The Verge just dropped its review of the Humane AI Pin, and the verdict is brutal: it's not even close to replacing your phone. Despite costing $699 plus a $24 monthly fee, the screenless wearable constantly overheats, dies in just a few hours, and can’t even set basic alarms or manage calendar events. Why it matters: While the post-smartphone dream is alluring, current hardware and AI models clearly aren't ready to handle ambient computing on their own.
Apple just made a big push to bring Vision Pro into corporate workspaces. Powered by on-device ML and M2's Neural Engine, the headset integrates with Microsoft 365 Copilot for spatial productivity and taps Nvidia Omniverse APIs to stream complex 3D digital twins in real time. Why it matters: Apple is positioning spatial computing as a serious enterprise AI tool, moving far beyond casual consumer entertainment.
Restaurants and grocery stores are now using AI to analyze discarded food and cut down on waste. Startups like Winnow mount cameras over trash bins to track what gets tossed, while Afresh optimizes grocery inventory. Why it matters: The system has helped commercial kitchens slash food purchasing costs by up to 8% by shrinking portion sizes or dropping unpopular items.
Elon Musk just posted on X that Tesla will officially unveil its long-promised robotaxi on August 8th. The autonomous vehicle is reportedly built on Tesla's next-generation platform, as reports surface that the company is shelving its $25,000 mass-market EV to go all-in on self-driving.
Apple is reportedly exploring personal home robotics after ditching its electric vehicle project in February. Engineers are looking into mobile bots that follow users around the house as well as robotic tabletop smart displays. It could give Apple a new hardware vehicle for AI, though any actual product remains years away.
Uber and Waymo just launched autonomous food delivery across the Phoenix metro area using Waymo's self-driving cars. Uber Eats customers within the 225-square-mile zone may be matched with an autonomous vehicle, with instructions to unlock the trunk using their phone—though they can still opt for a human courier at checkout.
Amazon just got caught putting a human backbone into its flagship AI checkout tech. A report reveals its Just Walk Out system relied on roughly 1,000 workers in India reviewing about 700 of every 1,000 transactions in 2022. Amazon says the team mostly trains models, but it is already ditching the tech at Fresh stores for smart carts.
Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal just teased the Ola Solo, a driverless electric scooter concept packed with self-balancing tech. While the April Fools video poked fun with joke specs like an 'LMAO9000' chip, Aggarwal clarified the underlying autonomous two-wheeler tech is real and actively in prototyping for future vehicles.
Apple just introduced Spatial Personas for Vision Pro running visionOS 1.1. Instead of hovering like ghosts trapped in FaceTime tiles, up to five avatars can now sit in the same virtual room with spatial audio to collaborate, play games, or watch movies together.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams just announced a 90-day pilot to test AI-powered gun detection scanners at subway turnstiles, partnering with security firm Evolv. The move is raising eyebrows: Evolv is under federal investigation by the FTC and SEC after reports revealed its scanners repeatedly mistook umbrellas and lunchboxes for weapons while missing real knives.
ElevenLabs just announced a partnership with rabbit to bring its low-latency, emotionally rich voice models to the pocket-sized r1 companion. Users can simply press a button and speak to execute multi-level tasks like hailing rides and ordering food through rabbit OS. Why it matters: natural-sounding voice is the missing piece in making standalone AI hardware feel like a real assistant rather than a robotic gimmick.
Microsoft just unveiled its first AI-powered Surface PCs built exclusively for business: the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6. Powered by Intel Core Ultra chips with dedicated NPUs, both machines feature a dedicated Copilot key for one-touch access to AI features. The hardware arrives this April alongside upgraded cloud IT management tools.
Unitree just achieved a standing backflip with its H1 humanoid, making it the first bipedal robot to land the trick using electric joint motors instead of heavy hydraulics. Trained via reinforcement learning simulation, the bot relies on custom M107 motors pushing 360 Nm of torque. It is a major proof point for electric dynamic agility.
Nvidia just introduced Project GR00T, a general-purpose foundation model platform tailored for humanoid robots, alongside a dedicated Jetson Thor computer powered by the Blackwell architecture. Almost every major robotics player—from Boston Dynamics to Figure AI—is already on board, positioning the chip giant as the core brain behind embodied AI.
Apptronik just inked a commercial deal with Mercedes-Benz to trial its Apollo bipedal robots on auto assembly lines. Starting at a factory in Hungary, the 160-pound bots will inspect and deliver parts to human workers. The pitch is simple: carmakers can plug humanoids into existing facilities to tackle grueling, repetitive tasks without having to redesign the plant.
Figure just integrated OpenAI's vision and speech models into its Figure 01 humanoid robot, enabling it to hold full conversations while executing physical tasks. The robot can process visual context, follow verbal commands, and even pauses naturally while speaking. Why it matters: Bringing ChatGPT into a physical frame turns generative AI into an embodied agent, accelerating the race toward real-world AGI.
California regulators just gave Waymo permission to expand its driverless robotaxi service to highways in Los Angeles and the Bay Area at speeds up to 65 mph. The approval brushes aside objections from local transport agencies over recent safety scares, though Waymo says it has no immediate plans to send cars onto the highway right away.
Humanoid robot maker Figure AI just raised $675 million at a $2.6 billion valuation from Big Tech heavyweights, including Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Along with the cash, Figure signed a deal with OpenAI to develop next-generation multimodal models for its robots. Why it matters: the tech giants are officially racing to put frontier AI into physical bodies.
Apple just pulled the plug on Project Titan, its decadelong autonomous car initiative, moving most of the team over to generative AI. After years of shifting strategies, Wall Street welcomed the exit as a smart pivot back to software and disciplined spending.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg just met with LG Electronics leadership in Seoul to discuss teaming up on next-gen extended reality devices and on-device AI. Facing fresh heat from Apple's Vision Pro, Meta is looking to marry its large language models with external hardware muscle. Zuckerberg's South Korea itinerary also includes talks with Samsung and President Yoon.
