Technology

Tesla launches robo-taxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver

Tesla launches robo-taxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver

đź’Ą Read this trending post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: Transportation,Elon Musk,In Brief,Tesla,tesla robotaxi âś… **What You’ll Learn**: Tesla is offering riders robo-taxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver in the front seat. CEO Elon Musk posted Thursday on X, his social media platform: "Just started driving a Tesla Robotaxi in Austin without a safety monitor in the car. Congratulations to the Tesla AI team!" He then made a hiring offer for engineers interested in “solving a real-world AI problem,” which he says would “likely lead to artificial general intelligence,” to join Tesla’s AI team. The automaker launched…
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Capital One acquired Brex Bank for a deep discount to its highest valuation, but early believers are laughing all the way to the bank

Capital One acquired Brex Bank for a deep discount to its highest valuation, but early believers are laughing all the way to the bank

✨ Discover this insightful post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: Fintech,TC,Brex,capital one,Mergers and Acquisitions,Ribbit Capital âś… **What You’ll Learn**: There is a sense of schadenfreude in Silicon Valley when a unicorn stumbles. So when the Wall Street Journal broke the news Thursday afternoon that Capital One would acquire BRICS for $5.15 billion in cash and stock (Capital One issued an official statement confirming the details 30 minutes later), you could practically hear the collective laughter from Sand Hill Road to South Park in San Francisco. This figure represents less than half of BRICS' recent private market valuation of $12.3 billion…
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General Motors will end production of the Chevy Bolt EV next year, moving the Chinese-made Buick to a factory in the United States

General Motors will end production of the Chevy Bolt EV next year, moving the Chinese-made Buick to a factory in the United States

đź’Ą Check out this insightful post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: Transportation,Chevrolet,electric vehicles,EVs,GM âś… **What You’ll Learn**: General Motors is relocating its vehicles in a move that would shift production away from China and Mexico and to a US factory in Kansas. This change will also mean the end of the rebooted Chevrolet Bolt EV, the only vehicle currently built at the Fairfax, Kansas, assembly plant. The musical chairs at the plant reflect an economic and political environment, shaped by the Trump administration's tariff policy and its decision to end the federal electric vehicle tax credit, which offered up to…
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OpenAI is coming for those sweet enterprise dollars in 2026

OpenAI is coming for those sweet enterprise dollars in 2026

✨ Explore this trending post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: AI,Enterprise,Startups,Analysis,artificial intelligence,OpenAI,sam altman,Thinking Machines Lab âś… **What You’ll Learn**: OpenAI has reorganized some of its leadership and chosen a familiar face to lead its push to sell AI to business clients as the company looks to catch up with its rivals in 2026. The company has hired Barrett Zoff to lead its efforts to sell its AI to companies, according to a report from The Information, citing an internal OpenAI memo. TechCrunch has reached out to OpenAI for confirmation and more information. Zoph returned to OpenAI last week after leaving…
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Former Sequoia partner’s new startup uses artificial intelligence to negotiate your calendar for you

Former Sequoia partner’s new startup uses artificial intelligence to negotiate your calendar for you

✨ Read this must-read post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: AI,Startups,Venture,Calendar Apps,Pat Grady,Sequoia Capital 📌 **What You’ll Learn**: Qais Khimji has spent most of his career as a venture capitalist, including six years as a partner at prominent venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. But like many other former Sequoia partners — including David Velez, who founded Brazilian digital bank Nubank — Khimji (pictured left) always wanted to be a startup founder. He announced Thursday that he has revived an idea he started working on when he was a student at Harvard about 10 years ago, turning it into AI-based calendar…
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The coolest thing about Anduril’s expansion into Long Beach is the fighter jets, Palmer Luckey says

The coolest thing about Anduril’s expansion into Long Beach is the fighter jets, Palmer Luckey says

đź’Ą Explore this must-read post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: Government & Policy,Robotics,Startups,TC,anduril,autonomous aircraft,Palmer Luckey đź’ˇ **What You’ll Learn**: Defense technology company Anduril on Thursday announced plans to expand its presence in Southern California with a major campus in Long Beach, the coastal city where its founder Palmer Luckey grew up. The expanded campus will ultimately support approximately 5,500 jobs. Luckey told TechCrunch that these will be new jobs, not transfers from other operations. Anduril is headquartered nearby, in Costa Mesa, California, and also has a massive manufacturing facility in Ohio. The Long Beach campus will span 1.18 million square…
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Vimeo begins layoffs after acquisition by Bending Spoons

Vimeo begins layoffs after acquisition by Bending Spoons

đź’Ą Read this trending post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: Media & Entertainment,Bending Spoons,Vimeo âś… **What You’ll Learn**: Vimeo, the video hosting platform, is laying off some of its global employees, according to a report from Business Insider. The move comes shortly after the company was acquired by Italian technology group Bending Spoons, which bought it in an all-cash deal last year for $1.38 billion. Bending Spoons confirmed the layoffs to BI but did not share how many people will lose their jobs. The Verge reports that the cuts will affect a "significant portion" of the company's overall workforce, citing…
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Humans believe coordination is the next frontier for AI, and are building a model to prove it

Humans believe coordination is the next frontier for AI, and are building a model to prove it

đź’Ą Explore this must-read post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: AI,Startups,ai collaboration,Exclusive,humans& 📌 **What You’ll Learn**: AI chatbots are getting better at answering questions, summarizing documents, and solving mathematical equations, but they still largely act as helpful assistants for one user at a time. They're not designed to manage the messier work of true collaboration: coordinating people with competing priorities, tracking long-term decisions, and keeping teams aligned over time. Humans&, a new startup founded by Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, xAI, and Google DeepMind alumni, believes bridging this gap is the next major frontier for foundational models. The company this week raised…
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Are AI agents ready for the workplace? A new standard raises doubts.

Are AI agents ready for the workplace? A new standard raises doubts.

🔥 Read this trending post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: AI,agentic ai,Exclusive,investment banking,knowledge work,law đź’ˇ **What You’ll Learn**: It's been nearly two years since Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella predicted that artificial intelligence would replace knowledge work — white-collar jobs held by lawyers, investment bankers, librarians, accountants, IT and others. But despite the tremendous advances made by enterprise models, change in knowledge work has been slow. Models have mastered in-depth research and effective planning, but for whatever reason, most white-collar businesses have been relatively unaffected. It's one of the biggest mysteries in artificial intelligence — and thanks to new research from…
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Google DeepMind CEO ‘amazed’ by OpenAI pushing forward with announcements in ChatGPT

Google DeepMind CEO ‘amazed’ by OpenAI pushing forward with announcements in ChatGPT

🔥 Check out this trending post from TechCrunch đź“– đź“‚ **Category**: AI,Commerce,TC,DeepMind,Demis Hassabis,Google đź’ˇ **What You’ll Learn**: Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, said he was "amazed" that OpenAI had already moved to serve ads within its chatbot. In an interview with Axios in Davos, the AI ​​leader was responding to a question about using ads to monetize AI services, saying the idea was something the Google team was considering "very carefully." Hassabis also said his team didn't feel pressure from the tech giant to make a "deliberate" decision about ads, despite how important ads are to Google's core business.…
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