TechCrunch

Tesla is recalling an unspecified number of Powerwall 2 home batteries in Australia after receiving reports of fires.

A wave of startups are creating RL environments to help AI labs train agents. It might be Silicon Valley’s next craze in the making.

The round, which brought the two-year-old startup’s total funding to $88 million, was led by Scale Venture Partners.

The app will allow people to use an Alt + Space shortcut to instantly search for information from their computer files, installed apps, Google Drive files, and the web.

Though the month is only half over, Gemini’s app has already gained 12.6 million downloads in September, up from 8.7 million in August.

While largely ceremonial, it’s an important step for a project that has dealt with a lot of uncertainty the last few years. Rivian R2 SUVs will roll off the line in 2028.

“I’m as guilty of doomscrolling as the next person, but knowing that doomscrolling is actually costing me money makes me feel dumb,” Yang told TechCrunch.

Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana takes the Disrupt Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 (Oct 27–29, SF) to share the realities of scaling autonomous vehicles — from safety to regulation to the road ahead.

Figure raised more than $1 billion in a Series C round led by Parkway Venture Capital in addition to numerous other investors.

Waymo has spent years locked in back-and-forth negotiations with SFO, the biggest airport serving its home base of Silicon Valley.

Under the new policy, ChatGPT will be trained to no longer engage in “flirtatious talk” with underage users, and additional guardrails will be placed around discussions of suicide.

The Galaxy phone maker said it was notified in August that hackers are actively exploiting the security flaw to target Samsung customers.

Fourth Power has raised $20 million to build a demonstration version of its thermal batteries, which ultimately could store electricity at $25 per kWh.

Video creation platform D-ID snaps up Berlin-based video generation startup Simpleshow to expand its digital avatar solution.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received nine reports from owners who couldn’t access their cars, including from parents whose children were stuck inside.

YouTube launches a handful of updates for creators, including lip syncing features for dubbed videos, likeness detection, collabs, an AI chatbot and more.

YouTube is bringing a custom version of Google’s text-to-video generative AI model, Veo 3, to Shorts, along with a new remixing tool, an ‘Edit with AI’ feature, and more.

YouTube announced new features for livestreaming, such as letting creators play mini-games, AI-powered highlights, and more.

YouTube Music users will soon be able to pre-save songs, see a countdown for album releases, get exclusive merch, and more.

YouTube teases new AI-powered tools for turning podcasts into video clips, even if they’re audio-only.

YouTube is going to allow creators to swap out brand sponsorships in long-form videos.

Salesforce’s Missionforce will help modernize national defense workflows across areas including personnel, logistics and decision making.

The new Calm Sleep app is designed to help people wind down, sleep deeply, and wake up refreshed.

Called the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), the system is meant to be interoperable between AI platforms, payment systems and vendors.

MicroFactory has more than 100 preorders for its general purpose tabletop robotic factory which it hopes to start shipping in two months.

Y Combinator-alum Rulebase is betting that the next wave of automation in financial services will be the unglamorous tasks.

The entrepreneur has launched Supercal, a free scheduling platform that’s designed to make booking meetings more efficient and simple.

Amazon is hosting its Prime Big Deals Day sales event in October again.

Carl Pei’s Nothing is raising $200 million in a Series C round from Tiger Global at a $1.3 billion valuation.

Rodatherm Energy emerged from stealth with $38 million in Series A funding. It plans to build a closed-loop geothermal power plant that uses refrigerants to move heat to the surface.