Robotics & Automation
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Caterpillar Demonstrates First Autonomous Construction Compactor at CONEXPO as It Pivots a Century-Old Equipment Empire Toward AI
Caterpillar debuts a driverless CS12 soil compactor and a conversational AI assistant at CONEXPO 2026, extending mining autonomy to construction sites.
Tesla Faces March 9 NHTSA Deadline to Hand Over FSD Crash Data as Austin Robotaxi Fleet Crashes at Four Times the Human Rate
NHTSA gave Tesla a final March 9 deadline to deliver crash video and telemetry from its FSD investigation, while data shows Austin robotaxis crash four times more often than human drivers.
Autonomous Ships Cross Two Milestones in a Single Month as China Completes First Unmanned Port Call and U.S. Navy Begins Building Crewless Warships
China's Zhi Fei completed a fully autonomous port call at Qingdao while the U.S. Navy's Liberty Class entered construction, as the IMO races to finalize global rules by 2030.
NVIDIA Alpamayo Enters Production: The First Open-Source Reasoning AV Model Ships Inside the Mercedes-Benz CLA
NVIDIA's Alpamayo open-source Vision-Language-Action model is now shipping in production vehicles, marking a pivot from proprietary to open autonomous driving AI.
Xiaomi Deploys Humanoid Robots on Its EV Assembly Line, Achieving 90 Percent Success Rate in Autonomous Nut Installation
Xiaomi's humanoid robots completed three hours of autonomous assembly work at its EV plant, hitting a 90.2 percent success rate and meeting the 76-second production cycle, as CEO Lei Jun pledges large-scale factory deployment within five years.
Wayve Raises $1.5 Billion at $8.6 Billion Valuation as BMW and Mercedes Abandon Level 3, Signaling a Tectonic Shift in Autonomous Driving
UK startup Wayve secures $1.5B from NVIDIA, Microsoft, Uber, and three automakers for its AI foundation model approach to self-driving, just as BMW and Mercedes shelve their in-house Level 3 programs.
Apptronik Nears $1 Billion in Total Funding at $5 Billion Valuation, Betting Its NASA-Bred Humanoid Can Outrun Tesla and China
The Austin startup closes a $520M Series A extension backed by Google, Mercedes-Benz, and John Deere, bringing its war chest to $935M as it races to commercialize Apollo humanoid robots while China commands 90 percent of global shipments.
Bedrock Robotics Raises $270M at $1.75B Valuation to Bring Autonomous Excavators to Construction Sites
Ex-Waymo engineers secure major Series B to deploy operator-less construction equipment amid an industry labor crisis.
Waymo Raises Record $16 Billion at $126 Billion Valuation, Plans Robotaxi Expansion to 20 Cities and First International Markets
Waymo secures the largest autonomous vehicle investment ever, tripling to 15 million rides in 2025 and targeting 20+ new cities including Tokyo and London in 2026
Chinese Humanoid Robot 'Bolt' Hits 10 m/s on Treadmill, Claiming World Speed Record
Zhejiang University and MirrorMe unveil Bolt, a full-size humanoid robot reaching 10 m/s — tripling the previous Guinness record for bipedal robots.