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Waymo recalls robotaxis for driving on flooded roads

2026-05-12T09:33:26-04:00

A Waymo drives across Congress Avenue on 8th Street in front of the Capitol Building as rain arrives in the Austin area on Friday, Jan. 23, 2025 ahead of anticipated drops in temperature and freezing rain over the weekend. (Sara Diggins/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images) | Image: Getty

Waymo is recalling its autonomous driving software that allowed its vehicles to drive on flooded roads. The recall affects 3,791 vehicles that operate using Waymo's fifth and sixth generation systems.

In documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Alphabet-owned company said that an unoccupied Waymo robotaxi "encountered an untraversable flooded section of a roadway that has a 40 mph speed limit." Despite detecting the flooded road, the vehicle "proceeded at reduced speed." Waymo said it was currently working on a remedy. In the interim, the company has updated its vehicles to "increase weather-related cons …

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Tesla hits Musk’s threshold for ‘safe unsupervised’ driving

2026-05-04T10:28:01-04:00

We've crossed yet another one of Elon Musk's self-driving thresholds. Tesla's fleet of vehicles using the company's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has driven over 10 billion miles, according to the company's updated safety page. That means the company has crossed the line Musk set earlier this year for "safe unsupervised" driving.

But Tesla owners did not suddenly wake up today to find their FSD (Supervised) vehicles transformed into FSD (Unsupervised) ones. FSD is still just a Level 2 system that requires a fully attentive human driver behind the wheel to monitor the road and be prepared to take over at any moment.

In January, Mu …

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Now California’s cops can give tickets to driverless cars

2026-04-30T11:37:53-04:00

Autonomous vehicles roving California's roads will no longer be immune to traffic tickets starting on July 1st. New regulations announced by the California DMV this week allow law enforcement to give AV manufacturers a "notice of AV noncompliance" when one of their cars commits a traffic violation, like running a red light or failing to stop for school buses.

The updated regulations come after years of viral traffic violations and multiple safety investigations involving robotaxis. Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) system is also under investigation for running red lights and driving in the wrong direction. Now, driverless vehicle companies …

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China freezes new robotaxi licenses after Baidu chaos

2026-04-29T06:39:21-04:00

A Baidu Apollo Go robotaxi in Wuhan, China. | Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images

China has suspended new licenses for autonomous vehicles, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The move comes after dozens of robotaxis operated by Chinese tech giant Baidu ground to a halt in traffic last month in Wuhan, creating chaos.

The restrictions will prevent companies from adding new driverless cars to their fleets, expanding into new cities, or starting new test projects. It is unclear when officials will start issuing new licenses again.

Bloomberg said the Wuhan incident alarmed authorities in Beijing, prompting regulators to urge local governments to review the sector to prevent similar episodes. …

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Tesla’s Cybercab goes into production — so why is Musk tapping the brakes?

2026-04-24T12:26:41-04:00

Tesla's Cybercab is now in production at the company's Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, but Elon Musk is sounding unusually cautious about the rollout.

The robotaxi's start of production was announced Thursday on X, with Tesla posting a video shot from inside a steering wheel-less Cybercab as it drove out of the factory with the caption, "Purpose built for autonomy." The company made a few initial Cybercabs back in February, but continuous production only started this month.

But with the company's robotaxi plans creeping along much slower than expected, many Tesla watchers are left scratching their heads about the future - especially as Mus …

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Tesla’s revenue rises again as it prepares for more AI and robotics

2026-04-23T08:26:52-04:00

Tesla released its 2026 first-quarter financial earnings today, providing another look at the progress of Elon Musk's $1 trillion bet to transform his company into a leader of AI and robotics.

Tesla said it earned $477 million in net income on $22.4 billion in revenue in the quarter that ended in April 2026. That's a 16 percent increase in revenue and a 17 percent increase in profits over the first quarter of 2025, when the company earned $409 million in net income on $19.3 billion in revenue. Tesla missed revenue expectations from Wall Street, which assumed approximately $22.64 billion in revenue.

As part of the earnings update deck, Tesl …

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Tesla launches robotaxis in Dallas and Houston, and oops, it’s already unavailable

2026-04-20T11:06:55-04:00

Tesla claims to have launched a robotaxi service in Dallas and Houston over the weekend, but so far, online crowdsourcing tools indicate that very few cars are actually available.

On Saturday, @TeslaRobotaxi posted a 14-second video of a Model Y vehicle driving without any human safety monitor in the front seats. Elon Musk re-posted the video, adding, "Try Tesla Robotaxi in Dallas & Houston!"

Try Tesla Robotaxi in Dallas & Houston! https://t.co/K6Ss0S7v4k
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2026

But as of Sunday evening, the service appeared to be largely unavailable, according to Robotaxi Tracker, an online data site that tracks autonom …

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Most people still don’t want anything to do with robotaxis

2026-04-20T16:05:13-04:00

I've been reporting on self-driving cars for over a decade, and I've seen the technology go through many ups and downs, highs and lows. But one thing has remained remarkably the same over the years: the public just ain't buying it.

Poll after poll has revealed a deep and abiding skepticism toward autonomous vehicles. People don't trust the technology, don't want to ride in cars without human drivers - even when the evidence suggests the vehicle could be much safer than a human driver. Sure, robotaxis are operating in about a dozen cities now, and companies like Waymo don't seem to have any problems finding customers. But when you expand th …

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Lucid sells more robotaxis to Uber, appoints a new CEO

2026-04-14T10:21:01-04:00

Lucid and Nuro executives hailing an Uber robotaxi. | Image: Nuro

Lucid is making some changes. The luxury EV company said Tuesday that it was expanding its robotaxi deal with Uber - and nabbing some additional investment cash in the process. And it's naming a new CEO who hails not from the world of electric vehicles, but from a company that manufactures a different kind of mobility device: elevators, escalators, and moving walkways.

First, Lucid said that Uber is increasing the number of Lucid Gravity SUVs it is purchasing, from 20,000 to 35,000, for its robotaxi fleet. If you'll recall, last year, Lucid, Uber, and autonomous delivery startup Nuro announced a massive robotaxi deal that would see the dep …

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Waymo is offering to help cities fix their potholes

2026-04-08T17:33:41-04:00

In recent months, some cities have sought a new recruit in their forever war against potholes: Waymo.

Municipal officials in multiple cities where Waymo operates have reached out to the robotaxi operator for help in locating potholes on their streets, assuming that Waymo kept such data. Fortunately for them, Waymo does, and it has recently decided to launch a pilot program, along with Google's Waze, to share its pothole data with city officials.

The mission is to make city streets safer to drive, which is desirable for both human and robot drivers. And it could help Waymo's broader effort to build positive relationships with cities, espec …

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