Waymo on May 28 began offering trips in the Ojai, its first ground-up purpose-built robotaxi and the production vehicle for the company's 6th-generation Driver. Built by Zeekr and outfitted at Waymo's Arizona factory, the van starts service with about 100 vehicles in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix — joining a roughly 4,000-car commercial fleet — with public rides free for now as Waymo collects feedback and prepares to expand to Denver, Las Vegas, and San Diego.
News
Five daily headlines drawn from across every company we track.
Monday, June 1, 2026
At its May 28 intelligence strategy event BYD launched the Xuanji A3, an automotive-grade 4nm smart-driving SoC the company calls China's first, with a three-chip cluster delivering more than 2,100 TOPS to support L3 and L4 autonomous driving. Paired with BYD's next-generation God's Eye ADAS stack, the chip is already in mass production and gives the world's largest EV maker full-stack control of its assisted-driving hardware and software just as L3 features begin pushing into mainstream models.
The U.S. Department of Energy selected Oklo on May 26 for advanced negotiations under the Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program, alongside Exodys Energy, SHINE Technologies, Standard Nuclear, and Flibe Energy. Oklo will partner with European fast-reactor developer newcleo to convert U.S. surplus plutonium into MOX-style fuel for its Aurora powerhouse, strengthening Oklo's fuel-supply story for its planned Idaho National Laboratory deployment as the company sits on roughly $2.5B in cash after a 92% Q1 buildup.
Firefly Aerospace announced on May 26 that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has awarded it a $75M subcontract to deliver four drones to the Moon's south pole on the MoonFall mission, targeted to launch no earlier than 2028. Firefly's Elytra transfer vehicle will carry the drones over a 45-day transit, enter lunar orbit, then deploy them about 50 km above the surface to survey terrain including permanently shadowed regions — an early operational piece of NASA's Moon Base initiative — as Firefly simultaneously launched a public stock offering the same day.
Hyundai Motor on May 29 launched 'School of Football,' a five-part social film series featuring Boston Dynamics' production Atlas humanoid running drills, executing a Rabona kick, and stumbling through training routines ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026, which kicks off June 11. Hyundai says every move was performed by Atlas without CGI, the highest-profile public showcase yet of the new commercial Atlas as Boston Dynamics ramps initial fleet shipments to Hyundai's RMAC factory in Georgia.
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said on May 27 at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference that the company has passed the FAA's capstone review for the 737 MAX rate-47 production cap and is now running the Renton line at 47 jets per month, up from 42. Ortberg flagged a few months of stabilization at rate 47 before pushing toward 52 — and ultimately the long-stated ambition of 63 — as Boeing works through a record $695B backlog and Spirit AeroSystems integration.
Rivian confirmed on May 27 that customer deliveries, demo drives, and the first big wave of order invitations for the R2 midsize SUV will all start on June 9, locking in a date for its most important launch since the R1 line. The R2 enters the market in a Performance trim starting just under $60,000, with a Premium following later in 2026 and a $48,490 Standard variant due in 2027 — the platform Rivian is counting on to drive materially higher volume from Normal, Illinois ahead of the Stanton Springs, Georgia ramp.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange's Listing Review Committee is set to review Unitree Robotics' STAR Market IPO on June 1, just 73 days after accepting the application — an unusually fast track for what would be China's first listed humanoid-robot company, with the firm seeking to raise about 4.2 billion yuan (~$619M). The hearing comes despite a brutal Q1 in which Unitree's revenue jumped roughly 68% YoY to RMB 422.8M but adjusted net profit collapsed 52% to RMB 40.3M, as price competition with rivals like Tesla, Figure, and a wave of Chinese challengers compressed margins.
On May 26 Pony.ai reported Q1 2026 revenue of $34.3M, up 145% year over year, with robotaxi revenue rising 395% as fare-charging income jumped about 456%; the fleet topped 1,700 vehicles during the quarter. Off the back of those numbers, the company raised its 2026 year-end robotaxi fleet target from 3,000 to more than 3,500 vehicles and increased its 2026 robotaxi revenue target from 3x to more than 3.5x its 2025 level, widening its lead among Chinese L4 operators racing to scale fully driverless service.
Figure AI and Catalyst Brands — the parent of JCPenney, Aéropostale, and Brooks Brothers — announced a commercial agreement on May 26 to deploy Figure's next-generation humanoid robots in retail logistics, beginning at the Catalyst Brands Reno, Nevada Distribution Logistics Center. The robots will work alongside associates in the Joey Pouch sorting and induction system, marking one of the first publicly disclosed commercial deals to put humanoids inside a major U.S. retail distribution network and following Figure 03's recent week-long autonomous package-sorting marathon.
Saturday, May 30, 2026
A New Glenn rocket erupted in a fireball at Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 36 around 9 p.m. EDT on May 28 during a static fire test, with no injuries reported but apparent damage to the pad's lightning towers and transporter erector. The vehicle was being prepared to launch 49 Amazon Leo broadband satellites as soon as June 4, and because LC-36 is Blue Origin's only New Glenn pad, the loss jeopardizes both Amazon's constellation timeline and AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird launches — AST stock fell roughly 17% on the news.
Hermeus said its Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 test aircraft hit Mach 1.21 (~930 mph) on its third flight from Spaceport America over the White Sands Missile Range, making it the first privately-developed unmanned aircraft to break the sound barrier and, by Hermeus's claim, the fastest unmanned jet flying today. The milestone came 364 days after Hermeus's Mk 1 maiden flight and roughly three months after Mk 2.1's first flight, validating the iterative build cadence behind the company's path to its Mach 5 Darkhorse military UAS.
The FAA on May 27 formally classified Starship Flight 12 — the May 22 debut of the upgraded Starship V3 — as a mishap and required SpaceX to complete an investigation before Flight 13 can fly. The Super Heavy booster failed to ignite all planned engines during its boostback maneuver, cutting the burn short, and the regulator will oversee SpaceX's report and any fixes before granting a modified launch license.
Texas's new autonomous-vehicle registration rule that took effect May 28 forced Tesla to disclose its in-state robotaxi fleet for the first time: 42 vehicles operating in Austin, compared with 577 automated vehicles registered by Waymo in the state. The numbers — nearly a year after Elon Musk launched the Austin service — quantify just how far Tesla still trails the autonomous-ride-hailing market leader as Waymo continues to expand into new metros and onto new vehicle platforms.
NIO formally launched its ES9 flagship executive SUV on May 27, tapping basketball icon Yao Ming as the model's Chief Experience Officer; deliveries began the next day. Priced from RMB 498,000 (about $69,000) or RMB 390,000 (~$54,000) under Battery-as-a-Service, the 5.36-meter ES9 is built on NIO's new 900V architecture with 5C ultra-fast charging plus 3-minute battery swap, and the launch sent NIO's U.S.-listed shares up roughly 10% on its first flagship release in more than two years.
