Wayve Ties Up With Mercedes-Benz as AV Firms Race Toward Commercial Scale

The deal covers a Level 2 system, which handles certain driving maneuvers but still requires the driver to remain engaged, the newsletter reported. It is not a fully driverless product, but it extends Wayve's reach following similar agreements with Nissan and Stellantis. Wayve said earlier this year that it would work with Nissan and Uber to launch a robotaxi service in Tokyo.

Waymo's commercial robotaxi expansion looks broad in both geographic reach and ridership, but vehicle registration data shows the company is concentrating its fleet in two states. About 80% of Waymo's roughly 4,000 robotaxis are in California and Texas, with Texas now the busiest market: the fleet there grew by more than 49% in three weeks. Waymo is also courting new users, including teenagers.

Aurora, which develops and commercializes self-driving trucks, sits somewhere between those two approaches. It is focused on Texas but has signed a wide range of partners, and CEO Chris Urmson said this week that the company has "emerged from the building stage." Aurora plans to have more than 200 driverless trucks on the road by the end of the year and is targeting more than 30,000 in operation by 2030.

Zoox grounded its autonomous vehicle test fleet in Atlanta last month after safety drivers were potentially exposed to carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulfide gas inside its vehicles, the newsletter reported. Zoox said it found evidence only of CO2. The repeated incidents led one worker to file a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which opened an inquiry and told Zoox to investigate the exposures.

The newsletter noted that autonomous vehicle technology is not yet ubiquitous or mainstream, even as companies move it into commercial products. Investment activity in transportation also continued. Carro, the SoftBank-backed used-car marketplace, is considering a dual listing on the Nasdaq and the Singapore Exchange, while India-based Spinny, a used-car marketplace backed by Tiger Global, and electric bus maker PMI Electro Mobility Solutions have both filed confidentially for IPOs. EcoCeres, a Hong Kong producer of renewable fuels, reportedly plans to raise about $1 billion in a Hong Kong listing. Last week, U.S. autonomous vehicle company May Mobility said it planned to go public through a merger with a blank-check company.

India-based electric motorcycle maker Ultraviolette raised $85 million and added Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan as an adviser. Comma, the startup founded by George Hotz, is facing a federal investigation after five reported crashes involving its aftermarket product, according to the newsletter.

Editor's Summary

Wayve's Mercedes-Benz agreement, Waymo's Texas fleet growth and Aurora's 2030 truck target show autonomous driving companies entering commercial-scale deployment through partnerships and regional concentration. Zoox's Atlanta suspension and the OSHA inquiry highlight safety and labor questions that accompany that shift, while a series of transport listings and Ultraviolette's $85 million round point to renewed investor activity in the sector.