TechCrunch Mobility: A robotaxi ultimatum

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part.

Bluesky’s interim CEO, Toni Schneider, drops the ‘interim’

Schneider, who formerly served as the CEO of Automattic and is a partner at True Ventures, says he is “all in” on the unconventional social media platform.

Musk tells Tesla staff to switch to Grok — a model he admits is worse
Musk tells Tesla staff to switch to Grok — a model he admits is worse

Elon Musk told Tesla staff to move to using Grok, the AI model from his own xAI (now folded into SpaceX), according to a memo sent to employees on Friday.
The push comes days after Tesla capped employee spending on third-party AI tools — and it lands e…

China is catching up to Elon Musk’s reusable rockets

China’s state-owned space company recovered its first orbital rocket booster after launch.

Don’t want to invest in Elon Musk? Two new ETFs explicitly exclude him

The new exchanged-traded funds exclude companies that are founded, controlled, or led by Elon Musk. That means no SpaceX or Tesla.

Elon Musk praises Mythos/Fable, promises not to ‘cut off’ Anthropic

Should Anthropic trust Elon Musk to host its models? With about $40 billion in revenue at stake, Musk insists that the company can.

Despite ‘misgivings,’ judge approves Elon Musk’s $1.5M SEC settlement

The saga of Musk’s tussle with the SEC over how he disclosed his growing stake in Twitter (now called X) has come to an end.

SpaceXAI releases Grok 4.5, which Elon describes as an ‘Opus-class model’

Elon Musk’s tech company released the newest version of Grok on Wednesday, promising a cheaper, more efficient alternative to other powerful AI models.

Tesla Cybercab: mass-producing a car it can’t sell or drive itself
Tesla Cybercab: mass-producing a car it can’t sell or drive itself

Tesla is ramping up production of the Cybercab at Giga Texas, with more than 100 of the steering-wheel-less two-seaters already spotted in the factory’s outbound lots.
The problem is that Tesla can’t sell it to you, and it can’t yet drive itself withou…

Amazon’s Starlink rival just crossed a major milestone, but don’t expect perfect internet just yet

Amazon now has enough Project Kuiper satellites in orbit to begin commercial internet service, though the network still trails Starlink by a considerable margin.