Author: TechCrunch News

Amazon continues to march unencumbered toward a generative AI future. At AWS Summit New York, one of its annual conferences, Amazon announced the launch in preview of Agents for Bedrock — Bedrock being Amazon’s platform that provides a way to build generative AI-powered apps via pretrained models from startups as well as Amazon itself. Agents…

San Francisco startup Ample is bringing its modular electric vehicle battery swapping technology to Mitsubishi Fuso’s electric trucks this winter, the company said Tuesday. This marks the first time Ample’s technology is being used for large vehicles. The company’s technology is currently being used on a small scale for ride-hail vehicles in San Francisco and…

Agnes Svensson Contributor Agnes Svensson is the chief impact officer at Norrsken VC, Europe’s leading early-stage impact investor. She has more than 12 years’ experience driving sustainability, diversity, and inclusion initiatives in the private sector (most notably the fintech decacorn Klarna) and at nonprofit organizations. The world is witnessing an exciting and necessary surge in…

Before we dive into this week’s biggest news within the robotics space, there’s an announcement of our own to highlight. We’ll be hosting a number of robotics industry experts at our very first Hardware Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. The stage kicks off on day three of Disrupt on September 21, and features speakers from…

Hey, folks, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular roundup of the past week in tech. Too busy to check the headlines this week? Don’t sweat it. That’s why WiR exists — we’ll get you caught up to speed. This edition of WiR features pieces about a fake AI-generated “South Park” episode; the surging…

In a public letter addressed to Ford boss Jim Farley, House Republicans Mike Gallagher and Jason Smith announced that two congressional committees are investigating the automaker’s licensing deal with Chinese battery maker CATL. The probe centers on Ford’s efforts to put CATL’s battery cell technology to use at an upcoming, $3.5 billion battery cell plant…

Swarm, the Internet-of-Things connectivity provider that was acquired by SpaceX, will no longer be selling new devices, according to an email sent to customers earlier this month. The news appears to be directly related to SpaceX’s forthcoming expansion into the satellite-to-cell market, with Swarm telling customers that it plans to offer a version of its…

Aurora Innovation, the self-driving technology company that aims to launch an autonomous trucking business in 2024, has completed a capital raise of $820 million from a public and concurrent private offering of its stock. The company expects the deal to close Friday. The stock sale will help fund Aurora through commercial launch at the end…

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for Entrepreneur Immigration Services.” She connects people with the businesses and opportunities that expand their lives. More posts by this contributor Here’s another edition of “Ask Sophie,”…

Forerunner Ventures first made its name in the venture world by betting on once-nascent startups like Jet, Bonobos and Glossier when it was far easier to build a digitally native brand. Yet, as commerce evolves, so does the firm. As part of its ongoing evolution, Forerunner brought aboard veteran VC Brian O’Malley five years ago…