The publicly traded company is now a few months away from delivering its most important EV yet, a mid-sized SUV called the R2. This EV is cheaper to build than its flagship R1 counterpart (Scaringe tells me 'roughly half' the cost), and yet, in many ways is more technologically capable. It will also be cheaper for buyers; the first version of the R2 will start at $57,990, 20% cheaper than its base R1T pickup. And then there's Also, the micromobility startup that began as a skunkworks program within Rivian and spun out last year backed by VC money. Also, which Rivian maintains a minority stake in, launched a pedal-assist modular electric bike and cargo quad vehicle last October. Scaringe is deeply involved with that startup as well. Mind Robotics was not born within the walls of Rivian, although the automaker may someday be a customer. Mind Robotics is a private company founded by Scaringe that recently raised a $500 million Series A round co-led by venture firms Accel and Andreessen Horowitz. The company, which has raised $615 million since its founding in November 2025, is now valued at about $2 billion....

I get it; it's not an easy time for a legacy automaker to be selling electric vehicles, what with incentives being gutted and Chinese automakers knocking at the door. But Honda is taking it to another level. This week, Honda killed its paltry ' and frankly unpromising ' EV programs. What little motivation Honda had to compete in the EV arena is apparently gone, and along with it, any chance of surviving the current wave of disruption that's sweeping the industry. Honda kicked things off on Thursday by halting development of the electric Acura RDX and the Honda 0 sedan and SUV, three models that were the company's first ground-up EVs ' but about which very little was shared with outsiders. It continued on Friday, with Automotive News reporting that Honda was going to stop production of the Prologue, a vehicle that was essentially designed and entirely built by GM. The decision could backfire in a number of different ways, but there are two that I'd argue are most important. By shelving EVs, Honda will fall farther behind in two of the biggest shifts sweeping the automotive industry: electric drivetrains and software-defined vehicles....

Kalanick is rolling his existing ghost kitchen company, CloudKitchens, into Atoms. It's not immediately clear how he plans to tackle mining and transportation. Atoms' website says it will build a 'wheelbase for robots,' and Kalanick said in a live interview with TBPN on Friday that his company will apply this wheelbase to 'specialized robots' ' not humanoids. To support the mining business, Kalanick said Friday that he's on the precipice of acquiring Pronto, the autonomous vehicle startup focused on industrial and mining sites that was created by his former Uber colleague, Anthony Levandowski. Kalanick revealed Friday that he is already the 'largest investor' in Pronto. 'The industrial thing is sort of like, probably, our main jam,' Kalanick told TBPN. Kalanick demurred on the idea of using Atoms robots to move people, at least in the near-term. 'Once you crack movement in the physical world, there's lots of people who want access to that.' Earlier Friday The Information reported Kalanick was getting back into self-driving vehicles with 'major backing' from Uber, and that he has reportedly told people he 'wants to be more aggressive in rolling out self-driving technology than Waymo.' Uber didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Atoms' website makes no mention of Uber. The Information first reported Kalanick was discussing acquiring Pronto....

In a TikTok video posted earlier this week, a Chihuahua claps its paws and dances to disco in front of a Tesla. 'EV owners seeing gas prices go up, and not having to pay it,' the caption reads. In another, a clip of the comedian Zach Galifianakis laughing hysterically is superimposed over a gas-price sign. Across social media, Americans who drive electric vehicles can't help but gloat. Who's laughing now' Indeed, a car that doesn't require gas sure does sound appealing right now. As the Iran crisis continues to choke the global supply of oil, gas prices are rising higher and higher. Americans are now paying an average of $3.63 a gallon at the pump, according to AAA'up from $2.94 just a month ago. Four bucks may be right around the corner, and elevated prices could linger for months. Already, ride-share drivers are getting pickier about the trips they accept and driving longer hours to offset the extra costs. Commuters are hunting for the best deals on services such as GasBuddy'which has seen its daily active users more than double in a week and a half. At one Chevron in downtown Los Angeles, people are stopping just to take photos of the electronic sign displaying a price of $8.38 per gallon....