Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

Autonomous Vehicles

When the Algorithm Fails: Who is Legally Responsible After a Waymo Accident?

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The Technology is Impressive, But it’s Not Infallible

Waymo’s autonomous vehicles are, by most technical measures, a remarkable achievement. Each car is equipped with a suite of LiDAR sensors, radar, cameras, and a continuously updated AI model trained on billions of miles of real-world and simulated driving data.

Alphabet’s robotaxi division has positioned itself as the safest self-driving platform on the road, and statistically, there is data to support that claim.

But “safer on average” is not the same as “safe in every situation.” Since Waymo expanded its commercial operations in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has logged multiple incident reports involving its vehicles. [Read more…] about When the Algorithm Fails: Who is Legally Responsible After a Waymo Accident?

From demos to daily transport: How Las Vegas is turning autonomy into real urban infrastructure

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While many cities are still piloting autonomous transport in tightly controlled environments, Las Vegas is moving more aggressively – positioning itself as one of the most visible real-world laboratories for next-generation mobility in the United States.

Across the Strip and beyond, robotaxis, remotely operated vehicles, automated shuttles, and tunnel-based transport systems are shifting autonomy from experimental deployments toward everyday infrastructure capable of moving residents, workers, and tourists.

Taken together, these initiatives suggest a coordinated – if not formally centralized – push toward embedding intelligent transport directly into the city’s operational fabric. If there is a central co-ordinating organization, it’s probably the Clark County Office of Community and Economic Development, Nevada, home of the Las Vegas Strip. [Read more…] about From demos to daily transport: How Las Vegas is turning autonomy into real urban infrastructure

Micropolis Robotics appoints AfricAI as its exclusive continental partner

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AfricAI has signed a multi-year exclusive distribution and deployment agreement with Micropolis Robotics, granting AfricAI sole and exclusive rights to commercialise, deploy, and scale Micropolis’s advanced robotics platforms across Africa, marking one of the most consequential robotics market entries on the continent to date.

Under the agreement, Micropolis Robotics appoints AfricAI as its exclusive continental partner, prohibiting direct sales, alternative distributors, or third-party agents operating within the territory.

The agreement establishes AfricAI as the primary execution, localisation, and go-to-market platform for intelligent robotics across African industrial, security, logistics, and infrastructure sectors. [Read more…] about Micropolis Robotics appoints AfricAI as its exclusive continental partner

Waabi raises $1 billion to accelerate commercialization of autonomous trucking and expand into robotaxis

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Waabi, a developer of autonomous trucks and physical AI, has closed its oversubscribed $750 million Series C round co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, and secured an additional milestone-based future investment from Uber to support a new partnership to deploy robotaxis powered by the Waabi Driver exclusively on the Uber platform.

The funding, the largest fundraise in Canadian history, will fuel the continued advancement of Waabi’s Physical AI Platform, further accelerate the company’s commercial progress in autonomous trucking, and support Waabi’s expansion into robotaxis.

Founded in 2021, Waabi has quickly ascended from industry upstart to leader in physical AI. The company’s “revolutionary” Physical AI Platform enables true scale, generalizing to different form factors, geographies, and environments. [Read more…] about Waabi raises $1 billion to accelerate commercialization of autonomous trucking and expand into robotaxis

QCraft unveils 500+ TOPS autonomous driving platform and expands its autopilot system beyond one million vehicles

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Autonomous driving company QCraft has launched a next-generation intelligent driving platform delivering more than 500 tera operations per second (TOPS) and announced that its Urban Navigation on Autopilot (NOA) system has now been deployed in more than one million vehicles.

The announcements were made at QCraft Day 2026, held in Beijing on January 23, where the company presented updates on its technology roadmap, mass production progress and global expansion strategy to more than 200 industry guests.

In a keynote address titled “Bringing Autonomous Driving into Real Life”, QCraft co-founder, chairman and CEO Dr James Yu said 2026 would mark the beginning of what he described as a “Golden Decade” for autonomous driving, alongside the arrival of “Superhuman Intelligence”. [Read more…] about QCraft unveils 500+ TOPS autonomous driving platform and expands its autopilot system beyond one million vehicles

T2 and PlusAI partner to accelerate rollout of Level 4 autonomous trucks in Japan

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PlusAI and Tokyo-based T2 have agreed a strategic partnership to bring Level 4 autonomous trucks to Japan. The move comes as PlusAI is also planning to become publicly listed via a business combination with Churchill Capital Corp IX.

The collaboration combines T2’s deep penetration on technology design and logistics operation in Japan with PlusAI’s proven experience in commercial deployment of autonomous trucks with global truck makers Traton Group, Iveco Group, and Hyundai in the US and Europe.

By combining these complementary strengths, the companies will work toward introducing Level 4 autonomous trucking solutions tailored to Japan’s needs. [Read more…] about T2 and PlusAI partner to accelerate rollout of Level 4 autonomous trucks in Japan

PlusAI moves closer to public listing as autonomous truck merger clears key regulatory step

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Autonomous trucking software company Plus Automation has moved a step closer to becoming a publicly listed company after US regulators approved a key filing linked to its proposed merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

PlusAI said its registration statement connected to the planned business combination with Churchill Capital Corp IX was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 12, 2026.

The approval clears the way for Churchill Capital Corp IX to hold a shareholder vote on the deal. The company has scheduled an extraordinary general meeting for February 3, 2026, where investors will be asked to approve the merger and related matters. [Read more…] about PlusAI moves closer to public listing as autonomous truck merger clears key regulatory step

Autonomous vehicles: Regulation paving the way to public acceptance

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Why law, governance and trust matter as much as technology

Autonomous vehicles are often presented as a technical inevitability. Sensors improve, software advances, compute power grows, and the vehicles themselves become steadily more capable.

Yet despite decades of development and thousands of pilot programmes, autonomous vehicles remain rare on public roads.

The reason is not a lack of technology. It is a lack of permission. [Read more…] about Autonomous vehicles: Regulation paving the way to public acceptance

The sensor suite for autonomous vehicles: LiDAR, radar, cameras and sensor fusion

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How perception technologies work together to enable machine autonomy

Autonomous vehicles are often described in terms of intelligence, decision-making, or artificial intelligence. In practice, however, autonomy rises or falls on a more fundamental capability: perception.

A vehicle that cannot reliably perceive its environment cannot make safe decisions, regardless of how advanced its planning software may be.

Perception is the process by which an autonomous system detects objects, understands spatial relationships, tracks motion, and anticipates change. It is not a single function, nor is it delivered by a single sensor. [Read more…] about The sensor suite for autonomous vehicles: LiDAR, radar, cameras and sensor fusion

Kodiak to scale autonomous trucking hardware and sensor solution in strategic agreement with Bosch

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Kodiak AI, a provider of AI-powered autonomous driving technology, has entered into an agreement with Bosch, a global supplier of technology and services, to collaborate on and scale the manufacturing of a production-grade, redundant autonomous platform.

This platform contains the specialized hardware, firmware, and software interfaces that enable the Kodiak Driver, Kodiak’s AI-powered driver, to automate trucks – either on a vehicle production line or through an upfitter.

Don Burnette, founder and CEO, Kodiak, says: “Advancing the deployment of driverless trucks and physical AI not only requires robust autonomous technology, but also manufacturing experience and a robust supply chain in order to achieve true scale. [Read more…] about Kodiak to scale autonomous trucking hardware and sensor solution in strategic agreement with Bosch