Autonomous Driving

Today's Stories

1. 1

   Russian strikes kill 16 in Kyiv; Zelenskyy blames air defense shortage

   Russian forces launched dozens of ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missiles plus 168 drones at Kyiv and the surrounding region on Thursday, killing 16 people and injuring more than 40. Ukraine's air force downed nearly 90% of the drones and most of the cruise missiles, but all of the faster ballistic missiles got through, causing significant damage. President Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine's allies have failed to replenish stocks of air defense missiles, and he linked that shortage directly to the loss of life in Thursday's attack. The gap between what Ukraine can intercept and what breaks through poses an ongoing threat to civilians.

   The strike pattern — ballistic missiles penetrating Ukraine's defenses while slower drones and cruise missiles are mostly intercepted — underscores the vulnerability created by depleted air defense inventory.

2. 2

   Citi analyst notes Baidu's AI compute opportunity, ERNIE focus amid LLM competition

   Citi analyst Alicia Yap discussed Baidu's latest earnings, highlighting the company's renewed focus on AI models and its position in China's competitive large language model (LLM) environment. Baidu operates in a highly-competitive LLM market in China, and the analyst's commentary on the company's strategy—particularly around compute infrastructure and its ERNIE AI model—provides insight into how the company is positioning itself against rivals in the sector.

   The discussion centers on two areas: the near-term opportunity in compute resources and Baidu's longer-term focus on ERNIE model development, as well as performance of its Apollo Go autonomous vehicle business, which the analyst highlighted as a standout.

3. 3

   Also raises $150M, hits $1B valuation with e-bike as entry point to autonomous delivery

   Palo Alto startup Also raised $150 million in Series D funding led by Prysm Capital, pushing its valuation past $1 billion. The two-year-old company, which spun out of Rivian in early 2025, builds a small-vehicle technology platform with in-house motors, batteries, compute, and software designed for autonomous delivery and passenger vehicles smaller than a car. The capital is earmarked to accelerate Also's autonomous vehicle platform for moving both goods and passengers. Founder Chris Yu argues that dense cities need purpose-built small EVs rather than repurposing 7,000-pound vans for single-passenger or small-package trips, citing economics, environmental impact, and congestion. Rivian's growing fleet of on-road vehicles will supply driving data to train Also's autonomy systems.

   Also's existing partnerships with Amazon and a multi-year commercial agreement with DoorDash point toward robots built on the same motors and compute as its consumer e-bike (the TM-B, priced at $3,500) and commercial delivery quad (the TM-Q). Yu's goal is that small-form-factor autonomy becomes a standard part of the transportation mix within five years.

4. 4

   VCs pour $47.4B into physical AI in H1 2026, nearly 4× prior half

   Global venture funding in physical AI (robotics, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, drones, industrial automation, sensors) reached $47.4 billion across 521 deals in the first half of 2026, nearly 4× the $12 billion raised across 470 deals in the second half of 2025. Waymo's $16 billion Series D in February accounted for nearly one-third of all venture dollars at a $126 billion valuation; other major rounds included Anduril Industries ($5 billion at $61 billion valuation), Shield AI ($2 billion Series G at $12.7 billion valuation), and Saronic ($1.75 billion Series D at $9.25 billion valuation). Venture firms historically focused on software and internet services are now treating physical AI as the next major investment wave, a shift driven by falling hardware and sensor costs, improved AI infrastructure, and the ability to bundle hardware into recurring revenue models. Ryan Ziegler (Edison Partners) notes that industries like manufacturing, supply chain, utilities, and agriculture can now adopt AI as mission-critical infrastructure with measurable ROI through predictive maintenance and autonomous operations. The economics have improved so much that Joe Fath (Eclipse Capital) observes funding is shifting away from experimentation toward companies hitting production milestones and scaling efficiently.

   Notable exits in 2026 include SpaceX's $75 billion June IPO at a $1.77 trillion valuation, HawkEye 360's $416 million public debut, and Aevex's $320 million IPO. Mobileye's roughly $900 million acquisition of humanoid robotics startup Mentee Robotics signals consolidation in the space. To put the scale in context: the $47.4 billion raised in just H1 2026 exceeds the $41.9 billion venture investors put into physical AI companies across the entire three-year span of 2022–2024 combined.

5. 5

   Horizon Robotics readies J7 chip for 2027 to challenge Tesla, Nvidia

   Horizon Robotics is preparing its Journey 7 (J7) automotive AI chip family for mass production in 2027, targeting the higher end of autonomous-driving computing. The move signals a push to extend Horizon's existing lead in China's L2+ assisted-driving market (partial automation) into full autonomous-driving systems, a segment now dominated by competitors including Tesla and Nvidia.

   Mass production is scheduled for 2027; success will depend on whether J7 can capture share in the premium autonomous-driving segment in China.