Tech giants pivot from chatbots to physical AI applications including smart glasses and robotaxis as Waymo expands nationwide and Tesla launches cheaper autonomous rides, while the industry develops world models and autonomous agents amid growing regulatory debates and challenges to Nvidia's chip dominance.
NVIDIA launches Alpamayo, an open-source AI ecosystem featuring a 10-billion-parameter reasoning model, simulation framework, and 1,700+ hours of driving data to help companies like JLR, Lucid Motors, and Uber develop level 4 autonomous vehicles capable of handling complex driving scenarios.
Tesla deliveries crash 16% in Q4 2025 to 418,227 vehicles, missing Wall Street targets as Chinese rival BYD seizes the global electric vehicle crown with 2.26 million units sold, sending Tesla stock tumbling 2.59% amid mounting competition and policy headwinds.
Waymo resumes San Francisco robotaxi operations after suspending service during weekend power outages that left 130,000 customers without electricity and caused multiple autonomous vehicles to stall at intersections with non-functioning traffic signals.
Uber and Lyft partner with Chinese tech giant Baidu to test autonomous robotaxis in London starting 2026, with Lyft planning to deploy hundreds of electric RT6 SUVs pending regulatory approval, joining Waymo and Wayve in the city's growing autonomous vehicle landscape.
Ford launches a $2 billion battery storage business targeting data centers and electric grids, repurposing its Kentucky factory to produce lithium iron phosphate batteries with 20GWh annual capacity starting in 2027 as it pivots from scaled-back electric vehicle plans to compete with Tesla and GM in energy storage.
Robotics companies face a massive 100,000-year data shortage compared to AI language models, prompting industry leaders like Waymo and Ambi Robotics to combine traditional engineering with AI to create commercial robots that generate real-world data while performing tasks like driving taxis and sorting packages.
NVIDIA launches DRIVE Alpamayo-R1, the world's first open reasoning AI model for autonomous driving that combines chain-of-thought reasoning with path planning for level 4 autonomy, while also releasing new digital AI tools including speech recognition and content safety models.
Nvidia launches Alpamayo-R1, an open AI model that gives self-driving cars human-like reasoning abilities to process visual and text data for better driving decisions, marking a major step toward fully autonomous vehicles.
Uber launches the Middle East's first fully driverless robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi through partnership with Chinese company WeRide, allowing users to book autonomous vehicles through UberX and Uber Comfort on Yas Island, with plans to expand to 15 more cities across Europe within five years.