Other notable deals include a $50 million investment in EV charging company EnviroSpark by Basalt Infrastructure Partners, and the confidential filing for a U.S. IPO by Chinese autonomous vehicle tech startup Momenta. In the electric vehicle sector, Bloom is planning to reinvent how e-bikes are made in the U.S., and Bolt Technologies is preparing to launch scooter operations in the U.S. market. Earnings reports revealed that Tesla is now the top customer of lidar maker Luminar, and Rivian reported a $1.45 billion loss in Q1, indicating that its cost-cutting measures are yet to yield profitability.
Key takeaways:
- Motional, the autonomous vehicle startup created by a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, is pausing all commercial operations and pushing plans to launch a driverless taxi service to 2026 — two years later than planned. This move comes at a cost: deep cuts across the organization.
- One week after Hyundai’s nearly $1 billion deal with Motional, a U.K. startup called Wayve raised $1.05 billion in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank Group. Wayve is taking a self-learning approach rather than a rules-based system for autonomous driving.
- EnviroSpark, the EV charging company, raised $50 million from Basalt Infrastructure Partners. Momenta, the Chinese autonomous vehicle tech startup that is backed by GM, filed confidentially for a U.S. IPO, which could raise $200 million to $300 million.
- Mobileye CTO Shai Shalev-Shwartz made a comment on social media stating that cameras are currently not sufficient for L3 autonomous driving, and it is very likely that regulation will require lidars. However, he believes that in the future, cameras and radars will be sufficient.