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.
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Faraday Future delivered its Master robot and a pilot Aegis robot to Texas‑based NS Federation, marking the company’s second EAI robotics delivery after a home‑sharing operator. The rollout introduces two new application scenarios—Robot & Vehicle + Education and Robot & Vehicle + Performance—targeting schools, research labs, and entertainment venues. These scenarios expand real‑world deployments of Faraday’s embodied AI ecosystem and underline its push toward positive gross‑margin robot sales. The move complements the firm’s broader strategy to blend electric mobility with intelligent robotics.
Hybrid AI Planner Turns Images Into Robot Action Plans
MIT researchers unveiled VLM‑guided formal planning (VLMFP), a hybrid AI system that converts a single image into executable robot action plans. The approach couples a vision‑language simulator (SimVLM) with a generative model (GenVLM) to produce PDDL files for classical planners,...
UK Moves Forward with Project Beehive, Plans 20 New Uncrewed Surface Vessels
The Royal Navy will acquire 20 uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) under Project Beehive, with a £10.25 million contract awarded to Kraken Works. The agreement, decided on 5 March 2026, moves into signing by 23 March and execution through 31 March 2027. Delivered at Technology Readiness Level...
The Download: Pokémon Go to Train World Models, and the US-China Race to Find Aliens
Niantic Spatial, a spin‑out of Pokémon Go creator Niantic, is turning the game’s massive crowdsourced map data into a real‑world model that can ground large language models and give delivery robots centimeter‑level navigation. The firm hopes this will enable autonomous vehicles...
Tesla FSD Hesitates on Green Left Turns, Misreads Speed Zones
Tesla FSD (Supervised) v14.2.2.5 Sudden braking on greenlight protected left hand turns. At Van Ness and Broadway there's two lanes of arrow-lighted protected left hand turns. Today the MY braked hard even when light was green. I tapped accelerator and we...
Blue States Stall Projects with Endless Studies, Not Waymos
Yep: "Red states get Waymos. Blue states get studies." https://t.co/NpcSYElH74 via @kelseytuoc "Time and again, when there’s a controversial upzoning or transit project, opponents will demand studies in order to delay or undermine important projects."
New Partnership to Offer Smart Robots for Dangerous Environments
ADLINK Technology and Under Control Robotics have entered a strategic alliance to develop general‑purpose, bipedal robots for hazardous industrial environments. The collaboration merges ADLINK’s DLAP edge AI platform, built on NVIDIA Jetson Thor, with Noble Machines’ autonomy and whole‑body control software,...
Uber and Zoox CEOs Host Live Bloomberg TV Q&A
Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi and Zoox's Aicha Evans join me on @BloombergTV at 730amPT. We welcome your questions: https://t.co/xt2gmW9DZs
Uber Partners with Zoox for Robotaxi Rides via App
NEWS: Uber has reached an agreement with Zoox to make rides available through the Uber app on the Zoox purpose-built robotaxi starting in Las Vegas this summer and expanding to LA next year. Story and details @TheTerminal with @natlungfy This is...
Sivers to Supply Lasers and Optical Amplifiers Worth $53–138m over Customer’s Product Life-Cycle
Sivers Semiconductors announced a multi‑year supply agreement to provide continuous‑wave DFB lasers and optical amplifiers to a strategic LiDAR customer, with a total revenue potential of $53‑138 million over the product life‑cycle. Production is slated to ramp in Q4 2026 for automotive...
Pokémon Go Data Powers Precise Navigation for Delivery Robots
How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world https://t.co/LRmataUBKU https://t.co/cQ8zvuMnlC
Australia Orders 40 Additional Bluebottle USVs
The Australian government has approved a $176 million contract with Ocius Technology to procure 40 additional Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessels, raising the navy’s fleet to 55 units. The solar‑, wind‑ and wave‑powered USVs provide long‑endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance across the...
Greenfield Robotics Unveils Next-Generation Robots for Precision Weed Control and Crop Management
Greenfield Robotics unveiled a new generation of Botony robots featuring tracked locomotion, heavier cutting decks and motors, and a weight increase to roughly 500 pounds. The machines are modular, supporting weeding, foliar feeding and future cover‑crop seeding attachments, and can...
Accelerating 4D Imaging Radar with Vision 4DR
Cadence introduced a 4D imaging radar solution that couples its Vision 341 DSP with the Vision 4DR accelerator to handle the heavy FFT workload inherent in high‑resolution MIMO radars. Adding elevation to range, velocity and azimuth creates a massive data...
Driver’s Licenses Still Required for Next 3‑5 Years
We talk a lot about incoming autonomous vehicle fleets and revolutions worldwide, but trust me within the next 3-5 years you’ll still need a drivers license.
Congress Wants to Put Driverless 80,000-Pound Trucks on the Road – Should Small Carriers Be Worried
The SELF DRIVE Act (H.R. 7390) would create a federal framework allowing fully autonomous 80,000‑pound trucks to operate commercially while under testing permits, expanding NHTSA authority and preempting state rules. The bill requires manufacturers to submit a safety case but...
Garuda Selects Airbus Flexrotor to Expand Its UAS Leasing Portfolio
Airbus Helicopters and Garuda Technologies have signed a contract to deliver up to 18 Flexrotor uncrewed aerial systems. Garuda will integrate the high‑endurance Flexrotor into its leasing portfolio, offering both dry and wet lease options for civil and parapublic missions...
Poultry Processing Robotics Advances with ChicGrasp
Researchers at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station unveiled ChicGrasp, a dual‑jaw robotic gripper that learns to grasp, lift, and hang chicken carcasses by imitating human motions. The system employs a diffusion‑policy imitation‑learning algorithm and camera perception, achieving an 81% success...
Finally, A Solution to the Driver Shortage: Humanoid Robots
Autonomous vehicle adoption has lagged behind the growing driver shortage in logistics. Osmosis.AI unveiled a proof‑of‑concept where its AI platform, trained on proprietary data, was transferred to a humanoid robot that successfully navigated a company parking lot. The demonstration suggests...
Windracers Sets New Safety Benchmark with World-First BARS Status for Heavy-Lift Drones
Windracers, a British dual‑use heavy‑lift drone firm, has become the first heavy‑lift operator worldwide to earn Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Green status, confirming compliance with the Flight Safety Foundation’s rigorous safety criteria. The certification covers its flagship ULTRA platform,...
Traditional Automakers Missed Autonomous Future; Nvidia Leads
The funny thing is that Volkswagen sponsored the Stanford University department and building where @waymo started. Yet didn't invest in building an autonomous vehicle itself. Just like all the other traditional automakers. It's like Eastman Kodak, which invented the digital camera,...
Eyes in the Sky: The French Drone Redefining Remote Surveillance
Boreal SAS unveiled the BOREAL ISR, a sub‑25 kg fixed‑wing drone that relies exclusively on satellite communications, freeing it from traditional radio‑frequency constraints. The platform launches via catapult, can be readied by two operators in under 30 minutes, and delivers eight hours...
Aurrigo International Signs £6.28m Deal to Manufacture 25 AGVs for Ultra Global
Aurrigo International has secured a £6.28 million contract to build an initial fleet of 25 autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) for Ultra Global, with delivery targeted for September 2027. The agreement calls for modernising existing platforms, swapping lead‑acid batteries for lithium‑ion packs, upgrading...
TUM RoboGym Will Begin Robot Training Midyear
Neura Robotics and the Technical University of Munich have launched the TUM RoboGym, a 2,300 m² physical AI training centre at the Munich Airport Convergence Center. The facility will host a large fleet of humanoid robots for real‑world training starting mid‑2026. Joint...
AirData Launches Dedicated Public Safety Program for Law Enforcement, Fire, and Emergency Response Agencies Worldwide
AirData, the world’s leading drone fleet management platform, has unveiled a dedicated Public Safety Program aimed at law‑enforcement, fire and emergency response agencies across 60 regions. The service promises a guided, self‑serve onboarding that can activate an agency’s account in...
U.S. Safety Agency Seeks Comments on Zoox Petition to Deploy Steering Wheel-Less Robotaxis
U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a public comment period on Amazon‑owned Zoox’s petition to operate up to 2,500 steering‑wheel‑free robotaxis. Zoox seeks exemptions from eight federal vehicle‑safety standards designed for human‑driven cars, arguing its purpose‑built autonomous...
6 Best Robot Lawn Mowers That Make Yardwork Easy and Automated
The article reviews six top robot lawn mowers, highlighting categories such as best overall, best value, best multi‑season, best for large yards, most user‑friendly, and best remote control. Prices now range from $750 to $2,500, with rear‑wheel‑drive units covering flat...
Merging LiDAR Performance with Radar Robustness
Teradar emerged from stealth with a $150 million Series B round to launch a new class of terahertz sensors that blend LiDAR‑level resolution with radar‑grade all‑weather and Doppler performance. The solid‑state, modular design can be mounted behind vehicle bumpers, eliminating moving parts...
INTERTRAFFIC: BMW and Monotch Paper Calls for C-ITS Structural Reset
BMW and Monotch released a joint whitepaper at Intertraffic Amsterdam urging a structural overhaul of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS). The authors argue that two decades of policy, standards and investment have yielded fragmented deployments because the prevailing "technology neutrality"...
Niantic Spatial Partners with Coco Robotics to Accelerate the Future of Autonomous Delivery
Niantic Spatial announced a strategic partnership with Coco Robotics to embed its Visual Positioning System (VPS) into Coco’s autonomous delivery fleet. The collaboration aims to overcome GPS limitations in dense urban environments by delivering centimeter‑level localization using spatial AI and...
Fintraffic and Siemens Mobility Ran Finland’s First Automated Train Drive with ETCS and ATO
Fintraffic and Siemens Mobility completed the Nordic region’s first automated train run using ETCS Level 2 and Automatic Train Operation on a 19‑km stretch between Juurikorpi and Hamina. The GoA2 trial achieved automated stops within 30‑80 cm at 100 km/h, demonstrating system stability...
XGSynBot Debuts Z1 Wheeled Robot, Targeting the "Last Mile" Of Industrial Embodied AI
XGSynBot unveiled the Z1 wheeled robot, featuring a modular quick‑change end‑effector system and proprietary high‑performance joint modules. The robot’s dual‑system central brain separates high‑level reasoning from 100 Hz real‑time motor control, enabling rapid task switching and millisecond‑level stability on factory floors....
Qualcomm and Wayve Collaborate on Pre-Integrated ADAS/AD System for Auto Makers
Qualcomm Technologies and Wayve announced a joint effort to deliver a pre‑integrated ADAS and autonomous driving (AD) system built on Qualcomm's Snapdragon Ride SoC and Wayve's AI Driver software. The solution bundles high‑performance compute, active safety stack and end‑to‑end AI...
FAULHABER BXI: Made for the Next Generation of Robotics
FAULHABER introduced the BXI, its most powerful integrated drive system yet, delivering up to 20 Nm torque within a 34 mm package. The unit combines an internal‑rotor motor, stepped planetary gearhead, and a 15‑bit absolute encoder, operating up to 50 V. Its flat...
The Real Barrier to Driverless Trucks Is No Longer Software
A new Telemetry report argues that driverless trucking has outgrown software development and now faces a manufacturing bottleneck. Retro‑fitted autonomous trucks, while quick to prototype, suffer from inconsistent quality, high costs, and limited after‑sales support. The report recommends factory‑built Level 4...
Certis Partners with FieldAI to Deploy Autonomous Robots for Security Operations
Singapore security services firm Certis has struck a strategic partnership with U.S. robotics specialist FieldAI to field autonomous robots across multi‑site security operations. The collaboration blends FieldAI’s foundation‑model autonomy software with Certis’ Mozart orchestration platform, enabling robots to patrol, monitor...
ForwardX Marks One Year of Large-Scale AMR Operations at Chery's Dalian Factory
ForwardX Robotics celebrates one year of large‑scale autonomous mobile robot (AMR) operations at Chery's Dalian automotive plant. Over 270 fourth‑generation AMRs now run in the welding and final‑assembly workshops, handling material delivery for 32 welding parts and 95 final‑assembly parts....
Robots Must Manage Their Environment to Achieve True Autonomy
Is "Environmental Maintenance" the missing link in robotics? We talk a lot about speed and precision. We don't talk enough about order. The Robostral WMa1 by Mistral is signaling a shift in how we build autonomous systems. It’s no longer just about executing a command;...
Future Drivers Face Tougher Tests as Cars Outpace Safety
Not so crazy prediction: 25 years from now, humans will be monstrously less safe than autonomous cars. What will happen? Driving tests will become more rigorous.
Blend Engineering and Human Factors for Successful AVs
Quick day trip to Amsterdam🇳🇱 for @intertraffic. And had a fascinating panel discussion on "User Acceptance of Automated Vehicles (AVs)". It's time that we don't differentiate engineering & human factors when it comes to product design. They come together for...
All New Cars Will Be Autonomous Within a Decade
"10 years from now, every single car sold will have autonomous capabilities" - @dkhos at @Abundance360 2026 summit.
Uber's Platform, Not Car Makers, Will Win Robotaxi Race
Everyone's arguing over who wins the autonomous vehicle race. Tesla? Waymo? Google? Wrong question. Uber is building the Marriott model for robotaxis. Their vision is financial giants & people own their fleets. Uber provides the operating platform. $1 trillion upside.
Uber Invites Tesla, Aims to Own Ride‑network
Uber has a fascinating response to Elon’s vertical approach to autonomy: “We’d welcome Tesla on the Uber platform.” Smart move. Tesla may own the cars, but Uber wants to OWN the network.
Future Mobility: Hybrid Mix of AVs and Human Drivers
Uber CEO @dkhos mentioned something very important: Our society will not be ALL autonomous vehicles or all human. It's hybrid. AV fleets in some cities, human drivers in others. The binary debate is dead.
Uber Gears up for Global Robotaxi Revolution
Autonomous vehicles are the future of transportation. An honor to have @dkhos discuss at @Abundance360 how Uber is preparing for the global rise of robotaxis and self-driving fleets. https://t.co/7voCjMqg6g
FSD and Starlink Could Spark US Suburban Reversal
@elonmusk believes FSD + Starlink may reverse urbanization in America. This is a plausible possibility... The US has <50 people per sq km.
Waterproof Autonomous Drone Camera Works Anywhere
A Waterproof #Autonomous Flying Camera for Any Environment via @ZappyZappy7 #Innovation #TechForGood #EmergingTech #Tech https://t.co/IRkTmCfcgz
Perseverance Achieves 90% Autonomous Travel After 1,312 Sols
Perseverance had completed about 90 percent of its travels autonomously, as of its 1,312th Martian day since landing https://t.co/EpREqOS43q #AI
Atlas Evolves: From Hydraulic Bulk to AI-Driven Agility
2021 Atlas humanoid robot was a bulky, hydraulic robot. Back then, it relied on algorithms written by engineers. 2026 Atlas has a sleek, all-electric body and an AI-powered brain, smart enough to pull off hard-to-believe feats autonomously. https://t.co/U0bW8alre4
Waymo Robotaxis Burden San Francisco with Hidden Costs
Uncovered records reveal the hidden costs of Waymo robotaxis on San Francisco streets https://t.co/4a5xP3IMq9 via @fastcompany