TechCrunch Mobility: the ‘robot army’ argument | TechCrunch

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights about the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up for free here – just click TechCrunch Mobility!

I’m sure you’re waiting for the results of last week’s survey. (Reminder: sign up for the Mobility newsletter to participate in our polls!) Here’s what I asked: “What is the best business model for autonomous vehicle technology? (Keep profitability in mind.)”

Readers by far think longer distance delivery is the best choice, with 40% choosing this option. Robotaxis came in next with 25.5% of the vote, followed by licensing technology to automakers with 19.1% and last-mile delivery with 14.9%. One reader emailed to point out that I had not included warehouse applications such as autonomous forklifts. However, the longer distance delivery category can be broken down further and is worth another survey, which we have included in this week’s newsletter.

In the long list of arguments you could make to justify a $1 trillion compensation package, having control over a robot army was definitely not my cup of tea. And yet this is the argument Elon Musk made during Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call.

Here’s the rundown: On November 6, shareholders will vote on whether to approve a board-approved compensation package that would grant Musk up to 12% of Tesla stock. If the company reaches its target market value of $8.6 trillion, that package would be worth about $1 trillion.

The board and Musk have spent weeks lobbying shareholders to approve the measure, even acting as proxy advisors Institutional Shareholder Services And Glass Lewis have advised investors to reject the proposal. Musk is now in attack mode, which was evident at the end of the earnings call when he called the firms corporate terrorists and made his final pitch. His robot army argument is about power and control, not so much money. Although money can provide both.

“My biggest concern: If we build this robot army, do I have strong influence over that robot army? I don’t feel comfortable building a robot army if I don’t have strong influence,” Musk said during the earnings call. He referenced Tesla’s Optimus robot program, using it as an example of products he wants to have full control over.

That argument will hardly convince Musk’s critics, especially in the wake of his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. But Musk doesn’t need to convince his growing list of critics, unless, of course, they own Tesla stock.

A little bird

This week, General engines dropped the ax on the BrightDrop electric van program after four short years. It wasn’t the biggest surprise in the world; After all, hundreds of unsold vans have been sitting untouched on lots in Michigan and Canada for months. (One birdie reached out to tell us there are hundreds of them in Flint, Michigan.) GM mentioned a slower-than-expected market for commercial electric vans, but didn’t go into detail about why exactly BrightDrop failed so miserably.

However, another bird has given us a clue. The vans are pricey but popular and should save fleet owners money in the long run. And electric powertrains are ideal for last-mile deliveries. What GM seems to have missed, according to an insider, was the infrastructure piece. The company leaned heavily on external partnerships to build out so-called depot charging, rather than offering it as part of fleet purchases. That turned away some potential customers and generally just caused headaches.

Do you have a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

Offers!

The big issue this week is about EVs and AI data centers. Yes, there is a connection.

Redwood materials raised $350 million in a Series E round led by venture capital firm Eclipse, and included a new strategic investment by Nvidia’s venture capital arm, NVentures. The company’s valuation was not disclosed, but a source familiar with the round told TechCrunch it was about $6 billion, a billion dollars higher than the previous valuation.

The portion of this money will go to Redwood’s new energy storage company, which will give new purpose to EV batteries it has collected that still have too much life left to go through the recycling process. The company connects these aging EV batteries to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, or the electrical grid, to power AI data centers or industrial sites.

Other deals that caught my attention this week…

Avride secured strategic investments and other commitments of up to $375 millionsupported by Uber and Nebius. None of these companies gave me any details when asked if this was all equity. One insider did say to pay attention to the ‘other commitments’ section, suggesting it wasn’t a direct cash injection.

Spirothe African electric motorcycle startup headquartered in Dubai, has raised $100 million in a round led by the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), the development arm of Afreximbank. This is the largest increase ever for African e-mobility.

Notable reading and other tidbits

General engines made several announcements at an event in New York intended to show where things are going. And yes, AI plays a central role. Before AI could take the stage, GM said it will overhaul the electrical and computational guts of its future vehicles. The company will roll out a new electrical architecture and centralized computing platform in new vehicles, starting with the Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028. That foundation will allow the company to deliver faster software; better automated driving features, including eyeless driving; and a custom, conversational AI assistant.

Earnings season is just around the corner, and this quarter I look forward to data and commentary from executives that will help me understand how tariffs and the expiring EV tax credit are impacting the auto sector. I don’t have any clear takeaways yet – and that probably won’t happen until next quarter.

The rates are hitting, Q3 reports GM And Ford assign. For example, GM predicts that tariffs will cut profits by $2.3 billion by 2025, and Ford said this would take a $2 billion bite out of its bottom line. But both projections are billions of dollars better than automakers forecast earlier this year, and automakers hope to offset those costs. CEOs of both automakers thanked President Trump for extending tariff relief on auto parts sourced from Canada and Mexico.

Some other GM and Ford newsFord will continue to pause production of its F-150 Lightning trucks as it prioritizes gas and hybrid F-Series versions in an effort to recover from a fire at its main aluminum supplier Nevolis. Meanwhile CEO of GM Maria Barra told the Verge’s Decoder podcast for which the company will discontinue support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto of all its vehicles. Oh, and late-breaking: GM has 200 employees laid off from the Warren Tech Center.

Tesla delivered a record number of vehicles in the third quarter of 2025, with results buoyed by US customers taking advantage of the expiring federal EV tax credit. That did not translate into higher revenues. Tesla’s third-quarter profit was $1.4 billion, down 37% from the same quarter last year.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation after seeing footage from early october of a Waymo autonomous vehicle maneuvering around a stationary school bus that was unloading children in Atlanta.

Rivaans is undergoing a minor shake-up, including cutting 600 people from its workforce (its third round of layoffs this year), and its founder and CEO is taking on yet another role: Chief Marketing Officer. Rivian also agreed this week to pay $250 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed after the company suddenly raised prices on its R1 pickup and SUV in 2022.

Meanwhile, I spent some time in the Bay Area with executives from Rivian’s micromobility spinout company Also. The company unveiled three new products, and if President Chris Yu and Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe (and also a board member) are to be believed, there will be more on the way. For now it’s a slick, modular e-bike with pedal assistance and two quads with pedal assistance – the van version that Amazon has already agreed to the purchase. The big, compelling technology story here is vertical integration and software.