Electric Sheep – an artificial intelligence and robotics company specializing in large-scale landscaping operations, has announced a new autonomous robot to its fleet – Verdie. This electric robot can work alongside Electric Sheep’s other products and landscapers to perform edging, trimming, and even blowing. Verdie also looks quite cute doing it. Check it out.
Before you see Verdie in action, you should get to know the minds behind the new landscaping robot. Electric Sheep Robotics (ESR) is a San Francisco-based AI and robotics company funded by Tiger Global and Foundation Capital.
Focusing on a unique segment using tech to support outdoor maintenance providers, Electric Sheep has developed and implemented a growing lineup of robots that can autonomously mow alongside humans as they perform other duties in the yard.
The company’s technology is centered around ES1 – its proprietary AI software agent that utilizes real-world models to enable reasoning and planning while working in yards. This GenAI has already successfully been implemented in Electric Sheep’s electric mowing robot – RAM.
Today, Electric Sheep has announced a new member of the landscaping robot family that can work seamlessly along the RAMs – meet Verdie.
Source: Electric Sheep Robotics
Verdie the electric landscaping robot is here to work
Imagine a future where your lawn is in dire need of maintenance on a sweltering August afternoon, but your pool or shaded patio is calling your name instead, so you leave the work to your landscaping robots. Thanks to innovations from Electric Sheep Robotics, that future is a reality.
The AI specialist launched Verdie today – an all-electric autonomous robot that utilizes ESR’s ES1 AI to put all the finishing touches on a freshly cut lawn; whether a robot or your teenager does that work is up to you.
ESR’s AI enables the RAM mower and Verdie to work together simultaneously “out of the box” with zero teaching necessary. It is designed to navigate and learn the environment around them using only artificial intelligence. Per the release:
To accomplish these tasks ES-1 needs to understand the semantics of the world, create a map that can be used for coverage planning, and highlight the edges of the workable area, in this case, trimming, edging or mowing grass. ES1 achieves this through dense prediction of a world state with a single model, this is akin to ChatGPT for language but for spatial AI.
Electric Sheep states that its full-stack data channel and existing volume of data enables landscaping crews, campuses, HOAs, or residential customers to deploy the robots without any need for an engineer present. Furthermore, the software allows the robots to continuously learn and train for various tasks around a given yard.
ESR says it is currently operating a fleet of 40 RAM mowers around the US and will deploy the Verdie landscaping robots to commercial and residential customers in Q2 2024. As promised, here’s a video of Verdie in action:
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BYD offered a first look at its new flagship electric SUV and sedan, claiming the new EVs redefine high-end standards.
BYD preps to launch new flagship EV sedan and SUV
With over 480,000 new energy vehicles (NEVs) sold in November, BYD is coming off its best sales month of 2025. With new technology and vehicles launching across multiple segments, the company expects momentum to pick up in 2026.
That will include a pair of high-end flagship EVs, the Seal 08 sedan and Sealion 08 SUV. BYD confirmed the names for the first time on Monday alongside teaser images revealing the silhouette of each.
According to CarNewsChina, both models are set to debut in the first three months of 2026 and will feature BYD’s latest tech and software.
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Both models are based on the Ocean S concept BYD revealed in April at the Shanghai Auto Show, featuring its latest design theme, Ocean Aesthetic 2.0.
Although China’s MIIT released a sales license for a BYD vehicle named the Seal 08 earlier this year, it launched as the Seal 06 EV this summer.
BYD previews new flagship Seal 08 sedan (Source: BYD)
At 4,720 mm long, 1,880 mm wide, and 1,495 mm tall, the electric sedan is about the size of the Tesla Model 3. It’s offered with 46.1 kWh or 56.6 kWh battery packs, delivering a CLTC range of 470 km and 545 km, respectively.
Although BYD has yet to reveal prices or any other details, the Seal 08 is expected to deliver a longer driving range with added power.
Local news outlet 163 claims the new Sealion 08 will be 5,040 mm long, or slightly bigger than the Tesla Model Y-sized Sealion 07 SUV.
BYD previews new flagship Sealion 08 SUV (Source: BYD)
The new flagship SUV and sedan will join other BYD Ocean Series models, including the Seagull, Dolphin, Seal, and Song Plus.
Although November was BYD’s best sales month of the year, growth has slowed in 2025. BYD’s chairman and president, Wang Chuanfu, told investors (via CnEVPost) that the company’s biggest advantage lies in its advanced technologies, including next-gen batteries, smart driving features, charging, and other related EV tech.
“I say our technology isn’t sufficiently advanced now because we have major technological announcements coming, but I can’t disclose details at this time,” Wang said earlier this month.
BYD is also aggressively expanding overseas to drive growth. Last month, BYD’s exports surged 325% with a record nearly 132,000 vehicles shipped overseas.
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With its weekend flash sale now over, Velotric has switched gears and has launched its Christmas Gift Season Sale with select e-bike discounts of up to $400, free gifts, and even a free $100 gift card promotion when spending $2,500 or more. Among the small selection of deals, a standout is Velotric’s newer Summit 1 Versatile Multi-Terrain e-bike in a Royal Blue colorway with $160 in FREE gear at $1,799 shipped, matching its Black Friday pricing. This e-bike alone would normally cost $1,999 at full price (and $2,059 with the bundled gear), which we only saw 2025 discounts to $1,899 until Black Friday/Cyber Monday, when this same low price came around for the second time since 2024. Now, you’re getting another chance to score the best tracked price, with $200 cut from the tag and a total $360 savings in all. Head below to learn more about it and the other offers during this Christmas sale.
Coming in as a more affordable all-terrain trekker over Velotric’s premium Nomad 2X e-bike, the Summit 1 e-bike still provides plenty of support, regardless of the terrain you’re venturing across. It arrives equipped with a 750W rear hub motor (that peaks at 1,300W) and a 705.6Wh battery, giving you up to 20/28 MPH top speeds (depending on your laws) and up to 70 miles of PAS-supported travel. While the brand claims that throttle-only riding can continue for up to 60 miles, it’s best to expect less from using pure electric action.
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One notable standout among this e-bike’s features is the SensorSwap inclusion, which allows you to utilize both a cadence and torque sensor as you ride after simply switching between them, giving you more versatile support depending on what kind of terrain you’re passing over. Other features include Shimano hydraulic disc brakes and an 8-speed derailleur, Kenda puncture-resistant tires, a light-sensing LED headlight, a brake-activated taillight, Apple Find My security integration, a 2.8 full color display with a USB port, and more.
Carry packages, people, more on Heybike’s 85-mile dual-battery Hauler cargo e-bike with FREE gear/gifts at a new $999 low
As part of Heybike’s ongoing Christmas e-bike Sale, which has returned the ALPHA All-Terrain Mid-Drive model back to its lowest price, we also spotted a new cut on the Hauler Dual-Battery Cargo e-bike for $999 shipped and coming with FREE dual rear side baskets ($89 value) and a holiday gift pack. This long-range variant goes for $1,899 outside of sales, which we’ve only seen taken as low as $1,099 previously during the brand’s Black Friday sale. Now, for Christmas, you’re looking at even more savings – $989+ total – that lands it down at a new all-time low price at just $100 more than the single-battery model was before selling out of stock.
Autel’s MaxiCharger Home 40A level 2 EV charging station arrives ahead of Christmas for $319
Through the official Autel Amazon storefront, you can pick up the brand’s MaxiCharger Home 40A Level 2 EV Charger at $319 shipped, which matches the price directly from the brand. It’s coming down from its $470 full price here with a $151 markdown, landing it at the second-lowest rate we have tracked – just $8 above the low we spotted during July’s Prime Day event. If you want an even more advanced model, you can also currently find the MaxiCharger AC Lite Home 40A Smart AI Level 2 EV Charger with voice controls at this same price – with either of these stations arriving ahead of Christmas for the time being.
The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.
I’ve put over 200 km (125 miles) on Tesla’s latest ‘Full Self-Driving Supervised’ (FSD) v14 update, and I’ve gathered my thoughts in this article.
In short, Tesla FSD v14 is an incremental improvement to the automaker’s advanced driver-assist system (ADAS) and the most impressive Level 2 system available in a consumer vehicle today.
However, it is still far from what Tesla sold to car buyers: unsupervised self-driving.
I briefly tested FSD v14 in a friend’s car when it launched two months ago, but now that I’ve picked up a new Model 3 with HW4, I’ve spent much more time with it and can share more thoughts.
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First off, for context, I was already a somewhat heavy user of FSD on my Model 3 with HW3, which is stuck on FSD v12 because the computer has reached its limits. I’ve been using it for years.
With v12, FSD was involved in roughly 80% of my driving – mainly on the highway. I’m a responsible FSD user because I always pay attention to the road and am ready to take control at all times. I do appreciate FSD taking over most of the driving tasks so I can focus on scanning the road.
I haven’t had a significant update to FSD on my HW3 Model 3 for a year now, as Tesla has focused almost all its efforts on updates to vehicles equipped with the newer HW4 computer and its Robotaxi pilot program in Austin, Texas.
There’s now virtually no hope that Tesla vehicles with HW3 computers (most cars up to 2024) will ever deliver on Musk’s promise of unsupervised self-driving. He has been talking about a computer retrofit to help, but that was almost a year ago, and Tesla still hasn’t offered anything to HW3 owners beyond transferring FSD to a new car with HW4, which is what I reluctantly did.
The latest update, available only to cars with the HW4 (AI4) computer, is called FSD v14, and CEO Elon Musk has been hyping it as “sentient” and “mind-blowing.”
After driving more than 200 km (125 miles) with the FSD v14 update (v14.2.1.25 to be exact), here are my thoughts:
That’s a noticeable improvement that removed a lot of disengagements.
However, that’s more a direct capability added to the system rather than an improvement in actual driving performance, which I’m focused on here.
Coming from v12, I can say with certitude that v14 feels more confident. It drives more like a human. It feels less robotic in its actions. Acceleration and deceleration are smoother.
Obviously, that’s going to depend heavily on the driving mode you choose. Much like v12, I find that the ‘Hurry’ mode is the best suited for me, as I generally like to drive above the speed limit, but not high enough to get a speeding ticket, which the new Mad Max mode would rack up quickly
FSD v14 finally tries to go back into the right lane after passing to the left – although emphasis on the word ‘tries’ as there’s a significant con to that in the next section.
Tesla FSD V14 Cons
The obvious one is: it’s not what Tesla sold to customers, unsupervised self-driving, and I don’t see it becoming that any time soon.
I had plenty of interventions and a couple of disengagements over those ~200 km. Fortunately, none of them were safety-related.
Two disengagements were due to FSD not entering the right lane at the right time. I gave it a chance until the last second, but it kept making me miss my exits or have a car cut me off at the last second, which is not acceptable to me.
From v12, I miss the ability to directly adjust the max speed live with the scroll depending on the situation. I hate it when automakers remove capabilities instead of just adding options.
As I mentioned in the ‘pros’ section, FSD v14 now tries to go back in the right lane after passing someone, something that it would do only half the time for me in v12. However, it only “tries” to do it. Half the time, it flashes its lights and moves to the right before returning to the middle of the left lane for seemingly no reason, even though it appears safe to return to the right lane.
It often does this little dance once or twice before either giving up or successfully moving to the right lane.
Electrek’s Take
My take on FSD has always been that if it were developed by Tesla in a vacuum, it would mostly be celebrated as a great driver-assistance system.
However, the fact that Tesla sold this to customers as something that “has all the hardware to support full autonomy” and will increase in price as the software will improve, until you can eventually go to sleep in the car and wake up at your destination, has changed everything.
Now, not only was Tesla wrong about the hardware and the price, but we also have to compare it to what was promised: unsupervised self-driving.
As long as it is not that, it is a failure. There’s no way around it.
I have a theory on people who are impressed by Tesla FSD v14. Putting aside biased people who are invested in Tesla’s stock, I think people who are impressed fall into one of two categories:
People who, for whatever reason, are disconnected from Tesla selling FSD as a level 4, unsupervised self-driving system. And doing so since 2016.
Bad drivers.
There are also people who have never experienced FSD before. For those, it is obviously impressive, but personally, I expected a bigger jump from v12 to v14.
Many people are bad drivers, and they are OK with FSD doing strange things that might confuse or upset other road users. Personally, I can’t accept that. As Tesla makes abundantly clear (in court, less so in its marketing), I’m the one responsible for the car. Therefore, its driving reflects me, and I refused to let it negatively affect other road users.
As for the claim that “no other consumer vehicle can do what Tesla FSD can” and that it is “the best level 2 ADAS,” to me, those points are moot compared to: Does it actually deliver what Tesla sold to customers?
The answer to that is undoubtedly a big fat no.
Can it get there? Of course. On HW4? I have serious doubts.
FSD v14 is “feature complete”. It can perform all the tasks related to driving, but it can’t reliably cover millions of miles without human supervision. It also lacks the redundancy that you need in a system that doesn’t require human supervision.
Maybe it can do it in a small geo-fenced environment with remote monitoring, but that’s not scalable to the customer fleet.
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