TechCrunch Mobility: Rivian’s R2 gambit

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.” 

Will the Pentagon’s Anthropic controversy scare startups away from defense work?

On the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, we discussed what the controversy means for other startups seeking to work with the federal government.

Owner of ICE detention facility sees big opportunity in AI man camps

AI data center developers are increasingly relying on a style of camp popularized as housing for men working in remote oil fields.

Ring’s Jamie Siminoff is still trying to calm privacy fears, but his answers may not help

The facial recognition question is where things get more tangled.

Palmer Luckey’s retro gaming startup ModRetro reportedly seeks funding at $1B valuation

The company launched its first product, a Game Boy-style handheld device called the Chromatic, in 2024.

Flipkart moves its headquarters back to India ahead of IPO

Flipkart’s headquarters shift comes as the Walmart-backed e-commerce giant reaches about $30 billion in GMV.

The 2027 Chevy Bolt is the McRib of the automotive world

TechCrunch drove the 2027 Chevy Bolt and found that incremental improvements build on a solid basic recipe to deliver an affordable EV.

Can AI Kill the Venture Capitalist?

VCs are betting that artificial intelligence will disrupt nearly every industry in the world. Are they prepared for it to disrupt their own?

Why RFK’s CDC Is Endorsing ‘Shared Decisionmaking’ for Vaccines

The MAHA movement is recasting the term—developed in the 1980s to help protect patients against paternalistic medicine—in service of its own agenda.

Are Smart Beds Worth It? A Certified Sleep Science Coach Weighs In (2026)

These tech-packed beds can adjust firmness, track your sleep, and regulate temperature automatically. Based on my testing, here’s what’s worth the investment.