Self-driving cars
🚕 Tesla's taxi without a steering wheel or pedals is now running in Austin
Unlike competitors Waymo and Zoox, which combine cameras with radar and lidar, Tesla builds the entire system on cameras. The company has 45 Cybercabs registered with the Texas motor vehicle authority and a total of 256 robotaxis operating without safety drivers across six cities.
🎙️ Kevin Kelly and Dan Pink launch podcast about best possible future scenarios
New podcast series – Best Case Scenarios – explores the best possible developments in energy, transportation, biotechnology, and brain science over the next 25 years. The focus is on what happens if everything goes right and how technology can reduce costs, emissions, and accidents.
🚙 Waymo launches driverless taxi rides in four new cities and presents next-generation technology
Data from over 127 million miles driven shows that Waymo's driverless cars have ten times fewer serious crashes and twelve times fewer crashes with pedestrians compared to human drivers. The company has launched new sensor technology with the ability to drive in extreme winter weather.
🚚 Aurora triples its driverless truck network and expands across the southern United States
Aurora has expanded its driverless network from three to ten routes. The Fort Worth–Phoenix route of approximately 1,000 miles is the first driverless freight route to exceed mandated driving time limits, nearly halving transit times.
🚘 Waymo raises $16 billion to expand self-driving cars globally
Waymo has secured $16 billion in an investment round valuing the company at $126 billion. In 2025, Waymo tripled its rides to 15 million and plans to expand to over 20 new cities in 2026.
🚛 Self-driving trucks to transport sand around the clock in Texas
Detmar Logistics has signed an agreement with Aurora Innovation to use autonomous trucks to transport frac sand in the Permian Basin. The trucks can operate over 20 hours per day and double the capacity to move sand. The technology allows the vehicles to see 400 meters ahead in total darkness.
⏰ Now it’s happening – but no one notices
Last week, two things happened that mostly showed up as brief news items. Having followed both of these developments for years, I’m fascinated by how little attention they get. Each of them will, on its own, have a massive impact on our world.
🚗 Waymo first with driverless taxi rides on highways in the US
Waymo becomes the first robotaxi company in the US to offer driverless rides on highways, available around the clock in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles. The service uses the same software and sensors as for city driving.
🚛 How he is leading Volvo through its greatest transformation ever
He leads Sweden’s largest company, which has been selling trucks for nearly a hundred years. Soon, they’ll stop doing that — and instead sell transport as a service. How do you lead such a massive company through that kind of transformation?