Robotics & Automation
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Uber Signs Robotaxi Deals With Both Zoox and Motional in a Single Week, Cementing Its Role as the Autonomous Ride-Hailing Platform
Uber launched Motional IONIQ 5 robotaxis in Las Vegas on March 13 and announced a strategic partnership with Amazon-backed Zoox two days earlier, accelerating a multi-partner platform strategy now spanning more than 25 AV companies.
Household Robotics Startup Sunday Reaches Unicorn Status With 165 Million Dollar Series B to Ship Home Robots by Thanksgiving
Sunday raised $165 million at a $1.15 billion valuation to deploy its household robot Memo to homes by Thanksgiving 2026, using a novel low-cost data capture approach.
Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Emerges From Eight Years of Stealth to Launch Atoms, a Robotics Company Betting Against Humanoids
Kalanick rebrands City Storage Systems as Atoms, absorbing CloudKitchens and acquiring autonomous-driving startup Pronto to build purpose-built industrial robots.
BMW Deploys First Humanoid Robot in German Auto Production as Physical AI Strategy Expands from US Pilot to Europe
BMW Group has begun deploying Hexagon Robotics' AEON humanoid robot at its Leipzig plant, marking the first time a humanoid robot has entered automotive production in Germany, following a Spartanburg pilot where Figure AI's robot moved 90,000 components across 1,250 operating hours.
Rhoda AI Exits Stealth with $450 Million Series A to Build Robot Foundation Models That Learn from Internet Video
Palo Alto startup Rhoda AI emerged from 18 months of stealth with a $450 million Series A at a $1.7 billion valuation, unveiling a robotics intelligence platform trained on hundreds of millions of internet videos.
FAA Selects Eight Projects to Launch Electric Air Taxi Operations Across 26 States by Summer 2026
The DOT and FAA chose eight state-led eVTOL pilot programs covering 26 states, enabling companies like Joby, Archer, and BETA Technologies to begin passenger and cargo air taxi operations as early as summer 2026.
London Surgeon Performs UK's First Remote Robotic Surgery on a Cancer Patient 2,400 Kilometers Away in Gibraltar
Professor Prokar Dasgupta operated a robotic system from The London Clinic to remove a prostate in Gibraltar with only 60 milliseconds of latency, marking the UK's first telesurgery and Europe's longest-distance remote operation.
Tether Leads $1.2 Billion Investment in Neura Robotics at $4.6 Billion Valuation, Betting Stablecoin Profits on Humanoid Robots
German startup Neura Robotics raises €1 billion led by Tether Holdings, becoming Europe's most valuable humanoid robotics company as cryptocurrency profits flow into physical AI.
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.