Autonomous Driving

Today's Stories

1. 1

   AWS shows Physical AI model factory with NVIDIA Cosmos 3

   AWS published a guide to building a Physical AI model factory using NVIDIA Cosmos 3 on Amazon SageMaker HyperPod, with code in the awsome-distributed-ai GitHub repository. Cosmos 3 unifies generation, post-training, and evaluation into one model running in different modes, letting a robot or AV team use a single persistent GPU pool instead of separate capacity per stage. This raises GPU goodput—the useful pipeline progress per reserved GPU-hour—which the post identifies as the real cost driver.

   The model family includes Cosmos3-Nano (16B parameters), Cosmos3-Super (64B parameters), and Cosmos3-Edge (4B tier for on-device deployment). AWS walks through the robot-policy stage on the public DROID dataset.

2. 2

   Chinese tech firms deepen Saudi ties at LEAP

   Chinese companies announced deals at Riyadh's LEAP tech event to bring robotaxis, laptops, AI models, and data centers to Saudi Arabia. The kingdom's senior official pledged to deepen ties with China, touting a 'great wave' of scientific innovation from China. Saudi Arabia, once only a capital source, now entices tech firms to operate locally under Vision 2030, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman investing billions. Gulf ties are a 'vital importance' for China's tech outreach, showcasing that its tech can out-compete US tech globally.

   The competition between China and the US for tech dominance in the Gulf may intensify, as Chinese companies use the region as a node to prove their tech's global competitiveness. Saudi's mega-projects are delayed, yet tech ecosystem development continues.

3. 3

   Uber, Wayve launch London's first robotaxis

   Uber and AI firm Wayve have launched London's first robotaxis, marking the start of driverless ride-hailing in the UK capital. This is a significant step for autonomous vehicles in Europe, as London is a major global city with complex traffic conditions, and it could pave the way for wider adoption in the region.

   The service's initial scale and safety record will be key indicators of whether robotaxis can gain public trust and regulatory approval in other European cities.

4. 4

   Toyota to launch Level 2++ automated driving by 2028

   Toyota plans to commercialize its next-generation automated driving system, called Level 2++, around 2028. The system combines AI with a proprietary safety mechanism, aimed at reducing accidents.

   Whether the timeline holds and how the safety mechanism differentiates Toyota's approach in the market.

5. 5

   Uber cuts 3,300 jobs, bets on robotaxis

   Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced on Wednesday that Uber will cut 3,300 jobs, about a tenth of its global workforce. This is the largest cut since Covid, when it cut 14% (3,700 jobs). Khosrowshahi said the cuts are not due to economic downturn—Uber has “grown by orders of magnitude” in five years—but because Uber had become too big to manage. The reorganization aims to make the company run “faster and smarter,” and savings will be reinvested in growth and innovation, including autonomous vehicles.

   Uber expects to commit $10 billion to bring self-driving cars to market at scale, with 120,000 cars committed by partners like Rivian, Baidu, and Pony.ai. Khosrowshahi aims to make Uber the “world’s leading commercialization platform for autonomous vehicles.”

6. 6

   PlusAI goes public via SPAC at $800M valuation

   Autonomous trucking software developer PlusAI is going public by merging with SPAC Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp. The deal values PlusAI at $800 million in pre-money equity and is expected to close in 2026. PlusAI already operates autonomous freight routes with Ryder and International Motors in Texas and has generated $25 million in revenue through its HyperFoundry platform. The company targets $40–50 million in contracted revenue in 2026 and plans a commercial launch of SuperDrive-equipped trucks in 2027.

   The merger is backed by up to $300 million in capital, including over $60 million in committed financing and about $236 million from the SPAC trust. The combined company will continue to operate as PlusAI.