In other news, Neural Concept, a Swiss startup that uses AI to help car designers model components before manufacturing, raised $27 million. Other deals include Euler Motors, an Indian manufacturer of commercial EVs, raising $24 million, and Gireve, a French B2B platform for EV charging, raising €20 million. The report also covers the expansion of autonomous vehicle companies Cruise, Waymo, and Zoox, and the unveiling of Jeep's first EV for the U.S. market, the Wagoneer S.
Key takeaways:
- EV startup Fisker is on the brink of bankruptcy after delivering only a few thousand electric Ocean SUVs and laying off most of its staff last week. The company has been plagued with mechanical and software problems, leading to numerous customer lawsuits.
- Swiss startup Neural Concept raised $27 million in a funding round. The company uses AI to help car designers model how components will perform before they can be manufactured, which could be crucial for automakers in Europe or the U.S. to keep up with the influx of cheap, smart cars from China.
- Joby Aviation, a California-based eVTOL company, has acquired the autonomy division of Xwing, a developer of autonomous aviation technology. The acquisition will help Joby use Xwing’s tech for both near-term piloted operations and fully autonomous future operations.
- Elon Musk reportedly diverted Nvidia chips reserved for Tesla to his social media company, X (formerly Twitter). This could potentially delay Tesla’s development of autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots, as the company needs more than $500 million in GPUs to set up the necessary supercomputers.