Ford pivots on EVs, Waymo doubles its robotaxi ridership and Canoo leaves California

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Monterey Car Week is a wrap. And while it is still steeped in tradition, the collection of parties, auctions and car shows that were held throughout the Monterey Peninsula is pushing deeper into EVs and tech. And it’s getting younger. As TechCrunch contributor Abigail Bassett noted, a heavy dose of Silicon Valley’s software developers and founders added to the scenery this year. Check out her article on the most interesting EVs at Monterey Car Week.

During the event, Rimac unveiled its Nevera R, an upgraded version of its Nevera hypercar that somehow has more power than its predecessor. TechCrunch also spent some time with new Porsche North America CEO Timo Resch, who spoke about the upcoming all-electric Macan EV and how the German automaker will survive the turbulent market. Then there was Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath, who shared his concerns about the topsy-turvy political environment, the Polestar 3 and how the company will become self-sustaining — and less capital reliant on its biggest shareholders Geely Holding Group and Volvo.

There was a lot more than the Monterey Car Week, though — so let’s go!

A little bird

A little birdie told us late last week that Canoo announced in an all-hands meeting plans to close its Los Angeles office -- the company's original headquarters dating back to its founding in late 2017. The company's new headquarters will be in Justin, Texas, where it has maintained a corporate office since around the time chairman and CEO Tony Aquila took over a few years ago.

This all comes a few years after Canoo announced -- but eventually abandoned -- plans to move its headquarters to Bentonville, Arkansas, as it was courting Walmart.

Canoo quietly tucked into its quarterly SEC filing last week that it is offering "relocation to approximately 137 employees out of the 194 employees located at the Torrance Facility." The relocations will either be in Texas or Oklahoma — the latter is where Canoo has been trying for years to stand up a manufacturing facility. The remaining staff will be laid off.

Regardless of how many accept the relocation, all of those California jobs are done. The LA office will close October 15. Canoo reported 651 employees at the end of 2023, down from a peak of nearly 1,000 in late 2022.

Canoo employees have long expected Aquila to close the LA office -- especially after co-founder and chief design officer Richard Kim left the company in April 2023. The company has struggled to make progress getting to meaningful production volumes and has pivoted its business model multiple times under Aquila's watch.

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Deals!

Just a few deals this week …

AutoScout24, a Germany-based online car marketplace, has acquired Canadian rival Trader Corp. from private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

BeyondMath, a startup applying AI to physical simulation, ​​raised $8.5 million in a seed round led by UP.Partners, with Insight Partners and InMotion Ventures participating. TC editor Devin Coldewey wrote about how BeyondMath’s "digital wind tunnel" put a physics-based AI simulation to work on F1 cars.

Re:Build Manufacturing, a Massachusetts startup focused on industrial manufacturing in the U.S., raised $120 million in a round led by General Catalyst.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Autonomous vehicles

Waymo said it’s now giving more than 100,000 paid robotaxi rides every week across its three main commercial markets in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix. Context: That is double the figure it shared publicly a few months ago. One other item worth noting in my story: Waymo has 778 robotaxis under its deployment permit in the state, according to a Freedom of Information Act request from the California Department of Revenue. It’s unclear if some of those vehicles are operating in Phoenix.

In other Waymo news … Remember the honking problem that software engineer Sophia Tung captured via a livestream of the parking lot where Waymo robotaxis come and go? Well, it was fixed and then it popped again. But now, Waymo says, it has been fixed for good. Waymo Director of Product and Operations Vishay Nihalani came onto Tung’s livestream and answered questions about the robotaxis and the honking, among other things. I’ll share some tidbits in next week’s issue of TechCrunch Mobility.

Electric vehicles, charging & batteries

Ford made quite the pivot on its electrification plans. The company abandoned a plan to make an all-electric three-row SUV, opting instead to power those forthcoming vehicles with hybrid powertrains. Ford also said the first vehicle that will be built on the low-cost EV platform Ford’s been developing in secret will be a mid-size pickup due out in 2027. Taken together, these changes may cost Ford as much as $1.9 billion.

Gogoro, the Taiwanese electric two-wheeler maker, deferred its highly ambitious plans for India. In the meantime, the company has started a bike-taxi pilot with aggregator Rapido to test its vehicles before their commercial release.

Rivian launched a smaller $1,400 camp kitchen. History lesson: Rivian showed the first prototype — a far larger, more expensive kitchen — more than five years ago. This time, customers can actually buy it!

Uber has hired Rebecca Tinucci, who led Tesla’s Supercharger team, as its new global Head of Sustainability.

Volkswagen continues to creep slowly toward selling its electric minivan in the United States. We now know that the 2025 ID. Buzz will set buyers back $59,995 for the Pro S trim, which includes seven seats, rear-wheel drive and a 91 kWh battery that provides an EPA-estimated 234 miles of range.

Future of flight

Skyryse, a startup developing a universal operating system for flight, opened a new facility at the Hawthorne Airport in California.

In-car tech

General Motors cut around 1,000 software workers globally. I happen to be in Detroit this week visiting GM to learn more about the Sierra EV and its software efforts. Talk about timing! These cuts should be viewed as a restructuring — and an essential one if GM hopes to avoid problems like it had last year with the Chevrolet Blazer EV. Stay tuned for more on this.

This week’s wheels

What is “This week’s wheels”? It’s a chance to learn about the different transportation products we’re testing, whether it’s an electric or hybrid car, an e-bike or even a ride in an autonomous vehicle. Future vehicles include the Nissan Leaf, some e-bikes and the GMC Sierra EV.