Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, the role AI is playing in it.

In just a few days, Amazon-owned Zoox will start charging for robotaxi rides. This might not seem like a big deal; the company’s custom-built robotaxis are already giving rides to passengers in Las Vegas and San Francisco, after all. And it’s opening up an early rider program in Miami and Austin too. 

None of this matters — in a business sense — until the company can operate commercially. 

And now it can, starting August 10, thanks to an exemption issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Because Zoox vehicles lack many of the traditional controls required under federal law, such as a steering wheel and pedals, it needed an exemption from federal motor vehicle standards in order to operate. It had an exemption that allowed it to demonstrate the technology; this one allows Zoox to operate a fleet of up to 2,500 vehicles commercially for two years. 

The exemption is a win for Zoox, but it also paves the way for any other autonomous vehicle developer that wants to launch a robotaxi that lacks a steering wheel, pedals, or other requirements that might not be needed in a vehicle with no human driver. For instance, a robotaxi really doesn’t need a rearview mirror; it already achieves that kind of visibility with sensors on the exterior of the vehicle. 

Tesla is the obvious beneficiary here since it is developing its two-seater Cybercab. But there will be others as well.

In other news, you might have missed my comprehensive assessment of Uber’s autonomous vehicle empire. Check it out; it offers a complete rundown of every company that Uber has partnered with (and in some cases invested in). And I hear more are coming. 

You might recall that the Financial Times did its own calculus of how much Uber was investing in AVs. The outlet determined it was about $10 billion. And what do you know? That is exactly the number Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi shared during the company’s earnings call. He said the company would commit $10 billion “over the coming years” to deploy 120,000 driverless vehicles.

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Notable reads and other tidbits

Ford has a name and a number for its new midsize EV. It will be called Fathom and will start at $28,350 when it goes on sale in 2027. TechCrunch climate tech reporter and long-time EV owner Tim De Chant argues that Ford needs another Taurus, and the Fathom isn’t it. What do you think? 

Joby Aviation, the electric vertical takeoff and landing company, reported earnings this week. Revenue is up compared with the same quarter last year, thanks to its acquisition of Blade Air Mobility. Net losses shrank a bit to $245 million. One of the more interesting announcements this week, though, was Joby’s partnership with Atoms, Travis Kalanick’s AI and industrial automation startup. The partnership will develop and finance a network of transportation hubs serving air taxis and autonomous ground vehicles with an initial focus on Florida, New York, and Texas, as well as California, according to Joby.

Lucid Motors’ second-quarter earnings struck a somber it’s-time-to-get-down-to-business tone. And that comes with a cost. New CEO Silvio Napoli outlined four must-win priorities that include a $1.4 billion cost savings plan. It’s also banking on a successful robotaxi program with Uber and Nuro and launching its midsize Cosmos EV, which has now been delayed until the second half of 2027. 

Nvidia has released its Alpamayo 2 Super for commercial use — an AI model designed for autonomous driving. The model is available on Hugging Face, and the open license covers commercial redistribution and derivative models that allow AV developers, automakers, and others to adapt Alpamayo to their own data, driving policies, and deployment strategies, the company said.

Teamsters California sued the California Department of Motor Vehicles, alleging that the agency did not properly study and disclose the economic impacts of allowing self-driving heavy-duty trucks on the state's roads. I reached out to a few AV developers and all declined to comment. However, the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association did issue a statement: “This lawsuit from the Teamsters sets a new standard in abusive and frivolous litigation and cannot be taken seriously."

TechCrunch teamed up with New York-based financial research firm Hudson Labs again. This time to map what Elon Musk and Tesla’s other executives have spent the last seven years talking about on the company’s quarterly earnings calls. Check out the full story for graphs and complete findings. Here is a taste: Musk now speaks about artificial intelligence, along with robotaxis and Full Self-Driving software, nearly 50% of the time.

Speaking of Elon Musk, his companies had a newsy week. SpaceX reported its first earnings report as a publicly traded company. The TL;DR: The company doubled its revenue compared to last year, in large part thanks to the growth of its Starlink satellite internet service and deals it struck to rent out computing power to Anthropic and Google. And during the earnings call, Musk made some out-of-this-world claims about the company’s business and future prospects, while his fellow executives tried to bring his ideas closer to Earth.

Meanwhile, Tesla and SpaceX said that “Terafab,” the advanced chip factory they are jointly developing, will be built in Grimes County, Texas, outside Houston, and that they will make an initial investment of $16.8 billion in the project.

The New York Times published an investigation on Uber’s defense strategy against more than 4,000 lawsuits filed by passengers who allege the company failed to protect them from sexual violence. 

Waymo dropped the waitlist for its robotaxi service in Dallas, opening it up to all residents and visitors.

One more thing …

Travis Kalanick, and his AI and industrial automation startup Atoms, is popping up everywhere these days (see that Joby partnership above). Kalanick isn’t just making deals — although remember he did just raise $1.7 billion. The former Uber CEO also appears to be getting the band back together and bringing on former engineers and executives he once worked with. 

For instance, Gautam Gupta, the former finance chief under Kalanick, has joined Atoms as chief financial officer. Gupta spent more than four years at Uber until he left in July 2017, just a few weeks after Kalanick resigned as CEO.