欢迎回到 TechCrunch Mobility，这里是您了解未来交通的中心，现在比以往任何时候都更关注 AI 在其中扮演的角色。
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, the role AI is playing in it.
我曾在这里以及在 Equity 和 Autonocast 播客中开玩笑说，自动驾驶汽车行业感觉很像 2016 年，至少就该行业周围的热度而言。
I’ve joked here and on the Equity and Autonocast podcasts that the autonomous vehicle industry feels a lot like 2016, at least in terms of the buzziness surrounding the sector.
但最近与 Trucks VC 合伙人 Puneeth Meruva 的一次交谈让我重新思考这个比较。有证据表明，至少按某些衡量标准，2026 年甚至比十年前 2016 年和 2017 年那些狂热的交易达成时期更火热。
But a recent conversation with Trucks VC partner Puneeth Meruva has me rethinking that comparison. There’s evidence that 2026 is even hotter — at least by certain measures — than those frothy dealmaking days of 2016 and 2017.
专注于早期投资的 Trucks VC 今年迄今已收到 81 家新自动驾驶汽车初创公司的路演推介 —— 比去年多三分之二，足以超越十年前的繁荣岁月。该风投公司在一篇新博客文章中指出，我们正处于第二波、甚至更大的 AV 浪潮之中，这由技术突破所推动。是的，我说的就是 AI。
Trucks VC, which specializes in early-stage investing, has fielded pitches from 81 new autonomous vehicle startups so far in 2026 — two-thirds more than last year and enough to surpass the boom years of a decade ago. The VC firm argues in a new blog post that we’re in the midst of a second, even bigger AV wave fueled by technological breakthroughs. Yes, I’m talking about AI.
“长期以来，AV 公司一直试图从所谓的 AV 1.0 迈向 AV 2.0，这有点像是 AV 领域的圣杯 —— 端到端架构，”Meruva 告诉我。“我认为基础模型现在提供了一种技术架构，使那些端到端系统成为可能。”这些基础模型特别擅长跨不同环境和场景进行泛化，有可能使 AV 部署得更廉价、更快速。Nvidia 的 Alpamayo 和 Qwen 的通用视觉-语言-动作模型等强大开源模型的出现，让初创公司起步变得更加容易。
“For a long time AV companies were trying to go from what was AV 1.0 to AV 2.0, which is kind of this holy grail end-to-end architecture for AVs,” Meruva told me. “And I think the foundation models now provide a technical architecture that makes those end-to-end systems possible.”These foundational models are particularly good at generalizing across different environments and scenarios, potentially making AVs cheaper and faster to deploy. The arrival of powerful open source models like Nvidia’s Alpamayo and Qwen’s general-purpose vision-language-action models has made it even easier for startups to get off the ground.
进入门槛比以往任何时候都更低。梅鲁瓦表示，Trucks VC 持续看到初创公司在几个月内完成部署，且融资额不足 100 万美元。（虽然梅鲁瓦不愿透露名字，但该机构已投资其中一些公司。）在这 81 家向 Trucks VC 路演的初创公司中，我原本错误地以为大多数会将自动驾驶技术应用于建筑、仓储、农业和采矿领域。确实存在这些方向。但令我惊讶的是，推销纯 Robotaxi（无人驾驶出租车）业务的初创公司数量正在增加。其中许多将自己定位为 Waymo 的直接竞争对手。
The barrier to entry is lower than ever before. Meruva said Trucks is consistently seeing startups deploy within a few months and with less than $1 million raised. (And while Meruva wouldn’t name names, the firm has invested in some of them.) Of these 81 startups that pitched Trucks VC, I mistakenly assumed most would be applying their AV tech to construction, warehouse, agriculture, and mining. And yes, those were in the mix. But what surprised me was the growing number of startups pitching pure-play robotaxi businesses. And many are positioning themselves as direct competitors to Waymo.
听起来这或许既疯狂又大胆，但梅鲁瓦认为小型玩家依然有生存空间。
As wild and galaxy brain-thinking as that may sound, Meruva thinks there is room for smaller players.
他说：“在这个世界里，规模较小、更垂直的自动驾驶公司也能竞争——也许它们无法在全球范围内与 Waymo 竞争，但可以在特定区域或特定类型的路线上竞争。”
“In this world, smaller, more niche autonomy companies can compete — maybe they’re not competing with Waymo on a global scale, but maybe they’re competing in specific regions or specific types of routes,” he said.
梅鲁瓦不认为这种势头会放缓。他预计明年会有更多自动驾驶初创公司向该机构路演。
And Meruva doesn’t see the pace flattening. He expects even more AV startups to pitch the firm next year.
本通讯的老读者知道，我们一直在密切关注 Slate Auto —— 早在 2025 年 4 月我们就独家披露了杰夫·贝佐斯的投资。但本周引起我们注意的是它分拆出来的那家母公司。
Regular readers of this newsletter know we’ve been closely following Slate Auto — breaking the original story on Jeff Bezos’ investment way back in April 2025. But the company it spun out of is what got our attention this week.
总部位于马萨诸塞州的制造加速器 Re:Build 融资 21 亿美元，旨在“扩大 Re:Build 制造硬科技产品和孵化新工业初创公司的产能”。本轮融资由 General Catalyst 和摩根大通战略投资集团领投。其他投资方未予披露。
Re:Build, a Massachusetts-based manufacturing accelerator, raised $2.1 billion to “expand Re:Build’s capacity to manufacture hard tech products and launch new industrial startups.”The investment was led by General Catalyst and JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group. Other investors weren’t disclosed.
这家由亚马逊前消费者业务首席执行官杰夫·威尔克共同创立的公司，自称为“美国对深圳的回应”。
The company, which was co-founded by Amazon’s former commercial CEO Jeff Wilke, has billed itself as “America’s answer to Shenzhen.”Other deals …Bedrock Robotics raised $600 million in a funding round that values the autonomous vehicle technology startup at $4.1 billion. CapitalG and Emergence Capital co-led the Series C round. New investors US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), Bessemer Venture Partners, and Temasek participated in the round, alongside existing investors 8VC, Georgian, Valor Equity Partners, Xora, Eclipse, Perry Creek Capital, and Nvidia.
其他交易……Bedrock Robotics 在一轮融资中筹集了 6 亿美元，这家自动驾驶汽车技术初创公司的估值达到 41 亿美元。CapitalG 和 Emergence Capital 共同领投了这轮 C 轮融资。新投资方美国创新技术基金（USIT）、贝塞默风投和淡马锡参投，老股东 8VC、Georgian、Valor Equity Partners、Xora、Eclipse、Perry Creek Capital 和英伟达跟投。
DoorDash has agreed to acquire Instacart for $17 billion. Meanwhile, DoorDash noted in its third-quarter earnings that it has, so far, only received a few hundred orders from AI agents.
DoorDash 同意以 170 亿美元收购 Instacart。与此同时，DoorDash 在其第三季度财报中指出，迄今为止仅从 AI 代理那里收到了几百单订单。
PreScalar, a San Francisco-based startup developing software and testing infrastructure for factories, raised $7 million in seed funding co-led by Dynamo Ventures and BMW i Ventures, with participation from Blue Wire Capital, Uplift Ventures, and Antler. The startup was founded last year by a trio who had stints at Cruise, Google, Rivian, and Waymo.
总部位于旧金山的初创公司 PreScalar 专注于为工厂开发软件和测试基础设施，在种子轮融资中筹集了 700 万美元，由 Dynamo Ventures 和宝马 i Ventures 共同领投，Blue Wire Capital、Uplift Ventures 和 Antler 参投。该公司成立于去年，由三位曾在 Cruise、Google、Rivian 和 Waymo 任职的创始人创立。
Elroy Air, a startup developing autonomous heavy-cargo drones for defense, rapid response, and commercial logistics, hired Jeremy Hux as its CFO in preparation for going public.
开发用于国防、快速响应和商业物流的自主重型货运无人机的初创公司 Elroy Air 聘请杰里米·哈克斯担任首席财务官，为上市做准备。
Ford announced two new EV chargers that will allow its forthcoming Fathom pickup truck to serve as a battery capable of delivering power to the home or grid.
福特宣布推出两款新的电动汽车充电桩，将使其即将推出的 Fathom 皮卡能够作为电池，向家庭或电网供电。
GM is embracing hybrids now. Times sure have changed! The U.S. automaker is also trying to move past the driver data-selling controversy from several years ago. GM agreed to a $220 million settlement with 36 states (its settlement with California and the Federal Trade Commission happened earlier) to settle allegations that it illegally sold private driving behavior and location information to data brokers.
通用汽车现在拥抱混合动力了。时代确实变了！这家美国车企还试图翻过几年前出售驾驶数据的争议。通用汽车同意支付 2.2 亿美元与 36 个州达成和解（此前已与加利福尼亚州和联邦贸易委员会达成和解），以解决其非法向数据经纪商出售私人驾驶行为和位置信息的指控。
Kodiak AI will deliver 75 self-driving trucks to freight company DTL Transport starting in 2028. It’s the company’s first binding commercial deal for driverless big rigs that will run on public highways.
Kodiak AI 将从2028年开始向货运公司 DTL Transport 交付75辆自动驾驶卡车。这是该公司首份具有约束力的商业合同，内容涉及将在公共高速公路上行驶的无人驾驶重型卡车。
Rivian reported its third-quarter earnings, and a few items stood out to us. For one, the new R2 has been successful enough for the company to raise its 2026 delivery guidance by a couple thousands vehicles. Rivian, which had previously expected to deliver between 65,000 and 70,000 EVs this year, bumped up that floor to 67,000. But here is another potentially lucrative development: The $5.8 billion joint venture between Rivian and Volkswagen Group is expanding to include AI assistants. No word yet on whether that means VW will invest even more money into Rivian.
Rivian 公布了第三季度财报，其中有几点引起了我们的注意。首先，新款 R2 的成功足以让公司将2026年交付指引上调数千辆。Rivian 此前预计今年将交付6.5万至7万辆电动汽车，现在将下限提高到6.7万辆。但另一个可能带来可观收益的进展是：Rivian 与大众集团之间价值58亿美元的合资企业正在扩大范围，纳入 AI 助手。目前尚不清楚这是否意味着大众将向 Rivian 追加更多投资。特斯拉借助 Turo 来推广“全自动驾驶（受监督）”功能。
Tesla turns to Turo to boost adoption of Full Self-Driving (Supervised).
Waymo 与丰田已敲定一项制造合作，正式走出了“我们只是在谈”的阶段。丰田将在其日本工厂生产预置自动驾驶技术的 bZ4X 车型，并集成 Waymo 的自动驾驶系统。这些车辆将用于日本、英国及其他国际市场的机器人出租车服务。重要的是，两家公司暗示，这最终可能促成一项授权协议，使 Waymo 的自动驾驶技术应用于个人拥有的车辆。
Waymo and Toyota have locked in a manufacturing partnership, officially moving them past the “we’re just talking” phase. Toyota will manufacture AV-ready bZ4X vehicles — and integrate Waymo’s self-driving system — at its factory in Japan. The vehicles will be used for robotaxi services in Japan, the U.K., and other international markets. Importantly, the companies hinted that this could eventually lead to a licensing deal in which Waymo AV tech is in personally owned vehicles.
波士顿及周边的创始人、投资者和创业者们，最后召集！创始人峰会——一场在波士顿举行、为期一天的活动——将于11月4日举行。我也会到场！这场活动主要面向初创企业创始人、有志创业者和投资者。与会者可以期待风险投资家和连续创业者带来的以实用建议为主的演讲，以及大量交流机会。
Last call for founders, investors, and builders based in and around the Boston area. The Founder Summit — a one-day event in Boston — will be held on November 4. And I will be there! This event is really geared toward startup founders, aspiring founders, and investors. Attendees can expect advice-driven talks from VCs and serial founders, plus lots of chances to network.
对于我的 TechCrunch Mobility 读者，这里有一张门票七折优惠券。点击此链接，并使用代码 mobility30。
For my TechCrunch Mobility readers, here is a 30% discount on tickets. Click this link and use the code mobility30.