TechCrunch Mobility: Everything said on and off the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

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We’re mixing things up a bit this week to focus on what was said on and off stage TechCrunch Disabled 2025. In short, it was a great meeting featuring a number of prominent CEOs and founders working on the future of transportation.

Here are a few: Co-CEO of Waymo Tekedra mawakanaCEO of Slate Chris BarmanNuru Co-CEO and Founder Dave FergusonUber CPO Sachin KansalWayve founder and CEO Alex Kendallfounder and CEO of Kodiak AI Don Burnett. Videos of these interviews will be posted on our YouTube channel over the next week.

A Slate Auto interview with Sean O’Kane and Chris Barman is already available. If you watch it, pay attention to Barman’s comments about accessories that can be added to any Slate EV. The startup will design, manufacture and sell accessories, but will also share data so owners can make their own. And even sell them to other owners.

“We will publish all the information about the data and anyone can 3D print their data,” Barman said. “So we also want people to not feel like they have to come to us. We want to create an ecosystem that will exist on our website Slate Marketplace.”

O’Kane then asked if Slate would take a cut of these extensions if creators added them to Slate’s marketplace.

“Yes, we will take some royalties when we work with them,” she said, quickly adding that creators can sell elsewhere (without Slate taking any cut). “If they want it, they can choose to market it on Etsy. It’s their choice and what they do. It’s not like we’re going to see it in front of our eyes.”

Among the most prominent… Mayor of San Francisco Daniel Lowry He said he was happy to have Waymo on the streets of San Francisco and welcomed other companies to use the city as a testbed for self-driving vehicle technology. It focuses on transportation slid The winner of the Startup Battlefield 2025 competition has been announced. Oh, and Sean O’Kane and I took a test ride through the streets of San Francisco in the Wayve vehicle.

Additionally, Mawakana made a number of interesting comments on stage, including that she believes other companies working on autonomous vehicles need to do more to prove that their technology is safe, and that in the face of the promise of greater safety, the public will accept death caused by a robotaxi.

She also said that Waymo will pursue people who vandalize its vehicles and that the company has refused government requests for video taken from its vehicles, adding that they will continue to deny those requests if they are “overly broad.”

Offers!

The company that developed digital fuel management for aviation, i6raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Yttrium. International Airlines Group, World Kinect and Shell Ventures have joined.

Inter City Smart Busa technology-enabled intercity bus platform in India, has raised $30 million in funding to expand its network across cities and small towns in the South Asian country. The all-stock Series D round, led by A91 Partners, values ​​the Noida-based startup at $140 million post-money.

NavanThe corporate travel and expenses platform ended its first day of trading on Nasdaq down 20% from its initial public offering price of $25, resulting in a valuation of about $4.7 billion.

Introductiona road construction technology startup, has raised $2.5 million in a seed round led by C2 Ventures. Other investors include Conitech, Provider Capital, Jeff Judge, former Ryvit CEO Tom Stem, M25, gener8tor 1889, and Broadwater Capital.

ridepandaan e-bike and scooter fleet startup that offers subscriptions to businesses, has raised $12.6 million in a Series A funding round led by Germany’s Bikeleasing Group. Other investors include Blackhorn Ventures, Yamaha Motor Ventures, Proeza Ventures and Somersault Ventures.

Notable Readings and Other Stories

Aurora It added a 600-mile driverless route from Fort Worth, Texas, to El Paso, the company’s second route for its self-driving trucks. The company also revealed details about its next-generation devices.

India, market Blablacar Once moved away, it is now bigger.

GM It is laying off thousands of workers at several electric vehicle and battery factories in the United States.

Luminar It is experiencing a new round of struggles since the board fired its founder and CEO, Austin Russell. A new regulatory filing warns of running out of cash in early 2026 and announces a 25% workforce cut. The company also said its chief financial officer has left.

Nvidia Provided a bit of transfer news this week, including a partnership with Stellantis, Uber, and Foxconn To jointly develop autonomous vehicles. The news was part of a broader announcement about Nvidia’s new Drive AGX Hyperion 10 autonomous vehicle development platform and Nvidia Drive software, which will be used by multiple automakers, suppliers and robotics companies. This list includes clear, MercedesAnd Stellantis. The platform is part of Uber’s goal to scale its global autonomous fleet to 100,000 vehicles over time, starting in 2027.

Wayve’s Alex Kendall told me backstage at TechCrunch Disrupt that he was very excited about Hyperion and that, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi,and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Automakers have been encouraged to use it. “What we would like to see is more manufacturers building vehicles with Hyperion architecture, because that opens up the scope for everything we are trying to do.”

Uber The San Francisco company has chosen to launch a premium robotaxi service that will use Lucid Motors’ all-electric Gravity SUVs equipped with self-driving technology developed by Nuro, in 2026 — a move that puts the ride-hailing giant in direct competition with Waymo. Reminder: Uber partners with Waymo in other cities.

My father Details shared of a new self-driving truck built in partnership with Volvo during TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.

Another thing…

In last week’s newsletter, we conducted a survey to delve deeper into the issue of autonomous vehicle business models and asked: What is the best business model for “long-term” applications of autonomous vehicle technology?

It offered two options: Class 8 self-driving trucks that travel more than 500 miles on highways or Middle Mile Delivery, which are self-driving trucks that travel between warehouses and distribution centers.

Readers, you overwhelmingly chose the large rig option with 62.5% of the vote. (Remember, if you want to participate in our surveys, sign up for the Mobility newsletter here.)

Let me leave you with one more shot. This photo is of me and a senior journalist Sean O’KaneIt is a perfect moment for us. O’Kane, with a little help from me, spent months working on a big scoop on how to do it Jeff Bezos He was backing a little-known startup called Slate. Since then, Slate has shared its plans to make a cheaper electric truck and received a lot of attention for it.

Not only did Slate CEO Chris Parman come to our stage for an interview, he also brought a TechCrunch-wrapped truck.