Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility \u2014 your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free \u2014 just click TechCrunch Mobility<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n You might recall the congressional hearing last month that sparked criticism against Waymo<\/strong> over its use of remote assistance workers in the Philippines. We have covered that issue extensively. You can read about the company\u2019s remote assistance and road assistance teams here<\/a> and here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Waymo tends to get the most attention because, well, those robotaxis are now operating commercially in 10 U.S. cities, with more coming soon. But the issue of remote assistance is not a Waymo issue. It\u2019s an autonomous vehicle technology issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n A new report from Sen. Ed Markey <\/strong>(D-MA) makes my point.\u00a0<\/p>\n Markey sent letters to seven U.S. companies \u2014 Aurora<\/strong>, May Mobility<\/strong>, Motional<\/strong>, Nuro<\/strong>, Tesla<\/strong>, Waymo<\/strong>, and Zoox<\/strong> \u2014 working on autonomous vehicle technology with a list of questions. He wanted to know how often these companies\u2019 vehicles relied on input from remote staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n They all refused to say<\/a>, according to the results of Markey\u2019s investigation. Markey said it was a \u201cstunning lack of transparency from the AV companies around their use of remote assistance operators to help guide their AVs.\u201d<\/p>\n You can read senior reporter Sean O\u2019Kane\u2019s article<\/a>, which digs into the issue and includes the rather mute responses from the companies. (TechCrunch reached out to all of them.) One interesting admission from Tesla: The company said its remote assistance workers are authorized to temporarily assume direct vehicle control (a very different thing than \u201cremote assistance\u201d) as a final escalation maneuver.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> But here\u2019s the thing \u2014 this is not going away. And silence will not defuse the matter. If anything, Markey seems more motivated than ever to get answers. He is now calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<\/strong> to investigate companies\u2019 use of remote assistance workers and said he is \u201cworking on legislation to impose strict guardrails on AV companies\u2019 use of remote operators.\u201d<\/p>\n Nothing this week that we have been able to verify. Send us tips! Have one? Email Kirsten Korosec at\u00a0<\/em>kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O\u2019Kane at\u00a0<\/em>sean.okane@techcrunch.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n It seems like just last week I was writing about Uber<\/strong> being everywhere, all at once. And I see it is still a trend, although this time it isn\u2019t directly related to autonomous vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n Uber said it is buying<\/a> Berlin-based startup Blacklane<\/strong>, which provides on-demand, black-car chauffeur services, as the ride-hail giant expands deeper into luxury and executive travel services. Blacklane, which was founded in 2011, had raised more than $100 million to date from rental car company Sixt, Mercedes-Benz, and Alfahim, a conglomerate in the UAE.<\/p>\n The timing of the acquisition is notable. It comes just a few weeks after Uber announced the launch of Uber Elite, a chauffeur service that also offers a bunch of luxury offerings like airport meet-and-greets and in-vehicle amenities.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other deals that got my attention \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Manna Air Delivery<\/strong>, a consumer drone delivery startup based in Ireland, raised $50 million<\/a>\u00a0from ARK Invest, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Schooner Capital, Coca-Cola HBC, and Molten Ventures.<\/p>\n Saronic Technologies<\/strong>, an autonomous military ship developer based in Austin, raised $1.75 billion<\/a> in a Series D funding round led by Kleiner Perkins. The company is now valued at $9.25 billion. Other investors include Advent International, Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ Growth, BAM Elevate, and other new partners and recognizes the continued commitment of its existing investors, including 8VC, Caffeinated Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Elad Gil, and Franklin Templeton.<\/p>\n Voltify<\/strong>, a startup that has developed a way to\u00a0retrofit diesel locomotives with battery power, raised $30 million<\/a> in seed funding co-led by Israeli venture firm Aleph and Australian miner Fortescue.<\/p>\n Also<\/strong>, the micromobility company created inside Rivian<\/strong> that spun out last year, will work with DoorDash<\/strong> to develop autonomous delivery vehicles<\/a>. As part of the deal, DoorDash took part in Also\u2019s $200 million Series C funding round, which was led by Greenoaks Capital. DoorDash is getting a seat on Also\u2019s board of directors, too.<\/p>\n Baidu<\/strong> robotaxis stalled<\/a> throughout Wuhan, China, in some cases trapping passengers for up to two hours due to system failure.\u00a0<\/p>\n GM<\/strong> is ramping up its efforts to improve its advanced driver-assistance system, Super Cruise. CEO Mary Barra<\/strong> posted on LinkedIn<\/a> that GM has started supervised testing of its next-gen automated driving system on public highways in California and Michigan.<\/p>\n \u201cSoon, more than 200 supervised and manual test vehicles will be in live traffic, with trained drivers ready to take over at any time. This data will guide future updates to strengthen our autonomous capabilities,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Lucid<\/strong> issued a recall <\/a>for more than 4,000 Gravity SUVs after discovering a problem with the seat belts.<\/p>\n The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<\/strong> reported that traffic deaths<\/a> fell 6.7% to 36,640 in 2025 from the prior year. This is the second-lowest traffic fatality rate in recorded history at 1,10 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, according to the NHTSA.<\/p>\n All of those long TSA<\/strong> lines are prompting airlines to catch up and adapt. For instance, United Airlines has updated its mobile app to show TSA wait times<\/a> at select airports.<\/p>\n The Subaru-Toyota<\/strong> partnership keeps cranking out EVs. At the New York Auto Show, Subaru introduced the all-electric Gateway, a three-row SUV that is essentially a rebadged Toyota Highlander EV<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tesla<\/strong>\u2019s Q1 sales figures show its cheaper vehicles aren\u2019t helping it turn around declining sales<\/a>. (Some legacy automakers have seen EV sales plummet.) That seems to have affected Tesla\u2019s workforce numbers at its Austin, Texas, factory, which dropped 22% in 2025<\/a>. Meanwhile, I riff on the changing of the guard over at Tesla<\/a> (and, no, I am not referring to the string of executive departures there, although that is interesting). CEO Elon Musk<\/strong> shared that production of the Tesla Model S and X has ended, a milestone that marks the shift away from building cars designed for people to drive and toward robots and self-driving cars.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Toyota\u2019s Woven Capital<\/strong> has appointed a new CIO and COO<\/a> in a push to find the \u201cfuture of mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n Uber<\/strong> and Chinese autonomous vehicle company WeRide<\/strong> launched robotaxi operations<\/a> without a human safety operator in Dubai as part of a broader expansion in the Middle East.<\/p>\n Waymo<\/strong>\u2019s robotaxi service is now live at San Antonio International<\/a>, its fourth major airport. Meanwhile, Wired looked at Waymo\u2019s school bus problem (meaning the investigation into the illegal behavior of its robotaxis around school buses). The article provides new details on how the Austin School District tried to help Waymo solve the problem. It didn\u2019t work<\/a>.<\/p>\n My podcast, the Autonocast<\/strong>, spent some time talking with Ashu Rege<\/strong>, DoorDash\u2019s VP of Autonomy. We recorded the episode prior to the Also-DoorDash announcement, which makes his comments about the company\u2019s strategy all the more interesting.\u00a0Check out the episode here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA little bird<\/h2>\n
![\"blinky](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/blinky-cat-bird-green.gif?w=680\")
Deals!<\/h2>\n
![\"money](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/money-the-station.png?w=680\")
Notable reads and other tidbits<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/the-station-ride-hailing1.png?w=680\")
One more thing \u2026<\/h2>\n