The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Defects Investigation received a petition on September 23, 2026, requesting a probe into Tesla's roughly 1,000 Robotaxis, including the Model Y and Cybercab, for allegedly exceeding posted speed limits in active school zones while their Automated Driving System is engaged. The Cybercab is already facing a separate investigation over its lack of side mirrors, pedals, and a steering wheel, and Tesla's Full Self-Driving system is under scrutiny for other traffic violations like running red lights and driving on the wrong side of the road.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-13
Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle firm Pony.ai announced plans to begin testing their Gen-7 robotaxis in London within weeks. This move expands their partnership, which initially focused on the Middle East and now includes European markets, with a goal to deploy 2,000 vehicles across several cities. The companies have not disclosed who will own or operate the London fleet, but the initiative continues Uber’s broader strategy to develop autonomous ride-hailing services globally.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-08
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1246, a new California law requiring autonomous vehicle companies such as Waymo, Tesla and Zoox to provide local support when their robotaxis malfunction or obstruct traffic. The law mandates penalties if a vehicle blocks police or firefighters for more than 30 minutes and requires remote drivers to be U.S.-based with valid U.S. licenses. It takes effect in July 2028, with the California DMV handling remaining implementation details.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-04
Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 1246, creating local penalties for autonomous vehicle companies whose cars block ambulances, fire trucks or other first responders for more than 30 minutes during emergencies. The law also requires operators to designate on-site 'local incident technicians' to assist with crashes or obstructions, and mandates that any remote human drivers assisting vehicles hold US driver's licenses and be based in the United States.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-03
California has passed a new law that imposes fines on autonomous vehicle companies when their robotaxis block emergency responders. The legislation also sets new requirements for how these companies must respond when their vehicles interfere with police, fire, or medical personnel.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-10-02
A year after Elon Musk unveiled Tesla's fourth 'Master Plan' promising an era of 'amazing abundance' through robots, robotaxis and AI, the company still hasn't offered concrete details on what that abundance actually entails. Musk has made sweeping statements—everyone getting a penthouse, robots performing surgery, people having 'anything they can think of'—but has not addressed practical questions like housing supply or implementation. Tesla and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-01
Waymo released updated self-reported safety data covering 271 million driverless miles through June across Atlanta, Austin, Phoenix, Los Angeles and the San Francisco-Bay Area, 50 million more miles than its previous report. The company says its robotaxis showed an 82% reduction in injury-causing crashes, 95% fewer serious-injury crashes, and sharply lower rates of pedestrian, cyclist and motorcycle injury crashes compared with human drivers.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-24
While Waymo cites data showing its robotaxis crash far less often than human drivers, a TechCrunch investigation using OSHA records found that Waymo and Amazon-owned Zoox caused dozens of test-driver injuries like whiplash and sprains during 2026 training runs, often from abrupt braking or driving errors. The report notes OSHA's data is incomplete due to narrow reporting requirements, and injuries reportedly continued at Zoox through the year.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-22
Academics led by Eindhoven University's Pavlo Bazilinskyy are hosting an industry workshop this week focused on deterring passengers from having sex in autonomous vehicles, which lack a human driver to enforce norms. The team, drawing from systems engineering, psychology and tourism studies, is using the topic to explore broader questions about behavior and design in shared robotaxi spaces.
wired.com
· 2026-09-20
Lucid and ridesharing firm Bolt have announced a partnership to bring at least 25,000 autonomous vehicles built on Lucid's midsize platform to European roads, with Bolt owning and operating the fleet. Bolt aims to have 100,000 autonomous vehicles on its platform by 2035, though no launch timeline was given for the Lucid-based robotaxis, which will likely use NVIDIA's Hyperion architecture for Level 4 autonomy.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-17
Wayve, the self-driving software startup valued at roughly $8.5 billion, has named Elisa de Martel as its new chief financial officer. De Martel spent 2022 to January 2026 as Waymo's CFO, overseeing a period when the Alphabet unit expanded commercial operations and raised $5.6 billion at a $45 billion-plus valuation. She replaces Max Warburton, who is shifting to a strategic advisory role at Wayve.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-16
Tesla quietly opened its two-seater Cybercab robotaxi rides to the public in Austin on September 4, announcing it via a post on X rather than a livestreamed event. Analysts and investors said the low-key rollout offered scant detail, with the fleet still small and confined to a geofenced zone, while separate tests in New York required human drivers and steering wheels.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-15
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