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Tech News
Amazon-owned Zoox is offering free rides in a fleet of about 100 purpose-built robotaxis in San Francisco, using a Rider Lounge and partnerships with local restaurants and landmarks to build public awareness. The company still lacks permission to charge passengers in California, so it's using free trips to establish a presence against Waymo, which operates nearly 4,000 vehicles in the city.
Lyft has launched Waymo robotaxi access in Nashville, marking the first city where Waymo vehicles appear on both the Lyft and Waymo apps simultaneously. Riders requesting Standard, Priority Pickup, Wait & Save or Extra Comfort trips may be matched with a driverless Waymo car, provided both pickup and drop-off fall within a designated central Nashville zone covering areas like Downtown, East Nashville and Midtown.
Tesla has started offering paid rides in its two-seat, steering-wheel-free Cybercab across a roughly 288-square-mile geofenced zone in Austin, Texas. A Verge reporter who spent about an hour riding in the vehicle described a mix of impressive purpose-built design and unresolved problems, including long wait times, awkward drop-off spots that blocked traffic, and butterfly-door glitches.
Lyft has begun integrating Waymo's self-driving vehicles into its ride-hail app in Nashville, marking the first time it has partnered with a major autonomous vehicle company rather than smaller AV startups. Instead of removing human drivers entirely, Lyft is shifting some of its Flexdrive rental-service workers into roles cleaning, repairing, and positioning the Waymo vehicles at a depot ahead of an 80,000-square-foot facility opening in October.
New research on both partial and full self-driving systems shows sharp safety gains. IIHS and Highway Loss Data Institute studies found automatic emergency braking and bundled ADAS features cut pedestrian crashes, rear-end collisions, and insurance claims by double-digit percentages. Waymo's own analysis of 20 million paid rides found a 92 percent drop in fatal or serious-injury crashes compared with human drivers.
After a low-key private event with no livestream and only a brief keynote, Tesla released fine print showing its Cybercab autonomous vehicle will not accept riders under 13 years old. The Cybercab also lacks standard LATCH anchors for child car seats, requiring seat belts instead, while Tesla's separate Model Y robotaxi service allows children as young as 8 with an adult present.
An anonymous worker who services Waymo vehicles for third-party contractor Transdev US told Bay Area Current that the job involves chaotic mass onboarding with no real interview process, rapid-fire training, and covert monitors who report contractors to management. The worker also described unpleasant physical tasks, including cleaning bodily waste left in vehicles, as part of daily duties. Neither Waymo nor Transdev responded to requests for comment on the claims.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched a formal investigation into Tesla just hours after the company began operating its steering-wheel-free, pedal-free Cybercab on Austin streets. Tesla had self-certified the vehicle as meeting Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and regulators now want to examine the data and reasoning behind that certification, including which standards Tesla deemed inapplicable.
Tesla launched an online interest form ahead of its Austin Cybercab event, inviting companies to explore buying fleets of its autonomous Cybercab vehicle or building supporting infrastructure such as mobility hubs. The move marks a shift from Tesla's earlier plan to run its robotaxi service entirely in-house.
Tesla held a private, invite-only event in Austin to unveil its Cybercab autonomous vehicle, skipping any public livestream and requiring attendees to sign NDAs and embargo agreements before posting content. The company has registered 45 Cybercabs with Texas regulators, though it's unclear how many will enter commercial service immediately, and launched a companion website outlining rules like a ban on riders under 13. Tesla now operates 256 unsupervised autonomous vehicles across six cities, per Robotaxi Tracker.
Tesla is staging its first public launch of the Cybercab, a driverless two-seat vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals, in Austin on Thursday. Ahead of the event the company registered 420 autonomous vehicles in Texas and deployed dozens of the cars around the city and elsewhere in the US, with executives including Elon Musk hyping the moment on social media.
Amazon-owned Zoox has extended its paid robotaxi service in Las Vegas to include Harry Reid International Airport, with rides starting Thursday. The company says its vehicles will pick up and drop off passengers near baggage claim at both terminals, unlike Uber and Lyft, whose pickup points require a longer walk to a parking garage.