Autonomous Vehicles
New 3D lidar sensor detects radio-silent drone threats from nearly one mile away
Small drones are forcing counter-UAS systems to detect threats earlier, especially as aircraft become harder...
Category
Autonomous Vehicles
Self-driving cars, trucks, and aerial systems.
Self-driving is two stories: the long, capital-intensive push to driverless taxis and trucks on public roads, and the parallel maturation of aerial autonomy.
Both are gated by safety validation, not just model capability.
Latest autonomous vehicles news
Autonomous Vehicles
$92M deal turns high-altitude drones into airborne sensors for hypersonic flight tests
AEVEX Corp. has landed a potential $92.2 million contract to support the U.S. military’s SkyRange...
Autonomous Vehicles
Tesla brings Cybercab to China, rules out sale and robotaxi service
Tesla is putting its Cybercab on public display in China this week, but the company wants to be clear about one thing it isn’t: a vehicle it plans to sell there. Tesla China said the showcase “does not involve” selling the Cybercab in the Chinese market or launching a driverless ride-hailing service — even as China’s own robotaxi operators run paid rides at scale. more…
Autonomous Vehicles
Former Waymo CFO jumps to self-driving startup Wayve
Elisa de Martel, who left her position as chief financial officer at Alphabet's autonomous vehicle company Waymo in January, will be based out of Silicon Valley.
Autonomous Vehicles
May Mobility is going public in a $1.4B SPAC deal
The deal could net the asset-light robotaxi company more than $300 million in funding.
Autonomous Vehicles
Flytrex Adds Rooftop Drone Docks and AI Fleet Positioning in Dallas
The company says prepositioning drones at restaurants can cut delivery costs by 60% and reduce delivery times by half. Flytrex has introduced a rooftop docking system and AI-based fleet positioning for drone delivery. The company says the combined system cuts delivery costs by 60% and customer delivery times by half. The system places drones at […]
Autonomous Vehicles
FirstEnergy Grant Expands Drone Training for Educators and Police
WarrenUAS will use the funding to provide FAA Part 107 preparation and hands-on flight training in New Jersey. A FirstEnergy Foundation grant is helping teachers and police officers gain professional drone training at Warren County Community College. The foundation awarded $15,000 to WarrenUAS, the college’s unmanned systems program. The funding will support training for 20 […]
Autonomous Vehicles
The Drone Is No Longer the Point
At INTERGEO, attention has shifted from individual platforms to complete geospatial workflows. One of the clearest drone industry trends at INTERGEO 2026 is not a new aircraft or sensor. It is how fully drones have entered the wider geospatial workflow. In earlier years, drones occupied their own category and their own space on the show […]
Autonomous Vehicles
Einride and Lidl deploy Germany’s first driverless cab-less truck on public roads
Cab-less trucking company Einride and German food retailer Lidl – a company of Schwarz Group –- today announced the deployment of the first cab-less SAE Level 4 autonomous truck in daily operations on...
Autonomous Vehicles
FCC Clears Nationwide Test of Cellular Networks for Drone Safety
Temporary waiver will allow DOT to measure airborne wireless coverage for command and control, detect and avoid, Remote ID and other aviation applications. The Federal Communications Commission has removed a regulatory obstacle to nationwide testing of commercial wireless networks aboard drones and general aviation aircraft. The FCC order, effective September 11, supports the Department of […]
Autonomous Vehicles
From Cars to Drones: Birdstop Taps Detroit’s Auto Supply Chain to Scale U.S. Manufacturing
UAV maker turns to auto industry as source of domestic components By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill While Silicon Valley is well-known as a mecca for the launch of flashy high-tech firms, and Detroit as the home of the older, more staid and much less exciting automotive industry, for one autonomous security drone startup the […]
Autonomous Vehicles
Building Waymo’s Risk and Insurance Foundation in Europe with Allianz Partners
As we look toward our commercial expansion in Europe — beginning with our initial deployment plans in London and Munich — we are teaming up with Allianz Partners to establish the insurance, claims, and safety research foundation needed to scale across the continent.
Autonomous Vehicles
Japan plans drone-mounted quantum magnetic sensors to hunt Chinese submarines
Japan plans to develop compact quantum magnetic sensors for aerial drones that could help locate...
Autonomous Vehicles
Tesla Cybercab turns 10-minute Austin trip into 70-minute detour
A Tesla Cybercab rider in Austin says a 10-minute trip turned into a 70-minute ordeal after the driverless taxi took a long detour across the city. The reason is a limitation Tesla still hasn’t solved. Its robotaxis can’t drive on highways, so a quick hop that a human would take up the freeway becomes a winding surface-street tour. more…
Autonomous Vehicles
Wingcopter 262 Debuts as All-Electric Tactical Reconnaissance eVTOL for Defense Users
The all-electric Wingcopter 262 carries a 262-centimeter (103-inch) wingspan, a 150-kilometer (93-mile) tactical range and a 10-kilogram (22-pound) maximum takeoff weight. Wingcopter introduced the Wingcopter 262 on September 14, 2026 from Düsseldorf. The all-electric, vertical take-off and landing fixed-wing aircraft targets defense and security users. Tactical range reaches 150 kilometers (93…
Autonomous Vehicles
Kite Aero Commences KITE UAS Production in Geelong
Sovereign Five Eyes aligned production of the KITE autonomous logistics aircraft moves to Sykes’ composite facility as the company builds toward a 100-unit pipeline. Kite Aerospace Pty Ltd started production of its KITE uncrewed aerial vehicle on September 14, 2026. The company partners with Sykes Advanced Manufacturing for the build. The announcement came from Geelong […]
Autonomous Vehicles
Waymo opens robotaxi service in Las Vegas
Las Vegas will be Waymo's 15th commercial robotaxi market.
Autonomous Vehicles
Opening our doors to Tokyo riders in 2027 with Nihon Kotsu and GO
Imagine opening the GO or Waymo app after a late night after the subways have closed, or stepping out of a business meeting needing a refuge for a follow-up call. Your ride pulls up and you hop into a completely empty, fully autonomous vehicle. Soon, this will be a reality for riders in Tokyo. Building on Waymo’s foundation of serving tens of millions of commercial fully autonomous trips across…
Autonomous Vehicles
Vegas, Deal Us In! We’re welcoming riders today
Millions of people travel to Las Vegas every year to gamble. Casinos, sports, races, you name it. But one thing that shouldn’t be left up to chance? Road safety. That’s why we’re excited to announce that starting today, residents and visitors alike can go all in on Waymo, now providing our first public riders in the city with fully autonomous trips.
Autonomous Vehicles
Zürich Airport deploys L4 autonomous shuttle – WITHOUT a human monitor
Zürich Airport has deployed not one but two fully automated electric shuttle buses on the grounds of Zürich Airport. Crucially, these self-driving vehicles are operating without a human safety monitor, making Zürich one of the first airports in Europe to test L4 autonomy in a live environment. more…
Autonomous Vehicles
TechCrunch Mobility: Lyft has entered the robotaxi chat
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation, and now, more than ever, the role AI is playing in it.
Autonomous Vehicles
Waymo pulls over, calls cops on riders with a ghost gun
Two people were arrested in San Fransico while riding around in a Waymo robotaxi after the cab pulled over and called the cops on them. The riders were juveniles in possession of a loaded AR-style ghost gun and were taken to a juvenile hall. While the police report did not specify who was operating the autonomous car, Waymo later confirmed it was one of its vehicles to the Los Angeles Times. A…
Autonomous Vehicles
GPT-6 Astra pilots a surveillance drone and runs a business on its own
GPT-6 Astra earns nearly three times as much as Claude Fable 5.1 on Andon Labs' Vending-Bench agent benchmark and refuses illegal price-fixing deals that Fable agrees to. On drone control, Astra is the first model to beat the human baseline on all five subtasks, including finding and following individual people. The article GPT-6 Astra pilots a surveillance drone and runs a business on its own…
Autonomous Vehicles
Learn how AVs and robotics are laying the groundwork for field deployments at RoboBusiness
ASI CEO Mel Torrie will explore why the intersection of autonomous vehicles and robotics will further revolutionize field deployments.
Autonomous Vehicles
Musk promotes blatant Tesla FSD misuse as crash lawyers rejoice
Elon Musk is once again promoting the misuse of Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” (FSD), this time by amplifying a video of a 98-year-old man who openly admits he has stopped watching the road. The clip is charming. It’s also a textbook example of the exact driver behavior Tesla’s lawyers are fighting in a growing pile of crash lawsuits. more…
Read as Safety claims need a matched baseline — same roads, same weather, same time of day — and disclosure of remote assistance.
Autonomous Vehicles
They Predicted a $127 Billion Drone Market. Ten Years Later, Here’s What They Got Right.
In 2016, Michael Mazur and Adam Wiśniewski helped author one of the drone industry’s most widely cited forecasts, putting the addressable market for drone-powered solutions at $127.3 billion. A decade later, the AI Clearing co-founders revisit that prediction, examining where the industry developed as expected, where it surprised them, and why the next wave of […]
Autonomous Vehicles
Beyond the Drone: What to See at INTERGEO 2026 in Munich
DRONELIFE heads to INTERGEO for a look at the mapping, lidar, photogrammetry, AI and digital twin technologies shaping the next generation of drone operations. INTERGEO 2026 takes place September 15–17 at Messe München, bringing together the international geospatial community for three days of exhibits, technical sessions and industry discussion. For commercial drone professionals, INTERGEO…
Autonomous Vehicles
US submarine captured in Iran, can conduct missions at 20,000-feet ocean depth
Iran has claimed that it captured an American underwater drone, according to reports. The underwater...
Autonomous Vehicles
Can Your Drone Program Survive Success? Why Simplicity Matters at Scale
SkyeBrowse CEO Bobby Ouyang says growing drone programs face a new challenge: making sophisticated capabilities simple enough to use across an organization. For many organizations, launching a drone program is no longer the hardest part. The bigger challenge may come after the program proves its value. A police department might begin with a few trained […]
Autonomous Vehicles
Probe over Tesla’s Autopilot and Full-Self Driving systems? US Congressman raises new concerns
A U.S. Congressman is demanding a probe over the safety and misuse of Tesla’s Autopilot...
Read as Announced, not audited: round sizes come from the company, and a raise is capital in, not revenue or deployments.
Autonomous Vehicles
General Atomics’ new Wildfire drone can fly over 9,200 miles with 2 anti-ship missiles
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has formally unveiled its new Wildfire unmanned aircraft, positioning...
Autonomous Vehicles
How drone developers are navigating changing regulatory landscapes to help farmers
Before the FCC put restrictions on foreign-made robots, it had already set similar restrictions on drones last year, noted Hylio.
Autonomous Vehicles
China targets air, land and sea integration for its next-generation drone swarms
China is moving beyond large formations of identical drones toward a more ambitious goal: a...
Autonomous Vehicles
Pony.ai Starts Fully Driverless Robotaxi Passenger Tests in Zagreb
Pony AI Inc. and Verne announced on September 10, 2026, the start of fully driverless robotaxi test rides carrying invited passengers on public roads in Zagreb, Croatia, along a 22-kilometer route linking Verne's headquarters and one of the city's main business districts with Franjo Tuđman Airport Zagreb. The companies described the driverless passenger rides as a European first and said the…
Autonomous Vehicles
China’s drone supremacy shows in airlifting bodies and food after Nepal flood disaster
DJI drones that already supply Mount Everest camps assist Nepal’s flood relief.
Autonomous Vehicles
Batteries Were Boring. That Was a Feature. It’s Gone.
The shift toward a more secure domestic drone supply chain is forcing manufacturers to rethink components they once took for granted. In this guest post, Howard Alt, CEO of Micantis, argues that changing battery requirements present drone OEMs with more than a compliance challenge: they offer an opportunity to take greater control of battery design, […]
Autonomous Vehicles
Congressman presses DOT on Tesla FSD after 43 sleeping-driver videos
A US congressman is demanding the Department of Transportation explain what it’s doing about Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving after an NBC News investigation surfaced dozens of videos of drivers apparently asleep at the wheel. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi gave Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy until September 30 to answer five questions about the systems, which Tesla itself says “require…
Autonomous Vehicles
Missed the Moment? AirData Adds 10-Minute Rewind to Live Drone Video
New capabilities let remote teams recover missed moments, preserve mission video in the cloud and maintain a separate record from onboard storage. AirData has added recording and rewind capabilities to its Live Streaming platform. The update addresses a growing challenge as drone operations become more remote: the person who needs to see the video may […]
Read as Demo footage is a best take unless stated otherwise — the questions are teleoperation, cuts, retries, and speed.
Autonomous Vehicles
Building American Drones Means Building the Parts, PDW CEO Says
James Slider says U.S. drone leadership will depend on domestic production of motors, batteries, electronics and other critical components By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill Building a system capable of supplying the U.S. military with unmanned aerial systems to meet the challenges of the 21stcentury will take a massive effort, to bring to American shores […]
Autonomous Vehicles
Northrop achieves first-ever successful quantum navigation test on one-way attack drone
Sandbox AQ, a company working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, has...
Autonomous Vehicles
From Power Lines to Mine Shafts: Lidar Expands the Reach of Drone Mapping
Ouster partnerships with GeoCue and Flyability show how next-generation lidar is supporting applications above infrastructure and deep inside confined spaces Two recent partnerships from lidar developer Ouster highlight the expanding role of lidar in commercial drone operations. The applications range from surveying utility infrastructure from the air to mapping confined industrial spaces where…
Autonomous Vehicles
Texas Senators Call for Drone-Powered “Smart Wall”
By Dronelife Features Editor Jim Magill Facing threats from the federal government to build a border wall or other physical barrier through some of the most environmentally sensitive areas of South Texas, state Democratic lawmakers instead are calling for the deployment of more drones and other technological solutions to boost border security. At the urging […]
Autonomous Vehicles
When Drones Generate 6,000 Images, Who Looks at Them? AI’s Real Role in Commercial Drone Operations
Commercial UAV Expo panelists point to data analysis, scale and human oversight as the near-term value of artificial intelligence. As commercial drone programs scale, artificial intelligence may be solving a problem that drones themselves helped create: too much data for people to reasonably review. That was one of the key takeaways from a session at […]
Autonomous Vehicles
US Army to bolster its obstacle breaching capability with autonomous vehicles
A Seattle-based company is set to boost autonomous operations in the U.S. Army. Overland AI,...
Autonomous Vehicles
Tesla Cybercab has a hidden virtual joystick to drive it manually
A Tesla Cybercab rider found something in the robotaxi: a manual driving mode. When he got in, the touchscreen was showing a virtual joystick to drive the car by hand. Tesla built the Cybercab with no steering wheel and no pedals. But it apparently still has a way to drive it manually, and you do it by dragging a finger across a screen. more…
Autonomous Vehicles
Bechtel and Cyberhawk Expand Eight-Year Collaboration on AI-Driven Drone Construction Monitoring
The two companies formalize their partnership to scale iHawk drone analytics, autonomous data capture and AI-assisted site analysis on live EPC projects. Bechtel Corporation and Cyberhawk have expanded their collaboration on drone-based construction monitoring. The two companies formalized joint work on capturing, processing and using construction data. The effort spans complex engineering,…
Autonomous Vehicles
Powerus Signs $22.3M Counter-UAS Deal With Private Middle East Oil Firm
By Dronelife Features Editor Jim Magill Powerus counter-UAS deal signals a new private sector paradigm. In what might be the first transaction of its kind, U.S.-based autonomous systems company Powerus recently announced a $22.3 million contract to export its networked counter-UAS technology – not to the government of an allied nation, but to a private […]
