Ouster’s new color lidar is coming to replace cameras
A sensor that can simultaneously capture depth and image data has long been a “holy grail,” Ouster CEO Angus Pacala told TechCrunch.
Transportation
We’ll take it: a TikToker rallies pledges to buy Spirit Airlines after its abrupt weekend collapse
Within hours he’d thrown up a website — a janky, one-hour job, by his own admission — and by Sunday, 36,000 “founding patrons” had pledged nearly $23 million, crashing his servers in the process.
TechCrunch Mobility: How do you issue a ticket to a robotaxi?
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation.
Spirit Airlines shuts down after Trump’s war on Iran doubled jet fuel prices
The ultra-low-cost air carrier Spirit Airlines shut down operations after 34 years in business and canceled all flights at 3AM ET on Saturday morning. Its website now redirects to spiritrestructuring.com, instructing fliers not to go to airports, with air traffic control records capturing controllers and pilots signing off to each other as its last flights […]
Uber wants to turn its millions of drivers into a sensor grid for self-driving companies
Praveen Neppalli Naga, Uber’s chief technology officer, revealed the plan in an interview at TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event in San Francisco on Thursday night, describing it as a natural extension of a nascent program the company announced in late January called AV Labs.
Dreame’s rocket-powered car can do 0–60 in 0.9 seconds because you can just say things now
When I first heard that a vacuum company had released a rocket-powered electric vehicle with physically impossible-sounding performance specs, I immediately thought James Dyson was up to his old tricks again. Fortunately, I was wrong. This time the household appliance company trying its hand at super car design is Dreame (pronounced like “dreamy”), a little-known […]
Rivian downsizes its goals for its EV factory in Georgia
Rivian announced some changes today with regard to the factory its building in the state of Georgia. The company was planning to build the facility in two phases, each resulting in 200,000 vehicles of annual production capacity, for a total of 400,000 units. Now the company says it is only planning for 300,000 units of […]
Rivian’s revenue is up as R2 production kicks into gear
Rivian reported its first quarter earnings of 2026, providing us a closer look at the company’s financial health as it kicks off production for the crucial R2 electric vehicle. We’ve already got Rivian’s production and delivery statement from the first three months of the year. The company sold 10,365 vehicles in Q1, representing 20 percent […]
Rivian downsizes DOE loan to $4.5B, while boosting capacity of Georgia factory
Rivian has reworked its loan deal with the Department of Energy and now expects to borrow $4.5 billion to build its new factory in Georgia, down from the original amount of $6.6 billion.
Rivian downsizes DOE loan to $4.5B of Georgia factory
Rivian has reworked its loan deal with the Department of Energy and now expects to borrow $4.5 billion to build its new factory in Georgia, down from the original amount of $6.6 billion.