Author: Maya Rios

Group transportation platform CharterUP has partnered with German autonomous vehicle developer Holon to incorporate self-driving shuttles into its U.S. mobility offerings, focusing on recurring services such as airport transfers and campus transport. CharterUP, which provides real-time booking, dynamic pricing and tracking for group travel across North America, said the partnership will prioritize long-term shuttle operations rather than occasional charter trips. The platform is widely used by corporations, universities and schools and has increasingly expanded into regular transport services. Holon, a startup spun off from automotive supplier Benteler in 2023, is developing the fully electric Holon Urban autonomous shuttle. The 15-seat…

EUROGATE and Embotech have begun a six-month pilot of Level-4 autonomous terminal tractors at the EUROGATE Container Terminal in Hamburg, aiming to evaluate real-world operational performance rather than technical feasibility alone. The project, which started in late January 2026, follows an earlier trial at Wilhelmshaven that confirmed the technical readiness of Embotech’s Autonomous Tractor Solution (ATS). The new phase focuses on measuring throughput, availability, and process stability under everyday terminal conditions. See also: EUROGATE, Embotech Complete Autonomous Tractor Pilot at Wilhelmshaven Terminal During the pilot, autonomous tractors will move containers between the rail terminal and the main container terminal, passing…

Waymo has started deploying the sixth generation of its autonomous driving system, marking a significant step in the Alphabet-owned company’s expansion of fully driverless ride-hailing services, while a separate report suggests Hyundai Motor may supply tens of thousands of electric vehicles for the fleet. The company said the updated “Waymo Driver,” introduced in 2024, is designed to improve operational efficiency without compromising safety. In a statement, Waymo described the system as one that “serves as the primary engine for our next era of expansion, with a streamlined configuration that drives down costs while maintaining our uncompromising safety standards.” The platform…

Aurora Innovation said its self-driving trucks can now haul freight nonstop over a 1,000-mile route between Fort Worth, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona, a distance that exceeds what human drivers can legally cover without extended rest breaks. The company said the journey takes about 15 hours using driverless trucks, compared with significantly longer travel times for human operators constrained by U.S. federal hours-of-service rules. Regulations require truck drivers to take a 30-minute break after eight hours of driving, limit driving time to 11 hours per shift and mandate a 10-hour rest period before resuming work. Chief Executive Chris Urmson said the…

Autonomous trucking technology company Pronto.ai has launched two new autonomous haulage system (AHS) editions, expanding its product lineup to cover operations ranging from small quarries to ultra-class deep-pit mining sites, the company said. The newly introduced Pronto AHS VLR and Pronto AHS VLR 360 systems add lidar and radar to Pronto’s existing vision-only autonomy platform, creating what the company describes as the industry’s first tiered autonomy architecture. The three systems are now offered under a unified portfolio branded as Pronto Editions. The launch follows a recent operational milestone at a quarry operated by Heidelberg Materials in Lake Bridgeport, Texas, where…

Waymo said it plans to expand its autonomous ride-hailing operations to Sacramento, California, and Boston, Massachusetts, as the company continues to scale its robotaxi network across the United States. The company confirmed the plans this week, saying it would begin laying the groundwork for future autonomous services in both cities. Waymo already operates fully driverless robotaxi services in several major U.S. markets, including Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Miami and Atlanta. It said it has completed more than 20 million fully autonomous rides to date and is currently providing about 400,000 driverless trips each week. See also: Waymo Secures…

Waymo, the autonomous driving company majority-owned by Alphabet, has completed a long-planned funding round, securing $16 billion in new commitments to accelerate the expansion of its robotaxi services, the company said. The fresh capital was raised from a group of existing and new investors, led by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group and DST Global, with Alphabet continuing what Waymo described as its “strong and continuous support as majority shareholder.” Including earlier rounds, Waymo has now raised about $27 billion in total funding since it was spun out of Google’s self-driving car project. See also: Waymo Opens San…

Waymo is close to finalising a $16 billion funding round that would value the autonomous vehicle company at about $110 billion, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. More than three-quarters of the capital is expected to come from Alphabet, Waymo’s parent company, according to the report. Waymo was originally incubated within Alphabet’s X “moonshot” division before being spun out as a standalone unit. See also: Waymo Said to Seek New Funding at Valuation of Around $100 Billion The round is set to include new investors Dragoneer, Sequoia Capital and DST Global, the FT said. Existing backers…

Tesla is planning to expand its Robotaxi network by adding Orlando and Tampa in Florida as part of a broader U.S. rollout scheduled for 2026, the company said, extending its autonomous ride-hailing ambitions beyond its current limited operations. The two Florida cities will join Miami as future Robotaxi markets, Tesla confirmed, alongside Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas and Houston. All of the locations were first outlined in November last year and are now targeted for launch in the first half of 2026, according to the company. See also: Tesla Expands Robotaxi App Access Globally Amid U.S. Service Expansion At present, Tesla’s…

San Francisco police are investigating a crash involving a self-driving vehicle operated by Zoox, after the robotaxi struck the driver’s-side door of a parked car in the city’s Mission District last month, according to authorities and company statements. The San Francisco Police Department said officers responded to the collision at around 2 p.m. local time on Jan. 17 near the intersection of 15th and Mission Streets. The Zoox vehicle was travelling along 15th Street when a street ambassador, identified by local outlet Mission Local as Jamel Durden, opened the driver’s-side door of his parked 1977 Cadillac Coupe DeVille into the…

Chinese autonomous driving company WeRide has launched GENESIS, a simulation platform designed to accelerate the training, testing and validation of autonomous vehicles by recreating real-world driving scenarios in virtual environments within minutes. The platform, known as WeRide GENESIS, combines physical AI with generative AI to simulate complex urban settings and rare driving events that are difficult, costly or impractical to capture through real-world road testing. The company said the system is intended to support autonomous driving development from Level 2++ advanced driver-assistance systems to Level 4 robotaxi operations on a single global platform. See also: WeRide Launches Commercial Autonomous Shuttle…

Autonomous vehicle startup Waabi has raised $1 billion in new funding and struck a partnership with Uber to deploy self-driving cars on Uber’s platform, marking Waabi’s first move beyond autonomous trucking. The financing includes an oversubscribed $750 million Series C round co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, along with roughly $250 million in milestone-based capital from Uber. The Uber-backed funding is intended to support the deployment of 25,000 or more robotaxis powered by Waabi’s “Waabi Driver” technology exclusively on Uber’s platform. The companies did not disclose a timeline for reaching that scale. See also: Waabi and Volvo Unveil…