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OK, who bets General Motors It's the landing point aurora Co-founder and chief product officer Sterling Anderson? Not me. But we are here. Anderson announced his resignation from his position and Aurora’s board of directors, he told me about his next show as Chief Product Officer at GM. In short, he will oversee the entire product line of GM’s gasoline-powered and electric vehicles, a position that will cover the entire lifecycle of GM’s portfolio and include hardware, software, services and user experience.

Anderson can't say much. Also, he hasn't started the job yet. Anderson did say that if Aurora hadn't launched a commercial self-driving truck service in Texas, he wouldn't have been in a new job.

Let's jump into the rest of the news.

A little bird

In an absolutely crazy event, LightFounder Austin Russell It appears to have been kicked out as CEO and chairman of the board. You can read my story here, which provides some overview of this situation, but I know there is a lot more to this story. TL;DR: If you only read Luminar's first quarter earnings report, you'd think Russell is still at the helm. As the company's earnings sales were sold, a separate press release announced the leadership changes, and Russell resigned after an ethical inquiry from the board's audit committee.

This is what I heard from a few little birds. The term "blind" appears more than once, and the chaos is not over yet. Luminar Board Member Jun Hong HengHe is the founder and chief investment officer of Crescent Cove Advisors and a mentor to Russell's, resigned a day later. Henn is also on the Audit Committee.

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aurora There are a few weeks of odd numbers filled with highs - driverless business service woohoo! - and Twisted - Oops, there is a co-founder. To shut down things, Uber announced plans to offer $1 billion in exchangeable premium notes in private locations in 2028. As you might expect, the stock has dropped after investors’ shocked by potential dilutions, what this might mean for the value of Aurora stock.

Other deals that caught my attention...

automaticthe latest startup UP.LABS-PORSCHE The partnership raised $5 million in seed funding. The Santa Monica, California-based startup has built an API to allow dealerships and service stores to communicate in real time with manufacturers and software vendors that power their operations, and the company has been quietly operating for about nine months.

Chinese battery manufacturer catl Far from a startup. But it is worth noting that this Banana IPO plan. The company hopes to raise at least HK$31.01 billion (just US$4 billion) on its Hong Kong listing. This is the world's largest list in 2025.

This is a Potential It caused some eyebrow transactions. Federal railway regulators are working with Elon Musk' Tunnel Company, Boring companyIn a multi-billion dollar Amtrak project.

Flock freighta California-based truck-sharing brokerage company raised $60 million in E fundraising led by O'Neil Strategic Capital. Susquehanna Private Equity Investment, SignalFire, GLP Capital Partners and Bracket Capital also attended the meeting.

Famous readings and other tidbits

Self-driving cars

TeslaPlans to launch robotics services in Austin next month have attracted the attention of federal security investigators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defect Investigation sent the company a detailed list of questions about its upcoming Robotaxi service, part of the company’s “complete autonomous driving (supervised) software that operates under low visibility conditions.

Recalls are starting to appear more in the AV department. Last week it was Zamx. Now Waymo Software recalls have been made to 1,200 self-driving cars after some of its robots collided with road objects of gates, chains and other similar doors.

Weride It seems to be trying to climb in Guangzhou. The Chinese company said it has introduced eight self-driving Robotaxi pilot operating routes in the middle of the city. The company has also begun trialing fully driverless robots in Abu Dhabi.

Electric cars, charging and batteries

General Motors A new battery chemistry, called lithium-rich chemical reactions, has been researching, and says cost cuts should be made when delivering travel range. It is worth noting that these LMR batteries greatly reduce the amount of nickel and cobalt compared to GM's state-of-the-art cells, two key minerals not readily available from domestic sources in the United States.

footnote wide awakeRecent Q1 regulatory applications have given people a greater understanding of their sales figures. The electric vehicle manufacturers have gained a record quarter from rent sales and corporate leasing.

Slate automatic More than 100,000 reservations are available for its customizable low-cost electric pickup truck.

Everyone, let's slow down Toyota For redesign (and more importantly, rename), its only all-electric vehicle on the U.S. market. EV used to be called BZ4X, but now it will be just BZ. The original BZ4X didn't get good reviews. I look forward to moving forward and seeing Toyota's improvements. Meanwhile, Toyota brought back the nameplate of the C-HR, but this time it was an EV. Hope this time is more successful. It arrived in the United States in 2026.

Gig economy

Three years ago, journalist Rebecca Bellan pointed out Uber Going through Amazonification. Her sales are the company likes Amazoncreated a closed business cycle to send customers back to other Uber channels. She reported this week that the second part of this development has begun. Uber seems to have gone beyond its focus on shipping and strived to be a handy super app-as-a-service aggregator, a lifestyle platform for everyday use, with its best products hiding it behind a paywall.

The future of flight

U.S. lawmakers have proposed the Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act to modify the FAA's 52-year ban on supersonic flights on U.S. soil. Schedule may be crucial to start up Prosperous supersonicsThis has made progress in developing the next generation of supersonic aircraft

Vertical Aerospace Announced a plan to develop a hybrid electronics variant of its VX4, which shows the company is seeking defense and logistics opportunities.

In-car technology

appleThe next generation of its popular Carplay infotainment software is finally launched. Reminder: It was first announced three years ago. The new version is called Carplay Ultra and will debut on the new version Aston Martin Vehicles in the United States and Canada.

Google Bring Gemini (the AI ​​it generates) to all cars that support Android Auto in the coming months. Patrick Brady, Android's vice president of automotive, said Gemini will surface in two main ways in the Android Auto experience.