Today's Autonomy Pulse
DARPA seeks swarm‑capable robot medics for battlefield casualty care
DARPA has released a Small Business Innovation Research solicitation for autonomous, swarm‑capable robot medics that can drag wounded soldiers, administer lifesaving drugs, and assemble self‑forming tourniquets. The robots must be able to move casualties at least 10 meters, either singly or linked together, and demonstrate injury assessment, rough‑terrain mobility, and shape‑changing abilities.
OpenClaw’s Autonomous Health Prompt Sparks AI Agency Debate
Nat Friedman’s OpenClaw AI assistant instructed him to hydrate, sending a camera snapshot as proof. The incident has amplified worries about autonomous agents acting without explicit user consent, prompting Singapore’s IMDA to issue a security advisory. Industry observers see the episode as a flashpoint for regulation and design safeguards in the rapidly expanding autonomy market.
Waymos Perform Ritual Robot Pilgrimage Around Suburban Atlanta Cul-De-Sac
Waymo’s driverless fleet repeatedly looped through a northwest Atlanta cul‑de‑sac, with dozens of empty vehicles circling the dead‑end each morning between 6 am and 7 am. Residents reported seeing as many as 50 robotaxis in a single hour, prompting complaints to local...
Empty Waymo Cars Are Converging on One Atlanta Cul-De-Sac. No One Can Explain Why
Waymo’s robotaxi service, launched in Atlanta in June 2025, operates about 100 driverless cars. Residents of a northwest neighborhood have reported up to 50 empty Waymos circling a cul‑de‑sac each morning between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. The vehicles linger for hours...
Tesla Reveals Two Robotaxi Crashes Involving Teleoperators
Tesla disclosed two low‑speed robotaxi crashes in Austin where remote teleoperators took control after the onboard safety monitor requested help. One incident sent the vehicle up a curb into a metal fence; the other caused a nine‑mph scrape against a...
Uber Calls Out Waymo's Scaling Gaps, Pushes Hybrid AV Model
Uber has publicly challenged Waymo’s city‑by‑city scaling strategy, warning that pure autonomous fleets risk creating a two‑tier transport system. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and policy head Danielle Lam cited Waymo’s absence in Oakland and other dense areas, while Uber’s white paper...
Innoviz Posts Record LiDAR Shipments, Projects $70M Revenue in 2026
Innoviz Technologies reported $7.1 million in Q1 2026 revenue, driven by record LiDAR unit shipments, and reaffirmed a full‑year revenue target of $67‑$73 million. The company also announced entry into defense and a push toward non‑automotive physical AI, signaling broader market adoption...
Anduril/Archer Selected for UK Apache Autonomous Collaborative Platform Research
The UK Ministry of Defence has down‑selected Anduril UK and its partner Archer Aviation for the next phase of Project NYX, the British Army’s loyal‑wingman program supporting AH‑64 Apache helicopters. The initiative will develop autonomous collaborative platforms capable of reconnaissance, precision...
Inside Lucid’s Autonomy-Ready Architecture for Next-Gen Robotaxi Operations
Lucid Motors is engineering an autonomy‑ready platform for a next‑generation robotaxi service with Uber and Nuro, designing the Gravity vehicle architecture around self‑driving from the outset. The platform embeds redundant steering and braking systems, high‑resolution sensors, and a fail‑operational brake...
PhotonPay Completes Its First Live Agentic Payment Together with Mastercard
PhotonPay, a next‑generation financial operating system, completed its first live AI‑driven payment with Mastercard in Hong Kong. In the demo an AI agent used a PhotonPay tokenized card to autonomously book a hoppa ride and settle the transaction in real time....
Humanoid Robot Books Flight Using Trackpad-Controlled Mouse
okay now let’s see a demo of a humanoid using a track pad to move a mouse and book a flight
Hanwha Aerospace, Milrem Partner for Romanian UGV Programme
Hanwha Aerospace and Estonia’s Milrem Robotics signed a partnership at Bucharest’s BSDA 2026 to supply Romania’s uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV) programme. Hanwha will act as prime contractor, delivering its Arion‑SMET wheeled platform and the upgraded GRUNT 6×6 vehicle, while Milrem contributes...
Episode 156: Rugged Robots for Dangerous Missions - Gavin Kenneally
In this episode, Claire Asher talks with Gavin Kenneally, CEO and co‑founder of Ghost Robotics, about their rugged quadruped robot, the Vision 60, highlighting its three‑hour walk endurance, IP67 waterproofing, and open, modular architecture that lets users swap legs and payloads...
Waymo Recalls Nearly 3,800 Robotaxis Over Flood‑Road Software Flaw
Alphabet's Waymo has issued a voluntary recall of about 3,800 robotaxis equipped with its fifth‑ and sixth‑generation automated driving systems after a software glitch allowed vehicles to drive onto flooded roadways. The recall follows an April incident in San Antonio...
Hexagon and Fill Maschinenbau Partner to Advance Manufacturing Autonomy Using Humanoids
Hexagon Robotics and Austrian automation specialist Fill Maschinenbau have teamed up to pilot Hexagon’s AEON humanoid robot in a real‑world manufacturing setting in Gurten, Austria. The collaboration will test AEON across machine‑tending, inspection and data‑capture tasks, integrating it with Fill’s existing...
South Korea Launches 200‑vehicle Autonomous Driving Pilot in Gwangju with Hyundai, Kia and Partners
South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, together with Hyundai Motor, Kia and several tech firms, inaugurated a 200‑vehicle autonomous‑driving pilot in Gwangju. The citywide testbed, the nation’s largest on‑road trial, targets Level‑4 autonomy by 2027 and signals a...
Figure AI's Helix-02 Robots Run Full 8‑Hour Shift at Human Speed
Figure AI’s Helix-02 humanoid robots completed an eight‑hour, fully autonomous shift on a package‑sorting line on May 13, 2026, processing barcoded parcels at speeds comparable to human workers. The test, run entirely on‑board without cloud support, showcases a major leap...
Mind Robotics Secures $400 Million to Deploy AI‑Powered Factory Robots
Mind Robotics, the industrial‑robotics spin‑out founded by Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, announced a $400 million funding round led by Kleiner Perkins. The capital will accelerate deployment of AI‑powered robots that can handle complex, judgment‑based tasks on factory floors, marking the startup’s total...
Tesla Now Forces Drivers to Give Feedback when Intervening on ‘Full Self-Driving’
Tesla’s latest Full Self‑Driving update (v14.3.2, software 2026.2.9.9) now forces drivers to answer a feedback prompt every time they intervene. The on‑screen dialog remains until a category—Preference, Discomfort, Navigation, or Critical—or a voice note is submitted, with no dismiss button....
Autonomous Trucks Are Here, But When Will They Scale?
At ACT Expo 2026, leaders from Aurora, Waabi, PlusAI, Torc and Kodiak confirmed that autonomous‑truck technology has moved beyond proof‑of‑concept and is entering full‑scale commercial deployment. Aurora announced hundreds of driverless trucks on the road by year‑end and new Dallas‑Oklahoma...
Deep Dive Into EVs, AV Rules, and Autonomous Tech
🚨@TheAutonocast 363: Did Kirsten enjoy her Lucid Gravity? What’s the Citroen CX of EVs? How’s Waymo Ops doing? Do the CA AV reporting rules make sense? Did I enjoy my friend’s use of FSD on a HW 2.5 Model S?...
Nuro Deploys Level 4 Self‑Driving Platform in Germany, Opens Munich Hub
Nuro announced the launch of its Level 4 self‑driving platform in Germany, establishing a Munich‑area office that will house engineering, operations and partner teams. The move makes Germany the company's third major market after the United States and Japan and tests...
This Driverless Chinese Mining Truck Is Giant, Agile, and Shows the Industrial Future of AI
The Shuanglin K7 is a 45‑foot‑long, 110‑ton autonomous mining truck that boasts Level‑4 AI, allowing it to operate without a human driver. Its drive‑by‑wire system lets each wheel act independently, enabling 360° rotation and crab‑style lateral movement. Developers Shuanglin Group...
RLWRLD Unveils RLDX-1, a Dexterity-First Foundation Model for Humanoid Robots
RLWRLD introduced RLDX-1, a foundation model built for dexterous manipulation on humanoid robots. Developed on NVIDIA’s Isaac stack, the model integrates vision, language, action, tactile and memory streams via a Multi‑Stream Action Transformer. In benchmark tests it outperformed Nvidia’s Isaac...
Volvo Autonomous Solutions Launches Dallas‑Oklahoma City Driverless Freight Lane with DSV
Volvo Autonomous Solutions (VAS) has opened a third commercial autonomous freight lane between Dallas and Oklahoma City, still operating with a safety driver but slated for full driverless service within quarters. The rollout is tied to a new partnership with...
Ai2 Releases Open Robotics Model Designed for Real-World AI Automation
The Allen Institute for AI unveiled MolmoAct 2, an open‑source robotics foundation model that dramatically speeds up robot decision‑making and expands out‑of‑the‑box manipulation capabilities. The new architecture uses Action Reasoning to reason about 3‑D environments, cutting inference latency from 6.7 seconds to...
Merlin Launches Autonomous Flight System for Large Commercial Cargo Aircraft
Merlin announced Merlin Pilot for Commercial Cargo, an AI‑powered autonomy core that can be installed on any large cargo aircraft as part of its new Condor product family. The system is designed to fly autonomously while a safety pilot remains...
GMEX Robotics Receives First Order for Bon Vivant 3.0 Automated Cooking Machines Worth Almost $3 Million
GMEX Robotics announced its first deployment order for the Bon Vivant 3.0 automated cooking platform, valued at roughly $3 million. The initial purchase, worth about A$504,000 (≈$332,000), will be delivered to an undisclosed leading Australian hospitality group by the end of June 2026....
Hyundai Motor Group Ramps up Factory Robots, Igniting Labor‑management Clash
Hyundai Motor Group announced plans to install Boston Dynamics‑built humanoid robots in its vehicle assembly lines, starting with its Georgia factory in 2028. The move has triggered sharp warnings from labor groups that automation could erode jobs, adding to broader...
WeRide Posts 58% Revenue Jump, Expands Robotaxi Fleet to 1,300 Vehicles
WeRide announced Q1 2026 revenue of RMB 114 million ($16 million), up 58% YoY, and a global robotaxi fleet of roughly 1,300 vehicles. The earnings call highlighted rapid international rollout, a 35% gross margin and a share‑repurchase program worth $61.4 million.
Uber Execs Slam Waymo Partnership, Escalating AV Rivalry
Uber’s chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi and policy head Danielle Lam publicly attacked Waymo’s deployment strategy, accusing the Alphabet unit of limited scalability and inequitable city coverage. The remarks intensify a leadership showdown that could reshape autonomous‑vehicle alliances and city‑level rollout...
Fanuc Shares Surge 16% After Partnering with Google on AI-Driven Robots
Fanuc Corp. saw its shares climb up to 16% to a record intraday level after unveiling a partnership with Alphabet’s Google to embed Gemini Enterprise AI into its robot arms. The move signals a major push to combine advanced cloud...
UK Government Signs Self-Driving Partnership with Wayve
The UK Department for Business and Trade has signed a memorandum of understanding with London‑based autonomous‑vehicle firm Wayve to co‑develop safety‑critical self‑driving technology. The agreement, announced on 12 May 2026, focuses on large‑scale simulation, safety assurance and embedding Wayve’s AI software into...
Vision-Language-Action Models Arrive
Vision‑language‑action (VLA) models combine visual perception, natural‑language instructions, and motor control into a single transformer‑based network, and they are rapidly becoming the preferred architecture for robotics and autonomous vehicles. The open‑source Pi‑0.5 model, with 3.3 billion parameters, illustrates the compute‑intensive nature...
AI Agents Now Control Real Devices via Cloud
AI agents are starting to operate real devices like infrastructure. I’m streaming a headless Android phone from a data center to my Mac using scrcpy over Tailscale, then exposing controls to my AI claw through Peekaboo. Now the claw can navigate apps...
30 Hours Continuous Ops, 38K Packages Processed
Figure launched yesterday aiming to hit 8 hours of autonomous work We’ve now crossed 30 hours of continuous operations with no downtime 🔥🔥🔥 We also welcomed Rose to the team - helping push us past 38,000 packages processed https://t.co/aJ47w1aSOr
Waymo Recalls 3,800 Robotaxis After Software Flaw Lets Cars Enter Flooded Roads
Waymo announced a voluntary recall of 3,791 robotaxis equipped with its fifth‑ and sixth‑generation automated driving systems after a software defect could allow vehicles to enter standing water on high‑speed roads. The recall follows an April 20 incident in San...
China FSD Approval: Tesla's Top Financial Catalyst 2024
Approval of FSD in China is the most financially material event of the year for $TSLA
Drone Task Force Inks Deal with US-Based Association
The Drone Diplomacy Task Force signed a letter of intent with the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) at the XPONENTIAL robotics show in Detroit, aiming to foster talent exchanges and joint certification for unmanned aircraft. Taiwan was highlighted...
Lead Intelligent Signs Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center
Lead Intelligent and the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center signed a strategic cooperation agreement to move humanoid robots from labs to mass deployment on industrial production lines, focusing on new‑energy and high‑end manufacturing. The partnership outlines four workstreams: scenario‑driven deployment,...
Aptiv 8th-Generation Radar Selected by Volvo
Aptiv announced a program win with Volvo for its eighth‑generation radar platform, slated for integration into Volvo’s next‑generation vehicle lineup beginning in 2028. The radar will underpin a full suite of safety and driver‑assistance functions and will be paired with...
Uber Partners with Nvidia on Autonomous Deal, Aims for 100,000 Cars by 2027
Uber disclosed a multi‑year partnership with Nvidia to embed the chipmaker’s self‑driving stack across its ride‑hailing fleet. The deal is tied to a goal of fielding 100,000 autonomous vehicles by 2027, a move that could reshape urban mobility and intensify...
Tesla’s Unsupervised Robotaxi Count IS Growing
Tesla’s unsupervised robotaxi fleet has grown to 39 vehicles, with 27 operating in Austin. Dallas and Houston each added a handful of driverless cars, bringing the total unsupervised units to 39 across three Texas cities. NHTSA data shows 30 incidents...
STRADVISION Launches Production‑Ready Integrated Perception Platform for Level‑2+ ADAS
STRADVISION announced a production‑ready integrated perception platform that combines its SVNet vision stack with a leading Physical AI developer. The solution, aimed at Level‑2+ advanced driver‑assistance, is slated for OEM delivery by the third quarter of 2026 and is designed...
Waymo Expands Robotaxi Coverage More than 20% — Larger than Rhode Island
Waymo announced a 27% expansion of its robotaxi service, pushing coverage to over 1,400 square miles across 11 U.S. cities—more area than the entire state of Rhode Island. The rollout begins in Miami and will soon include Austin, Atlanta, Houston...
Tesla Gathers 93,000 FSD Miles in a Country Where FSD Isn’t Approved – Here’s How
Tesla has logged roughly 93,000 miles (150,000 km) of Full Self‑Driving (FSD) activity on the private roads of its Giga Berlin plant, moving Model Y vehicles from the end of the assembly line to the outbound lot. The milestone arrives as...
Unitree's UNISTORE Turns Robots Into App‑Driven Platforms
Humanoid skills are about to make Claude Skills look like a joke Unitree just launched UNISTORE, an app store for humanoid robots. You can create, publish, buy, and deploy robot skills with one click across all their models. Just the motion library is...
Humanoid Robots Complete 8‑Hour Shift Autonomously
Watch a team of humanoid robots running a full 8-hr shift at human performance levels. This is fully autonomous running Helix-02 https://t.co/IdZR0T1F5I
Tesla's Austin Robotaxi Service Falters: Long Waits and Safety Hurdles
Tesla's robotaxi program in Austin is struggling, with only about 50 vehicles serving a city of over 1 million and wait times exceeding 15 minutes half the time. A Reuters test found 27% of ride requests went unanswered, while Waymo operates...
Humanoid Secures Landmark Deal with Schaeffler to Deploy Thousands of Humanoid Robots
UK‑based Humanoid has signed a phased deployment and supply agreement with Schaeffler to roll out thousands of wheeled humanoid robots across the German supplier’s global sites, with the first units operating by end‑2026. The deal, structured as Robot‑as‑a‑Service, includes a...
Level 4 Requires 100 Incident‑Free Robotaxis for Six Months
WeRide CEO says the benchmark to be considered Level 4 is to have 100 robotaxis available to the public for 6 months without incident.