Tech

Robomart, a startup that builds self-driving delivery robots, is unveiling its latest robot with an ambitious goal of using it to make on-demand delivery profitable. The Los Angeles-based company announced its patented Robomart RM5 on Monday. The level-four autonomous vehicle can carry up to 500 pounds and is made up …

Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI President Greg Brockman are among the Silicon Valley veterans putting more than $100 million into a network of political-action committees (PACs) that will advocate against strict AI regulations in next year’s midterm elections, reports The Wall Street Journal.  The new pro-AI super-PAC network dubbed “Leading the …

From AI to EVs, the world’s demand for power is soaring, and the electrical grid is feeling the squeeze.  Enter Yottar, a startup that maps electrical grid capacity to help companies figure out where they can plug in new data centers, EV charging stations, and other power-hungry equipment. “The electrification …

The Startup Battlefield 2025 judging panel is getting even stronger. Our first wave of VCs brought serious firepower, and now we’re adding more top investors who will grill founders, unpack the big questions, and help crown this year’s $100,000 champion at TechCrunch Disrupt, October 27–29 in San Francisco’s Moscone West. …

Meta’s former policy chief Nick Clegg seems to be walking a tightrope as he promotes his upcoming book, “How to Save the Internet.” Unlike certain other Meta employee memoirs, “How to Save the Internet” doesn’t sound like a tell-all or a scathing critique. And in an interview with the Guardian, …

Pintarnya, an Indonesian employment platform that goes beyond job matching by offering financial services along with full-time and side-gig opportunities, said it has raised a $16.7 million Series A round. The funding was led by Square Peg with participation from existing investors Vertex Venture Southeast Asia & India and East …

Social networking startup Bluesky has made the decision to block access to its service in the state of Mississippi, rather than comply with a new age assurance law. In a blog post published on Friday, the company explains that, as a small team, it doesn’t have the resources to make …

A singalong version of the Netflix animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” is on-track to earn $18 million to $20 million in theaters this weekend, making it the number one movie at the domestic box office. And that’s despite only being in theaters for two-thirds of the weekend (namely, Saturday and …

Hey, all, and happy Friday! Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for news, analysis, and scoops around the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! I was sad to have missed the Monterey Car Week this year, …

Elon Musk’s xAI has made an older version of its AI model Grok — specifically, the model weights used to shape Grok 2.5 —  available on the open source platform Hugging Face. “The @xAI Grok 2.5 model, which was our best model last year, is now open source,” Musk wrote …