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SAN FRANCISCO: On July Fourth, more than 100,000 people packed San Francisco’s waterfront for a foggy fireworks show over the Golden Gate Bridge. When they tried to go home, Waymo got in the way. With crowds milling around, Waymo’s driverless cars blocked intersections and choked traffic. Some drivers were stuck behind the electric robo-taxis for more than three hours. Several Waymos had to be towed after their batteries died in the gridlock. At least two drove over exploding fireworks, with one catching fire. Rose Peterson was inside the other. She and her fiancee had ordered a Waymo to return to their hotel. When the car stopped at an intersection, a man ran into the road, set a firework on the street and lit it. The Waymo drove forward, rolling over the firework as it exploded beneath the car. “We were just in absolute shock,” said Peterson, 30, who works in insurance in Walnut Creek, California. The car smelled like it was on fire, she said, but the Waymo kept going until it stalled at another intersection. She and her fiancé then got out and walked the rest of the way to their hotel, turning what was supposed to be a five-minute drive into an hourlong journey. What Peterson experienced is what the driverless car industry calls an “edge case,” which are the unscripted situations that no one trained the robo-taxis to handle. The problem is that edge cases appear to be piling up as Waymo, the leading autonomous car service, rapidly expands. Owned by Google’s parent Alphabet, Waymo has more than quintupled the number of autonomous cars it has on the road to nearly 4,000 today, up from about 700 early last year. Its vehicles are now in 15 metro areas, having gone fully driverless in Denver, Las Vegas, San
Britain's £130m EV boost will not help anyone drive one, and that is the point Britain says it is spending nearly £130 million to boost electric driving. Almost none of it will help anyone drive one. The headline is the kind of thing that sounds reassuringly green: the UK government is putting nearly £130 million, around 150 million euros, into electric vehicles. Read it quickly and you picture new chargers on quiet streets and a helping hand for buyers nervous about the price of going electric. Read the actual breakdown and none of that is there. There is no purchase grant, no charging money, nothing aimed at the person deciding whether to buy an EV. Every line goes somewhere else entirely, and where it goes tells you far more about what Britain is really worried about than the cheerful framing does. Where the money actually goes The package is split roughly half public money, half industry, and the recipients are almost entirely on the supply side of the car business. Nearly £50 million goes to manufacturers and research partners developing and scaling zero-emission technology. A further £26.9 million supports five companies working on domestic lithium extraction and electric-motor technology; £9 million helps ten firms commercialise future EV tech; £8 million funds industry-university partnerships; and £2.7 million is spread across sixteen small businesses and startups, with more going to connected and autonomous vehicle projects. The named work is telling: localised battery-pack production with Bentley and Ionetic, rare-earth-free electric motors from Yasa in a project pointedly called Resilience, automated wiring-harness assembly, and EV battery recycling. The government says it will secure more than 1,800 jobs. Not one item on that list is a charger or a consumer incentive. This is industrial rescue, not adoption policy One of the Dutch reports translates the
A consortium of defense tech companies led by Stratom secured a contract from the US Army to develop the Tactical Autonomous Logistics Utility System (TALUS), an autonomous logistics platform designed to deliver supplies to units operating in dispersed, high-risk environments. The system is being designed as a modular distribution solution capable of supporting military operations where traditional supply chains may be vulnerable or difficult to maintain. According to Stratom president and CEO Mark Gordon, the contract marks the first public unveiling of TALUS. Gordon explained that the platform represents the team’s response to the Army’s Project Sustainment requirements and combines a wide range of complementary technologies into a single capability. Reducing soldier exposure with autonomous logistics As Stratom explains, future Army units are expected to operate across increasingly dispersed and contested battlefields. This creates a need for autonomous logistics systems that can continue functioning even when conditions are degraded. Therefore, the Stratom-led solution is meant to help meet that challenge by reducing the need for soldiers to be directly exposed during supply operations while keeping critical equipment, supplies, and operational energy moving to distributed forces. By extending the reach of logistics operations, the system could also help units remain supplied for longer periods and improve the resilience of military sustainment networks in environments where traditional distribution methods may be disrupted. More from Military See All Hence, TALUS is expected to autonomously transport supplies, generate and distribute operational energy, and support various mission payloads as the US Army adapts to increasingly contested operations. “The Army needs more than another autonomous vehicle. It needs an integrated logistics capability that can adapt to the mission, operate in contested environments and move quickly toward fielding. TALUS will provide that integrated capability,” Gordon noted. Combining robotics, autonomy and military vehicles The TALUS team brings together
Pony.ai and Uber plan over 2,000 robotaxis in Europe Pony.ai and Uber began their partnership in May 2025. In spring 2026, they launched their first commercial robotaxi service in Europe in Zagreb, working with Croatian mobility company Verne. Passengers will soon also be able to book the service through the Uber platform. The partners now plan to expand the service significantly. They aim to deploy more than 2,000 robotaxis across four additional European cities alongside Zagreb, although they have not yet disclosed the locations or when the fleet will reach that size. Pony.ai and Uber also plan joint operations in the Middle East. Pony.ai provides its SAE Level 4-certified autonomous driving system and experience from existing robotaxi fleets, while Uber handles bookings, payments and customer service through its platform. At Level 4, vehicles can operate fully autonomously without human intervention within a defined operating area. Local partners to operate fleets To scale the service, Pony.ai and Uber will use a joint deployment model involving local partners. Depending on the market, these partners can handle financing, vehicle ownership and day-to-day fleet operations. In Zagreb, for example, Verne owns and operates the fleet, while Pony.ai supplies the autonomous driving technology and Uber connects the service with customers through its platform. Pony.ai can already draw on experience from China, where it operates paid, fully driverless robotaxi services in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. According to the company, its operations already cover their costs at city level in several markets. Pony.ai is also pursuing several projects in Europe. In June, it launched a pilot programme in Luxembourg with Stellantis and Bolt. The partners are testing Level 4-capable vehicles based on the Peugeot e-Traveller and their integration into a ride-hailing platform, with the long-term goal of operating without safety drivers. With Uber, Pony.ai now plans
Waymo’s robotaxis will soon roam a much larger portion of California as the company received approval to expand across 18 counties. The California Public Utilities Commission gave Waymo permission to operate in San Diego and Sacramento, as well as in communities in Marin, Napa, Orange and Riverside counties, among others. The approval will allow the Alphabet-owned company to more than triple its service area in the regions surrounding Los Angeles and San Francisco. “While Waymo is receiving its permits today, expansion will be gradual and guided by its safety framework,” said Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp. “Waymo’s immediate focus is preparing to launch rider-only service in San Diego later this summer and continuing to validate its technology in Sacramento.” On Friday, Waymo, based in Mountain View, announced the CPUC approved a letter from the company first filed in January. The new service area will eventually stretch from Santa Clarita and Thousand Oaks down to San Diego in Southern California, and from Sacramento to San Jose in Northern California. The expansion follows Waymo’s launch of its new vehicle dubbed the Ojai, which is larger and cheaper to produce than the retrofitted Jaguar I-Paces that the company previously relied on. Waymo is well ahead in the robotaxi race, operating in more than 10 major cities while Elon Musk’s Tesla is still facing safety and operational glitches. Waymo’s self-driving vehicles, which utilize cameras, sensors and lidar, have driven more than 220 million fully autonomous miles. Data collected from miles driven shows Waymo is involved in an estimated 94% fewer collisions that cause serious injuries, Karp said. Still, collisions involving Waymo vehicles have garnered public attention and criticism, including when a Waymo struck and killed a beloved neighborhood cat in San Francisco last year. “We look forward to bringing the same mobility and safety benefits
Karaoke in the car? China’s new wave of gadget-laden electric vehicles China’s carmakers are competing to turn their vehicles into digital entertainment hubs, offering everything from film projectors to VR features A new wave of Chinese-developed EVs is hitting the market equipped with everything from voice-activated artificial intelligence (AI) assistants, to headlights that double up as film projectors and karaoke systems. Some even feature immersive digital cockpits with integrated virtual reality technology. “Intelligent features are propelling sales because of young Chinese drivers’ willingness to embrace new technologies,” said Zhao Zhen, a sales director at Shanghai-based dealer Wan Zhuo Auto. “More importantly, Chinese carmakers, technology firms and auto component suppliers are able to respond to market demand quickly and their in-vehicle entertainment facilities are becoming more affordable to consumers.” The Chinese auto industry’s collective effort to create more autonomous, intelligent EVs has helped China’s brands stand out from their global competitors, according to consultancy AlixPartners.
The market is no longer debating whether Uber can become profitable. It is debating who owns the economics of transportation when the driver disappears. That distinction matters because Uber is generating more cash than at any point in its history just as investors are becoming increasingly nervous that autonomous vehicles could disrupt the marketplace responsible for producing that cash. Uber generated $2.8 billion of free cash flow in the second quarter of 2026 and has now surpassed $10 billion of trailing twelve-month free cash flow. Gross bookings climbed 24% to $58.0 billion, adjusted EBITDA increased 33%, and non-GAAP operating income rose 40%. Those numbers describe a platform that is strengthening financially, not one experiencing an immediate competitive collapse. Yet Uber’s share price of $75.88 remains well below its $101.99 52-week high and below the roughly $101–103 range currently implied by analyst consensus estimates. The reason for that disconnect is increasingly obvious: autonomous vehicles have become Uber’s most important valuation variable. Management intends to commit more than $10 billion over several years to autonomous-vehicle partners, fleet operations and vehicle commitments. That is not a trivial amount even for a company producing approximately $10 billion of annual free cash flow. The market therefore has to decide whether Uber is building the dominant distribution layer for autonomous transportation or spending billions to defend a marketplace whose economics could eventually migrate toward the companies supplying the vehicles and autonomy software. That is where I think the current price becomes interesting. My base valuation starts with normalized free cash flow of $9.5 billion rather than simply annualizing Uber’s current $10.1 billion run rate. That gives some allowance for future investment requirements. I then model FCF growth moderating from 15% in year one to 7% by year five, use a 10% discount rate and assume 3.5%
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Video Uber president: Self-driving cars will put 100,000 taxi jobs at risk Andrew Macdonald predicts as autonomous taxis pick up pace that driving will go the way of horse riding — and a ‘huge’ labour transition is coming Previous Article Next Article
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Those white Jaguars, which seem to be everywhere in San Francisco, will soon be heading to new destinations across California. Waymo has received approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to significantly expand its autonomous ride-hailing service across the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The company announced the decision in a post on X, saying the new authorization clears the way for broader robotaxi operations beyond its current service area, which stretches from San Francisco south through the Peninsula to San Jose. Under the expansion, Waymo will be permitted to operate throughout the Bay Area, from Brentwood in the East Bay to Sea Ranch in Sonoma County. MORE: DMV greenlights Waymo driverless taxis to expand services across Bay Area and beyond Services will also soon be brought to Sacramento and San Diego. But experts caution that riders should not expect the service to appear everywhere overnight. "While they have clearance to drive throughout the Bay Area and Los Angeles, it's not going to happen all at once," said Scott Moura, a UC Berkeley civil engineering professor who specializes in autonomous vehicle technology. Moura said a gradual rollout will allow Waymo to address challenges that may arise in new driving environments. "It will be interesting to see how they perform on highways, going across bridges, in rural areas where maybe you don't have connectivity," Moura said. "So, there might be growing pains." The CPUC approval comes after several high-profile incidents involving Waymo vehicles in San Francisco. During Fourth of July celebrations, multiple autonomous vehicles became stalled in traffic, blocking city streets and drawing public criticism. MORE: SF may soon fine autonomous vehicle companies for impeding emergency response Waymo has also adjusted operations during major events. The company restricted service near Golden Gate Park during the Outside
Waymo says California regulators have signed off on the biggest expansion of its robotaxi service yet, covering 18 counties from Sonoma down to San Diego. The California Public Utilities Commission approval clears Waymo to charge for fully driverless rides across the whole Bay Area and Los Angeles, and to open two brand-new markets in Sacramento and San Diego. Waymo announced the decision on X Friday afternoon: “Big news for the Golden State.” The company said the rollout “will be gradual and guided by our safety framework.” What the CPUC actually approved The approval runs through Waymo’s Advice Letter No. 4, filed with the CPUC back on January 28. Regulators suspended it through September 25 for further review, and Waymo filed a supplemental letter in May covering unaccompanied minors and rider procedures during service disruptions like the PG&E outage that hit San Francisco last December. That’s nearly seven months of regulatory grinding for one filing. It cleared today. The letter covers 12 counties in Northern California (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, and Yolo) and six in the south (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura). That’s most of the state’s population. The operating conditions Waymo asked for are just as wide: all speed limits, freeways, highways, city streets, rural roads, parking lots, driveways, and rail crossings, day and night, in rain, fog, and hail. The only real carve-out is widespread snow or ice. Both the Jaguar I-Pace and the new Ojai robotaxi running Waymo’s sixth-generation Driver are covered. Waymo is scaling while Tesla is still using safety drivers Waymo’s service area passed 1,400 square miles across 11 cities in May, a bigger footprint than Rhode Island, on a fleet of roughly 3,000 vehicles that has now done
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Waymo gets green light from state regulators to operate in Sacramento, company says After weeks of testing, Waymo announced Friday that California regulators have approved its driverless cars in Sacramento. This comes after the robotaxi service announced in July that it would begin testing the driverless function while technicians are inside the vehicle. Waymo said the California Public Utilities Commission approved its application for fully autonomous commercial ride-hailing services. The approval also comes with permission to serve San Diego in the future and to expand services in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. "This is an important milestone that will allow Waymo to bring the safety and mobility benefits millions of Californians already enjoy to more communities across the state," the company said in a news release. Waymo first announced its expansion into the state capital in February and had been manually testing and programming its fleet to learn the city's roads. The company said its immediate focus is to prepare to launch rider-only service in San Diego later this summer and to continue validating its technology in Sacramento. When KCRA 3 asked about when people can expect the services to be available, Waymo said it does not have an immediate timeline to share at this time. Once it does become available, riders will be able to hail a vehicle as they would other rideshares, such as Lyft or Uber. The difference would be that there would be no one in the driver's seat. City leaders in Sacramento believe driverless vehicles could make streets safer and reduce pedestrian deaths. However, others question how quickly an autonomous vehicle could adapt to a situation. See news happening? Send us your photos or videos if it’s safe to do so at kcra.com/upload.
LG to Unveil Its Next-Gen Humanoid Robot, Built on NVIDIA Isaac GR00T LG and NVIDIA Collaboration Moves Beyond Strategic Blueprints into Execution SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 13, 2026 -- LG today announced they're developing a next-generation bipedal humanoid robot built using NVIDIA Isaac GR00T, NVIDIA's open reasoning humanoid foundation model, for a public unveiling in the first quarter of next year. LG and NVIDIA signed a memorandum of understanding on August 13 at NVIDIA's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, with Chairman and CEO of LG Corp Kwang Mo Koo and NVIDIA Founder and CEO Jensen Huang in attendance, marking a shift from strategic blueprints into full execution across robotics, AI factories and mobility. Under the agreement, LG also plans to validate LG CLOiD wheel-based robots at LG Electronics' washing machine manufacturing line in Tennessee, build AI factory reference sites using NVIDIA DSX and NVIDIA Vera Rubin, and develop a next-generation AI-defined vehicle platform using NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion. Kwang Mo Koo, Chairman and CEO of LG Corp., said, "As our discussions have moved fast, our tasks and goals in AI Factory and Physical AI have become clear. We will accelerate the spread of AI by building industry-leading references." "The defining opportunity of physical AI is to give every machine the ability to understand the real world, reason and act safely alongside people — reshaping everyday life from the home and factory floor to the road," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Building on years of collaboration, LG and NVIDIA are combining LG's leadership in product engineering and manufacturing with NVIDIA technology to accelerate the next era of robots, AI factories and autonomous vehicles." 1. Robotics: Validating Wheel-Based Robots at LG's Tennessee Washing Machine Plant LG and NVIDIA are expanding their collaboration to accelerate physical AI, from development to real-world
Expanded partnership builds on the partnership in Zagreb and targets four additional cities in Europe. SAN FRANCISCO & GUANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 13, 2026-- Pony AI Inc. (“Pony.ai”) (NASDAQ: PONY; HKEX: 2026), a global leader in the large-scale commercialization of autonomous driving technology, and Uber Technologies, Inc. (“Uber”) (NYSE: UBER) today announced an expansion of their strategic partnership, with plans to collaborate on the deployment of more than 2,000 Pony.ai Robotaxis across Europe. The partnership will expand from the existing commercial service in Zagreb, coming soon to the Uber platform, to four additional cities in Europe. Additional details about the rollout will be announced in phases and the expanded partnership also includes plans to deploy in the Middle East. The expanded agreement gives Pony.ai’s joint-deployment model a clearer path to commercial scale. The model brings together three core functions required to operate Robotaxi services at scale: Level 4 (L4) autonomous driving technology, a leading mobility platform, and day-to-day fleet operations. It allows technology, platform, and fleet partners to work together in the same market, while individual partners may also take on more than one role. Vehicle funding and ownership can sit with different partners depending on the market. Under the expanded partnership, Pony.ai will provide its L4 autonomous driving technology, rider-experience and operational expertise developed through multiple large-scale Robotaxi deployments while Uber will provide customer access through its leading global mobility platform, including booking, payment, and customer service capabilities, alongside its growing network of human drivers. Day-to-day fleet operations may be carried out by established local fleet partners selected for each market. Pony.ai operates paid, fully driverless Robotaxi services in China’s four tier-one cities, where it has achieved city-wide breakeven unit economics in multiple markets, validating its commercially sustainable model for operating Robotaxis at scale. For Pony.ai, the expanded partnership with
Expanded partnership builds on the partnership in Zagreb and targets four additional cities in Europe. SAN FRANCISCO & GUANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pony AI Inc. (“Pony.ai”) (NASDAQ: PONY; HKEX: 2026), a global leader in the large-scale commercialization of autonomous driving technology, and Uber Technologies, Inc. (“Uber”) (NYSE: UBER) today announced an expansion of their strategic partnership, with plans to collaborate on the deployment of more than 2,000 Pony.ai Robotaxis across Europe. The partnership will expand from the existing commercial service in Zagreb, coming soon to the Uber platform, to four additional cities in Europe. Additional details about the rollout will be announced in phases and the expanded partnership also includes plans to deploy in the Middle East. The expanded agreement gives Pony.ai’s joint-deployment model a clearer path to commercial scale. The model brings together three core functions required to operate Robotaxi services at scale: Level 4 (L4) autonomous driving technology, a leading mobility platform, and day-to-day fleet operations. It allows technology, platform, and fleet partners to work together in the same market, while individual partners may also take on more than one role. Vehicle funding and ownership can sit with different partners depending on the market. Under the expanded partnership, Pony.ai will provide its L4 autonomous driving technology, rider-experience and operational expertise developed through multiple large-scale Robotaxi deployments while Uber will provide customer access through its leading global mobility platform, including booking, payment, and customer service capabilities, alongside its growing network of human drivers. Day-to-day fleet operations may be carried out by established local fleet partners selected for each market. Pony.ai operates paid, fully driverless Robotaxi services in China’s four tier-one cities, where it has achieved city-wide breakeven unit economics in multiple markets, validating its commercially sustainable model for operating Robotaxis at scale. For Pony.ai, the expanded partnership with Uber marks
Raiders, autonomous ride-hailing company launch Allegiant Stadium service The Las Vegas Raiders announced a multiyear partnership naming Waymo their official ride-hailing partner, the team said in a release Thursday. According to the Raiders, the collaboration marks the first time a professional football team has partnered with an autonomous vehicle company, setting the standard for the future door-to-door fan experience. Fans traveling to Allegiant Stadium with Waymo will have access to a dedicated Waymo pickup and drop-off area and clear wayfinding signage to create a seamless rider experience for all games, concerts and major events. “Fans come to Allegiant to experience once-in-a-lifetime moments, and getting in that mindset all begins and ends with the journey,” Raiders president Sandra Douglass Morgan said in the release. “Partnering with Waymo reflects our drive to lead the industry in innovation and provide fans the best experience. Most importantly, it gives them a safe, reliable autonomous designated driver so they can focus entirely on enjoying the event.” “We’re proud to partner with the Las Vegas Raiders and Allegiant Stadium as we continue forming strong and lasting relationships across the Las Vegas community,” said Suzanne Philion, chief marketing officer at Waymo. To experience the future of game-day transportation, fans can download the Waymo app and express interest in being among the first to ride with Waymo in Las Vegas. Contact Tony Garcia at tgarcia@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307. Follow @TonyGLVNews on X.
There once was a time when most cars on the road did not have air bags as a standard under federal law. It took until 1998, in fact, for every vehicle on the round to have an airbag as required by federal law — that's over 100 years after the invention of the first automobile and roughly 30 years after airbags were first invented as a safety measure. Something like that is playing out again, except this time with robotaxis and cyber protections. Louay Abdelkader, director of product management at QNX, identified it as a huge problem for the sector, "of course … keep in mind that in automotive safety, it took a while for it to adopt." Abdelkader told Fortune lawmakers should make cybersecurity a primary consideration akin to airbags, noting that every connected vehicle introduces some degree of cyber risk. Much of the debate over robotaxis has focused elsewhere, such as whether they are indeed smart enough to avoid collisions, how insurance companies should assign liability in an accident, or how police can deal with driverless cars that commit traffic violations. Abdelkader told Fortune lawmakers should make cybersecurity a primary consideration, noting that every connected vehicle introduces some degree of cyber risk. Robotaxis are proliferating across the country, however, with the robotaxi company Zoox most recently receiving regulatory approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a commercial exemption, allowing the paid service broader access without manual controls. Tesla also has moved into the robotaxi space, with the advent of Cybercab in at least seven cities. Meanwhile, Alphabet-owned Waymo has expanded from its beginnings in Arizona to 11 major U.S. cities—even pairing with rideshare company Uber in a few cities. Unlike conventional vehicles, robotaxis depend on dozens of interconnected electronic control units, high-speed networking, cloud connectivity, GPS,
Senator Cortese’s SB 1246 Advances, Putting Autonomous Vehicle Companies on the Hook for Emergency Response Failures SACRAMENTO, CA — California State Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) today announced that his Senate Bill 1246 (SB 1246), legislation establishing stronger accountability, transparency, and emergency-response standards for autonomous vehicle (AV) companies, has advanced out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file. As autonomous vehicles continue to expand across California, SB 1246 ensures that public safety and emergency response keep pace with the technology. The bill would establish statewide standards for remote AV operations, require stronger communication between AV companies and first responders, and give local emergency personnel the tools they need to respond when autonomous vehicles become disabled, obstruct traffic, or interfere with emergency operations. “Autonomous vehicles are no longer a futuristic concept—they are operating on our streets today, and our laws need to catch up,” said Senator Dave Cortese. “When an autonomous vehicle blocks a fire truck, obstructs police activity, or becomes stranded during a system-wide failure, our first responders cannot be left waiting on hold or trying to figure out how to move a vehicle they cannot operate. SB 1246 is about common-sense accountability: if AV companies are going to operate on California roads, they must be prepared to respond when something goes wrong.” SB 1246 would: - Require remote drivers to be based in the United States and hold a U.S. driver’s license; - Require AV companies to notify local jurisdictions about the location and status of vehicles during system-wide failures; - Guarantee first responders an on-site contact who can assist with AV accidents and obstructions; - Ensure AVs can be manually or remotely disabled at the request of a first responder; - Establish penalties, returned to local jurisdictions, when an AV blocks first-responder operations during an emergency for more