TechCrunch Mobility – A ride-sharing pioneer takes on Uber, Tesla continues to lose ground, and delivery robots that look like dogs land in Texas
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Although it was a short week there were still many news items, including a Zoox recall an update on the Stellantis-Amazon partnership and a few deals for startup funding.
I have written about Carma Technology and its patent infringement suit against Uber. This is not a patent-troll situation and the IP attorneys that I spoke with said it would be a difficult case for Uber.
What’s the gist? Carma, founded in 2007 by serial-entrepreneur and SOSV Ventures’ founder Sean O’Sullivan filed a lawsuit against Uber earlier this year, alleging that the company had infringed five of its patents, which are related to a system of matching riders or packages with vehicle capacity. Ride-sharing is another way of saying this.
Larry Ashery, an IP attorney, provided the money quote which explains why this case is so complex and challenging.
It’s important to note that Carma is not just asserting five different patents. They have been working on a sophisticated strategy of obtaining patents for the last 18 years.
Carma’s five patents form part of a 30-patent group that is all related and linked to the original filing date. This is important because each of the five patents asserted contains multiple patents claims that define the legal boundaries for the invention. Carma’s claim against Uber is based on these individual claims, not the patents in their entirety. Ashery pointed out that Uber will be forced to defend each claim asserted, which will make the litigation more difficult and complex. Let’s move on to the rest of the story.
A little bird
For months, we’ve been hearing from a few little birds about a new startup in autonomous vehicle technology that has quietly been working for a year. The interesting nugget of this startup — called
Boris Sofman, who previously led the consumer robotics company Anki and co-foundedWaymo’s self-driving truck program, is the man behind Bedrock Robotics.
Although the San Francisco-based startup remains in stealth mode, my sources say it has raised substantial venture capital. Bedrock Robotics has been working on a self driving kit that can be retrofitted onto heavy machinery and construction equipment.
According to a filing at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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Deals!
Firefly Aerospacereceived a
Northrop Grumman has invested $50 million as part of the Series D round. This investment will help the startup to further develop its co-developed medium launch vehicles, now called Eclipse.
Pallet, a warehouse software startup in Fremont, California.
General Catalyst led a Series B round of funding that raised $27 million (19459056). Bain Capital Ventures and Activant Capital were also involved. Volteras (19459041), a London-based company that builds virtual connective tissues to allow plugged-in EVs offer their batteries to the grid, has closed a $11.1 million Series-A led by Union Square Ventures with participation from Edenred Exor Long Journey Ventures and Wex. Way Data Technologies (19459041) is a fleet management company founded by former Wolt and Lucid Motors employees.
Pale Blue Dot led a pre-seed round of funding worth $2.95 million, which included 10x Founders, Greens Ventures and Pale Blue Dot.
Notable Reads and Other Tidbits
As part of a pilot in Austin, Texas, autonomous vehicles
Rivr’sfour-wheeled stair-climbing robot — described by its CEO and founder Marko Bjelonic as a dog on skates — will ferry package from Veho’sVans directly to the front doors of customers. Both companies see the small pilot as an important step in solving a unique piece of the end to end autonomous delivery journey.
TuSimple (now CreateAI), after promising the U.S. Government that it would stop such transfers as part of a national-security agreement, sent a cache of sensitive data – the blueprint for an American-made auto-drive system – to a Beijing owned firm. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the revelation. Readers and industry sources responded with “not surprised” comments.
Zoox (19459041) issued its second voluntary recall of software in a month following a collision on May 8 between one its robotaxis, and an escooter rider. The incident is notable for what happened when the e-scooter was struck after the Zoox vehicle, which was operating at a low speed and had stopped to yield at a traffic intersection.
Zoox claims that the escooterist fell directly next to the vehicle. The robotaxi then began to move, and stopped when it completed the turn. However, it did not make any further contact with him.
Electric vehicles, batteries, and charging
Tesla Cybertruck is struggling. Dozens of Tesla Cybertrucks that have not been sold are piled up in a parking lot at a Detroit shopping mall. Tesla has now allowed owners of the Cybertruck to trade in their vehicle for the first since it was released, but they will face a steep loss due to depreciation. CarGurus showed recent depreciation rates up to 45%.
According to data released by European Automobile Manufacturers Association, Tesla’sEuropean and U.K. sales have dropped by nearly half.
In 2015, the Volkswagenscandal involving emissions cheating reverberated throughout the automotive industry and led the company to switch from diesel vehicles to hybrids and electric cars. Four former Volkswagen executives are now in prison for their roles.
Amazon and
Stellantisno longer collaborate to develop in-car software with the automaker. The partnership was first announced in January of 2022 as part of Stellantis plan to generate $22.5 Billion annually from software. Stellantis said to TechCrunch that it would be switching to an Android-based platform.
