TechCrunch Mobility: “A stunning lack of transparency”

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You may remember the congressional hearing last month that drew criticism Waymo regarding its use for remote assistance workers in the Philippines. We have addressed this issue extensively. You can read about the company’s telematics and roadside assistance teams here and here.

Waymo tends to get the most attention because these robotaxis are now operating commercially in 10 US cities, with more coming soon. But the issue of remote assistance is not Waymo’s problem. It’s a problem with self-driving vehicle technology.

New report from Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) illustrates my point.

Markey sent letters to seven American companies – Aurora, May navigation, kinetic, only, Tesla, Waymoand Zoox – Work on autonomous vehicle technology with a list of questions. He wanted to know how often these companies’ vehicles depended on the input of remote employees.

they Everyone refused to sayAccording to the results of Marki’s investigation. Markey said it was a “striking lack of transparency on the part of AV companies about their use of remote assistance operators to help guide their self-driving vehicles.”

You can read Article by Senior Reporter Sean O’Kanewhich delves into the issue and includes somewhat muted responses from companies. (TechCrunch reached out to all of them.) One interesting admission from Tesla: The company said its Remote Assistance employees are authorized to temporarily take over direct control of the car (something very different from “remote assistance”) as a final escalation maneuver.

But here’s the thing – this isn’t going away. Silence will not defuse the matter. However, Marky seems more eager than ever for answers. Now he is calling National Highway Traffic Safety Administration To investigate companies’ use of remote operators, he said he is “working on legislation to impose strict guardrails on autonomous vehicle companies’ use of remote operators.”

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Nothing this week we were able to verify. Send us tips! Do you have one? Email Kirsten Korosek at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com Or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.

Offers!

Seems like I was writing about it just last week Uber Being everywhere, at once. I see it as still a trend, although this time it’s not directly related to autonomous vehicles.

Uber said It’s a buy Berlin-based startup Black Lanewhich provides on-demand black chauffeur services, as the ride-hailing giant expands deeper into luxury and executive travel services. BlackLane, founded in 2011, has raised more than $100 million to date from car rental companies Sixt, Mercedes-Benz and Alfahim, a group of companies in the UAE.

The timing of the acquisition is notable. This comes just a few weeks after Uber announced the launch of Uber Elite, a driver service that also offers a range of luxury offerings such as airport pickup and in-car amenities.

Other deals that caught my attention…

Air delivery of manaa consumer drone delivery startup based in Ireland, Raised $50 million From ARK Invest, Irish Strategic Investment Fund, Schooner Capital, Coca-Cola HBC and Molten Ventures.

Saronic techniquesan independent military ship developer based in Austin, It raised $1.75 billion In a Series D funding round led by Kleiner Perkins. The company is now valued at $9.25 billion. Other new investors include Advent International, Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ Growth, BAM Elevate, and other new partners, and acknowledges the continued commitment of its existing investors, including 8VC, Caffeinated Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Elad Gil, and Franklin Templeton.

Amplifya startup company that has developed a way to retrofit diesel locomotives using battery power, It raised $30 million In the seed funding led by Israeli venture firm Aleph and Australian mining company Fortescue.

Notable Readings and Other Stories

alsoa small mobility company created at home Rivian Which appeared last year, will work with DoorDash To develop Autonomous delivery vehicles. As part of the deal, DoorDash participated in a $200 million Series C funding round as well, which was led by Greenoaks Capital. DoorDash gets a seat on the company’s board of directors, too.

Baidu The robots stopped Throughout Wuhan, China, in some cases passengers were trapped for up to two hours due to a system failure.

GM It is intensifying its efforts to improve its advanced driver assistance system, Super Cruise. CEO Mary Barra Posted on LinkedIn GM has begun supervised testing of its next-generation automated driving system on public highways in California and Michigan.

“Soon, more than 200 vehicles will be supervised and manually tested in live traffic, with trained drivers ready to take over at any time. This data will guide future updates to enhance our self-driving capabilities,” she wrote.

clear Issue a summons For more than 4,000 Gravity SUVs after a problem was discovered with the seat belts.

the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration I mentioned that Traffic deaths It decreased by 6.7% to 36,640 in 2025 compared to the previous year. This is the second-lowest traffic fatality rate in recorded history at 1.10 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

All those are long TSA Lines are pushing airlines to catch up and adapt. For example, United Airlines updated its mobile app to offer it TSA wait times At selected airports.

the Subaru Toyota The partnership continues to launch electric vehicles. At the New York Auto Show, Subaru introduced the all-electric Gateway, a three-row SUV that’s basically a car Renamed Toyota Highlander EV.

TeslaQ1 2019 sales figures show that its cheaper cars are not helping its turnaround Sales decline. (Some older automakers have seen EV sales decline sharply.) This appears to have affected Tesla’s workforce numbers at its Austin, Texas, factory Decreased by 22% in 2025. Meanwhile, I’m talking about Changing of the guard at Tesla (And no, I’m not referring to the string of executive departures there, although that is interesting.) CEO Elon Musk We participated in the end of production of the Tesla Model S and

Toyota woven capital A. was appointed New CIO and COO Trying to find the “future of mobility”.

Uber And the Chinese self-driving car company We are riding Fired Robotics operations Without a human safety operator in Dubai as part of a wider expansion into the Middle East.

WaymoThe robotaxi service is now available on San Antonio Internationalits fourth main airport. Meanwhile, Wired looked into Waymo’s school bus problem (meaning investigating the illegal behavior of its robotaxis around school buses). The article provides new details about how the Austin School District is trying to help Waymo solve the problem. It didn’t work.

Another thing…

my podcast, Automatic broadcastI spent some time talking to you What’s up?Vice President of Autonomy at DoorDash. We recorded the episode before the “Also-DoorDash” announcement, which makes his comments about the company’s strategy even more interesting. Check out the episode here.