Know What's Happening in Autonomy
Know What's Happening in Autonomy
ClassNK certifies first autonomous container ship navigation system
ClassNK has granted its AUTO-Nav2 (All) notation to the container ship Genbu, marking the world’s first certification for autonomous navigation on medium‑ to long‑distance routes. The vessel, built by Kyokuyo Shipyard and operated by Suzuyo Marine, is part of the Nippon Foundation’s MEGURI2040 fully autonomous program.
Tesla announced a $60,000 base all‑wheel‑drive Cybertruck and cut the top‑end Cyberbeast price to $100,000, down $15,000. The price adjustments come as the model is selling roughly 5,000 units per quarter, far below the original target of 250,000 annual deliveries. The new AWD version adds a second motor and adaptive damping, delivering about 325 miles of range, while retaining most premium features of the cancelled RWD variant. Tesla hopes the lower price and added specs will revive demand for the controversial flagship.
The UK government has signed a £50 million Wales Defence Growth Deal to make Wales the launchpad for autonomous defence technology. The agreement expands MOD test ranges, opens air corridors, and gives Welsh SMEs direct access to secure contracts. A new...
Northrop Grumman and Brazil’s Embraer have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly market the KC‑390 Millennium with an autonomous boom refueling system for the U.S. Air Force and allied forces. Northrop will study integrating a retrofittable boom and other...
Electromate has launched the Kollmorgen AKME Series Servo Motors, specifically engineered for hazardous environments with Zone 2 and Zone 22 certification. The new line spans IEC frame sizes 2 through 7, operates from 48 Vdc to 400 Vac, and reaches speeds up to 5,000 rpm...
Artificial intelligence and the rise of autonomous vehicles are expected to cap the personal auto‑insurance market at roughly $560 billion by 2040, after which it could shrink about 4 % per year. Self‑driving cars are projected to cut accident rates by 75‑90 %,...
UK heavy goods vehicle registrations fell 10% in 2025, with 40,504 new trucks added, marking a contraction across every quarter. The decline was most pronounced in box vans (-28.1%) and curtain‑sided trucks (-26.2%), while tractor units slipped 4.4% but rebounded...
GXO Logistics reported record revenue of $13.2 billion for 2025, a 13% increase year‑over‑year, with Q4 sales climbing 7.9% to $3.51 billion. Net income fell to $36 million for the full year, while quarterly profit was $43 million, reflecting higher investment in growth initiatives....
In episode #357, Alex Roy, Kirsten, and Ed sit down with Nexar CEO Zach Greenberger to discuss why autonomous vehicles (AVs) require massive real‑world driving data to train and validate their systems. Greenberger explains how Nexar has built one of...
BAE Systems FalconWorks and SURVICE Engineering have signed a framework agreement to co‑develop uncrewed air system technologies, extending the partnership that began with the T‑150 logistics drone (fielded as the TRV‑150). The deal broadens collaboration into small and tactical UAS...
Yokogawa Electric and Swiss robot maker ANYbotics announced that Yokogawa’s OpreX™ Robot Management Core software will be embedded in ANYbotics’ ANYmal inspection robot family, including the upcoming explosion‑proof ANYmal X slated for a 2026 launch. The integration links robot fleets...
Not a preplanned motion sequence. A robot deciding mid-jump what to do next. [📍 paper + demo] Researchers just showed a humanoid doing real parkour using only onboard perception. No motion script, no fixed obstacle layout. The system is called...
🎙️ Evan Beard is the co-founder and CEO of Standard Bots , building AI-trained industrial robot arms designed to automate real factory work, not demos: In this episode, Evan shares a founder path that started in software startups and Y...
Integrated safety controllers using industrial Ethernet dominate complex automation, offering reduced wiring, scalable diagnostics, and deterministic communication. However, standalone safety controllers remain preferable for simple machines, multi‑vendor environments, and retrofit projects due to their independence and ease of validation. Dedicated...
Archer announced that Bristol will host its new UK Engineering Hub, a centre designed to accelerate both commercial eVTOL and defence programmes. The company has already received hundreds of applications and begun hiring engineers to tap the city’s deep aerospace...
South Korean module maker MCNEX and Valens Semiconductor have launched a new family of automotive front‑ and rear‑view cameras that deliver quad‑high‑definition (QHD) video using Valens’ VA7000 A‑PHY chipsets. The cameras transmit high‑resolution video over unshielded twisted‑pair (UTP) or low‑cost...
The Texas National Security Review podcast features Nathan Wood discussing how the principle of distinction must evolve for autonomous warfare. Wood argues that debate should shift from abstract concerns to the legal and operational specifics of existing systems, ensuring human...
DC Inc. has joined Unmanned Systems Technology’s supplier network, offering its Plex PCA‑2000Plus combustion analysis and data‑acquisition system for UAV internal‑combustion and hybrid engines. The portable, IP67‑rated unit delivers cycle‑by‑cycle, per‑cylinder data across up to 16 high‑speed analog channels and integrates...
Lockheed Martin unveiled the Lamprey multi‑mission autonomous undersea vehicle, a UUV developed in just 14 months and showcased at WEST 2026. The drone can attach to submarines, ships, or the seabed using suction cups, allowing it to hitch rides and...
Big piece of robotaxi reporting by @natlungfy New York Governor Kathy Hochul has pulled a proposal that would have allowed for commercial robotaxi services outside New York City. A big blow for Waymo. But also note that Tesla shares fell...
The positive externalities that @waymo and autonomous vehicle provide: • 15M adults over age 80 in U.S. • 7M people with low vision/vision loss • 3M people with active epilepsy • 1M with loss of driving privileges Tens of million regain agency. https://t.co/defb5IWGPR
Agentic AI is shifting supply chain management from advisory chatbots to autonomous execution across ERP, WMS, and TMS systems. By embedding bounded autonomy, situational awareness, and direct action authority, these agents compress the detect‑decide‑act loop and reduce the costly “execution...
Nexar CEO Zach Greenberger joins Alex, Kirsten and Ed to explain why AVs need real world data, how Nexar built one of the world’s largest driving datasets, the Uber Labs announcement, and much, much more. Also, the hosts critique each other’s...
The U.S. Army launched its inaugural Best Drone Warfighter Competition in Huntsville, drawing more than 800 participants from every Army unit. Competitors tackled three distinct lanes—drone racing, a hunter‑killer field exercise, and an innovation showcase—to earn titles such as Best...
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) has signed an agreement with Agility Robotics to deploy its Digit humanoid robots across its Ontario assembly plants after a successful year‑long pilot. The rollout will add seven additional Digits to load and unload totes...
TerraClear has launched TerraScout, a fully autonomous robot that captures high‑resolution field imagery for rock‑mapping and weed identification across broad‑acre row crops. The machine can map over 1,000 acres per day at speeds up to 15 mph, collecting more than 4 billion...
Epson Robots announced it will exhibit at three major trade shows—DesignCon, APEX Expo, and Manufacturing & Automation eXchange (MAX)—in early 2026. The company will showcase its new T‑Series All‑in‑One SCARA robot, marketed as a cost‑efficient, plug‑and‑play solution, alongside the RC+®...
Manufacturers are turning to collaborative robots and machine‑tending automation to combat a persistent labor shortage. By moving workers from repetitive, ergonomically‑dangerous tasks—such as single‑cell welding or CNC loading—to supervisory roles across multiple cells, firms boost productivity and job satisfaction. Safety‑driven...
Autotech Ventures, a $600 million industrial‑focused VC, is targeting logistics startups that are hard to replicate, leveraging its deep network of global manufacturers and carriers. The firm highlighted investments in GenLogs, a data‑rich freight intelligence platform, and Augment, an end‑to‑end AI...
NVIDIA introduced Cosmos Policy, a post‑trained robot control policy built on its Cosmos Predict‑2 world foundation model. By encoding actions, future states and reward signals as latent video frames, the single diffusion‑based model achieves state‑of‑the‑art results on the LIBERO and...
MIT Technology Review’s daily newsletter highlights three major tech stories: uncrewed narco‑submarines equipped with off‑the‑shelf components like Starlink and autopilots could revolutionize Colombia’s cocaine smuggling by increasing payloads and eliminating human risk; Google DeepMind is urging rigorous evaluation of large...
In this episode, Grayson Brulte talks with John Wall, President of QNX, about why software-defined vehicles (SDVs) are being held back by low‑level software complexity and why automakers should pivot to application‑layer innovation. Wall explains how a safety‑certified, trusted operating...
Turkey’s defence firms Havelsan and VN Maritime have signed a strategic MoU with Italy’s Piloda Defence to develop uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) and hybrid naval platforms. The partnership targets a first procurement contract in Italy by the first half of...
PAMA has become the first open‑pit coal mine in Indonesia’s Kalimantan region to deploy full‑scale automation, integrating autonomous haul trucks, drill rigs and a remote‑operations centre. The rollout targets the mine’s most challenging terrain, from water‑logged tailings to steep embankments,...
Altitude Angel’s Drone Assist, once the UK’s go‑to flight‑planning app, has become effectively abandoned after the company entered administration in late 2025 and its assets were sold to Spain’s Indra Group. The app’s maps no longer reflect the Ministry of...
Swarm Aero inaugurated an 80,000‑square‑foot Advanced Manufacturing Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, dedicated to large‑UAV production. The facility is designed to mass‑produce the Group 5 swarming UAV, which the company claims will cost less than the MQ‑9 Reaper while delivering comparable capability....
Agilica has introduced its Agilica Geolocation (AGL) system, a high‑precision local positioning solution for UAVs that operates without GPS. Leveraging ultra‑wideband radio and a mesh of anchor nodes, the system delivers centimeter‑level accuracy even in RF‑rich, jammed or spoofed environments....
At the 2026 World Governments Summit in Dubai, Baidu’s Apollo Go deployed the event’s only fully autonomous ride‑hailing fleet, showcasing Chinese driverless technology on a high‑profile international stage. Meanwhile, Qatar Investment Authority announced a $2 billion expansion of its fund‑of‑funds program to...
Aero Systems West (ASW) has supplied its Parasafe ballistic parachute recovery system to Rainmaker for integration into the company’s high‑altitude unmanned aircraft that operate between 10,000 and 15,000 feet. The parachute system is now part of Rainmaker’s FAA‑approved aircraft architecture,...
Scientists at the University of New Hampshire used artificial intelligence to compile a searchable database of 67,573 magnetic compounds, uncovering 25 previously unknown high‑temperature magnets. The AI system extracts experimental data from literature, predicts magnetic behavior, and records temperature thresholds....
In April 2025, an autonomous racing drone equipped with a neural‑network AI outperformed three human FPV champions at the A2RL Drone Championship in Abu Dhabi. The AI‑controlled craft completed the complex aerial course faster than the pilots, marking the first...
Tesla has discontinued the Autopilot name and removed Autosteer from new vehicles after a California DMV compliance order. The DMV warned that misleading marketing could trigger a 30‑day suspension of Tesla's dealer and manufacturer licenses. To avoid the penalty, Tesla...
Niqo Robotics unveiled its 3‑in‑1 AI robot at the Southwest Ag Summit, demonstrating a single‑pass solution for precision weeding, crop thinning, and targeted spraying. The showcase followed a successful pilot that generated the company’s first commercial order in the region....
Great opportunity for a 2-year post doctoral position at the Swedish Defence University here for those working on uncrewed systems: https://t.co/CYy5Wnh91N
Amazon has halted its Blue Jay warehouse robotics project less than six months after its public debut. The multi‑armed robot, unveiled in October to speed same‑day delivery, was built in roughly a year—significantly faster than Amazon’s prior robot programs. Amazon says...
National Robotics Week runs April 4‑12, 2026, spotlighting robotics as a strategic U.S. industry. Organized by MassRobotics, the week aggregates over a hundred events nationwide, linking manufacturers, startups, and research labs. Partnerships such as Microsoft’s sponsorship of STEM sessions and...
NORD Drivesystems has introduced a digital‑twin solution through its myNORD online portal, leveraging the Functional Mock‑up Interface (FMI) standard to generate simulation models of fully configured drive systems. Engineers can now perform virtual commissioning, testing drive concepts early and adjusting...
Are you in the Bay Area and interested in drones or autonomous heavy equipment? Join us for our next ROS By-The-Bay meetup next Thursday. Our guest speakers will be @mrpollo from @PX4Autopilot / @Dronecode and Zeerek Ahmad, a Sr. controls engineer...
SkyGrid and Wisk Aero released a white paper detailing Automated Flight Rules (AFR) and a new Class X low‑altitude airspace to enable scalable urban air mobility (UAM). The proposal builds on a 2025 concept of operations, shifting from high‑level guidance to...
Waymo is constructing two major depots in Miami to support a future fleet of thousands of autonomous vehicles. The first site, adjacent to Miami International Airport, is slated for a 12‑to‑18‑month build‑out and will provide a direct airport‑to‑city corridor without...
Mitsubishi Electric United States is rolling out a digital‑first strategy that blends SaaS platforms, data‑driven tools, and AI to bridge physical and digital operations. Its flagship AnyMile logistics software orchestrates cargo‑drone missions, handling fleet, airspace, payload, and regulatory complexities. The...
