Tesla fuels an EV charging standards warThe Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation. Sign up here — just click The Station — to receive the full edition of the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free. 
Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.
Hey folks! I’m back and what a week it was. Top of the list? Two legacy U.S. automakers deciding to integrate Tesla charging tech into their next-generation of EVs, starting in 2025. Ford kicked off the trend in May and GM followed this week.
As TC’s Rebecca Bellan reported, when Tesla announced last year it would share its EV charging connector design to encourage automakers to adopt the technology and help make it the new standard in North America, few, if any, predicted competitors would bite. Now, it seems that the Tesla standard — dubbed the North American Charging Standard — is gaining some ground. And it is fueling an EV charging standards war, in which people and companies are picking sides.
Aside from the straight news on the GM and Ford deals, our crew dug into the ramifications and whether the Tesla supercharger network could take the strain.
Now onto the rest of the news of the week!

Want to reach out with a tip, comment or complaint? Email Kirsten at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com. You also can send a direct message to @kirstenkorosec. Or you can reach Rebecca at rebecca.techcrunch@gmail.com or follow her at @rebeccabellan.
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Micromobbin’

 
Wanna know which is the best city to ride a bike naked in 2023? Check out this fun list! Surprisingly, Philadelphia is at the top of it! Unsurprisingly, Portland is a close second.
Canada’s Apollo Scooters revealed the prototype for its Explore 2024 scooter that promises to have built-in GPS, smart regenerative braking, self-healing tires, a Quadlock phone mount and more.
Beam is working with TAFE Queensland, a technical and vocational training provider, in a pilot program to build Australia’s first accredited vocational pathway for micromobility.
E-bike subsidies abound! Here are some updates:
• British Columbia, Canada is offering more than $6 million in rebates to about 9,000 citizens. Rebates are income-dependent and range from $350 to $1,400.
• Massachusetts has a proposal for a $750-per-person rebate.
• Minnesota is now offering up to $1,500 off the cost of an e-bike for income-qualified residents.
• Portland’s Climate Investment Plan aims to subsidize 6,000 e-bikes with $20 million in funding over the next five years. The plan also aims to contribute $600,000 to train and develop a local workforce of e-bike mechanics.
Keep track of all the subsidies with Ride Report.
eMobility Rentals says it wants to reinvent urban mobility in Romania and Europe. The company has built an ecosystem of small EVs that run on a universal interchangeable battery, which can be swapped via an expanding network of swapping stations.
Hilo unveiled its flagship e-scooter, the Hilo One, at Micromobility Europe. This smart scooter aims to address e-scooter safety issues and is built with AI computer vision to alert the rider and pedestrians of any dangers. The oversized front wheel gives the rider more stability and control on uneven surfaces. It’s available for pre-order for Q3 2024 delivery.
Montreal is giving drivers a $170 fine for blocking the bike lane. You can now also report on violators via a 24/7 hotline. And the one thing I hate more than snitches is cars in the bike lane.
Razor revealed a super powerful electric go-kart, the Ground Force Elite. It’s “for teens” but being an adult means you can buy yourself a go-kart if you want, and it’s only $550!
Roam, a Kenyan startup, launched its first solar panel-powered charging and maintenance hubs in Nairobi. The hubs offer battery swaps, fast charges, maintenance and more for Roam-branded electric motorcycles, many of which are used in East Africa’s “boda-boda” moto-taxi industry.
Segway-Ninebot had a lot of news come out this month to tie in with Micromobility Europe. First the company introduced their Lite L60E, an efficient e-scooter with a 40 mile range designed for shared micromobility operators. The company also announced a partnership with Metro Mobility to offer Metro’s ChargeLock stations, which will give shared micromobility operators low-cost docking stations that can also serve to charge e-scooters and e-bikes.
Finally, Segway also partnered with Drover AI and Luna Systems, two startups that build computer vision systems to detect and correct improper scooter riding. Now, Segway will offer customers the chance to integrate either Drover’s or Luna’s scooter ARAS into its own smart scooter.
Deal of the week

Just a bunch of deals this week! Here’s what stood out.
American Battery Materials, a Connecticut-based lithium extractor, agreed to be merge with special purpose acquisition company Seaport Global Acquisition II Corp.
Amogy, a New York startup developing ammonia-based fuels for trucks and ships, raised an additional $11 million in its Series B funding round from Marunouchi Climate Tech Growth Fund, Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America and Synergy Marine. The round now total $150 million.
Carvana has had a volatile week. The company’s share price shot up 56% on a rosy outlook of record profits, only to fall back down to earth the next day. Tl;dr: debt and declining revenue combined by a cool response from industry analysts overshadowed its sunny profit projections.
Driver Technologies, a driver safety company, raised $6 million in a strategic funding round led by New York-based investment firm IA Capital and CT Innovations, the venture capital arm of the state of Connecticut. Insurers Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, State Auto Labs/Rev 1 as well as investors from The Social Entrepreneurs’ Fund, ID8 Investments, C2 Ventures and Kapor Capital also participated.
Billionaire Ivan Glasenberg is nearing a deal to buy iconic Italian bicycle maker Cicli Pinarello, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.
Micromobility.com (previously Helbiz) signed a letter of intent to merge with EVMO, a provider of fleet management and vehicle rentals for rideshare and delivery gig economy. The merger with EVMO is meant to help the company accelerate its transition from a sharing business to a B2B enterprise, according to the company.
Since Helbiz was a SPAC, that makes this its second merger. And we find ourselves asking, once again, what the Helbiz? Lest you forget, Micromobility.com just went through a rebranding and a reverse stock split — a bid to get back into compliance with the Nasdaq after its share price dropped below $1. That move didn’t seem to work; the company’s stock is trading at around $0.23.
Mundimoto, a second-hand motorcycle marketplace in Europe, closed a €10 million funding round so it could expand to more countries.
Nikola failed to get enough investors to vote on a proposal that would allow it to issue more shares — and, in turn, raise more capital. Nikola adjourned its annual meeting of shareholders until July 6 in an attempt to secure the requisite number of votes needed to add shares to the marketplace.
Oxccu, an Oxford University spinout that converts carbon dioxide and hydrogen into industrial and consumer products, raised $22.7 million a Series A funding round led by Clean Energy Ventures. Aramco Ventures, Eni Next, United Airlines Ventures, Sustainable Flight Fund and Braavos Capital, Kiko Ventures, University of Oxford Trafigura, TechEnergy Ventures and Doral Energy-Tech Ventures also participated.
Rose Rocket, a transportation management software provider for trucking companies, raised $38 million in a Series B. The company aims to address logistics challenges like supply chain visibility, capacity and labor shortages.
Surf Air Mobility, a Los Angeles-based electric aviation travel company, filed for a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The company, which intends to trade under the ticker symbol SRFM, had previously explored going public via a SPAC merger.
Trucksters, the Spanish road freight operator, raised 33 million euros ($35.5 million) in a Series B round
that included investment from the venture arms of supplier Continental and automaker Volvo Group, the European Investment Bank and Spain’s FondICO. Existing investors Amplifier VC, Metavallon VC, Big Sur Ventures, Bonsai Partners, Kibo Ventures, and The Valley VC as well as Glovo co-founder Sacha Michaud also participated.
Notable news and other tidbits

ADAS
Mercedes-Benz received a permit from California regulators that will allow the German automaker to sell or lease vehicles in the state that are equipped with its conditional automated driving system that allows for hands-off, eyes-off driving on certain highways. Mercedes is seeking approval from every U.S. state for its Drive Pilot system, even when there isn’t an official permit to give. Why? Mercedes is a cautious company. And it should be since its taking responsibility (liability) for this system.
Autonomous vehicles
Cruise is teaming up with food recovery non-profit Replate to deliver food to people in need via driverless vehicles — starting with surplus food from Blue Bottle to non-profit HealthRight360 in San Francisco.
TuSimple has received a fully driverless test permit in Shanghai, allowing it to conduct driver-out testing in designated test areas in the city. The company also announced it was doing regular test runs on an expressway in Japan.
Waymo reported to California regulators that one of its self-driving cars struck and killed a dog in ‘unavoidable’ incident in San Francisco. The vehicle was in autonomous mode with a human safety operator behind the wheel.
Electric vehicles, batteries & charging
Acura’s ZDX EV will be the company’s first auto equipped with “Google built-in,” which includes Google Assistant, Google Maps and more through the Google Play store.
Fisker said it plans to open a delivery center in China in 2023 and commence deliveries of the Fisker Ocean SUV in Q1 2024. Meanwhile, the first U.S. deliveries will begin June 23. Chairman and CEO Henrik Fisker said he believed the company will be able to “get production up and running in China as early as next year, potentially adding capacity of 75,000 Fisker Oceans annually.”
Lordstown Motors is preparing to sue Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturer once considered a savior to the beleaguered EV maker.
Lucid is turning to China to power up sales of its luxury Air sedan (and its many variants.) There was widespread coverage this week touting the hiring of Zhu Jiang, a former executive at Nio and Ford, but technically this hire happened waaayyyy back in September. Lucid told me, when I asked about its China plans that the automaker “continues to increase its global footprint, with deliveries now taking place to customers from the U.S., to Canada, to Europe and the Middle East. As we have long stated, we intend to expand to additional markets, including China.”
Porsche kicked off its 75th anniversary by unveiling Mission X, battery electric hypercar concept the automaker described as a “technology beacon for the sports car of the future.”
Toyota plans to build a $48 million lab at its North American research and development headquarters in Michigan to develop and evaluate the quality of its EV batteries. The lab is expected to begin operations in 2025.
Volvo revealed the small, simple and inexpensive EX30 electric SUV.
Flight
Aviant, a Norwegian drone logistics company, is launching its drone home delivery service called Kyte. Kyte drones have a delivery range of up to 19 miles and can deliver autonomously from depot to door in about 24 minutes. Aviant also secured €1M from Innovation Norway to delivery prescription meds to people in remote locations.
In-vehicle tech
Apple said EV owners will be able to see real-time EV charging availability information via Apple Maps, one of a bevy of new features and services that will be available in its upcoming iOS 17 software update. Apple also plans to launch a SharePlay feature that will make sharing control of in-car entertainment easier for iPhone users.
Luminar and Plus have partnered up. Per the deal, Luminar will be the exclusive provider of lidar for PlusDrive, Plus’s factory-installed assisted driving system for commercial vehicles. And Plus will be the exclusive third-party provider of AI-based driver assist software for Luminar’s solution for commercial vehicle OEMs.
People
CharterUP, a charter bus platform, hired Tyler Baldwin as its new Chief Revenue Officer. Baldwin was previously CEO and CRO at real estate fintech firm Reali and has also held positions at LinkedIn, McKinsey & Co., and Pinterest.
LiveWire, the electric motorbike brand of Harley-Davidson, appointed Karim Donnez as its new CEO. Donnez, who previously worked at Bombardier Recreational Products, replaces Jochen Zeitz. The company said Zeitz will remain chairman of the LiveWire Group’s board.
Woven Capital promoted Michiko Kao to partner. Kao was WC’s first hire and backed investments in Nuro and Ridecell.
Ride hailing and delivery
Uber is trying to pass a Prop 22 equivalent in Australia.
Speaking of Uber, the company held another Go-Get product event, this time in London and with a focus on sustainability. One of its announcements: a plan to bring peer-to-peer car sharing to North America, starting with Toronto and Boston.
Disrupt!
Beep beep! TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, taking place in San Francisco on September 19–21, is where you’ll get the inside scoop on the future of mobility. Come and hear from today’s leading mobility entrepreneurs on what it takes to build and innovate for a more sustainable future. Save up to $600 when you buy your pass now through August 11, and save 15% on top of that with promo code STATION. Learn more.
Tesla fuels an EV charging standards war by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

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The post Spotify sold music creation app Soundtrap back to its owners appeared first on Hypebot.

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Apple unveils the Vision Pro, iOS 17 brings new features, and WhatsApp launches ChannelsHello, friends, and welcome to Week in Review, TechCrunch’s regular digest of the top tech news over the past several days. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday. It’s where we highlight the key stories in the week that was (Apple Vision Pro, anyone?) and other goings on around the TC universe, like the analyses on TC+, our premium subscription service, plus TechCrunch’s growing collection of podcasts.
It’s an embarrassment of content, if I do say so myself — and hopefully a welcome reprieve for those on the East Coast who’ve been inundated with smoke from the Canadian wildfires. In a sliver of good news, AirNow.gov tells me that the air quality in New York City has returned to moderate levels, which I’d say is something to celebrate.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get on with the news.
Most read
Apple Vision Pro: TC’s intrepid editor-in-chief, Matthew, went hands-on with the Vision Pro, Apple’s first attempt at an augmented reality (AR) headset, announced at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote — and came away impressed. A roughly 30-minute demo convinced him that Apple has delivered nothing less than a genuine leapfrog in capability and execution of XR, or mixed reality — high praise, to be sure. Darrell and Brian have other thoughts, which you can also hear them discuss on this week’s TechCrunch Podcast.
New features in iOS 17: The Vision Pro might’ve dominated the headlines at WWDC on Monday. But, as Ivan reports, Apple is also going to launch a major update to iOS later this year. The upcoming iOS 17 will introduce a number of different “nice-to-have” features, like personalized call poster, StandBy mode, live voicemail and improved sticker experience.
Massive medical breach: Hackers stole half a million people’s personal and health information during a ransomware attack on a tech vendor earlier this year. Zack writes that Intellihartx, a Tennessee-based company that handles patient payment balances and collections, filed a notice with the Maine attorney general’s office that patients had information stolen in the cyberattack targeting its vendor, Fortra.
WhatsApp launches Channels: Meta’s rolling out a broadcast-based messaging feature called Channels on WhatsApp — similar to a recent update it sent out to Instagram — as the social juggernaut experiments with giving more conversational avenues to its 2 billion users. Ivan reports that there’s an obvious angle — the company’s aiming to earn money from the feature down the road.
Apollo no more: The popular third-party Reddit app Apollo is shutting down as a direct result of Reddit’s recently announced new API pricing plans. Apollo’s developer, Christian Selig, says that the pricing would end up costing Apollo $20 million per year to continue to operate its business, an unsustainable ask for an indie developer.
Automated driving greenlit: Mercedes-Benz received a permit from California regulators that’ll allow the German automaker to sell or lease vehicles in the state equipped with a conditional automated driving system that allows for hands-off, eyes-off driving on certain highways. Kirsten notes that Mercedes-Benz is the fourth company to receive an autonomous vehicle deployment permit in California and the first authorized to sell or lease vehicles with an automated driving system to the public.
Sequoia splitting: Sequoia plans to split into three entities — Sequoia Capital in the U.S. and Europe, Peak XV Partners in India and Southeast Asia, and HongShan in China — as the storied venture firm separates the Asia units from the mothership to help navigate an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape. The split comes amid the growing geopolitical tension between China and the U.S., the world’s two largest economies.
NestAway sells for less: Proptech firm Aurum is acquiring NestAway, a once high-flying Indian startup operating in the same space, for up to $10.9 million, in a deal that marks a near complete erosion in value for the startup’s investors. Eight-year-old NestAway raised $115 million over the years and was valued at $227 million in a funding round in 2019.
Audio
Looking for a TechCrunch podcast to pass the time? You’ve come to the right place. Check out Equity, which this week recapped WWDC and covered Affirm partnering with Amazon, Cava’s IPO, all things SEC and crypto, and how real estate can affect the climate crisis. Found hosted Eli Ben-Joseph, the co-founder and CEO of Regard, a startup that uses AI to streamline the clinical side of medicine that’s hoping to reduce physician burnout. Meanwhile, Chain Reaction interviewed Paul Grewal, the chief legal officer at embattled crypto company Coinbase.
TechCrunch+
TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis and surveys — which you know if you’re already a subscriber. If you’re not, consider signing up. Here are a few highlights from this week:
Investments from the ashes: As smoke from the Canadian wildfires envelops large swathes of the East Coast, millions of people find themselves trapped inside, gazing out on orange skies and hazy cityscapes. It’s a jolt to investors’ systems, potentially. Tim writes that — if the past is prologue — VCs should prepare themselves for a tidal wave of climate tech startups next year.
European startups slow: The venture slowdown has long been established to be a global phenomenon, and per a new report from VC firm Atomico, this “adjusted market reality is here to stay” — including in Europe. There’s been a clear decline, but not necessarily cause for alarm, Anna writes.
Beating the SaaS blues: Data indicates that public software companies have added fewer sources of annual recurring revenue in the first quarter of 2023 than they did a year earlier. But not every startup is reporting lackluster results. Alex writes how Samsara, which went public in late 2021, recently proved that it’s still possible to expand fast, and perhaps even more impressively, that it’s possible to hold on to value even if you listed at the end of a VC bubble.
Apple unveils the Vision Pro, iOS 17 brings new features, and WhatsApp launches Channels by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch

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The post Getting It Done: Last week in D.I.Y. & Indie Music appeared first on Hypebot.

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The post REWIND: The new music industry’s week in review appeared first on Hypebot.

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