Uber just dropped $700 million-plus on autonomous vehicle bets.
The ride-hailing giant put $300 million into electric vehicle maker Lucid — a figure disclosed because Lucid is public. But the bigger move: an undisclosed, multi-hundred-million-dollar investment in AV startup Nuro. Sources now peg that deal closer to $400 million.
Uber isn’t playing small. These investments aim to power its premium robotaxi and delivery ambitions globally. 
Meanwhile, Waymo’s ex-lead for self-driving trucks, Boris Sofman, launched Bedrock Robotics—an AV startup for construction equipment—and just raised $80 million from Eclipse and 8VC. Founders include Waymo veterans Kevin Peterson, Ajay Gummalla, and ex-Twilio/Segment exec Tom Eliaz.
Other deals popping this week:
- Amogy, ammonia-to-power startup, adds $23M to total $80M raised, led by Korea Development Bank.
- Geely Auto will take luxury EV arm Zeekr private just a year after going public.
- UK’s Gridserve raised £100M ($134M) from existing investors including TPG Rise and Mitsubishi.
- SF startup Pronto acquired competitor SafeAI, scooping up IP and engineering talent.
- Transit software startup Via filed confidentially for an IPO again after a 2021 attempt stalled.
In ADAS, Lucid is rolling out hands-free highway driving on its Air sedans via a software update coming this month.
Uber also inked a robotaxi deal with China’s Baidu to deploy thousands of AVs outside the US and mainland China.
In EV news, GM is partnering with Redwood Materials and upgrading its Tennessee plant with LG Energy for cheaper LFP batteries.
Rivian is pushing its Georgia factory prep this August, aiming for a 2026 ground-breaking. CEO RJ Scaringe recently transferred some ownership and voting power following a divorce settlement. New software in Rivian vehicles swaps out Mapbox for a custom Rivian-Google Maps app.
Faraday Future is drawing SEC scrutiny—details still emerging.
Subaru launched an all-electric crossover called Uncharted, with 300+ miles of range, hitting US showrooms in early 2026. Pricing TBD closer to launch.
Tesla finally opened its first showroom in India, nine years after Elon Musk’s initial tease. Tesla Cybertruck sales cratered in Q2, getting outsold by GMC’s Hummer EV. Jury selection is underway for a federal lawsuit over Tesla’s driver-assist tech and a 2019 fatal crash in Florida. Strong emotions about Musk reportedly influenced the process.
Lastly, Joby Aviation doubled production capacity at its Marina, California pilot manufacturing facility, speeding up commercial EV vertical takeoff and landing vehicle readiness for early 2026.
