# TechCrunch Mobility: A new, bigger AV boom is here

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/techcrunch-mobility-a-new-bigger-av-boom-is-here/
- Published: 2026-11-01T17:04:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-01T17:13:41+00:00
- Original publisher: TechCrunch
- Original article: https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/01/techcrunch-mobility-a-new-bigger-av-boom-is-here/
- Topics: AI, Technology

## Key points

- Trucks VC received pitches from 81 new AV startups this year.
- AI models are lowering the cost and time needed to launch.
- More startups are targeting robotaxis and regional competition with Waymo.

## Summary

Trucks VC received pitches from 81 new autonomous vehicle startups in 2026, more than two-thirds above last year and exceeding the levels seen during the 2016–17 boom. The firm says advances in AI foundation models are driving a larger wave of interest by making it easier and cheaper to build autonomous systems.

The startups cover sectors including construction, warehousing, agriculture and mining, but more are also proposing robotaxi services that could compete with Waymo in specific regions or on particular routes. Trucks VC partner Puneeth Meruva said some companies are deploying within months with less than $1 million raised, helped by open-source models such as Nvidia’s Alpamayo and Qwen’s vision-language-action models. Separately, manufacturing accelerator Re:Build raised $2.1 billion, while autonomous vehicle technology startup Bedrock Robotics raised $600 million at a $4.1 billion valuation.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.