GM, Gatik, Torc team up with Nvidia to accelerate self-driving

NVIDIA’s GTC conference kicked off with a series of announcements highlighting its role in advancing autonomous driving technology. The chipmaker provides automakers and autonomous vehicle companies with a handful of Nvidia-branded tools to help power self-driving cars and create digital twins of factories. On Tuesday, companies including Torc, Gatik, and even General Motors announced plans… Continue reading GM, Gatik, Torc team up with Nvidia to accelerate self-driving

Zoox recalls software on 258 self-driving cars over unexpected braking

Zoox, Amazon’s autonomous driving unit, has issued a voluntary recall for 258 vehicles due to issues with its autonomous driving system that could cause unexpected hard breaking. The recall follows a preliminary investigation from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last May after the agency received two reports of incidents in which motorcyclists collided… Continue reading Zoox recalls software on 258 self-driving cars over unexpected braking

What Tesla can and can’t do in California with its new passenger transportation permit

Tesla received a permit Tuesday from the California Public Utilities Commission to operate a transportation service in the state, the beginning of a long regulatory road that could eventually lead to the company getting the OK to operate a robotaxi service there. The permit, which Tesla applied for in November 2024, doesn’t cover autonomous vehicle… Continue reading What Tesla can and can’t do in California with its new passenger transportation permit

An AI model from over a decade ago sparked Nvidia’s investment in autonomous vehicles

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote Tuesday at the company’s GTC 2025 conference stuck with tradition and was chock full of announcements. But the company also snuck in a little history lesson. During the automotive portion of his speech, Huang referred to AlexNet, a neural network architecture that gained widespread attention in 2012 when it won… Continue reading An AI model from over a decade ago sparked Nvidia’s investment in autonomous vehicles

GM teams up with Nvidia to bring AI to robots, factories, and self-driving cars

General Motors is turning to Nvidia to help bring AI to the physical world in an expanded collaboration designed to touch every aspect of the automaker’s business, including factories, robots, and self-driving cars.  Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang, who announced the partnership Tuesday during his keynote at the company’s GTC conference in San Jose,… Continue reading GM teams up with Nvidia to bring AI to robots, factories, and self-driving cars

Coreshell has a plan to slash the price of American-made batteries

The electric vehicle transition is really a story about China. There, subsidies have helped juice not just automakers, but the entire battery supply chain behind them. Those incentives, plus decades of industrial policy focused on controlled critical mineral supply chains, has left American and European automakers flat footed. Take graphite, for example. Every lithium-ion battery… Continue reading Coreshell has a plan to slash the price of American-made batteries

Google, Speedinvest back Kenya’s Leta, which uses AI to make logistics cheaper

African businesses pay up to four times the global average to transport goods, driving up prices for essentials like food and medicine. Logistics make up 75% of product costs on the continent, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB). Many of these businesses also rely on manual logistics, leading to delays. Nairobi-based logistics software-as-a-service provider… Continue reading Google, Speedinvest back Kenya’s Leta, which uses AI to make logistics cheaper

Waymo’s milestone SFO mapping permit comes with strings attached

Waymo has been given permission to map roadways at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) via a temporary permit — the first step in the Alphabet company’s bid to unlock a potentially lucrative use case for its robotaxis. The temporary permit, which was announced Monday evening by San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, kicked off March… Continue reading Waymo’s milestone SFO mapping permit comes with strings attached

Joby Aviation and Virgin Atlantic partner to launch electric air taxis in the UK

Joby Aviation is partnering with Virgin Atlantic to launch electric air taxis in the U.K., marking the seventh country in which the startup hopes to one day commercialize. Joby, which went public in 2021 via special purpose acquisition merger, did not provide a timeline for when it plans to launch its partnership with Virgin in… Continue reading Joby Aviation and Virgin Atlantic partner to launch electric air taxis in the UK

Week in Review: SXSW week comes to a close

Welcome back to Week in Review! I’m Karyne Levy, TechCrunch’s deputy managing editor, and I’ll be writing this newsletter from here on out. Thrilled to be here! This week we’re checking out everything at SXSW; Waymo’s expansion into Silicon Valley; Intel’s new CEO; TikTok’s new suitor; and why DeepSeek isn’t taking VC money. Let’s get… Continue reading Week in Review: SXSW week comes to a close