Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is officially on its way to the International Space Station, marking a historic first for the long-delayed astronaut transportation program.
If all goes to plan, Boeing will become NASA’s second astronaut transportation provider, joining Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Boeing did execute a successful uncrewed mission to the ISS in May 2022, but this is the first time the spacecraft has carried humans.
While Boeing has struggled, SpaceX has soared: Using its Crew Dragon capsule, SpaceX has been providing astronaut transportation to and from the ISS since 2020.
This is the last major step before Starliner can be certified as an operational crew system, and the first Starliner mission is expected to launch in 2025.
TechCrunch Mobility: Apple layoffs, an EV price reckoning and another Tesla robotaxi promise Plus, more Fisker problems and a Waymo-Uber Eats tie-upWelcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.
The average price of an EV in 2023 was $61,702, while all other vehicles stood at $47,450.
This downward pressure has forced automakers like Ford to delay future EV launches and put more resources toward hybrids.
Even Tesla, a bellwether in the EV world, fell well below analysts’ expectations with deliveries down 20% from Q4 2023.
What vehicles — including the two-wheeled variety — are you interested in reading about?
Venture firm Maniv has grown by nearly every measure since it launched eight years ago in Israel — from its investor base and 40-startup portfolio to its geographic focus, footprint and fund size.
There are, however, some notable evolutions that hint at the Maniv’s investment strategy with its third and latest fund known as Maniv III, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.
Maniv, once firmly focused on Israeli startups, continues to expand its geographic focus and now has active portfolio companies in nine countries.
The VC firm has also largely stopped using the once trendy umbrella term “mobility,” (often leaving it out of its original name Maniv Mobility) and has opted instead to talk about deep tech, decarbonization and digitization of the transportation sector.
“I thought the trajectory of that term (mobility) was going to continue to clarify overtime, but in fact, I think the opposite has happened for a bunch of reasons,” Granoff explained, adding that while the term mobility might not be used as often, it is still very much central to its mission.
In the summer after his freshman year at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, an engineering school in Worcester, Massachusetts, Cyvl.ai co-founder and CEO Daniel Pelaez needed a job.
And during my time there, I quickly saw firsthand they had no data on anything,” Pelaez told TechCrunch.
He saw an opportunity that would eventually become Cyvl.ai, a firm that helps municipalities and civil engineering firms bring a digital layer to tracking the conditions of transportation infrastructure.
“Our core vision and why we started the company in the first place is to help the entire world build and maintain better transportation infrastructure,” he said.
The $6 million investment was led by Companyon Ventures with participation from Argon Ventures, AeroX Ventures and Alumni Ventures.
Lucid Motors is stuck in a fight over the name of its Gravity SUVLucid Motors is at risk of losing the trademark for the name of its Gravity SUV, just months before the company is supposed to start production.
Google Ventures-backed EV charging company Gravity Inc. filed a “petition for cancellation” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) in December asking for Lucid’s Gravity trademark to be revoked.
“We feel very, very confident about it,” Moshe Cohen, Gravity Inc.’s CEO, said of the petition in an interview with TechCrunch.
Lucid, in its answer to the petition filed last week, says that Gravity does not currently operate an EV fleet and argues that consumers would not be confused by the two different uses of the Gravity name.
“[Lucid] believes that it is being and will continue to be damaged by [Gravity Inc.’s] registration,” the company writes.
Another CES has come and gone and transportation was still one of the central actors on one of the world’s largest tech stages.
Here are some of the tech themes that stood out to us at CES 2024.
With so many electric vehicles, it might not surprise folks to learn that EV charging companies were also there en masse.
HydrogenHydrogen power isn’t new, however, it’s taken a bit of a backseat lately to more traditional battery electric vehicles.
In-cabin hardware meets softwareAutomakers, automotive suppliers and even some startups, showed off their respective vision for the inside of the car.
CES has increasingly become defined by what automakers and other mobility-focused companies bring to Las Vegas, and CES 2024 has been no exception.
Hydrogen’s making a big comebackThe underlying technology for hydrogen-powered vehicles has been around for a while, though it’s been eclipsed by battery-powered electric vehicles.
But at CES 2024, a number of companies from Nikola to Hyundai and Bosch were touting its benefits.
We explore why this is the year several companies are highlighting hydrogen, with an additional deep dive into Hyundai’s plans.
Kia’s modular EV lineup is revealedModular phones may have come and gone, but Kia hopes modular vehicles will have a bit more success.
CES has increasingly become defined by what automakers and other mobility-focused companies bring to Las Vegas, and CES 2024 has been no exception.
Honda’s 0 series EVs, Saloon and Space-Hub concepts debutIf you’re tired of “thick, heavy” EVs, Honda has an alternative vision for you.
The carmaker showcased a more sleek design for its Saloon concept, while the Space-Hub takes a more family-friendly van approach.
Though like its standard form factor, the voice-powered ChatGPT could still be tricked, as we learned in a hands-on demo.
Kia’s modular EV lineup is revealedModular phones may have come and gone, but Kia hopes modular vehicles will have a bit more success.
CES 2024 or bust, Superpedestrian e-scooters hit the auction block and Fisker struggles to meet sales goalsThe Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation.
I appreciated a bit of rest and recovery, just in time for CES 2024.
The Big Three U.S. automakers (Ford, GM and Stellantis) won’t have big splashy displays and announcements as in past years.
However, there will be plenty of automotive, and more broadly, transportation companies and startups in attendance.
Shell Ventures, InMotion Ventures, Porsche Ventures, and Revo Capital also participated.
