Tesla received a ride-hailing permit this week from Arizona regulators, opening the door for the automaker to begin operating a robotaxi service in the state. A spokesperson with Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) told TechCrunch the automaker applied for a Transportation Network Company (TNC) permit on November 13. Tesla met the requirements to operate as a […]
Monarch Tractor has been accused of overpromising on the autonomous capabilities of its tractors, according to a new lawsuit. Burks Tractor, a dealership located in Idaho, has sued Monarch for breach of contract and allegedly violating its warranty because the California-based startup’s tractors were “unable to operate autonomously.” The dealership also says the 10 tractors
Monarch Tractor sued over tractors that were ‘unable to operate autonomously’ Read More »
Uber has quietly begun piloting in-app video recording for its drivers in India, TechCrunch has learned and confirmed with the company. The tool is meant to deter misconduct in a market where most drivers do not use dashcams, according to Uber. Half a dozen Uber drivers in the Delhi–NCR region told TechCrunch they sometimes face
Uber quietly pilots in-app video recording for drivers in India Read More »
When Hannan Happi started thinking about how to solve the AI power crisis, he kept one figure in mind: one cent per kilowatt-hour. “We went through all sorts of configurations and designs,” Happi, co-founder and CEO of Exowatt, told TechCrunch. “They all look different from each other. We tried to learn from everyone one of
Sam Atlman-backed Exowatt wants to power AI data centers with billions of hot rocks Read More »
Two teenage founders walked into Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham’s backyard with an idea no one in agriculture seemed to want — an AI model to help design better pesticides. By the time they left, they had a new business model, a new company, and eventually, Graham’s backing. Now, that reimagined company — Bindwell —
Mirova, the French climate-focused investment firm backed by Kering and other corporate heavyweights, has invested $30.5 million (€26.4 million) in Indian climate tech startup Varaha. This investment will help to expand the startup’s regenerative farming program, supporting hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in northern India. The deal marks Mirova’s first carbon investment in India,
Kering-backed fund Mirova pours $30.5M into India’s Varaha for regenerative farming Read More »
Power demands of data centers have grown from tens to 200 kilowatts in just a few years, a pace that has data center developers scrambling to design future facilities that can handle the load. “In the next couple of years, it’s going to be 600 kilowatts, and then we’re going to a megawatt,” Tim Heidel,
Microsoft-backed VEIR is bringing superconductors to data centers Read More »
After helping several enterprises document how work actually happens, Scribe has raised $75 million at a $1.3 billion post-money valuation to roll out Scribe Optimize, a platform that maps workflows across the enterprise to reveal where automation and AI will actually yield returns — instead of becoming another sunk cost. The all-equity Series C round
Scribe hits $1.3B valuation as it moves to show where AI will actually pay off Read More »
Although LLM-powered AI agents are a fairly new phenomenon, one of the areas where they’ve been most popular so far is in sales. 1Mind, a startup co-founded by Amanda Kahlow, has been quietly shipping its sales agent, named Mindy, for about a year. On Monday, the startup announced a $30 million Series A round led by Battery Ventures. This brings 1Mind’s total raise to $40 million, the company says. Kahlow is
Parts of San Rafael, a city just north of San Francisco, are sinking about half an inch per year. That might not sound like much, but altogether, it has meant that some neighborhoods — like the Canal District that borders the bay — have sunk three feet, placing them at greater risk of flooding from
How one founder plans to save cities from flooding with terraforming robots Read More »
