The Station: Cruise turns on the meter, Bird fails to take flight, layoffs come for micromobility

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Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.

I’m your host, transportation editor Kirsten Korosec, and yes, I’m still on vacation. But I couldn’t abandon my readers, which means this will be a short and sweet one this week.

One note for all the automotive enthusiasts out there. If you want a peek at what automakers are testing these days, just head to Colorado, specifically Summit County. I’ve seen at least three different vehicles (possibly four), all wrapped in their camo, being tested on some of the paved mountain passes.

Oh and two TC+ stories to flag. Check out this deep dive into Rimac by reporter Jaclyn Trop. The company’s latest fundraise valued the Croatian startup at $2.2 billion, prompting the question: How has this company succeeded where so many other EV makers have struggled? And then read reporter Rebecca Bellan’s report on how ghost kitchens have popped up at college campuses on the backs of delivery bots.

As always, you can email me at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com to share thoughts, criticisms, opinions, or tips. You also can send a direct message to @kirstenkorosec.

Micromobbin’

Sooo… Helbiz said it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Wheels, which offers seated scooters and an integrated helmet technology. Like me, you might be wondering (and not for the first time!), What the Helbiz?!

You may recall we covered Helbiz’s first quarter earnings not too long ago, reporting on a balance sheet that showed a company burning through what little cash it had left at a worryingly unsustainable rate. Not to mention all the weird business moves, from micromobility to ghost kitchens to live sports streaming to cryptocurrency, because why TF not? So how are they going to pull off this deal with Wheels?

Well, the deal is obviously “primarily all stock,” so that leads us to question the business model at Wheels if it’s doing poorly enough to take shares in Helbiz as compensation. On Thursday in early morning hours, Helbiz was trading at $0.81, which is down massively from the $10.20 Helbiz opened at when it first debuted last August.

I’m trying to get Helbiz on the phone to talk this one through, so until then, I shall leave you with Read More