Austin Russell, ousted CEO of Luminar, has made a bid to acquire the company after launching his new venture, Russell AI Labs. Despite boardroom drama, some members of Luminar’s board are reportedly interested in his takeover proposal, hinting at potential internal support for his return.

In the electric aviation sector, Beta Technologies aims to raise $825 million in an IPO, while Lilium’s technology lives on through Archer Aviation after the latter bought all 300 of Lilium’s patents for €18 million ($21 million). The deals highlight the growing interest and investments in electric aircraft technology.

Other notable deals include Airbound raising $8.65 million in seed funding, Dexory securing $165 million in equity and debt, and FleetWorks raising $17 million in equity and debt for logistics innovations. Additionally, Pony.ai and WeRide have received approval for secondary listings in Hong Kong for their autonomous vehicle technologies.

The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a report criticizing OceanGate’s Titan submersible for not meeting safety standards. Stellantis and Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai are collaborating to develop robotaxis in Europe, while Uber introduces digital gig work and Waymo expands its robotaxi service to London.

Read more at Yahoo Finance: A takeover that might not be hostile