Sources: autonomous vehicle startup Argo AI, which raised billions in VC funding, is shutting down; top backers Ford and VW will absorb its parts and some staff (Kirsten Korosec/TechCrunch)

Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Internal email: autonomous delivery startup Nuro is laying off 300 people, or 20% of its workforce, to preserve cash, and says it has $1B on its balance sheet  —  Nuro, the autonomous vehicle delivery startup backed by Softbank, Google and Tiger Global Management, is laying off about 300 people …

Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Helm.ai, which uses an unsupervised learning approach to its autonomous driving software, raised a $31M Series C led by Freeman Group at a $431M valuation  —  A few bright spots remain in the autonomous vehicle industry even amid macroeconomic headwinds that have nearly shut off the spigot …

Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Helm.ai, which uses unsupervised learning to train models for its autonomous driving software, raised a $31M Series C led by Freeman Group at a $431M valuation  —  A few bright spots remain in the autonomous vehicle industry even amid macroeconomic headwinds that have nearly shut off the spigot …

Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Lyft faces 17 lawsuits across 11 states from drivers and passengers accusing the company of failing to protect its users from sexual and physical assault  —  Lyft is facing a fresh batch of lawsuits from drivers and passengers who say they were sexually and physically assaulted during rides …

Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Stockholm-based autonomous and electric truck company Einride raised a $200M Series C from Northzone and others and $300M in debt from Barclays  —  Einride today announced a $500 million tranche of financing as it looks to expand its autonomous and electric trucks into new markets globally.

Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
BMW and Amazon partner to let BMW use Alexa’s technology to build its own voice assistant, coming to cars launching within the next two years  —  Amazon Alexa will be the foundation of BMW’s next-generation voice assistant, the companies announced Wednesday at Amazon’s annual Devices and Services launch event.