion came from selling and leasing EVs as well as related regulatory credits. The remaining $25 billion is split nearly down the middle between its energy generation (solar) and storage business and “services and other,” which include revenue from its Superchargers, parts sales, and Full …

Last 24 hours to grab your +1 pass at 50% off to Disrupt 2026 | TechCrunch

Last 24 hours to grab your +1 pass at 50% off to Disrupt 2026 | TechCrunch

Published by skeptic

This is it. The clock is running out. With demand surging and early inventory nearly gone, tonight is your last chance to lock in record-low pricing for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 and secure a +1 pass at 50% off while limited passes remain. If Disrupt has been on your must-attend list, now is the moment to act. Save up to $680 on your pass and bring a +1 for half the price before this offer disappears. This pricing ends tonight, January 30, at 11:59 p.m. PT, or the moment the last +1 pass sell out. No extensions. No exception. Register now to secure yours with the lowest-priced offer. What Disrupt delivers year after year This year, Disrupt takes over San Francisco’s Moscone West from October 13–15, bringing together 10,000 founders, VCs, operators, and tech leaders for a tightly curated, three-day experience focused on real outcomes. Attendees return for: High-signal access to people actively building and investing Conversations that turn into deals, partnerships, and hires Tactical insights you can use immediately A front-row view into the future of tech before it breaks mainstream With 300+ startups expected to showcase their innovations, the intensity of Startup Battlefield 200, and curated networking designed to …

TechCrunch Mobility: RIP, Tesla Autopilot, and the NTSB investigates Waymo

TechCrunch Mobility: RIP, Tesla Autopilot, and the NTSB investigates Waymo

Published by skeptic

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! A quick bit of breaking news that hit just as we were about to send this newsletter out. The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into Waymo after its robotaxis have been spotted illegally passing stopped school buses numerous times in at least two states. Read the full story here. Now onto our regular programming … Tesla made a couple of moves this week — and just before its quarterly earnings drops — designed to show its progress, and even dominance, in automated driving technology. But, hold up, there is more to it than mere optics.  The week started with Tesla offering passengers robotaxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver in the front seat. If you recall, Tesla launched a limited service in Austin last year with a fleet of modified Tesla Model Y vehicles running a …

TechCrunch Mobility: ‘Physical AI’ enters the hype machine

TechCrunch Mobility: ‘Physical AI’ enters the hype machine

Published by skeptic

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.” To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! It’s been a minute, folks! As you might recall, the newsletter took a little holiday break. We’re back and well into 2026. And a lot has happened since the last edition.  I spent the first week of the year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And while I wrote about this last January, it’s worth repeating: U.S. automakers have left the building.  What has filled the void in the Las Vegas Convention Center? Autonomous vehicle tech companies (Zoox, Tensor Auto, Tier IV, and Waymo, which rebranded its Zeekr RT, to name a few), Chinese automakers like Geely and GWM, software and automotive chip companies, and loads of what Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang calls “physical AI.”  The term, which is sometimes called “embodied AI,” describes the use of AI outside the digital world and into the real, physics-based one. AI models, combined with sensors, cameras, and …

Tade Oyerinde and Teddy Solomon talk about building engaged audiences at TechCrunch Disrupt

Tade Oyerinde and Teddy Solomon talk about building engaged audiences at TechCrunch Disrupt

Published by skeptic

Tade Oyerinde and Teddy Solomon know a few things about building communities that last.   Afterall, Oyerinde is the founder and chancellor of the online school Campus, while Solomon is the co-founder behind the college social app Fizz.  The two spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt this year, breaking down the strategies that helped them scale their companies while retaining consumer interest.  Campus offers associate degrees in areas like information technology and business administration. It also offers certificates in specialities like cosmetology and phlebotomy. There are more than 3,000 students enrolled in Campus, and it employs more than 100 professors on at least a part-time basis, Oyerinde says.   Oyerinde said Campus decided to launch à la carte courses since employers, in particular, have been asking for classes that can teach their employees individual skills like vibe coding.   He’s realized that a lot of people are looking to upskill and believes that in the future, everyone will have some sort of membership or subscription service that helps them develop new skills.   “Everyone in this room, not just two-year degree-seeking people, will be able to go to Campus and learn with us,” he told the audience. “Live, online classes, taught by amazing people.”   Techcrunch …

Impersonators are (still) targeting companies with fake TechCrunch outreach

Impersonators are (still) targeting companies with fake TechCrunch outreach

Published by skeptic

Hi, thanks as always for reading TechCrunch. We want to talk with you quickly about something important. A growing number of scammers are impersonating TechCrunch reporters and event leads and reaching out to companies, pretending to be our staff when they absolutely are not. These bad actors are using our name and reputation to try to dupe unsuspecting businesses. It drives us crazy and infuriates us on your behalf. It ebbs and flows. Judging by the increased number of emails we’re receiving, asking, “Does this person really work for you?” it appears to be happening more actively at the moment. Anecdotally, this isn’t just happening to us; fraudsters are exploiting the trust that comes with established news brands to get their foot in the door with companies across the media industry. Here’s an example of the most common scheme we’ve been tracking: Impostors impersonating our reporters to extract sensitive business information from unsuspecting targets. In several cases we know about, scammers have adopted the identity of actual staff members, crafting what looks like a standard …