Chinese robotics maker Unitree unveiled its new 'Superman' humanoid robot ahead of its Shanghai debut, part of a crowded field of companies racing to commercialize humanoid robots. The company claims the machine can run faster than Usain Bolt's top sprint speed, a bipedal locomotion benchmark meant to generate buzz as fervour builds around China's physical-AI ambitions.
Waymo notched two expansion wins in one day. California regulators cleared the company to extend driverless robotaxi service beyond San Francisco into the Bay Area and Los Angeles, while in Nevada, Waymo struck its first-ever sports venue partnership with the Las Vegas Raiders to offer autonomous rides at Allegiant Stadium. Together the moves signal Waymo's push to normalize robotaxis as everyday infrastructure, from commuter routes to game day.
Waymo quietly imported 3,200 Chinese-built electric vehicles to Los Angeles for its robotaxi fleet, sidestepping the 127.5% tariffs that would sink the same purchase for an ordinary consumer. Meanwhile, up the coast in Santa Monica, the company patched up a smaller but telling dispute, regaining overnight charging access at municipal lots after losing it earlier. Together the items sketch the unglamorous plumbing behind a robotaxi expansion — sourcing cars and juice — that rarely makes it into the marketing copy.
Skydio pushed its multi-drone detect-and-rescue technology further, adding coordinated swarm operations meant to let police and first responders manage fleets of drones at once. But the ambition collided with reality this week when a cloud service outage exposed just how much of that autonomy depends on infrastructure Skydio doesn't fully control, raising questions about resilience as the company races to scale.