The Verge: ▽ Robotaxis are real now — so is the pushback

NEWS EDITOR

The robotaxi rollout

Robotaxi services are expanding, both in the United States and outside it, but legislative systems are still catching up. The numbers of robotaxi rides are small right now, but won't stay that way if left unchecked, and questions around worker displacement, first responder support, and other industries including haulage and delivery need to be answered before autonomous vehicles hit scale, not after.

By

Rani Molla

Robotaxis are expanding. So is the fight over the rules governing them.

For all the political attention, robotaxis remain a tiny share of the US ridehailing market. But their visibility vastly exceeds their market share, especially when a driverless car stops in the wrong place during a blackout or interferes with an emergency response.

The consequences could look very different as autonomous fleets grow from thousands of vehicles to hundreds of thousands. That’s why the battles taking shape across the country are increasingly about the terms of expansion: what companies have to prove before they grow, what they owe cities and workers, and how much control cities and states should have over their operations.

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The TCL Note A1 is a kinder, gentler tablet

Allison Johnson

Without thinking, I scribbled over what I’d just written. It’s what I would have done if I was writing with pen and paper. But I didn’t have a pen in my hand; my canvas was an LCD and the letters on my page were just pixels.

TCL’s Note A1 Nxtpaper tablet (its full government name) is supposed to make you forget that you’re using a tablet. It has one of the company’s signature low-glare matte displays and ships with a stylus. The pen’s haptics even mimic the scratching of a pencil on paper.

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The cat-and-mouse game over 3D-printed guns has begun

Mack DeGeurin

The creator of the world’s first 3D-printed gun claims he’s developed a way to thwart government-mandated software meant to block 3D printers from making firearms. It’s an opening volley in what’s shaping up to be an evolving battle between regulators trying to stem the tide of ghost guns and individuals trying to create workarounds.

Cody Wilson, who claims to have made the detection-defying tool, is calling it “Hochulization” as a direct jab at New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who pushed through the nation’s first law mandating gun file detection software on new printers earlier this year. “New York is trying to reach into the internet and police how open-source 3D printing is done,” Wilson, who’s based out of Austin, Texas, told

. “I think of it as a self-defense measure.”

Greenworks’ Maximus Z electric riding mower has five motors and a few compromises

Tim Stevens

The current EV market is flush with variety. I’ve driven single-motor economy-minded machines, dual-motor EVs with all-wheel drive, tri-motor vehicles that dial up the performance stakes, and even wild quad-motor performance cars, like the Rimac Nevera.

But this is the first time I’ve ever driven a five-motor EV, one with the agility and speed to turn a 360 even more smoothly than an electric G-Wagon. It also makes quick work of terrible turf.

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