Kyte, a fleet-logistics platform that allows customers to order rental cars delivered right to their doors, has raised a $30 million Series A round. In the short term, the startup wants to expand into new cities, countries and verticals, but the long-term goal is to build out a platform that can deliver vehicles via teleoperation or an autonomous system. "We need the foundation of a fleet operating system and a technology layer that is able to manage both the fleet now as well as a fleet of teleoperated vehicles or autonomous vehicles in the future," Nikolaus Volk, co-founder of Kyte, told TechCrunch. "Part of that is really building the data platform that includes sensing and telematics capabilities, and really supports teleoperated launches in the future." To be clear, Kyte isn't working on the software or hardware that will enable teleoperated or autonomous car delivery -- there are plenty of companies already doing that, and Kyte says it's in advanced conversations with multiple companies in the space with the goal of partnering on pilot deployments.

US electric carmaker Tesla, which has yet to make a profit, has reported a sharp rise in car deliveries for the past quarter. The firm said it shipped 24,500 cars in the third quarter, up 70% on the second quarter and more than double the number delivered in the same period in 2015. It also confirmed its 50,000 production target for the second half of 2016. The announcement comes amid criticism of the firm after its autopilot system was linked to several accidents. The autopilot feature makes the vehicles automatically change lanes and react to traffic, but it is not a fully-fledged self-driving technology.