US Regulator Grants 5-Year Exemption for Self-Driving Truck Beacons

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has granted a five-year exemption allowing self-driving truck companies to replace roadside warning devices with cab-mounted warning beacons, according to TechCrunch. Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI received the exemption.

The exemption concerns the reflective triangles that trucks are typically required to place on the road when stopped. Under the new rule, the two companies can instead use warning beacons mounted on the cab.

The approval follows a legal challenge by Aurora Innovation, which took federal safety regulators to court over the warning device requirement. After a court denied its request for an exemption, the company escalated the fight to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, according to background on the case.

Other funding and staffing news

Separately, Waymo secured $5 billion in debt financing led by PIMCO, Blackstone, and Sixth Street. Waymo has relied on capital from its parent company Alphabet and high-profile venture firms to fund its autonomous vehicle tech plans.

In other industry moves, Redwood Materials' vice presidents of engineering, operations, treasury, and external affairs have all left the company. Redwood Materials, the battery-recycling company started by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, began a restructuring a few months ago to focus more on energy storage; the first stage involved laying off around 135 employees, or 10% of its workforce.

Bloom raised $3.6 million in a seed round led by SNAK Venture Partners, and Flai raised $27 million in a Series A funding round.