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Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.
Hello! And goodbye! Well, at least until 2024. The Station is going to take a little break through the end of this year. I want to thank you all for reading our weekly newsletter and reaching out to me with suggestions, tips and criticism. Yes, I even appreciate the thoughtful pushback.
It’s been an action-packed year with new startups emerging (so many electric boat and RV companies, am I right?), a bevy of EVs hitting the road and a number of commercial milestones achieved in the autonomous vehicle industry. There were, of course, gloomy and even shocking moments too. A number of startups failed, including a bunch of mobility SPACs, and layoffs were pervasive even into this last month of the year. Two of the more stunning stories were within the autonomous vehicle industry: the founders of the defunct Argo AI coming back with a new Softbank-funded AV startup and the downfall of Cruise.
The Cruise story continues to unfold and will likely play out well into 2024. This past week was a doozy for Cruise, albeit an expected one. The upshot: the Cruise board, and by extension the GM board, are cleaning house in an effort to salvage years of technological progress. As part of that mission, nine top leaders were dismissed and 900 workers were laid off.
We’ll be following the Cruise story into next year. But that isn’t our only focus.
Here at TechCrunch, our team cares about the future of transportation from new EVs and battery tech to electric and hydrogen aviation, autonomous vehicles, micromobility and in-car tech. That means more than just highlighting the next new new thing. Instead, we strive to explain why it matters and who it might affect. In other words, we’re the kind of folks who take that unlikely exit or side road to explore what others may avoid. We hope you’ll join us on the ride.
See you in the New Year!