Autonomy & Remote Assistance: Latest Mobility Updates

TechCrunch Mobility: Weekly Brief on Autonomous Vehicles and Deals

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Remote Assistance in AVs: A Broader Industry Issue

You may remember the congressional hearing last month that put Waymo under scrutiny for using remote assistance workers in the Philippines. We covered that extensively; read more about the company's remote assistance and road assistance teams here and here.

Waymo draws attention because its robotaxis operate commercially in 10 U.S. cities and counting. But remote assistance is not just a Waymo issue — it's an autonomous vehicle (AV) technology issue affecting the whole sector.

A new report from Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) underscores this point. Markey sent questions to seven U.S. AV companies — Aurora, May Mobility, Motional, Nuro, Tesla, Waymo, and Zoox — asking how often their vehicles rely on input from remote staff. According to the investigation, the companies declined to disclose that information.

Markey called it a "stunning lack of transparency" about the use of remote assistance operators to guide AVs.

Senior reporter Sean O'Kane's article digs into the topic and includes terse responses from the companies (TechCrunch reached out to all of them). One notable admission: Tesla said its remote assistance workers are authorized to temporarily assume direct vehicle control as a final escalation maneuver — a claim that differs from the typical notion of "remote assistance."

Silence won't make this go away. Markey is pushing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to investigate how companies use remote assistance workers. He also said he is working on legislation to impose strict guardrails on AV companies' use of remote operators.

Send Tips

Nothing verified this week. Send us tips: email Kirsten Korosec at "[email protected]" or message her on Signal at kkorosec.07. You can also email Sean O'Kane at "[email protected]".

Deals and Funding

Here are notable investments and acquisitions that caught our attention this week.

• Uber buys Blacklane: Uber is acquiring Berlin-based Blacklane, a luxury on-demand chauffeur service founded in 2011. Blacklane had raised over $100 million from backers including Sixt, Mercedes-Benz, and Alfahim. The deal follows Uber's launch of Uber Elite, a premium chauffeur service with airport meet-and-greets and in-vehicle amenities.
• Manna Air Delivery: The Ireland-based consumer drone delivery startup raised $50 million from ARK Invest, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Schooner Capital, Coca-Cola HBC, and Molten Ventures.
• Saronic Technologies: The Austin-based autonomous military ship developer raised $1.75 billion in a Series D led by Kleiner Perkins and is now valued at $9.25 billion. New and existing investors include Advent International, Bessemer, DFJ Growth, 8VC, Andreessen Horowitz, and others.
• Voltify: A startup retrofitting diesel locomotives with battery power raised $30 million in seed funding co-led by Aleph and Fortescue.

Notable Reads and Tidbits

Short updates across the mobility and AV landscape.

• Also and DoorDash: Also — the micromobility team spun out of Rivian — will work with DoorDash to develop autonomous delivery vehicles. DoorDash participated in Also's $200 million Series C led by Greenoaks and gained a board seat.
• Baidu robotaxi outage: Robotaxis stalled across Wuhan, China, in some cases trapping passengers for up to two hours due to system failures.
• GM Super Cruise testing: GM CEO Mary Barra announced supervised testing of GM's next-gen automated driving system on public highways in California and Michigan. More than 200 supervised and manual test vehicles will collect live-traffic data to improve the system.
• Lucid recall: Lucid recalled over 4,000 Gravity SUVs because of seat belt issues.
• NHTSA traffic report: Traffic deaths fell 6.7% to 36,640 in 2025, the second-lowest fatality rate on record at 1.10 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.
• Airport wait times: Long TSA lines are reshaping airline apps. United updated its mobile app to show TSA wait times at select airports.
• Subaru-Toyota EVs: The Subaru Gateway, an all-electric three-row SUV revealed at the New York Auto Show, is essentially a rebadged Toyota Highlander EV.
• Tesla production and workforce: Tesla's Q1 sales figures indicate its lower-cost models haven't halted declining sales. Tesla's Austin factory workforce fell 22% in 2025. CEO Elon Musk said production of the Model S and X has ended, signaling a shift toward vehicles designed for autonomous operation.
• Toyota Woven Capital hires: The investment arm appointed a new CIO and COO to accelerate work on the future of mobility.
• WeRide in Dubai: Uber and WeRide launched robotaxi operations without an onboard human safety operator in Dubai as part of a Middle East expansion.
• Waymo at San Antonio International: Waymo expanded its robotaxi service to San Antonio International — its fourth major airport. Wired published a deep-dive on Waymo's issues with school bus behavior, detailing how attempts to fix the problem with Austin ISD didn't succeed.

Context: Gaming News and AV Coverage

While this newsletter focuses on mobility and AV developments, readers interested in adjacent tech trends — including gaming news — will find overlaps. For example, advances in real-time simulation, mapping, and AI used in game development often inform AV simulation, training, and perception systems. Cross-industry talent and tooling frequently move between gaming and autonomous systems, buoying innovation in both fields.

Podcast Highlight

On the Autonocast podcast, we spoke with Ashu Rege, DoorDash's VP of Autonomy. We recorded the episode before the Also-DoorDash deal, so his comments about DoorDash's autonomy strategy are especially relevant now. Check out the episode here.

How to Reach Us

Have a tip or story idea? Email Kirsten Korosec at "[email protected]" or Sean O'Kane at "[email protected]".