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.
Execution, Not Chat: How Agentic AI Changes Supply Chain Operations
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 tax.” Gartner predicts half of cross‑functional supply‑chain solutions will feature agentic capabilities by 2030, yet over 40% of projects may be abandoned without proper governance. Successful deployments hinge on a robust ontology, telemetry, and clear escalation rules to deliver measurable gains.
NY Governor Blocks Robotaxi Rollout, Waymo Hit, Tesla Dips
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...
US Army Lets Soldiers Flaunt Their Drone Skills in First-Ever Competition
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 to Deploy Agility Robotics’ Digit Humanoids
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...
From Rocks to Row Crops, TerraClear Broadens Its Capabilities with Launch of Fully Autonomous Robot
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 to Exhibit at DesignCon, APEX and MAX in Early 2026
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+®...
How Automation Addresses Industry’s Worker Shortage While Improving Safety and Job Satisfaction
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 Bets Big on Hard-to-Copy Logistics Startups
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 Adds Cosmos Policy to Its World Foundation Models
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...
The Download: Autonomous Narco Submarines, and Virtue Signaling Chatbots
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...
320. Why SDV Strategy Needs Application Layer Innovation
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 Targets Italian Market with Strategic Partnership on USVs and Hybrid Platforms
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...
Introducing Automation in One of the World's Most Demanding Mining Environments
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,...
Fly at Your Own Peril: The “Zombie” App Leading UK Pilots Into a National Security Trap
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 Opens Large Drone Production Hub in Arkansas
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....
High-Precision Local Positioning System for GPS-Denied Drones & Robotics
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....
Middle East Weekly: Baidu’s Apollo Go Operates Driverless Fleet at WGS, QIA Commits USD 2 Billion to Startups, Qatar Signs...
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 Supports Parasafe Integration for High-Altitude UAVs
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,...
AI Breakthrough Could Replace Rare Earth Magnets in Electric Vehicles
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....
AI Racing Drone Beats Human Controlled FPV Racing Drones on Aerial Racetrack: An Overlooked ‘AlphaGo Moment’ with Future War Implications
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...
Now We Know Why Tesla Killed Autopilot
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 Showcases 3-in-1 Precision AI Robot at Southwest Ag Summit 2026
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....
2‑Year Postdoc in Uncrewed Systems at Swedish Defence University
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 Halts Blue Jay Robotics Project After Less than 6 Months
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 2026 Underscores Robotics as a Critical U.S. Industry and Workforce Engine
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 Launches Digital Twin Technology to Accelerate System Development
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...
Bay Area ROS Meetup: Drones, Autonomy, Expert Speakers
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, Wisk Aero Propose New Class of Flight Rules to Enable Automated AAM Operations
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’s Big Miami Plans: Two Depots With the Ability to Scale to Thousands of Vehicles
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 Follows Digital-First Strategy for Advanced Air Mobility
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...
Tesla FSD Cannonball Run: Triumphs, Mishaps, and Unseen Heroes
The untold story of what went right (and hilariously wrong) on the 1st Tesla FSD Cannonball Run Record drive This record would not have been possible w/o the steely resilience of @dackboor & Paul Pham https://t.co/yU15sIGx47
Skydio Poised for $4M Windfall From LAPD Drone Deal
The Los Angeles Police Commission approved a private donation that could deliver up to $4 million to drone maker Skydio, funding a three‑year “Drone as First Responder” program. The deal includes a $2.1 million grant for drones, docking stations and installation, plus...
U.S. Firms Test Venom Autonomous Strike Aircraft
Divergent Technologies and Mach Industries unveiled Venom, an autonomous strike aircraft prototype that reached flight readiness in just 71 days. The rapid development leveraged Mach's modular open‑systems architecture and Divergent's Adaptive Production System, which uses additive manufacturing to produce monolithic...
From UAV Spraying to Climate Intelligence: What Research Reveals About Sustainable Agri-UAS Deployment
Recent research on agricultural UAVs in India shows that drones can deliver genuine sustainability gains, but only when design, flight parameters, and data‑driven decisions are optimized. Life‑cycle assessments reveal reductions in water use, chemical load, and operator exposure under ideal...
Artimus Robotics Is Launching Next-Generation Artificial Muscles and Seeking Partners to Evaluate the Technology in Markets Requiring Dexterous Robotic Manipulation.
Artimus Robotics unveiled its next‑generation HASEL artificial muscles, delivering more than twice the mechanical output of the prior version. The new actuators are fully encapsulated, improving safety and simplifying integration into robotic systems. Artimus is actively recruiting partners to test...
UK Sets Out Vision for Open, Interoperable Connected Vehicle Services
The UK Department for Transport introduced a Connected Vehicle Services (CVS) Framework to establish an open, interoperable ecosystem for vehicle‑infrastructure data. The non‑prescriptive model defines a national baseline of services, guiding local authority investments, standards and policy without mandating specific...
E-Con Systems Launches DepthVista Helix 3D CW iToF Camera for Robotics and Industrial Automation
e-con Systems has introduced the DepthVista Helix 3D Continuous‑Wave iToF camera, targeting industrial robotics and automation. The device leverages a 1.2 MP onsemi Hyperlux ID AF0130 sensor to deliver depth, confidence, and IR‑grayscale streams at 60 fps with less than 1 % deviation...
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Rösler UK has installed a Universal Robots collaborative robot equipped with a Cambrian Robotics vision system at its Knowsley Customer Experience Centre. The cobot autonomously loads and unloads a variety of aluminium and steel components for mass‑finishing and shot‑blasting machines,...
WingtraRAY Earns C6 Mark for Advanced EU Flights
Swiss drone maker Wingtra announced that its WingtraRAY mapping platform has secured both C3 and C6 certifications under the EASA framework, issued by TÜV Rheinland. The C6 mark, tied to specific‑category standardized risk scenarios, unlocks beyond‑visual‑line‑of‑sight (BVLOS) operations when the...
U.S. Contract Sends Revolutionary Naval Drones to Japan
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Liquid Robotics a $25 million sole‑source contract to deliver 20 unmanned surface vehicles to Japan under a Foreign Military Sales program. The award covers control software, mission‑specific payloads, and launch‑recovery equipment, with work slated for...
BAE Systems Completes Successful Trials of ATLAS UGV
BAE Systems announced that its Autonomous Tactical Light Armour System (ATLAS) uncrewed ground vehicle has successfully completed a series of trials covering remote teleoperation, waypoint navigation and full sense‑and‑avoid autonomy. The eight‑wheel, 10‑tonne prototype demonstrated integration of the VANTAGE medium‑calibre...
Brightpick Partners with NAPA on Robotic Fulfillment Deployments at DCs
Brightpick announced a strategic partnership with NAPA to roll out AI‑powered robotic fulfillment across the retailer’s distribution centers. After a successful 2025 pilot, the 2026 agreement will see more than 100 Brightpick goods‑to‑person robots deployed at an initial site, with...
UAV Navigation & Ekolot Aerospace and Defense Partner on ZEUS VTOL Platform
UAV Navigation-Grupo Oesía and Ekolot Aerospace & Defense have forged a strategic partnership to embed high‑precision flight‑control and navigation systems into the ZEUS VTOL platform. The ZEUS family, with a maximum take‑off weight of 100‑250 kg and payload capacity of 30‑150 kg,...
Allient Appoints New Director of Engineering to Support Motion Control Development
Allient has named Ben Vespone as Director of Engineering for its Rochester unit, overseeing new product development and value‑add design projects. Vespone brings a master’s degree from the University of Rochester and a track record launching complex electronic and electromechanical...
Global Shop Solutions AI Tools Streamline Manufacturing Processes
Global Shop Solutions launched two AI‑driven modules—AI Accounts Payable Automation and AI Sales Order Entry—integrated into its ERP platform. The AP tool scans invoices, extracts key data and matches them to purchase orders, eliminating manual entry and reducing errors. The...
Run VLAs in Real Time Using Fast Edge Adapter
Check out Noriaki's thread about a way to get VLAs to run in real time with a fast "edge adapter"!
AI Becomes the New UI with Tesla’s Cybercab
What is AI-first design? @Tesla Cybercab is a fully autonomous vehicle with no steering wheel, no pedals, no side mirrors or a rear window - relying entirely on self-driving technology with a target cost of $30K USD by 2026-27. AI is...
Robotaxis Wreck 4x More than Humans, and at Least One Tesla Wants to Swim
Tesla’s autonomous robotaxi fleet in Austin logged five additional crashes this month, pushing the crash rate to more than four times that of human drivers. In China, the company’s sales plunged over 45% amid negative media coverage. A viral video...
Modex 2026: MHI Innovation Award Finalists Announced
MHI announced the finalists for its 2026 Innovation Awards, selecting twelve solutions from 220 submissions. The entries span four categories—Best New Innovation, Best Robotics Innovation, Best IT Innovation, and Best Sustainability Innovation—each judged by eight industry practitioners. Finalists will present...
Geek+ Unveils Gino 1 Mobile Manipulator for Warehouses
Geek+ introduced Gino 1, a dual‑armed mobile manipulator designed for warehouse environments and powered by the company’s AI‑driven Geek+ Brain. The robot combines two seven‑degree‑of‑freedom force‑controlled arms, each equipped with a three‑finger gripper, tactile sensors and an RGB‑D camera, on...