E-scooter startup Tier buys Nextbike to double down on commitment to e-bikes

Berlin-based Tier Mobility, one of the largest e-scooter operators in Europe, has just acquired German bike-sharing platform Nextbike. The move signals Tier’s commitment to the same multi-modal approach that competitors like Lime and Voi have followed to take advantage of existing market share. It’s also the latest big acquisition in the micromobility industry that might […]

Foxconn buys Lordstown Motors’ Ohio factory for $230M, plans to help produce Endurance electric pickup

Electric light-duty truck manufacturer Lordstown Motors has officially sold its 6.2-million-square-foot Lordstown, Ohio factory to Foxconn, the Taiwanese hardware manufacturing company best known for making Apple’s iPhone. The $230 million deal is expected to close by the end of April next year, according to a statement from Lordstown. The terms of the deal are in […]

Rivian expands into fleet business beyond its ‘exclusive’ Amazon deal

Electric vehicle startup Rivian is expanding a fleet business that appeared to be exclusively tied to Amazon. The company, in which Amazon holds a 20% stake, will start taking orders for its electric delivery vans in 2022, with plans to deliver them to customers by early 2023, according to a new section of Rivian’s website. […]

Cruise lays out its plan for ‘how’ it will make robotaxis a reality

The string of engineers who spoke Thursday night during a deep dive into Cruise’s autonomous vehicle technology never mentioned Tesla’s name. They didn’t have to, although the message was clear enough. GM’s self-driving subsidiary Cruise presented a technical and deployment roadmap — at a granular level — that aimed to show how it has built […]

Elon Musk rolls back newest ‘Full Self-Driving’ beta due to software issues

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the company has temporarily pulled back the latest version of the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta software less than a day after its release. “Seeing some issues with 10.3, so rolling back to 10.2 temporarily,” Musk tweeted on Sunday. “Please note, this is to be expected with beta software. It […]

Top highlights from Xpeng’s 2021 Tech Day

Chinese smart electric vehicle startup Xpeng has announced a series of innovations that direct the company towards crafting the mobility ecosystem of the future.  “Our exploration of more efficient, safer, carbon-neutral mobility solutions goes far beyond just smart EVs, and is the cornerstone of our long-term competitive advantages,” said He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of […]

Bolt Mobility launches in-app navigation for shared e-scooters

Bolt Mobility, a micromobility company co-founded by Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, has launched an in-app navigation system for its e-scooters dubbed “MobilityOS.” To make this feature easy to use, Bolt’s next generation of scooters, the “Bolt Two,” allows a rider’s smartphone to be mounted to, and charged by, the scooter. The simple act of adding […]

Tesla has 150,000 cars using its safety score tool

Nearly 150,000 Tesla cars are using the company’s new “safety score,” a tool rolled out last month to determine whether owners can access the beta version of its “Full Self-Driving” software, executives said during its third quarter earnings call. While 150,000 cars are now part of the Full-Self Driving (FSD) beta enrollment program, a fraction of drivers have […]

Meet the startups changing mobility for emerging middle classes

In emerging economies, where spending billions to build public transit infrastructure can be out of reach, startups are using technology to meet the mobility needs of a rising urban middle class. Swvl, Treepz, Jatri, SafeBoda, Urbvan, Chalo and Buser are just a few of the startups that have popped up in Africa, Asia, the Middle […]