What You Need to Know Today

Ridehail’s robotaxi reckoning? Uber and Lyft drivers say wages are down in cities that allow self-driving taxis. “We’ve seen this movie before: When Uber first showed up, it reduced traditional taxi drivers’ earnings by about 10%.”

Chinese AV player Pony.ai started trading on the Nasdaq last week at $15 per share, hitting a valuation of $5.25B.

Sales of professional service robots jumped 30% in 2023, the majority of which were used for transportation and logistics applications.

Baidu has won Hong Kong’s first license to test autonomous vehicles in the city. The deployment is noteworthy because it will be Baidu’s first outside of mainland China.

Tesla has begun shipping the highly anticipated FSD v13 update to some early-access customers. Initial reviews have highlighted how well the new software handles reversing out of parking spots.

Related: Tesla is releasing new updates for the Apple Watch app, including a digital phone key.

A reporter took only AVs to get around for a full week—and found out what happens when you forget your laptop in the back of a Waymo.

UrbanLink Air Mobility has agreed to buy a fleet of heavy-duty cargo drones from Traverse Aero to transport goods in Miami.

Toyota is deploying self-driving shuttles for employees at its factory in Fukuoka, Japan, using May Mobility’s driverless tech.

A TuSimple co-founder calls for the liquidation of the troubled AV trucking startup.

A study shows how camera-based automated driving systems can become confused by the flashing lights of emergency vehicles. Researchers call the phenomenon “EpileptiCar.”

GM has patented a system that enables AVs to detect potential threats from vandals. The idea that a 5,000-lb car would need to be protected from a 150-lb person might strike some as silly, but remember that robotaxis actually get attacked pretty often by pedestrians, despite being a net-positive for vulnerable road users.

P.S. As a 2024 wrap-up, our friends at Micromobility Industries are hosting a webinar with McKinsey tomorrow about key U.S. mobility shifts and micromobility trends. Expect lots of exclusive data and insights about mode behavior. Learn more and register here.

‍