In Las Vegas, the city that never sleeps, where many locals and tourists love to have a big night out on the town, there’s now a new robotaxi service available thanks to Waymo. No more worrying that your taxi driver has spent the evening gambling away their life savings before picking you up.

Starting earlier this month, Waymo’s advanced robotaxis can now be ordered through the company’s app. As in other cities, the fleet will include Jaguar I-Pace models, but as is the case in Denver and San Diego, the majority of Waymo vehicles operating in Las Vegas will be the Ojai model, built by Zeekr in China and based on the electric Mix minivan.

Read: You Can Now Chat To Waymo’s Newest Robotaxi As It Drives You Around

Waymo says that before launching its service in Las Vegas, it had received expressions of interest from more than 100,000 people interested in the robotaxis coming to Sin City. As part of the initial roll-out, the self-driving taxis will operate from Boulder Junction up the Strip to Sahara Avenue. They will also connect from Spring Valley to Winchester.

“Las Vegas and its neighborhoods are evolving rapidly, and expanding smart, clean transit options is essential for our city’s future,” Las Vegas mayor Shelley Berkley said. “The public rollout of Waymo’s all-electric autonomous ride-hailing brings technology directly to our municipal streets, helping residents and patrons travel seamlessly between the cultural districts and neighborhood centers. By investing in cleaner, safer urban mobility, we ensure the City of Las Vegas remains an accessible, vibrant, and forward-looking community.”

Waymo has spent months analyzing roads across Las Vegas to ensure its vehicles, powered by the sixth-generation Waymo Driver, are up to the task. In a city like Las Vegas, where the flashing lights, crowds, and wild drivers can distract even the most experienced motorists, cruising around in a Waymo will probably become the choice of transportation for many.

The name might not be familiar in America, but the Bolt ride-hailing company is a Goliath in other parts of the globe, operating in more than 850 cities across 50 countries. And proving that anything its more famous rival Uber can do, Bolt can do too, the Euro operation is teaming up with Lucid to develop tens of thousands of robotaxis.

Lucid and Bolt today announced they are joining forces to put 25,000 autonomous cabs on Europe’s streets. It’s part of Bolt’s commitment to provide riders access to 100,000 driverless cars on its platform by 2035. The American EV brand already has a deal in place with Uber to roll out 35,000 robotaxis across North America starting this year.

Related: Don’t Play Chicken With A Tesla Cybercab By Jumping In Front Of It

But there are a couple of important differences between the two deals. Bolt’s Lucids will be based on the carmaker’s upcoming midsize platform, which is probably a better fit for Europe’s generally smaller roads. Lucid and Uber in the US, meanwhile, will use the Gravity SUV, as well as the midsize car when it arrives.

And that’s not the only point of differentiation. Both ride-hail operators’ robotaxis will feature Level 4 autonomous tech enabling them to function without a human driver. But while the US cabs rely on hardware and software from Nuro (image below), Bolt’s robotaxis get their driverless brains from Nvidia Hyperion. Bolt says it will own the entire 25,000-car fleet.

Strong Competition

The robocab market is really heating up in Europe right now. Uber, Verne (co-founded by Mate Rimac) and Pony.ai have already started offering rides in Zagreb, Croatia, and Waymo is currently testing in Europe and plans to launch in Germany before the end of 2027.

Uber has also joined forces with Wayve to put 15 autonomous Mustang Mach-E robotaxis on London’s streets, though each of the EVs is currently required to have a human driver, while Wayve waits for final regulatory approval. And Elon Musk has promised to bring Tesla’s Cybercab to Europe, without offering any kind of timeline.

Lucid, Tesla

Back in October 2024, Tesla’s “We, Robot” event introduced the world to Optimus, the Robovan, and the Cybercab. Drawing design inspiration from the Cybertruck, the Cybercab offered yet another look at the proposed driverless car future, this time sans a steering wheel and pedals.

But the biggest shocker was the Tesla CEO’s claim that not only did he expect the Cybercab to be offered to customers at under $30,000, but that it would also enter high-volume production before 2027. Granted, by his own admission, Elon Musk said at the time that he tends to be “a little optimistic with timeframes,” but it got tech creator Marcus Brownlee, aka MKBHD, thinking.

More: Tesla Offers Rides In A Car With No Wheel Or Pedals, So Naturally The Feds Showed Up

So confident was MKBHD that Tesla wouldn’t meet such a timeline, he made a bit of a one-sided bet: he offered to shave his head live on camera if they made good. To be specific, Brownlee said that Tesla wouldn’t sell a Cybercab to a customer for $30,000 before 2027.

Semantics aside, that moment triggered a bunch of AI videos and memes, particularly from fans of Tesla, with Elon Musk even replying to one such post on X, saying, “Gonna happen. 😂”

A Long Time Coming

Since the Cybercab reveal, we’ve seen more information about the car trickle out, including it would likely deliver around 300 miles (482 km) of range, use large castings to save costs, and still projected to cost $30,000 or less. In February, the team even appeared to be ahead of schedule, with the first Cybercab rolling off Tesla’s Texan production line.

Brownlee himself admitted he was a little nervous when it came to light that a new Cybercab event had been scheduled for the 3rd of September. But luckily for him (and his hair), the event had nothing to do with customer sales. Instead, it announced that the Cybercab would be added to the Tesla Robotaxi network within their existing geofenced areas.

But while it looks like his hair is safe for now, the Tech Tuber went on to say that although he thinks Tesla may be ahead of its time with the Cybercab, he expects self-driving cars to become more mainstream in the next 10 years. Oh, and regardless of whether he wins the “bet” or not, he’ll be donating to Cancer Research in January.

Tesla Cybercab

London’s iconic black cabs have some new high-tech competition. Uber and British autonomous driving specialist Wayve have launched the UK’s first autonomous ride-hailing service, putting self-driving cars onto the capital’s famously busy streets.

Starting today, passengers ordering UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort could find a Wayve-equipped Ford Mustang Mach-E turning up instead. There’s no additional charge, and anyone who’d rather leave the driving to an actual person can reject the autonomous option before it arrives.

Related: A Tesla Robotaxi Got Boxed In By Bollards, So It Bulldozed Its Way Out

Calling these robotaxis completely driverless is getting slightly ahead of ourselves, though. During this opening phase, every car will carry a trained, Transport for London-licensed private hire driver who can keep an eye on things. Neither company has said exactly when the human safety net will disappear.

Doors are unlocked, and journeys are started through the Uber app, and once aboard, passengers get interactive displays supporting 64 languages, showing the route the car intends to take. Unlike some autonomous services in other parts of the world that are confined to carefully selected neighborhoods, Wayve’s cars can operate throughout London, with the exception of airport zones.

That autonomous freedom comes from Wayve’s AV2.0 system, which uses an AI Driver trained through experience rather than relying on traditional high-definition maps and piles of hand-written instructions. Wayve has been teaching the technology on London roads since 2018, so it’s logged pretty much every kind of traffic situation.

140,000 Riders, But Only 15 Cars

More than 140,000 people have already opted in through Uber’s Ride Preferences, though their chances of actually getting into one of these cabs is pretty slim. There are currently just 15 Wayve Mustangs versus roughly 100,000 Ubers in London.

London is Wayve’s home city but doesn’t represent the end of its ambitions. Wayve and Uber plan to expand their partnership across 12 international markets, with AI-driven Nissan Leafs due in Tokyo later this year. Uber, meanwhile, expects autonomous rides to be operating through its platform in as many as 15 cities by the end of 2026.

Wayve, Uber

Hyundai’s massive product push dominated their investor day event, but it wasn’t the only thing the company announced. Quite the opposite as the automaker talked about increasing production, ramping up autonomous driving efforts, and offering improved technology.

Starting with autonomous driving, the first Ioniq 5 Waymo robotaxis will be delivered in the fourth quarter and they’ll “enable an international expansion of robotaxi services as early as 2027.”

More: Hyundai Is Launching More Than 100 New Vehicles By 2030

Besides the Waymo effort, Hyundai-owned Motional will use Ioniq 5 robotaxis. They’re scheduled to begin commercial operations later this year in Las Vegas. Additional cities should then follow in 2027.

On the consumer front, “Hyundai Motor Group is standardizing its sensor architecture around the NVIDIA ecosystem so that data acquired by Hyundai Motor, Kia, 42dot, and Motional can be integrated and used to a single consistent standard.” This means learnings from one company can be applied to others.

Hyundai is also working to deploy its autonomous driving artificial intelligence, known as Atria AI, by the end of the year. It will eventually be used to power the company’s Level 2+ system, which arrives in 2028.

The automaker went on to say “Atria AI will be extended progressively across mass-produced vehicles, building a full lineup of autonomous driving capability from Level 2+ to Level 4.” Since Hyundai sells millions of vehicles annually, they’ll collect a ton of data, and this will be used to rapidly improve the AI’s self-driving capabilities and performance.

Improved EVs

Hyundai has been an electric vehicle pioneer and this experience is about to pay off as the company has developed its own battery cells. They “deliver more than double the output of the high-nickel cells … used previously, while cutting charging time by 40 percent.” The new cells will apparently debut in the upcoming Santa Fe or Genesis range-extended vehicle.

Starting next year, EVs will use new “mid-nickel NCM cells.” This will reduce battery costs by approximately 30%, while “maintaining optimal performance under real-world driving conditions.” Furthermore, the new batteries will have 30% more energy than equivalent LFP batteries of the same size.

Lastly, the company will improve its cloud-based battery management system by 2028. This will reportedly extend battery life by an average of 20%.

Amazon Partnership

Hyundai’s partnership with Amazon on Amazon Autos appears to be a success as they’ll expand listings to markets outside of the United States next year. Alexa built-in will also roll out across the Hyundai lineup, while Genesis models will follow.

Speaking of tech, Hyundai is relying on Amazon Web Services to accelerate their “cloud and AI capabilities.” Amazon is also said to be looking at using Hyundai fuel cell vehicles.

Increased Production Capacity

With more than 100 new models coming by 2030, Hyundai is ramping up their production capacity by 1.27 million units globally. North American plants will be able to build an additional 500,000 units, while Indian facilities add 320,000 units. Korean production will increase by 200,000 vehicles, while CKD sites will see their capacity grow by 250,000 units.

Focusing in on North America, Hyundai is increasing their local parts sourcing target to 80%. That’s up from 60% and the automaker confirmed there will be more than ten hybrids on the continent by 2030, which are produced at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama and Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America.

Developing and building fully autonomous vehicles isn’t easy. Just ask Tesla, which has been working on the technology for more than a decade and has yet to perfect it. Based on a recent video of a Model Y currently being used by its robotaxi fleet in Austin, Texas, Tesla still has a long way to go.

This clip was recently shared on Reddit by a frequent user of Tesla’s Austin robotaxi service, and it may make you think twice before trying it yourself. For whatever reason, the Model Y in question attempted to make a right turn at a large intersection, but failed to realize that the inside corner of the road was blocked off by bollards for pedestrian safety.

Read: Tesla’s Cybercab Is About To Carry Real Passengers

A human driver would have seen these bollards and realized you have to turn around them. Instead, the Tesla Model Y drove directly into the blocked-off area and sat there for several seconds, presumably because it realized it was now stuck. Unable to reverse out and correct its mistake, the robotaxi instead tried to thread its way through two of the bollards, hitting them in the process.

It didn’t take long for Redditors to identify the exact intersection where the incident took place, and a Google Street View search revealed the bollards had been there since at least February 2024.

Video Reddit /bladerskb

Cybercabs Are Coming

Despite incidents like this, Tesla appears to be plowing ahead with plans to expand its robotaxi fleet in Austin. According to a recent report, it completed a local trial with the Cybercab and company employees on private roads and is now preparing to add the Cybercab to its fleet and make it available to the public.

It remains to be seen whether the Cybercab’s self-driving capabilities will be better than those of other Tesla models. We do know it’s equipped with more RAM and an upgraded AI4 Fully Self-Driving computer. Whether it actually performs any better than a Model Y like this remains to be seen, but as we’ve seen so often from Tesla in the past, members of the public will be used as test dummies.

It’s been almost two full years since Tesla unveiled its autonomous Cybercab, and it now appears to be gearing up for a public launch of the vehicle, adding the EV to its existing robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.

Tesla has spent recent months testing its Cybercab on public roads but, up until this point, has not allowed any members of the public to experience the self-driving car. Last month, it started allowing employees to take the Cybercab on rides through private roads near its Austin headquarters.

Read: Tesla’s Cybercab Weighs 700 Pounds Less Than The Lightest Model 3

Unnamed sources have told The Information that, following the trial with employees, the public launch of the Cybercab is scheduled for later this month. Prior to receiving approval to roll out the new EV in its robotaxi service, Tesla recently completed emergency training with first responders across Austin, specifically on handling Cybercab-related issues.

Tesla this week teased the Cybercab’s impending introduction to its robotaxi fleet, announcing that those who use the current fleet before August 23 will go into the running to attend the launch event. It says the more rides someone completes, the better their chances are of securing an invite. Whether an invitation to the launch event will include a ride in a Cybercab remains to be seen.

Tesla Still Only Has A Small Robotaxi Fleet

Although adding the Cybercab to its self-driving taxi service in Austin will be a big step for Tesla, it’s worth noting the service remains small and has failed to grow anywhere near the levels Tesla boss Elon Musk has promised. There are currently just 186 Model Ys registered in its Austin fleet. Production of the Cybercab started in Texas in July, although it’s not expected to reach volume production until next year, so it’s unlikely a large number will be added to the fleet in the coming months.

Recent prototypes of the Cybercab have been seen both with and without pedals and a steering wheel. There’s no word on whether the cars initially added to the fleet will have these traditional controls or forgo them. If this report about the impending launch is accurate, we won’t have to wait long to find out.