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Kinetic cofounders: CEO Nikhil Naikal, CTO Sander Marques, COO Chris Weber

Courtesy: Kinetic Automation

While electric vehicle demand is still increasing in the U.S., the sales growth rate for cars that pollute less has cooled down in 2024 due partly to the high cost of insurance and repairs for tech-laden new models.

A 2024 study by J.D. Power found that, despite the climate benefits, only 26% of car buyers in the U.S. were “very likely to consider purchasing” an EV in the next year, and more than 20% were “very unlikely to consider an EV purchase” at all.

That’s where Santa Ana, California startup Kinetic Automation comes in. By providing diagnostics and recalibration of the high-tech systems in modern vehicles, the company hopes to decrease costs associated with EV ownership and repairs.

The startup, which employs about 40 people full-time, has developed a robotic system that uses computer vision and machine-learning software to quickly diagnose issues with a vehicle’s digital systems.

Kinetic CEO and co-founder Nikhil Naikal explained that a lot of new models, especially battery electrics, are loaded with bells and whistles such as touchscreens and robust infotainment software, along with a variety of cameras and sensors that enable everything from rapid charging to driver safety features including forward collision avoidance, lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control.

The existing collision repair industry is well-equipped to handle most physical fixes like replacing a bumper, a busted windshield, brakes and paint or adjusting alignment. But for many collision repair centers and auto dealerships, ensuring all sensors, software and computers are working properly can prove time-consuming and expensive.

Kinetic puts its robotic systems and technicians to work helping these shops and dealerships fix the finicky, “digital” aspects of customers’ cars.

Here’s how it works: A customer’s car rolls up to one of Kinetic’s service bays, where it is scanned from bumper to fender with machine vision sensors, some on a robotic arm that peers over the top of the vehicle.

The scan determines which systems need to be precisely programmed or need a recalibration. Then Kinetic’s software, which is connected to the vehicle’s systems, will initiate and track the completion of those fixes.

Kinetic uses robotics and AI to recalibrate the software and sensors in electric vehicles.

Courtesy: Kinetic Automation

The company built its first four service hubs in Las Vegas, and Orange County, San Bernardino and Riverside counties in California.

To fuel its growth, Kinetic has raised $21 million in a Series B round of venture funding led by Menlo Ventures, joined by Allstate Strategic Ventures, Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures and the company’s earliest investors Lux Capital, Construct Capital and Haystack Ventures.

Menlo Ventures’ Partner Shawn Carolan, who invested in Uber and Jump Bikes, said collision companies and auto dealerships that had worked with Kinetic as pilot customers helped convince his firm to lead the deal.

“They were saying, ‘This reduced our cycle time by days.’ Or ‘We got cars back to customers faster and cheaper,’ and ‘This made my life way easier,'” he explained. “So we knew this was already solving a tremendous pain point.”

Before starting Kinetic with his co-founders, COO Chris Weber and CTO Sander Marques, Naikal worked as the vice president of software engineering at Velodyne, a company that made lidar sensors that enable robots, drones and autonomous vehicles to detect and avoid objects in their surrounding environment. Velodyne merged with Ouster in 2023.

Weber previously worked as an operations leader at Uber, while Marques is a repeat tech entrepreneur whose prior company developed engine control modules for high-performance vehicles.

Kinetic will one day provide its services to robotaxi fleets, Naikal said, and to the owners of other autonomous vehicles. But for now, the startup is focused on hiring, training technicians and building out its service hubs across the U.S. to handle a higher volume of auto repairs, especially the electric vehicles that are growing to comprise a larger portion of cars on U.S. roads each year.

So far, Kinetic has most commonly worked on Ford Mach-E, GM Chevy Bolt, Hyundai Ioniq EVs, and some Teslas at its existing service hubs, the CEO said.

Market research firm Canalys forecasts that sales of battery and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles combined will reach 2.2 million units in 2024 in North America, representing about 12.5% of all new vehicle sales in the region.

“Motor vehicle insurance for EVs, and across the board, has been a major contributor to inflation rising something like 20% when you look at the Consumer Price Index over the last 12 months,” Naikal said. “I’d like to hope we can shave a few points off of that while making people more comfortable switching to electrics.”

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Shares of Australian critical metal companies surge on $8.5 billion U.S. minerals deal

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Shares of Australian critical metal companies surge on .5 billion U.S. minerals deal

U.S. President Donald Trump, and Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, shake hands outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of some of Australia’s largest critical metals and rare earths companies surged on Tuesday following the announcement of a massive minerals deal between Washington and Canberra worth up to $8.5 billion.

The agreement — signed by U.S. President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday — includes funding for multiple projects aimed at boosting the supply of key materials used in defense manufacturing and energy security.

Lynas Rare Earths, Australia’s largest rare earths producer by market capitalization, jumped about 4.7% in early Asia trading. Mineral sand miner Iluka Resources advanced more than 9% while lithium producer Pilbara Minerals added roughly 5%.

Other smaller rare earth miners also made gains, with VHM soaring around 30%, while Northern Minerals popped over 16%. Meanwhile, Latrobe Magnesium, Australia’s primary producer of the critical metal magnesium, rose nearly 47%. 

NYSE-listed Alcoa, which is developing a project in Western Australia to recover and refine the critical metal gallium, was identified as one of the two priority projects under the new minerals deal. Washington will make an equity investment in the initiative.

Shares of Alcoa, also traded on the Australian Securities Exchange through depositary receipts, rose nearly 10%.

Rare earths and critical metals are essential for high-tech products such as electric vehicles, semiconductors and defense equipment. 

China, the global leader in the production of rare earths and many other critical minerals, has tightened export controls on the materials amid a trade war with the U.S., accelerating international efforts to diversify global supply chains. 

Albanese said the two countries will each contribute $1 billion over the next six months for projects that are “immediately available.”

However, a White House fact sheet later stated that Washington and Canberra will invest more than $3 billion in critical mineral projects over the same period, describing the agreement as a “framework.”

The White House also said that the Export-Import Bank of the United States will issue seven letters of interest for more than $2.2 billion in financing, potentially unlocking up to $5 billion in total investment.

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CNBC Daily Open: All you need for a rally is a good iPhone

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CNBC Daily Open: All you need for a rally is a good iPhone

Consumers experience the iPhone 17 in an Apple store in Shanghai, China on October 13, 2025.

Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Critics’ displeasure at the iPhone 17 Pro’s fluorescent orange color aside, Apple’s “Cosmic Orange” smartphone has charmed fans — and investors.

The newest iPhone 17 series, which includes the base iPhone 17 and its overachieving Pro and skinny Air siblings — that come in colors other than orange, to be clear — has been outselling the previous one in the U.S. and China, according to Counterpoint data. In fact, the iPhone Air sold out within minutes of going on sale in China, reported the South China Morning Post.

Shares of Apple popped nearly 4% on the news and closed at an all-time high. That must be welcome news for CEO Tim Cook and investors, as the stock has been one of the biggest laggards in the Magnificent 7 group. That jump puts Apple’s year-to-date gains at around 5%, compared with Nvidia’s 36% and Meta’s 25%.

Another member of the Mag 7, however, had a bumpy Monday. Amazon’s cloud arm, Amazon Web Services, suffered an outage. Sites such as Reddit and Snapchat went dark, plunging millions, including yours truly, into existential crises. Shares of Amazon still increased around 1.6%.

U.S. markets also rose more broadly, with major indexes ending Monday in the green. This week, investors will be keeping their eye on the U.S.’ trade developments with China as well as earnings reports from companies such as Netflix, Tesla and Intel.

What you need to know today

And finally…

U.S. President Donald Trump (L) greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outside the West Wing of the White House on October 17, 2025, in Washington, DC.

Win Mcnamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Trump calls for Ukraine to be carved up with Russia after tense meeting with Zelenskyy

U.S. President Donald Trump held a tense meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, with the potential supply of U.S. long-range cruise missiles, Tomahawks, on the agenda.

Zelenskyy walked away from the meeting not only empty-handed, but apparently upbraided by Trump, who said Ukraine should accept Russia’s terms for ending the war — by handing over the entire eastern territory of Donbas, the epicenter of ongoing fighting in Ukraine.

— Holly Ellyatt

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Trump calls for National Guard deployment in San Francisco loom over city’s AI-driven resurgence

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Trump calls for National Guard deployment in San Francisco loom over city's AI-driven resurgence

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press after disembarking from Air Force One upon arrival at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, Oct. 17, 2025, as he travels to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend.

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

President Donald Trump is stepping up his calls to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco at the very moment that the city is undergoing a post-pandemic resurgence, propelled by artificial intelligence.

Crime rates are down 30% from 2024, homicide levels hit their lowest levels in 70 years and car break-ins haven’t been this low in 22 years. Meanwhile, event bookings and tourism are on the rise, residential real estate is becoming more scarce and the office market is heating up.

Business momentum in the city is largely built on the AI boom.

New data from CBRE show venture capital funding in 2025 is expected to surpass the record high of $276 billion hit in 2021. The bulk of that investment has been in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, where 80% of AI venture funding through the third quarter has been targeted to the tune of $115 billion.

By the end of the September, the San Francisco Bay Area was already 35% above its previous annual investment peak, according to CBRE’s VC Funding analysis.

“San Franciscans are feeling positive about the direction of our city once again,” Daniel Lurie, the city’s Democratic mayor said in a statement last week released by Governor Gavin Newsom’s office. “And we are going to continue working every single day to build on this progress and keep our city safe 365 days a year.”

The statement was meant to tout the successful efforts of local law enforcement ahead of Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference last week. The issue became particularly controversial after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told the New York Times that he’d support Trump’s call for federal troops to be sent to San Francisco. His sentiments were publicly supported by Elon Musk and David Sacks, high-profile techies with close ties to the Trump Administration.

On Friday, facing mounting criticism, Benioff backtracked, posting on X that, “Having listened closely to my fellow San Franciscans and our local officials, and after the largest and safest Dreamforce in our history, I do not believe the National Guard is needed to address safety in San Francisco.”

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff walks back call for National Guard in San Francisco

The Trump administration recently deployed the National Guard to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, sparking protests and lawsuits. Over the weekend, President Trump repeated his plans to send troops to San Francisco, telling Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that, “the difference is I think they want us in San Francisco.”

The White House didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the President’s plans.

In a statement late Monday, Lurie said San Francisco law enforcement has partnerships with federal agencies to deal with drug crimes and additional troops aren’t necessary.

“I am deeply grateful to the members of our military for their service to our country, but the National Guard does not have the authority to arrest drug dealers — and sending them to San Francisco will do nothing to get fentanyl off the streets or make our city safer,” Lurie said.

Lurie previously cheered the safety of events that took place in the last week including Dreamforce and No Kings Protests over the weekend. In contrast to Newsom, Lurie has taken a far less combative approach to Trump since taking office in January.

“San Francisco is on the rise,” Lurie wrote in a post on X on Oct. 12, a couple days before Dreamforce was set to begin.

The data support that view.

Tourism spending is expected to increase modestly this year to $9.35 billion, up from $9.26 billion, according to the San Francisco Travel Association. Conferences, sporting events such as NBA All-Star weekend, and music festivals like Outside Lands have contributed to the growth.

The commercial real estate market is also recovering as Covid-era work from home policies get slowly unwound.

Tech companies increased their share of leasing activity by square footage to 53% in 2025, the highest since 2019, CBRE said. Apartment rental prices are surging as well. Multifamily rentals increased 6% in August, much more than the 3.75% jump in Chicago, the city with the second-steepest climb, according to CoStar.

Ted Egan, chief economist for San Francisco, told CNBC in an interview that “housing is probably as cheap as it’s going to get for a while.”

There remains plenty of room for improvement. The city has lost key tenants in its downtown shopping district in recent years, including its flagship Nordstrom store. The Nordstrom location was part of San Francisco City Centre, which was the city’s largest mall but is now effectively empty.

Office vacancies remained high at 33.6% in the third quarter, according to Cushman and Wakefield. Homelessness and open drug use are longstanding issues, heavily concentrated in certain parts of the city.

But Egan said that, in addition to the data, he’s noticed a significant change in the city’s health.

“It seems cleaner and safer now than it’s ever been in any of the time that I’ve been here,” said Egan, who’s worked in San Francisco for more than 20 years. “I still think it’s a great place to move to because it’s got tons of economic opportunity. It’s got tons of long-term economic strengths for people starting out in their career.”

WATCH: Salesforce CEO faces pushback over support for potential National Guard deployment

Salesforce CEO faces pushback over support for potential National Guard deployment in San Francisco

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