Volvo FH Autonomous Truck Fleet Now Hauling All Production for Brønnøy Kalk
Volvo Autonomous Solutions has expanded its Autona/earth platform at Norway's Brønnøy Kalk limestone mine to run three shifts, allowing a fleet of nine Volvo FH autonomous trucks to handle the entire five‑kilometre haul route around the clock. The trucks, equipped with LiDAR, radar and high‑resolution cameras, operate without a safety driver and have already moved one million tonnes autonomously, targeting two million tonnes soon. Operational refinements such as a hot‑seat wheel‑loader and a Formula‑1‑style refuelling lane have reduced idle time, while the Transport‑as‑a‑Service model bundles hardware, infrastructure and support. This full‑shift deployment marks a transition from pilot projects to continuous production in autonomous mining haulage.
Wayve, Uber and Nissan Launch Robotaxi Pilot in Tokyo
Uber has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nissan and UK‑based AI firm Wayve to launch a robotaxi pilot in Tokyo, targeting operation by the end of 2026. The service will use Nissan’s Leaf equipped with Wayve’s end‑to‑end AI driver...
E-Magy Presents Silicon-Dominant Anode Breakthroughs for Next-Gen Drone Power & Electronics
E‑magy will present new silicon‑dominant anode data at the 2026 International Battery Seminar in Orlando, showcasing 12 Ah 6S2P cells designed for high‑performance drone packs. The nanoporous silicon material promises higher energy density and faster charging compared with conventional chemistries, backed...
US-Made Naval Drone with Active Warhead Washes up in Northern Turkey, Gets Blown Up
A U.S.-manufactured AEGIR‑W unmanned surface vessel washed ashore on Turkey's Black Sea coast on March 20, 2026, and was found fully operational with an active warhead. Turkish Navy explosive ordnance disposal teams towed the 10‑meter drone offshore and detonated it...
Alstef Group Unveils AI-Powered Autonomous Industrial Vehicle Ahead of LogiMAT
Alstef Group announced an AI‑powered autonomous industrial vehicle (AIV) ahead of LogiMAT 2026, featuring a real‑time "perception bubble" that continuously maps its surroundings. The system uses onboard cameras and AI models to classify objects, adjust speed, routing, and docking, and...
Mind Robotics Raises $500 Million to Build AI-Powered Industrial Robots for Real-World Deployment
Mind Robotics announced a $500 million Series A round, co‑led by Accel and Andreessen Horowitz, to accelerate its AI‑powered industrial robot platform. The financing follows a $115 million seed round and adds Accel partner Sameer Gandhi to the board. Leveraging Rivian’s manufacturing data...
Hexxabotics to Unveil Honeycomb-Based AS/RS with Shuttle-Style AMRs at LogiMAT
Hexxabotics will debut a honeycomb‑based automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) at LogiMAT 2026, merging autonomous mobile robots (Hexxabots) with a modular hexagonal grid. The design eliminates fixed rails and in‑rack electrification, promising higher cubic storage density and lower energy use....
Workroom Automation Raises Seed Funding Led by Equirus InnovateX Fund
Workroom Automation, a Hyderabad‑based connected‑factory platform, secured ₹6.2 crore in seed funding led by the Equirus InnovateX Fund, with participation from Astir Ventures, Venture Catalysts Group, and several angels. The capital will accelerate product development, especially its AI‑powered planning engine, and...
ZIYAN & GreenValley Leverage F15 Unmanned Helicopter to Advance Precision LiDAR Mapping
ZIYAN and GreenValley announced a partnership that leverages ZIYAN’s F15 electric VTOL helicopter to deliver precision LiDAR mapping services. The F15 can lift a 5 kg payload, carry GreenValley’s sensors, and fly up to 100 minutes while tolerating Beaufort 8 winds. Integrated...
Agentic AI Commerce May Spell the End of Internet Ads: A16z Crypto
a16z Crypto warns that autonomous AI agents could replace traditional online advertising, reshaping the internet’s economic model. The article notes the $291 billion ad market in 2025 may erode as agents shop without distraction. Platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini already offer...
Monash University Research Highlights Safer, Smarter Human-Robot Teamwork in Manufacturing
Monash University researchers published a review in the International Journal of Production Research showing that better prediction of human behaviour by robots can make manufacturing safer, more adaptive and efficient as Industry 5.0 evolves. The study compares mechanism‑based, data‑driven and hybrid...
QCraft Closes $100 Million New Series D Financing to Advance Physical AI for Autonomous Driving and Mobility
QCraft announced the close of a $100 million Series D round aimed at scaling its physical‑AI hardware platform for autonomous driving and broader mobility applications. The financing, led by XYZ Capital with participation from existing backers and strategic automotive partners, will fund...
China Creates First National Standards for Humanoid Robots to Support Industry Scale-Up
China unveiled its first national standard system for humanoid robots, the Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Standard System (2026 Edition), at a Beijing technical committee meeting. The framework, built by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology with input from...
Dexterity Says Its Physical AI World Model ‘Unlocks Full Potential on Nvidia Hardware’
Dexterity.ai announced that its production‑proven world model, Foresight, now runs on Nvidia L4 GPUs with a 17× speedup, cutting perception cycles from 1,508 ms to 90 ms. The redesign also increased sensor data utilization from 3 percent to 100 percent, delivering 32× more information...
U.S. Army Buys 2,500 Reconnaissance Drones From Skydio
The U.S. Army awarded Skydio a contract exceeding $52 million for more than 2,500 X10D reconnaissance drones, the service’s largest single‑vendor small‑UAS purchase. The award, processed in under 72 hours through Atlantic Diving Supply, reflects a new rapid‑acquisition model for critical tech....
INTERVIEW: Armir Harris, Founder & CEO, CharterUP
CharterUP, the largest group‑transportation marketplace in North America, has teamed up with autonomous‑technology firm Holon to embed self‑driving shuttles into its AI‑enabled platform. The partnership will roll out Holon’s integrated autonomous mobility solution across campuses, airports, transit agencies and private...
Poland Marks First Flights of ZEUS Unmanned Aircraft
Poland’s Ekolot Aerospace & Defense completed the inaugural test flights of its ZEUS unmanned aircraft, demonstrating stable, autonomous operation in conventional take‑off and landing (CTOL) mode. The modular platform, developed with Spain’s UAV Navigation‑Grupo Oesía, can be reconfigured for VTOL...
US Navy Picks Robot Sub “Mothership” To Unleash Underwater Drone Swarms
The U.S. Navy has chosen Anduril Industries’ Dive‑XL autonomous submarine for its Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform (CAMP) initiative. The 27‑foot, free‑flooding design serves as a “mothership” that can launch smaller AUVs such as Copperhead and Seabed Sentry. Its modular payload...
Kazakhstan’s Alatau New City “Preparing for Joby and AutoFlight Air Taxi Services”
Kazakhstan’s Alatau new city is building a low‑altitude economy and will become the first location outside China to test long‑range electric air taxis above 120 metres. Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev announced signed agreements with U.S.‑based Joby Aero and China’s...
RSI Europe – FPV Drone Operator
RSI Europe, a fast‑growing Lithuanian defense tech firm, announced a vacancy for a Product Operator focused on its FPV drone systems. The role combines client training, after‑sales support, and direct feedback to product engineers, requiring extensive drone expertise and multilingual...
Delivery Drones Cleared for Flight over Populated Cities in Brazil
Brazil’s civil aviation authority (ANAC) approved a national framework allowing beyond‑visual‑line‑of‑sight (BVLOS) delivery drones to operate over densely populated areas. The rule lets Speedbird Aero’s DLV‑2 A25 fly over zones with up to 5,000 people per square kilometre and the...
EPropelled Unveils Expansion at Global Innovation Centre in Coventry
ePropelled inaugurated its Global Innovation Centre in Coventry on March 20, marking a major expansion aimed at scaling production to over one million electric and hybrid propulsion systems annually by 2027. The facility consolidates propulsion design, software development, and testing,...
Turkish Firm Develops New-Gen Kamikaze Drone Boat
Turkey’s state‑owned defense firm MKE unveiled the PİRANA kamikaze unmanned surface vessel, a low‑cost, high‑speed USV designed for naval strike missions. The craft can travel over 40 knots, carry a 100‑kilogram warhead and operate up to 200 nautical miles, either solo or...
Airbus Is Fitting AI War Drones for the German Air Force with First Flight Due in 2026
Airbus is integrating its European MARS mission system, featuring the MindShare AI, into two Kratos Valkyrie combat drones for the German Air Force. The first flight is targeted for late 2026, with full operational capability expected by 2029. The Valkyrie...
Mobilidata
Mobilidata, a Belgian mobility‑data specialist, launched a new online platform that delivers real‑time traffic and transport analytics to city authorities and transport operators. The site showcases services such as data aggregation, API access, and predictive modeling for traffic management. This...
Overland AI to Showcase Autonomy Solutions at AUSA
Overland AI will unveil its ULTRA fully autonomous tactical vehicle at the AUSA Global Force exhibition in Huntsville next week. The company ties ULTRA directly to the Army’s Transformation in Contact initiative, which emphasizes early field testing with soldiers. By...
Kraus Hamdani Reveals K1000ULE Updates at AUSA
Kraus Hamdani Aerospace announced it will unveil updates to its K1000ULE ultra‑long‑endurance unmanned aerial system at the 2026 AUSA Global Force Symposium. The platform is marketed as a dual‑role system delivering persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) and resilient communications for...
Bluebottle USV to Feature in Australian Navy’s Fleet Review for the First Time
Australia’s Royal Australian Navy will feature the Ocius Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessel in the Exercise Kakadu Fleet Review on 21 March 2026, marking the first time a USV is displayed alongside crewed ships in a formal navy review. The inclusion follows a $176 million...
This Fresh-From-CES Roborock Is Serving Life on Easy Mode—And Now I’m Spoiled Beyond Belief
Roborock unveiled its Qrevo Curv 2 Flow at CES, a premium robot vacuum‑mop priced at $999. The unit combines 20,000 Pa suction, a 167 °F self‑heating mop, and a multifunctional dock that empties, refills and dries automatically. Advanced AI obstacle recognition, LiDAR mapping across...
Three Ways AI Is Learning to Understand the Physical World
Large language models struggle with physical causality, driving a surge in "world model" research and billion‑dollar funding rounds from AMI Labs and World Labs. Researchers are exploring three architectural families—JEPA’s latent, real‑time embeddings, Gaussian‑splat 3D scene generators, and end‑to‑end generative...
MISUMI, Oishii Farm Corporation Announce Strategic Partnership
MISUMI Group Inc. has signed a strategic partnership with U.S. vertical farming pioneer Oishii Farm Corporation. Through its recently acquired subsidiary Fictiv, MISUMI will provide mechanical components for Oishii’s Ametalas Farm, leveraging AI and robotics to fine‑tune temperature, humidity, lighting...
C&C Marine Expands 24 Acres, Builds Automated Spool Shop
C&C Marine & Repair announced a 24‑acre expansion of its Belle Chasse facility and the construction of a fully automated spool shop, touted as the most advanced in the United States. The shop will house CNC bending, plasma cutting, blasting,...
EV Notes: Uber Commits to Rivian Robotaxi Investments
Uber Technologies has pledged up to $1.25 billion to Rivian Automotive for a fleet of 10,000 autonomous R2 robotaxis, with an initial $300 million equity purchase contingent on regulatory clearance. The rollout targets San Francisco and Miami in 2028 and could expand to...
Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)
Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) lets robots create and navigate maps without GPS by fusing LiDAR, cameras, IMUs and wheel encoders. Modern SLAM favors graph‑based optimization, which scales better than early EKF approaches and supports real‑time pose estimation. Loop‑closure detection...
US Army Signals End of Traditional Combat with Drone Shift
The U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division conducted a live‑fire drill at Fort Campbell showcasing drones as the initial combat element rather than mere support tools. Multiple UAV platforms, from the MQ‑1C Gray Eagle to small reconnaissance drones, operated alongside Special...
The University of Texas at El Paso Is Gearing up to Build Drone Tech
The University of Texas at El Paso’s Aerospace Center secured a $2 million congressional grant to expand its unmanned‑air‑system (UAS) capabilities. The funding will upgrade the Tornillo and Fabens test sites with enhanced power, computing, networking, radar, and beyond‑visual‑line‑of‑sight (BVLOS) operations....
U.S. Army Awards XTech Win to ABRIS DG Unmanned Support Vehicle
ABRIS DG’s UNEX unmanned ground vehicle was chosen as one of five winners in the U.S. Army’s XTech Edge Strike Ground Competition in Vilseck, Germany. The victory secures a ten‑year contract on the Global Tactical Edge Acquisition Directorate marketplace through...
SANY Signs Major Electrified Fleet Deal with Holcim Including 20 Autonomous Mining Trucks
SANY Group and Holcim have signed a Letter of Intent worth 100 million CHF to roll out electrified construction equipment over the next five years. The deal includes delivery of 100 electric units and deployment of 20 autonomous mining trucks across...
EHang Progresses eVTOL Ecosystem Development Plans in Thailand
EHang’s senior leadership met Thai government officials and local firms in Bangkok to accelerate the rollout of its pilotless eVTOL aircraft. The discussions targeted a three‑dimensional transport system that could ease congestion, improve emergency response and link regions at low...
Feds Say No Need to Recall Tesla's One-Pedal Driving Despite Petition
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has declined to order a recall of Tesla’s one‑pedal driving system, concluding there is no systemic sudden unintended acceleration problem. The agency reviewed a 2023 petition from a Greek engineer that sought...
Tesla Delays FSD Approval in Europe Again, Now Expects April 10
Tesla Europe announced it has finished the final vehicle testing phase for Full Self‑Driving (Supervised) with the Dutch authority RDW, pushing the expected national approval from March 20 to April 10. The company submitted extensive documentation for UN R‑171 and Article 39 exemptions,...
Robinson Helicopters and Their Accelerated Path to FAA Autonomous Certification
Robinson Helicopter is pursuing FAA autonomous certification by retrofitting its proven R44 and R66 helicopters with autonomy systems. By certifying only the autonomy stack and control changes under Part 27, the company avoids the extensive airframe and propulsion validation required by...
Around the Commercial Drone Industry: Improved ADS-B Transceiver, New Public Safety Program, Counter-UAS College Program
uAvionix introduced the ping978EC 978 MHz UAT ADS‑B transceiver, tailored for UK BVLOS operations and eliminating the need for a permanent ICAO‑registered address. AirData expanded its flight‑data platform with a public‑safety module that records, streams and publishes drone missions for police...
Brazil Launches Public Consultation on National AAM Policy
The Brazilian Ministry of Ports and Airports has opened a public consultation to draft a National Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) policy that will regulate drones and electric vertical take‑off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for cargo and passenger transport. The consultation...
Korea Airports Corporation to Build UAM Test Hub
Korea Airports Corporation (KAC) and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) will build a dedicated urban air mobility (UAM) vertiport test hub at the KINTEX exhibition center in Goyang, northwest of Seoul. The facility, slated for completion by 2027, is...
NXP Unveils Third-Generation RFCMOS Automotive Radar Transceiver
NXP Semiconductors introduced the third‑generation RFCMOS automotive radar transceiver TEF8388, an 8‑transmit/8‑receive (8T8R) device capable of supporting imaging radar sensors with up to 576 antenna channels. The chip maintains power consumption comparable to legacy 3T4R solutions while offering scalable configurations...
Drone Delivery’s Breakthrough Moment Has Arrived
Matternet has launched pilot drone deliveries for Dave’s Hot Chicken in Southern California and for NHS hospitals in London, showcasing both food and medical logistics. The FAA’s pending Part 108 rule would lift the line‑of‑sight requirement, enabling larger autonomous fleets. Retail...
How Chicago Robot Tutors Are Teaching SEL Effectively, without Pretending to Be Human
University of Chicago researchers partnered with Chicago Public Schools to test robot tutors in fourth‑grade SEL lessons. The experiment compared robots that used fictional, emotion‑laden dialogue with robots that spoke factually and admitted they had no feelings. Both robot groups...