A Waymo self-driving car in San Francisco, California (Getty Images)

WE, ROBOT 🤖

Tesla’s robotaxi event is finally here — will it be a watershed moment for autonomous vehicles?

Tesla’s self-driving rival Waymo is already doing 100,000+ paid trips per week

10/9/24 7:32AM

For a decade, Elon Musk has crafted a narrative about the potential of robotaxis — a self-driving, self-funding Optimus Taxius that could transform the economics of Tesla. Now, a grand reveal is finally upon us at the company’s “We, Robot” event, which starts at 7 p.m. ET tomorrow.

Will Musk deliver? For Tesla and its shareholders, the stakes are high. As competition in electric vehicles has intensified, squeezing the company’s margins, and Tesla’s rapid sales growth has slowed, Tesla’s stock has come under pressure. At its peak in November 2021, Tesla was worth more than $1.2 trillion; today it’s closer to $770 billion (though that’s still more than 3x what its next most valuable competitor, Toyota, is worth). Some financial analysts bill robotaxis as the company’s future.

Let’s talk reality

The truth is, robotaxis are already here. In June, Google-backed Waymo opened up its services to the public, and it now counts ~700 vehicles in several cities, which are completing more than 100,000 self-driving rides a week. That progress is off the back of years of testing — Waymo autonomous vehicles racked up ~4.9 million miles in 2023, according to the California DMV, more than any other company that filed reports (Tesla does not report data).

Waymo has plans to expand slowly, with a small number of robotaxis in geofenced environments. Elon Musk described Waymo’s technology as “quite fragile” and not able to scale because it is a “very localized solution.” Amazon’s Zoox has also released plans to launch services in Las Vegas from next year, whilst GM-owned Cruise recently resumed its operations after an accident in 2023.

If Tesla does deliver its iPhone moment, revealing some amazing prototype that could bring robotaxis to the masses, the question will pivot once again to: how do you convince people they are safe? A Forbes legal survey from July revealed that 93% of people have at least some concerns about self-driving cars.

Jon Keegan1/9/26

Report: Anthropic cuts off xAI’s access to its models for coding

Competition between the top AI companies is fierce. Top employees are being poached, and companies are training their AI on competitors’ models to stay ahead of the pack.

Anthropic is taking steps to make sure it’s not helping the competition in any way. According to tech reporter Kylie Robison, this week Anthropic cut access to xAI developers who were using its Claude models for coding via the popular Cursor AI coding tool.

Robison reports that xAI cofounder Tony Wu told his team in an email:
“This is a both bad and good news. We will get a hit on productivity, but it rly pushes us to develop our own coding product / models.”

Kylie Robison on X: "Scoop: xAI staff had been using Anthropic’s models internally through Cursor—until Anthropic cut off the startup’s access this week.

Rani Molla

1/9/26

Grok has been climbing Apple and Google’s app store rankings amid calls to remove it for sexualized images

Critics have pointed out that Apple and Google have removed other apps for less.

Rani Molla1/9/26

xAI’s revenue is growing, but so are its staggering losses

Good news: xAI’s revenue nearly doubled to $107 million in the third quarter compared to the second.

Bad news: Its net losses grew to $1.46 billion in Q3, up from $1 billion in the first quarter, and more than 13x revenue, Bloomberg reports.

The company, which is currently worth north of $230 billion, is burning through staggering amounts of cash — nearly a billion dollars a month — in service of building data centers and developing what it calls “self-sufficient” AI that can one day power robots like Tesla’s Optimus. Meanwhile, its revenue still looks more like that of a midsize startup than a tech giant.

Despite receiving more yes than no votes, Tesla’s board didn’t approve a shareholder proposal to invest in xAI, leaving a more formal relationship between the companies unresolved, even as xAI continues to burn cash at a pace that will require steady access to outside capital.

Of course, Elon Musk’s AI company is already deeply financially intertwined with his EV company. In 2024, xAI spent nearly $200 million, largely on Tesla Megapack batteries — a figure that appears to have grown significantly in 2025.

Musk’s xAI Burns Almost $8 Billion in Cash, Reveals Optimus Plan

Millie Giles

CHAT-PCP

1/9/26

American patients are increasingly turning to AI for medical advice — so are their doctors

As OpenAI announces the launch of ChatGPT Health, it seems everyday Americans and professional physicians alike are already using the tech to help with healthcare.

Robot hand toy finger holding medical stethoscope on yellow background, AI and smart technologies in medicine and diagnostic concept.

Rani Molla1/8/26

Apple’s hardware chief is the front-runner to be the next CEO

The New York Times is the latest news organization to cite Apple sources who think the company’s hardware chief, John Ternus, will be the one to fill CEO Tim Cook’s shoes. Citing people close to Apple, the publication reports that Cook is “tired and would like to reduce his workload” and that 50-year-old Ternus is the most likely to take his place, as the company accelerates its succession planning.

The Times is in good company. Both the Financial Times and Bloomberg have previously said Ternus is the top pick to succeed Cook at the helm of the tech giant, and Ternus is currently enjoying the top spot on prediction markets. His market-implied odds of being the next CEO are currently above 60% on both Polymarket and Kalshi event contracts.

Tesla’s robotaxi event is finally here — will it be a watershed moment for autonomous vehicles?

Let’s talk reality

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Report: Anthropic cuts off xAI’s access to its models for coding

Kylie Robison on X: "Scoop: xAI staff had been using Anthropic’s models internally through Cursor—until Anthropic cut off the startup’s access this week.

xAI’s revenue is growing, but so are its staggering losses

Musk’s xAI Burns Almost $8 Billion in Cash, Reveals Optimus Plan

Apple’s hardware chief is the front-runner to be the next CEO

Apple’s John Ternus Could Be Tim Cook’s Successor as CEO

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Tesla’s robotaxi event is finally here — will it be a watershed moment for autonomous vehicles?

Let’s talk reality

More Tech

Report: Anthropic cuts off xAI’s access to its models for coding

Kylie Robison on X: "Scoop: xAI staff had been using Anthropic’s models internally through Cursor—until Anthropic cut off the startup’s access this week.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

xAI’s revenue is growing, but so are its staggering losses

Musk’s xAI Burns Almost $8 Billion in Cash, Reveals Optimus Plan

Apple’s hardware chief is the front-runner to be the next CEO

Apple’s John Ternus Could Be Tim Cook’s Successor as CEO

Latest Stories

Kylie Robison on X: "Scoop: xAI staff had been using Anthropic’s models internally through Cursor—until Anthropic cut off the startup’s access this week.