Uber puts another chip on the self-driving roulette table

38 snips

Jan 30, 2026

They dig into Waabi’s $1B raise and its simulation-first push from trucking to robotaxis. Uber’s strategy of betting on 20+ autonomous vehicle partners gets picked apart. Coverage also jumps to drone stunt recruiting, a $35M AI shopping play, booming space infrastructure deals, TikTok’s messy U.S. ownership moment, and a cracking IPO window.

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ANECDOTE

Drone Race As Recruitment Stunt

Anduril hosted an autonomous drone race partly as a recruiting stunt with job opportunities as prizes.
Anthony Ha and Kirsten Korosec noted the stunt fits Palmer Luckey's brash, attention-grabbing style and has already drawn heavy interest.

INSIGHT

Shopping Extension Raises Privacy And Competitive Flags

Phia raised $35M for a browser-extension shopping assistant focused on sustainable and affordable alternatives.
Sean O’Kane and Kirsten Korosec cautioned about privacy risks and competition from big platforms embedding similar features.

INSIGHT

Ground Infrastructure Is The New Space Choke Point

Northwood Space is capitalizing on rising orbital traffic by upgrading ground infrastructure for satellite communications.
The company quickly closed a $100M Series B plus a $50M Space Force contract to modernize the satellite control network.

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Self-driving truck startup Waabi's billion-dollar fundraise isn't just about trucks.

The deal, for $750 million up front plus another $250 million from Uber tied to deployment milestones, marks a major expansion into robotaxis for the company founded by former Uber AI chief Raquel Urtasun. It also feels like another chip from Uber on the autonomous vehicle roulette table. With more than 20 AV partners worldwide, the question isn't just whether Waabi can deliver on its plans to deploy over 25,000 robotaxis, but whether Uber's bet-on-everything strategy actually works.

Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Sean O'Kane and Anthony Ha discussed Uber's AV partnership strategy, why Waabi's "simulation-first" approach might be different, and more of the week's headlines.

Listen to the full episode to hear about:

Anduril's drone race recruitment stunt and whether it's the future of hiring or just good PR

Phia’s $35M raise for an AI shopping assistant as brick-and-mortar stores close their doors

Northwood Space's $100M Series B and the booming space infrastructure market

Who’s really winning in TikTok's messy US ownership deal, and the competitors trying to capitalize

The IPO window cracking open, and how SpaceX plans to go through it

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

02:13 Palmer Luckey's bold recruiting strategy

04:04 Phia raises $35M for sustainable shopping

06:27 Browser extensions & the privacy problem

09:59 Northwood Space's $100M Series B & Space Force contract

12:17 The rise of dual-use space companies

14:01 Waabi's $1B valuation & beyond trucking

16:36 Uber's strategy: Betting on every AV partner

19:12 TikTok's US deal & immediate outage

21:46 TikTok competitors gain ground

24:03 IPO window opening: Ethos, Serve, and SpaceX

27:57 Will Elon actually take SpaceX public this time?

29:11 Outro

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