Just a few weeks after Waymo announced it was taking its robotaxi service to London in its first European expansion, the Alphabet-owned company has just revealed that it’s heading to three new cities in the U.S., too.
In a post on X on Monday, Waymo said its autonomous taxis will soon be trundling along the streets of San Diego, Detroit, and Las Vegas.
We’re bringing the safety, reliability and magic of our autonomous ride-hail service to three more cities next year.
Learn more here: https://t.co/orfVLirY21 pic.twitter.com/455weQDmM0
While a precise launch date has yet to be revealed, the robotaxi service is expected to begin serving paying passengers some time next year, with riders using the Waymo app to book trips and manage their account.
Waymo has already been testing its autonomous vehicles in these cities to learn more about their performance in various traffic and weather conditions, with snow and ice a notable challenge in Detroit. And yes, in Las Vegas, the service area for Waymo’s robotaxis is expected to include the famous Strip, with an expansion to the city’s airport also on the cards.
The company already has the necessary permit to operate in California, but for Detroit and Las Vegas it still requires the necessary permissions from regulators in Michigan and Nevada, respectively.
“We’ll follow our safety framework and serve riders in these cities when we’ve properly validated our technology and obtained the necessary permissions, with the intentions to open our doors to riders next year,” Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp told The Verge.
Waymo currently operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta, and also plans to launch pilot services in Miami, Washington D.C., and Denver, among other places.
Besides London and a growing number of U.S. cities, Waymo is also planning operations in Tokyo, where, like London, its driverless vehicles will have to drive on the left side, along streets that can often be narrower and windier than those in the U.S.
Here’s a list of other exciting challenges awaiting Waymo’s robotaxis when they hit London roads soon.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.