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Tesla kicked off earnings season — at the very least for this sector — and the shareholder letter, together with Elon Musk’s remarks in the course of the convention name, offered some fairly unimaginable disclosures I think about have some traders involved, or at the very least puzzled.
Tesla has backed off previous promises to succeed in “quantity manufacturing” of the Cybercab, Tesla Semi, and Megapack 3 in 2026. And whereas the corporate has publicly touted expansions of its Tesla Robotaxi service into new cities in Florida and Texas, the quarter-over-quarter information reveals a drop in paid robotaxi miles.
Senior reporter Sean O’Kane took a closer look at a graph shared in Tesla’s shareholder letter. At a passing look, the chart seems to point out regular development in paid robotaxi rides between August 2025 and June 2026, O’Kane notes. However the numbers displayed are cumulative, and when damaged down by quarter, they present that Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet of Mannequin Y SUVs carrying paying passengers lined round 1.1 million miles within the first quarter. That fell to roughly 700,000 miles within the second quarter, a decline of about 36%.
Musk additionally disclosed in the course of the name that Tesla must accumulate driving information particular to the Cybercab earlier than it could put giant numbers of the autos on the street. That isn’t terribly stunning; the Cybercab is new, in spite of everything. However the purpose received my consideration. He defined that Tesla has to build up miles utilizing Cybercabs retrofitted with steering wheels and accelerator and braking pedals so it could calibrate to the Cybercab chassis.
This marks a change from the corporate’s earlier claims. For years, Tesla has mentioned its fleet of practically 10 million buyer vehicles has been amassing information that could possibly be used to coach its superior driver-assistance system, Full Self-Driving (Supervised), and future robotaxis. Musk’s rationalization suggests there’s a misalignment between that fleet information and the way it’s utilized to the Cybercab.
On the monetary entrance, Tesla’s Q2 earnings present an organization plowing cash into its subsequent technology of merchandise (CapEx has doubled, and the corporate is again in adverse free money circulation territory). And although income is up, the enhance wasn’t sufficient to offset the price of doing enterprise. The corporate’s web revenue fell 5% 12 months over 12 months.
Offers!
Travis Kalanick burst again onto the robotics and mobility scene earlier this 12 months with Atoms — a rebranded holding firm atop his ghost kitchen mission — and a deal to amass Anthony Levandowski’s industrial automation startup, Pronto. Now the Uber co-founder and former CEO has $1.7 billion in capital to play with. VC large Andreessen Horowitz led the spherical with participation from Bain Capital, Fifth Wall, and Uber. Ben Horowitz will be part of the corporate’s board following the funding.
This will appear inconceivable for individuals who bear in mind Kalanick’s resignation from Uber’s high management spot practically a decade in the past — and the string of scandals and lawsuits within the 12 months main as much as his departure. What’s much more unimaginable is that Uber participated within the funding spherical. The Info reported Uber invested $100 million into Atoms; conversations I’ve had since affirm that determine and offered new info, together with that the funding was made six months in the past.
Reminder: In 2016 and whereas Kalanick was CEO, Uber acquired Levandowski’s self-driving vehicles startup Otto. Lower than a 12 months later, Levandowski’s former employer Waymo (Google self-driving mission) sued Uber for trade secret theft. The businesses settled on the fifth day of the trial.
There may be a whole lot of historical past, a lot of it messy, between Kalanick and Uber (to not point out Levandowski). However it seems the ride-hailing firm remains to be keen to spend money on them.
So what’s Atoms going to do with this capital? The main points are imprecise, however an organization electronic mail from Levandowski means that Pronto can be an enormous a part of these plans.
The e-mail states that “Atoms is investing closely in Industrial AI and bodily automation utilized to mining and transport.” And later, “Pronto is a core strategic precedence for Atoms, and this spherical is designed to speed up precisely what issues most to your operations: scaling sensible, OEM-agnostic autonomy.”
Different offers that received my consideration …
Einride, the Swedish electrical and autonomous trucking firm, agreed to acquire EV charging startup Flipturn in an all-stock deal price $38 million.
IBM agreed to purchase HRL Laboratories, a quantum computing research lab collectively owned by Boeing and Common Motors.
Sila, the battery supplies startup, raised $300 million in a spherical led by Atreides Administration and Sutter Hill Ventures with participation from 8VC, Bessemer Enterprise Companions, Matrix Companions, and funds and accounts suggested by T. Rowe Value Associates Inc. The cash can be used to develop Sila’s manufacturing unit in Washington state to provide sufficient anode materials for greater than 100,000 EVs.
Notable reads and different tidbits
Aurora had some information this week that didn’t get a ton of consideration, however most likely ought to. The corporate launched its second-generation driverless trucks, which embrace new {hardware} that’s smaller, in addition to upgraded sensor-cleaning programs and prolonged vary lidar — all of which is constructed for a million-mile service life. The preliminary fleet can be modest and used on its Dallas-to-Houston route. The fleet will finally attain 200 driverless vehicles by the tip of the 12 months and can be used to haul freight for purchasers like Hirschbach, Uber Freight, McLane, and Detmar, the corporate mentioned. Importantly for Aurora, these vehicles do not need a human observer within the cab.
Ford is popping to Apple for its subsequent technology of EVs. Particularly, Ford goes to combine Apple Maps navigation and mapping, utilizing a brand new set of developer instruments referred to as MapKit for Automotive, into its new line of electrical autos, beginning with the $30,000 midsize truck in 2027. I requested Ford what this implies for Google, which is an present companion. An organization spokesperson instructed me the Apple announcement “doesn’t change the function of Google Automotive Providers throughout our present and near-term manufacturing packages.”
The Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security launched a examine referred to as “Rise of the machines: crash experiences of highly automated vehicles and human drivers.” The group used a much more clickbaity headline (Waymo’s driverless vehicles crash much less usually than individuals) to direct people to its work. Sadly, that headline misses a part of the purpose. The examine does present proof that Waymo’s present robotaxis have decrease crash involvement charges than human drivers. “General, when together with police-reportable crashes, Waymo’s crash fee was 68% decrease than that of human drivers,” the examine reads. It additionally, importantly, concludes that national-crash and vehicle-miles-traveled information assortment for Degree 4 autos “might be improved for extra well timed and correct security evaluations.”
Mobileye founder and CEO Amnon Shashua plans to step down from the top leadership post after practically three many years, simply as the corporate pushes into robotaxis and humanoid robots.
The Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration will look into creating new requirements for automakers to make sure drivers and passengers can safely exit their autos — the results of a petition that requested the company to open a security defect investigation into the emergency mechanical door launch design on 2022 Tesla Mannequin 3 autos. To be clear, this doesn’t imply there can be new guidelines.
Rivian has sued the U.S. authorities for a “full refund” on tariffs paid beneath President Trump’s “Liberation Day” taxes, which the Supreme Courtroom later dominated unconstitutional.
Two Volkswagen engineers had been charged with securities fraud after allegedly profiting off of insider info associated to the German automaker’s three way partnership with Rivian.
Waymo is having inside discussions over how you can end its contract with Uber, the Monetary Instances reported. Shut followers of this partnership may need learn this, rolled their eyes, and mentioned “DUH!” However there are some attention-grabbing particulars in right here, together with that Uber-Waymo contract that covers Atlanta and Austin ends in Might 2028. Uber instructed TechCrunch that Waymo says it intends to launch its personal app in Austin and Atlanta in January 2028.
WhatsApp is rolling out a set of latest options, together with a revamped Apple CarPlay and Android Auto expertise.
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