TechCrunch Mobility: The shifting flight path of electric air taxis

TechCrunch Mobility：电动空中出租车不断变化的航线

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Something was in the air this week because we had a heck of a lot of electric aircraft news. Ba-dum-tss. But really, it’s no joke — two of the bigger deals of the week involved companies developing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL). Together they illustrate how the burgeoning sector continues to consolidate and seek out near-term revenue streams even as they go through the lengthy regulatory process to eventually deploy electric air taxis.

欢迎回到 TechCrunch Mobility——您获取交通未来新闻与见解的中心枢纽。如需在收件箱中接收此内容，请点击此处免费订阅——只需点击 TechCrunch Mobility！本周空气中弥漫着某种气息，因为我们收到了大量关于电动飞机的消息。Ba-dum-tss（鼓点声）。但说真的，这并非玩笑——本周两笔重大的交易都涉及开发电动垂直起降飞行器（eVTOL）的公司。它们共同展示了这一新兴行业如何在经历漫长的监管审批流程以最终部署电动空中出租车的同时，继续进行整合并寻求近期的收入来源。

In one of the crazier twists in the nascent eVTOL industry, Archer Aviation announced that it now owns its former rival Wisk Aero. Under the terms of the deal, Boeing agreed to sell Wisk Aero and two other subsidiaries to Archer in exchange for an ownership stake in the company. Boeing now holds a 16.5% stake in Archer. The other subsidiaries are SkyGrid, a digital airspace and air traffic management software company, and drone maker Insitu. For those unfamiliar, Wisk sued Archer in 2021 over allegations of the “brazen theft” of confidential information and intellectual property. The case went on for two years before the companies reached an unusual settlement that not only ended the lawsuit and Archer’s countersuit against Wisk seeking $1 billion in damages, but also led to a new collaboration.

在萌芽中的 eVTOL 行业最疯狂的转折之一中，Archer Aviation 宣布现已收购其前竞争对手 Wisk Aero。根据协议条款，波音公司同意将 Wisk Aero 及另外两家子公司出售给 Archer，以换取后者的股权。波音目前持有 Archer 16.5% 的股份。另外两家子公司分别是数字空域和空中交通管理软件公司 SkyGrid，以及无人机制造商 Insitu。对于不熟悉情况的人来说，Wisk 曾在 2021 年起诉 Archer，指控其“公然窃取”机密信息和知识产权。该案件持续了两年，最终双方达成了一项不同寻常的和解协议，不仅结束了诉讼以及 Archer 对 Wisk 索赔 10 亿美元的反诉，还促成了一项新的合作。

Wisk has taken a rather winding path. It started as Kitty Hawk, an electric aviation startup led by Sebastian Thrun, who co-founded the Alphabet moonshot factory X, and backed by Google co-founder Larry Page. Kitty Hawk shut down in September 2022, but its Cora program, which had spun off into a joint venture with Boeing, lived on. That joint venture was renamed Wisk Aero.

Wisk 的发展道路相当曲折。它最初是 Kitty Hawk，一家由 Sebastian Thrun 领导的电动航空初创公司。Thrun 是 Alphabet 登月工厂 X 的联合创始人，并得到了谷歌联合创始人拉里·佩奇（Larry Page）的支持。Kitty Hawk 于 2022 年 9 月关闭，但其 Cora 项目（已分拆为与波音的合资企业）得以保留。该合资企业后来更名为 Wisk Aero。

Then there’s Joby Aviation, which made a more predictable deal this week. The company acquired Resonant Sciences for $500 million, marking the electric air taxi developer’s push into the defense sector. Resonant Sciences, which makes radio frequency and sensor systems, will become a dedicated defense business under Joby aptly called Joby Defense. Joby has been slowly expanding into the defense sector over the past couple years even as it has pursued its original mission to certify and manufacture electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for use as urban air taxis. Joby says it is sticking with its mission, but also sees opportunity — not to mention revenue — in the defense sector.

接下来是 Joby Aviation，该公司本周达成了一笔更具预见性的交易。该公司以 5 亿美元收购了 Resonant Sciences，标志着这家电动空中出租车开发商进军国防领域。Resonant Sciences 制造射频和传感器系统，将成为 Joby 旗下专门的国防业务部门，恰如其分地命名为 Joby Defense。在过去几年中，Joby 在追求其认证和制造用于城市空中出租车的电动垂直起降飞行器的原始使命的同时，一直在缓慢向国防领域扩张。Joby 表示，它将坚持其使命，但也看到了国防领域带来的机遇——更不用说收入了。

A little bird

小道消息

For the past two years, Uber has been laser-focused on locking up partnerships with, and even investing in, autonomous vehicle technology companies. But this week Uber did the opposite. The ride-hail company sold off its entire stake in Serve Robotics, the autonomous delivery robot company that spun out of Uber more than five years ago. Here’s the interesting part. According to some little birds, Serve Robotics was surprised by the sell-off and only learned about it when Uber’s regulatory filing was posted. Uber and Serve are still business partners, and that contract, which puts Serve’s delivery robots on the Uber Eats app, is set to expire in 2027.

在过去两年里，Uber 一直专注于与自动驾驶技术公司建立合作伙伴关系，甚至进行投资。但本周，Uber 却反其道而行之。这家网约车公司出售了其在 Serve Robotics 的全部股份，这是一家五年前从 Uber 分拆出来的自动驾驶送货机器人公司。有趣的部分在于：据一些小道消息称，Serve Robotics 对此次抛售感到惊讶，直到 Uber 的监管文件发布时才得知此事。Uber 和 Serve 目前仍是商业合作伙伴，双方将 Serve 的送货机器人接入 Uber Eats 应用的合同将于 2027 年到期。

Deals!

交易动态

Uber is investing in Galgo, a Chilean fintech company that specializes in extending credit to buy motorcycles, Bloomberg reported. Electric mobility startup Yulu raised $93 million in a Series C round comprising $63 million in equity led by GEF Capital Partners and $30 million in debt financing.

据彭博社报道，Uber 正在投资智利金融科技公司 Galgo，该公司专门提供购买摩托车的信贷服务。电动出行初创公司 Yulu 在 C 轮融资中筹集了 9300 万美元，其中包括由 GEF Capital Partners 领投的 6300 万美元股权融资和 3000 万美元债务融资。

Notable reads and other tidbits

值得一读及其他简讯

Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI have received permits from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to begin testing their self-driving trucks on public roads in the state. And Kodiak AI has already started.
Aurora Innovation 和 Kodiak AI 已获得加州机动车管理局的许可，开始在该州的公共道路上测试其自动驾驶卡车。目前 Kodiak AI 已经开始测试。
Avride said it has surpassed 100,000 autonomous rides on the Uber app in Dallas. There are some caveats here, of course, namely that there is still a human safety operator behind the wheel.
Avride 表示，其在达拉斯通过 Uber 应用提供的自动驾驶乘车服务已超过 10 万次。当然，这里有一些前提条件，即驾驶座上仍有一名人类安全操作员。
Delta Air Lines is investigating a cybersecurity incident in which an unidentified passenger allegedly created a fake Wi-Fi network on a flight, prompting pilots to alert air traffic control.
达美航空正在调查一起网络安全事件，据称一名身份不明的乘客在飞行途中创建了一个虚假的 Wi-Fi 网络，导致飞行员不得不向空中交通管制部门发出警报。
Flock announced a series of new policies and tools, claiming they will help curb abuse of its automated license plate camera reader systems and help keep its law enforcement customers accountable.
Flock 宣布了一系列新政策和工具，声称这将有助于遏制对其自动车牌识别系统的滥用，并帮助其执法客户履行问责制。
Ford said it’s on track to complete its $2 billion overhaul of its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, which will use a new assembly system to build its next-generation of EVs, starting with the midsize Fathom truck.
福特表示，其位于肯塔基州路易斯维尔装配厂的 20 亿美元改造工程进展顺利，该工厂将使用新的装配系统来制造其下一代电动汽车，首款车型为中型 Fathom 卡车。
Ground Truth, an art project created to raise awareness about housing affordability in New York, created a gadget that will trigger the brakes on Citi rental bikes, making it harder to pedal through rent-burdened neighborhoods, Wired reported.
据《连线》杂志报道，旨在提高人们对纽约住房负担能力认识的艺术项目 Ground Truth 开发了一种装置，可以触发 Citi 共享单车的刹车，使人们更难骑车穿过租金负担沉重的社区。
Hiroshi Okuda, a longtime Toyota executive who served as president and eventually chairman, died this week, according to the company. Okuda took some big swings during his time at Toyota, notably pushing for the gas-electric hybrid Prius vehicle.
据丰田公司称，曾担任总裁并最终担任董事长的丰田资深高管奥田硕（Hiroshi Okuda）于本周去世。奥田在丰田任职期间做出了一些重大决策，最著名的是推动了油电混合动力普锐斯（Prius）汽车的研发。
Pony.ai and Uber plan to bring 2,000 robotaxes to four cities in Europe as part of an expanded partnership.
作为扩大合作伙伴关系的一部分，小马智行（Pony.ai）和 Uber 计划在欧洲四个城市投放 2000 辆自动驾驶出租车。
Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took to X this week to promote the DOT’s effort to recruit video gamers as air traffic controllers.
交通部长肖恩·达菲（Sean Duffy）本周在 X 上发文，宣传交通部招募电子游戏玩家担任空中交通管制员的计划。
Uber Freight is investigating a cyberattack and data breach that hacking and extortion gang Helix recently took credit for.
Uber Freight 正在调查一起网络攻击和数据泄露事件，黑客及勒索组织 Helix 最近声称对此负责。