TechCrunch Mobility: Two roads diverged — for robotaxis

Core Impact Points

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) granted Zoox a temporary exemption from eight federal motor vehicle safety standards, allowing the company to charge customers for rides in its custom-built robotaxi.
• Waymo and other robotaxi operators are facing increased scrutiny over how their autonomous vehicles interact with emergency responders, a regulatory risk that's becoming harder for the industry to shrug off.
• Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.) proposed a bill that would direct federal regulators to establish minimum national safety standards for autonomous vehicle operators.
• Lucid Motors received an investment from Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family, purchasing over 19 million shares of the company.
• The Boring Company is in talks to raise a $4 billion funding round at a valuation of $20 billion.
• DoorDash announced it's building a drone delivery business, including its own aircraft, as part of an effort developed by its robotics and autonomy team.
• Ferrari hit its sales target for the Luce, its first all-electric vehicle, in just two months.
• Florida is using $200 million from the federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program to build 32 landing pads with charging stations for electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOLs).