African automotive company Autochek has secured a $13.1 million seed round almost a year after raising $3.4 million pre-seed in November 2020. The company, led by CEO Etop Ikpe, has seen astonishing growth in demand since launching in August last year, not just from a consumer perspective but also from its business and banking partners. […]
Tesla surpasses $1 trillion market value
Tesla’s market valuation hit and then surpassed the $1 trillion mark Monday, a milestone reached by the company 11 years after it became a publicly traded company. It also puts Tesla in select company with Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google, all of which have market caps above $1 trillion. Tesla met the $1 trillion market […]
NTSB chair calls on Elon Musk to change design of Tesla Autopilot
National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has called on Tesla to change the design of its advanced driver assistance system to ensure it cannot be misused by drivers, according to a letter sent to the company’s CEO Elon Musk. The letter, which TechCrunch has viewed, expressed concern that Tesla has yet to implement two […]
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 […]
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 […]
Elon Musk’s Boring Company gets initial OK to expand Loop under Las Vegas Strip
Elon Musk’s Boring Company received Wednesday the initial approval required to build a transportation system that would shuttle passengers in Tesla vehicles via a network of tunnels under Las Vegas. The approval by Clark County officials of a special use permit and franchise agreement would allow the Boring Company to expand its Vegas Loop system […]
Tesla will only use iron-based batteries for standard model EVs
Tesla said Wednesday it will use iron-based batteries for its standard Model 3 and Model Y models across global markets. The update, provided in the company’s third-quarter earnings report, confirmed hints that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been dropping for months about the cheaper battery chemistry’s growing role in the company’s product line-up. Lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) […]
Tesla charges forward with a record quarterly profit of $1.6 billion
Tesla continued its profitability streak, reporting Wednesday net income of $1.62 billion in the third quarter, a nearly fivefold increase from the $331 million it earned in the same period last year. The record-setting profit came thanks to record sales and despite a global chip shortage and supply chain constraints that have affected the industry. […]
Buttigieg defends safety agency appointment after Musk claims ‘bias’
Elon Musk voiced concerns on Twitter over the recent appointment of Missy Cummings to a key advisory role at the country’s top traffic authority, but U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg suggested the Tesla CEO speak to him directly about any concerns instead. “He’s welcome to call me if he’s concerned,” Buttigieg told reporters at an […]