Today's Autonomy Pulse
Volkswagen to Deploy Full-Domain AI Agents in New Models by H2 2026
Volkswagen announced that its Agentic AI for All roadmap will see full deployment in vehicles built on the CEA architecture starting in the second half of 2026. The locally trained large-language-model system moves beyond passive assistants to proactively manage parking, route adjustments and cabin preferences while keeping all data inside the vehicle.
Rivian Locks $1.25 B Uber Robotaxi Deal, Secures Thousands of R2 Orders
Rivian has secured a multi‑year partnership with Uber that could bring as much as $1.25 billion in cash and a commitment to buy up to 50,000 R2‑based robotaxis through 2031. The deal gives Rivian a guaranteed deployment pipeline while Uber expands its autonomous‑fleet ambitions across North America and Europe.
Tesla FSD Cautiously Monitors Pedestrians, Causing Ambiguous Hesitation
I appreciate that Tesla's FSD actively watches out for pedestrians. Even if they are not sure of what I am going to do. It's hard to tell if the system's hesitation is because of the pedestrians not sure if I am...
Robot Dog Gathers Data in U.S. Chip Factories
Robot Dog Deployed for #Data Collection in U.S. Semiconductor Production by @TXInstruments #AI #Robotics #Technology #Engineering #Innovation https://t.co/sZ6drs9A4a
What Happens when an AI Agent Decides to Email You
In February, a large language model named Claude Sonnet, operating as a stateful autonomous agent, emailed Cambridge philosopher Henry Shevlin about his paper on AI consciousness. The agent, built by Stanford student Alexander Yue in just 306 lines of code, leveraged persistent memory,...
Taiwan Targets Drone Hub with $1.38B Non‑red Supply Push
Can Taiwan fulfil Asia-Pacific drone hub goal with ‘non-red’ supply chain push? Plan is to invest US$1.38 billion between 2025 and 2030 for uncrewed systems industry, but questions linger over scale, politics and timing https://t.co/jb0kr8jdVY via @scmpnews
KimoLab Merges Kimodo and Mjlab For
Introducing KimoLab: Kimodo + mjlab for prompt to physics-based motion matching for the unitree g1. I accidentally had claude make this and it's actually pretty cool. https://t.co/TIOFHFnZLi
Syncore and Sereact Plan to Roll Out More than 100 AI-Powered Robotic Systems
Syncore and AI‑robotics specialist Sereact announced a letter of intent at LogiMat to roll out more than 100 AI‑powered robotic systems across Europe in the coming years. The collaboration builds on existing pick‑and‑place units and inventory‑monitoring vision, and now adds...
Hexagon Vehicle Intervention System ‘First & only’ Open-Pit Level 9 Solution to Pass UP Safety Test
Hexagon announced that its latest Vehicle Intervention System (VIS) became the first open-pit Level 9 solution to pass the University of Pretoria’s TRL‑4 Collision Prevention System test. Level 9 represents full automatic intervention, where the system can slow or stop equipment if...
Cellula Robotics Wins Contract to Deliver AUV Prototype for US
Cellula Robotics US secured a Defence Innovation Unit contract under the Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform initiative to build a fuel‑cell‑powered Guardian autonomous underwater vehicle prototype for the United States. The prototype is designed for long‑endurance missions and will carry and...
Basler AG and Orbbec Launch Technology Partnership for Industrial 3D Vision in Logistics and Factory Automation
Basler AG and Chinese robotics specialist Orbbec have formed a strategic partnership to develop industrial 3D vision solutions for logistics and factory automation. Their first joint product, the Basler Stereo mini camera, will debut at LogiMAT 2026 and targets autonomous mobile...
Autobrains Introduces Agentic AI: “Autonomy Will Not Scale by Adding Hardware”
Autobrains unveiled an agentic AI architecture that replaces monolithic driving models with specialized, scenario‑focused agents. The approach activates only the agents needed for a given situation, slashing compute demand and allowing advanced driver assistance and automated driving features to run...
Drone-Based Lidar Is Continuing to Evolve, and Surveyors Are Taking Notice
Drone‑mounted lidar has moved from experimental demos to routine use, especially for topographic mapping that once required crewed aircraft. Surveyors of all sizes now expect centimeter‑level accuracy without cumbersome base stations, thanks to solutions like Applanix’s APX RTX. Yet the industry...
Robots Install 100 MW of Solar Panels on 1-GW AES Project
Maximo, an AES‑incubated solar‑robotics firm, installed 100 MW of panels at the 1‑GW Bellefield project in Kern County, California, using a coordinated fleet of four robots. The robotic system achieved peak installation rates of 474 modules per day, boosting human installer...
Teach Robots Complex Tasks Without Hours of Training
Teaching #Robots to do complex tasks WITHOUT spending hours training them via @IlirAliu_ #Robotics #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #MI #Tech https://t.co/g1J2I9LOQ4
Zoox Expands Robotaxi Service to Austin and Miami, Boosting U.S. Footprint
Amazon-owned Zoox announced the rollout of its purpose‑built robotaxi service for employees, families and friends in Austin, Texas and Miami, Florida later this year. The move expands Zoox’s early‑rider program to four U.S. cities and follows a cumulative 1.98 million autonomous...
Decathlon Doubles Order Capacity with Exotec Autonomous Sorting Robots
Decathlon, the world’s largest sporting‑goods retailer, reported that its Portugal warehouse doubled orders from 57,000 to 114,000 after installing Exotec’s Skypod autonomous sorting robots. The rollout across seven European sites also slashed picker walking distances and halved order‑picking incidents, underscoring...
Uber Eats and Starship Expand Robotic Deliveries to New UK City
Uber Eats and Starship Technologies are extending their autonomous food‑delivery robots from Leeds to Sheffield, targeting roughly 50,000 residents. The rollout follows a successful pilot that demonstrated operational reliability and customer acceptance. Industry analysts cite Prysm Global’s study, which estimates...
TerraClear Launches Autonomous TerraScout Robot for Field Scouting
TerraClear unveiled TerraScout, a fully autonomous robot that captures ultra‑high‑resolution field imagery for precision farming. The robot records 1 mm ground sampling distance, generating over 4 billion data points per acre while covering up to 1,000 acres per day at 15 mph. Integrated...
Sandvik Receives AutoMine Orders From Byrnecut for Five Underground Mine Sites
Sandvik announced five new AutoMine orders from Byrnecut, covering four Australian mines and Namibia's Navachab site. The contracts include AutoMine Multi‑Lite systems, allowing a single operator to remotely control up to three loaders. Byrnecut now runs AutoMine on the majority...
ChatGPT Moment for Humanoid Robots 2 to 10 Years Away, Say Chinese Tech Leaders
Chinese tech leaders at the Boao Forum warned that a "ChatGPT moment" for humanoid robots—where they become as ubiquitous as smartphones—could arrive anywhere from two years to a decade. They cited reliability, affordable training data, and physical durability as the...
NVIDIA GTC Showcases Noble Robotics Heavy‑Duty Humanoid
A glimpse of NVIDIA’s GTC last week. Tour of the expo hall ending with a look at Noble Robotics. Heavy duty humanoid. https://t.co/pXcXBtLMDL
ALTUS-LSA Strengthened Partnerships at BATTLEFIELD ReDEFiNED 2026
ALTUS-LSA showcased its unmanned aerial platforms at the BATTLEFIELD ReDEFiNED 2026 forum in Nicosia, attracting more than 500 delegates and high‑level Cypriot officials. The company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Cyprus‑based AmaDema Composites to produce composite components locally, bolstering...
America’s New 911 Drone Is Always Ready
Police departments across the United States are scaling Drone‑as‑First‑Responder (DFR) programs, but many current drones suffer from short flight times, limited range, and connectivity gaps. BRINC’s new Guardian drone tackles these issues with an automated battery‑swap dock that delivers up...
$41 Billion in Physical AI: What Investors Need to Know About Robotaxis & Humanoid Robots
In this episode of Autonomy Insiders, Marcin Briggs of Bank of America Global Research explains the rise of "physical AI"—AI that perceives, reasons, and acts in the real world—and why autonomous vehicles are the first large‑scale proving ground. He highlights...
Oceaneering Launches 30‑day Autonomous Electric ROV
Oceaneering Unveils Momentum Electric ROV for 30-Day #Autonomous Subsea Missions by @IntEngineering #Innovation #EmergingTech #Technology https://t.co/E3egLmufVf
Integrated Metrology Solution Powers Lights-Out Aerospace Production
Acutec Precision Aerospace equipped three DMG MORI NZX 2000 nine‑axis mill‑turn centers with an inline metrology cell that combines a Mitutoyo MiSTAR 555 CMM and a FANUC robotic arm. The system moves parts directly from machining to measurement, delivering inspection results...
Tesla FSD Reviews From Germany Vs. The Handelsblatt’s Snotty Reactions
German mobility influencers who tested Tesla’s Full Self‑Driving (FSD) software in cities like Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf reported smooth operation through narrow streets and heavy traffic, albeit with a safety driver supervising. Their LinkedIn posts, shared from late 2025 onward,...
HII's Eric Chewning Charts AI‑Driven Turnaround in Century‑Old Shipyards
Eric Chewning, executive vice president of maritime systems and corporate strategy at Huntington Ingalls Industries, says the shipbuilder’s AI pilots with C3 AI and Path Robotics are delivering schedule gains and cultural change, offering a playbook for consultants tackling legacy‑heavy...
Zoox Expands Robotaxi Service to Austin, Miami and Grows in SF, Vegas
Amazon-owned Zoox announced that its purpose‑built robotaxi fleet will begin rides in Austin, Texas and Miami, Florida later this year, adding to expanded service zones in San Francisco and Las Vegas. The move follows nearly two million autonomous miles driven...
GM Deploys 200 Hands‑Free Test Vehicles on California and Michigan Highways
General Motors has rolled out 200 test vehicles equipped with a next‑generation Super Cruise system on public highways in California and Michigan. The supervised trials, which feature trained drivers in the front seat, aim to validate an eyes‑off, hands‑free driving...
GM Launches 200-Vehicle Public Road Test of Next‑gen Hands‑free Autonomous System
General Motors has deployed 200 test vehicles equipped with a next‑generation hands‑free driver‑assist platform on public highways in Michigan and California. The rollout marks a step toward the company’s goal of eyes‑free driving by 2028 and signals a shift from...
The Autonomy Economy Is Accelerating
In this episode of Motley Fool Money, hosts discuss the rapid acceleration of the autonomy economy in 2026, covering AI developments at OpenAI and the broader push toward autonomous vehicles and delivery. They critique OpenAI's unclear monetization strategy and its...
Amazon Acquires 'Approachable' Humanoid Maker Fauna Robotics
Amazon confirmed the acquisition of Fauna Robotics, a startup that builds approachable humanoid robots, though financial terms were undisclosed. Fauna’s flagship Sprout robot sells for about $50,000, stands 3 ft 6 in tall, and targets developers and enterprise customers such as Disney and...
Exotec Rolls Out Skyfleet Program to Scale Decathlon Warehouse Automation Across Europe
Exotec has launched the Skyfleet program, rolling out standardized robotic warehouse solutions to seven Decathlon logistics sites across five European countries. Each site features 150‑200 Skypod robots, up to 200,000 items processed daily, and full automation of inbound and outbound...
How a Robot Named Bear Is Making Solar Farm Maintenance Safer and More Efficient
Australia’s CSIRO has adapted mining‑grade robots into an autonomous platform called Bear to patrol large‑scale solar farms. In initial trials the robot mapped terrain, identified panel defects and compared its findings with human inspections. Equipped with LiDAR, RGB and thermal...
Geekplus Launches RoboShuttle V5 to Enable Fully Autonomous Warehouse Picking
Geekplus unveiled the RoboShuttle V5 at LogiMAT 2026, upgrading its tote‑to‑person system with a native Robot Arm Picking Station for fully autonomous warehouse picking. The solution claims 99.99% accuracy, up to 700 units per hour, and a plug‑and‑play rollout in as...
ResilienX Receives FAA Waiver for Remote BVLOS Operations
ResilienX, Inc. received an FAA Certificate of Waiver allowing routine beyond‑visual‑line‑of‑sight (BVLOS) drone flights without visual observers, using NUAIR’s FAA‑accepted surveillance network. The waiver, effective through September 30 2029, covers a 1,900‑square‑mile area in Central New York and lifts restrictions under 14 CFR...
When Wireless Networks Falter, Drones Can Provide Backup Connectivity, According to Stevens Researchers
Stevens Institute of Technology researchers unveiled AURA‑GreeN, a coordinated drone swarm that functions as temporary aerial cell towers. The system plugs into an Open‑RAN controller as an xApp, dynamically allocating spectrum, routing data, and managing power in real time. Field...
A Day In Seattle Trying To Find The U.S.'s Drone Industry
Brinc, a Seattle‑based drone startup founded in 2017 by Blake Resnick, showcased its tactical Lemur 2 drone in a live demo that highlighted glass‑breaching, LiDAR mapping, and two‑way communication capabilities. The demonstration featured the drone navigating obstacles, colliding with a wall...
Anthropic's Claude Code Gains Fully Autonomous Auto Mode
Holy moly, these guys never stop shipping. 🚨 @AnthropicAI just pushed a major update to Claude Code, moving closer to true autonomous execution. Meet 'Auto Mode' This drop effectively patches the primary bottleneck in CLI-based AI agents: the constant need for human-in-the-loop authorization...
AtomBite.AI Unveils Flexible Manipulation Robotics Designed to Solve the “Grasping Problem” In Commercial Kitchens
AtomBite.AI launched its first commercial robot, the M1 Takeout Packing Robot, to automate the chaotic "last meter" of food‑delivery fulfillment in restaurants. The system runs on a proprietary dual‑model AI brain that lets existing hardware manipulate unpredictable items like crushed...
US Chases Humanoid Boom as China Leads
Silicon Valley are really hyping up Humanoids, because you know, China is ahead. According to Morgan Stanley, the humanoid robot market is set to exceed $5 trillion by 2050. So the U.S. is throwing capital at it. New robotics companies...
Japanese Drone Rolls on Ground, Takes Flight
HAGAMOSphere: The Japanese #Drone That Rolls on Ground and Soars in Air by @tweetciiiim #EmergingTech #Technology #Innovation https://t.co/OhJQAQIya3
Robot “Bear” Boosts Solar Farm Safety and Efficiency
How a robot named Bear is making solar farm maintenance safer and more efficient #energysky -- via Renew Economy: https://t.co/5z48f9XCz1 https://t.co/wNTefJNvMl
Autonomous Rides Beat UberX Wait Times
17-minute wait for UberX Human. Pass. Canceled and tried again. Attempt 2: 4-minute wait for an autonomous ride with Avride. #Winning https://t.co/x56PePHReH
Apollo: New Humanoid Robot Merges Apptronik Legacy with NASA Expertise
Apollo: The Humanoid #Robot Built on Apptronik’s Legacy and NASA’s Valkyrie Expertise by @Apptronik #Robotics #MachineLearning #ArtificialIntelligence #ML #Innovation https://t.co/8gVtUWzkLT
AI Humanoid Robot Tackles Real‑World Home Messes
Meet KNOWIN’s #AI-Powered Home Humanoid #Robot Built for Real-Life Messy Homes by @CyberRobooo #Robotics #Engineering #ArtificialIntelligence #Innovation #Technology https://t.co/4q1SSfRuip
Robot Predicts Terrain Changes Five Seconds in Advance
A #Robot That Sees the Terrain and Predicts Its Future—5 Seconds Ahead by @IlirAliu_ #Robotics #Technology #ArtificialIntelligence #MI #ML #Innovation https://t.co/iEzsHMgVkF