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TechCrunch Mobility: A new robotaxi scorecard shows China’s dominance
TechCrunch Mobility reports on autonomous vehicle rankings and industry updates. Advisory startup Autnmy AI launched the Road to Autonomy Index, a generative AI platform that ranks autonomous vehicle companies by searching global public databases (federal/state reports, SEC documents, exchanges). The system evaluates operations, scale, revenue, partnerships, manufacturing, and safety, updating every 12 hours. As of Friday, China’s Baidu Apollo Go leads robotaxis, followed by Waymo, Pony.ai, WeRide, and Tesla in fifth. Texas automated vehicle tracker data shows fleet growth: Waymo increased from 577 to 620 registrations (7.5% rise), Tesla from 42 to 69 (64% rise), Zoox from 35 to 43. Avride, Nuro, MOIA hold steady at 317, 47, 12. Zoox cannot operate commercially without federal exemption. **Deals:** Cargofy raised $11M Series A; Carro acquired Australian CarPlace (terms undisclosed); Gatik signed multi-year PepsiCo partnership for driverless trucks; QuantumScape entered solid-state battery research deal with Honda; Stellantis, Wayve, and Uber agreed to develop robotaxis; XDOF raised $70M for robot training data. **Notable reads:** A Reddit video showed a driver running a stop sign hitting an Avride robotaxi in Dallas; no injuries reported. Tesla owners in China use tiny plastic heads to bypass distracted driving monitors. A Tesla with an SFO limousine permit is for human-driven operations only. Mobileye plans to launch a robotaxi service in a U.S. city by 2027. Uber will launch a premium robotaxi service in Houston by mid-2027 with Lucid and Nuro. Waymo recalled nearly 4,000 robotaxis to prevent driving into highway construction zones; a software fix is under development.