Waymo has announced that it will start offering fully autonomous ride-hailing services to the general public in Los Angeles starting tomorrow, March 14th, and that Austin, Texas will open up “later this year.”
Waymo has been testing its Level 4 autonomous ride-hailing service in Los Angeles since late 2022, and is now finally ready to open up the service officially.
Level 4 is one of the SAE driving automation levels, signaling that the car drives itself with no human driver input, but is limited to certain circumstances – most driver assist systems on cars today (e.g. Autopilot, Super Cruise, etc.) count as Level 2, with only Mercedes offering a Level 3 system in the US. In this case, Waymo’s limitation means it’s geofenced to a particular service area.
Waymo has spent the last few months hosting its “Waymo Tour,” where it bounced around small parts of town to offer free rides to locals in various neighborhoods one-by-one (we experienced it on a chaotic weekend day in Venice Beach). Now, Waymo is ready to open up to all the regions its tour previously covered, spanning from Santa Monica to downtown LA, and will operate 24/7 in the stated coverage area.
The LA service area covers a somewhat odd geographical area, encompassing Santa Monica, Century City, K-Town and Downtown, with parts of West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Culver City. It seems to stop at Santa Monica Blvd on the north end, signaling that Waymo would rather deal with traffic than with tight, twisty, one-lane hill streets (where lots of people street park and give you no room to drive).
In total, the area covers approximately 63 square miles – a larger area than Waymo’s 47mi² San Francisco service area, but much smaller than the 180mi² area that Waymo operates in in Phoenix. Waymo says that it wants to “scale its operations over time,” and cover a larger area than this, but doesn’t give a timeline for doing so.
And these rides don’t start some time in the distant future – they start tomorrow. So if you’re interested, you better hop on the waitlist quick – or find a time machine, because it already has 50,000 Angelenos on it, so if you join today you might be waiting for a while.
In the beginning, Waymo plans to offer these services for free, but “in the coming weeks” it will transition to a paid model thanks to recent approval from the California Public Utilities Commission. This is part of why Waymo started the “tour” in LA months ago, because CPUC requires a certain timeline of operation before transitioning to paid services.
Waymo will also start offering rides in Austin, Texas soon, but hasn’t given a specific timeline for when that will happen, only stating today that it would happen “later this year.” Waymo’s coverage area in Austin is 43 square miles, and it has already started testing autonomous, but for Waymo employees only.
If you want to sign up and get on the waitlist for Waymo’s LA (or Austin) service, download the Waymo One app and it will add you to the waitlist for whatever coverage area you’re close to.
Electrek’s Take
Waymo touts that its LA tour went quite well, claiming that it earned an average 4.7/5.0 star drive rating across 15,000 rides (which is hard to compare, given the uniqueness of its service). It shared a video of one of its vehicles correctly interpreting a police officer’s hand signals in a complicated LA intersection, which is quite impressive.
When we rode in a Waymo in LA, we were mostly impressed as well. While the vehicle had difficulty in a few ways (getting stuck and having to phone home on 2 separate occasions, one of which was a complex intersection, and one of which was just a tight cul-de-sac that a human-driven car wrongly led it down), it mostly handled an extremely chaotic driving situation very well.
It recognized and reacted to pedestrians early – in fact much quicker than I would have as a human driver – and confidently handled a complicated moment with closed lanes, difficult visibility, cones in the road, tree work ahead and oncoming traffic all at once.
If you want to ditch snow blowing and shoveling forever, Yarbo’s got just the solution. The robotics company that took home a 2023 CES Innovation Award is redefining what it means to have a “smart yard” in all four seasons. Yarbo’s autonomous outdoor robots use advanced sensors, cameras, and algorithms to do the heavy lifting – literally. From snow blowing to mowing to leaf clearing, these machines handle tough jobs with precision, safety, and zero supervision.
Yarbo’s innovative “1+N” design is centered around one core unit (“1”) that can be expanded with multiple modular attachments (“N”) to meet a variety of yard care needs. This design allows users to save space and cost by owning a single core robot instead of multiple separate machines. Customize functionality by adding modules such as Lawn Mower, Snow Blower, Plow Blade, Cutting Disc, and more. Easily upgrade or adapt to different seasons and tasks without replacing the entire system.
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❄️ Yarbo Snow Blower: The robot that eats snow for breakfast
Yarbo has you covered this winter with the only fully autonomous, 24/7 snow blower on the market, featuring smart scheduling that clears your driveway and sidewalks automatically – with zero human intervention. Once you’ve drawn the areas you want cleared in the app, it requires zero human intervention. The Yarbo 2-stage Snow Blower remembers your layout, wakes up on its own as soon as the flakes fall, and tackles dry, wet, and packed snow with ease.
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Its 38.4 Ah lithium battery clears up to 6,000 square feet of light snow (or 2,000 square feet of heavy snow) per charge. When the battery drops below 20%, the snow blower robot automatically returns to the charging dock to recharge in just over an hour, and then picks up where it left off. This prevents snow buildup with 24/7 autonomous clearing and recharging.
This robot is rugged. With a 12-inch intake,24-inch clearing width, 40-foot throwing distance, and a rugged 200+ lb track drive with traction spikes, deep-bite tread, and anti-slip control, the Yarbo Snow Blower clears deep snow in layers and grips icy slopes and gravel like a pro. It can even raise its intake to glide over uneven terrain. With a Q355 steel frame, it’s tough enough for -13°F winters and has an IPX5 waterproof rating for use in wet conditions. It can also clear some serious footage – 6,000 square feet, to be exact.
If heavy, wet snow falls, attach the snow blade to push through it. If the snow is packed, then the two-stage intake breaks it up and clears it in passes. And if powder is coming down, then a 6- to 40-foot throw keeps the drive clear.
In short: You stay inside with cocoa, while the Yarbo Snow Blower clears the storm.
And here’s the good news: From November 20 to December 1, the Yarbo Snow Blower is $700 off.
🌿 Yarbo Lawn Mower: A perfectly cut lawn, hands-free
When spring and summer roll around, the Yarbo Lawn Mower makes traditional mowing look like ancient history. With dual 20-inch cutting discs and up to 210 minutes of runtime per charge, it covers up to six acres.
It uses binocular cameras, ultrasonic radar, and bumper sensors to dodge obstacles and mow right to the edge. Define up to 150 zones in the app to customize cutting heights and schedules for each part of your yard. The Yarbo Lawn Mower Pro glides smoothly over various terrains while maintaining a consistent cut. Set it once, and it takes care of your lawn for the season.
If you purchase a Yarbo Snow Blower, you get a free Yarbo Lawn Mower during the Black Friday sale!
🍂 Yarbo Blower: Meet your all-season cleanup crew
The Yarbo Blower isn’t just for autumn leaves; it’s for all-around yard cleanup. Its 21-newton blowing force means this robot can clear driveways, yard waste piles, help with post-project cleanup, and can even remove light snow.
Powered by RTK-GPS, Stereo Vision, and ODOM navigation tech via app activation or remote control, it moves precisely even under trees or around tricky terrain. You can track the Yarbo Blower in real time with GPS, set geofences, and control it from the Yarbo app. It’s as close to a self-thinking yard assistant as it gets.
From November 20 to December 1, the Yarbo Blower is $1,000 off.
A smarter winter starts with Yarbo on Black Friday
Yarbo’s lineup isn’t just about robots – it’s about giving you your precious time back. Whether clearing snow before your morning commute, mowing a picture-perfect lawn, or keeping your property spotless, Yarbo’s robots handle it all without supervision.
Ready to give your yard an upgrade? Visit Yarbo’s website and take advantage of Yarbo’s Black Friday discounts before they melt away!
Yarbo offers free and fast shipping, a warranty of up to five years, and 0% financing is available.
Hyundai’s electric vehicles, like the IONIQ 5, are among the fastest charging EVs, but the company says it’s still not quick enough. To match a typical gas fill-up, Hyundai believes 3 minutes is the magic number for EV charging times.
Hyundai aims for 3-minute EV charging
Built on the E-GMP platform, the Hyundai IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 can recharge from 10% to 80% in as little as 18 minutes using a 350 kW DC fast charger and 800V system.
Although that’s already among the best in the industry, Hyundai is pushing for even faster charging. According to Tyrone Johnson, head of Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center, drivers are looking for EV charging times of around 3 minutes.
“The expectation from customers is that it will take three minutes to fill a car, the same as it does with an internal-combustion engine,” Johnson told Auto Express, even if it’s only for their own reassurance.
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Hyundai’s exec explained that “It’s maybe perception rather than reality, but they worry about range anxiety and whether they will suddenly need to drive 200 miles,” adding the ultimate goal “is to get to the same speed as ICE.”
Hyundai IONIQ 5 at a Tesla Supercharger (Source: Hyundai)
Drivers who can’t charge at home need to know how quickly they can recharge at public fast charge stations, Johnson said. The biggest hurdle is to deliver faster charging speeds, without just plugging in bigger batteries.
To achieve 3-minute charging times, Hyundai is working to bring 400 kW charging to market. By doing so, Hyundai will not only cut EV charging times to match the time it takes to fill up a gas tank, but also provide a longer driving range without using a bigger, more expensive battery.
SK Innovation executives drive the Hyundai IONIQ 9 and Genesis electrified G80 equipped with SK On batteries (Source: SK Innovation)
Although Hyundai promotes 350 kW charging, actual charging rates are typically closer to 250 kW, depending on factors such as battery temperature and charging station speed.
The Porsche Taycan is currently the fastest-charging EV, capable of up to 320 kW. Several new EVs, including the Lucid Gravity and Porsche Cayenne Electric, are rolling with peak charging power of 400 kW as charge times continue to improve.
Interested in testing one out for yourself? With leases starting at just $189 per month, the Hyundai IONIQ 5 is hard to pass up right now. Check out our links below to find Hyundai’s EVs in your area.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that the automaker’s next-generation self-driving computer, known as AI5, will not be available in volume until mid-2027.
The new timeline confirms that Tesla’s upcoming Cybercab, scheduled for 2026, will launch on current-generation AI4 hardware – raising more questions about the capability of the vehicle, which isn’t supposed to have pedals or a steering wheel.
As usual with Tesla timelines, we are seeing a significant slip from the previously promised timeline.
For the past year, Musk has been hyping “AI5” (formerly known as Hardware 5, or HW5) as the key to unlocking the next phase of Tesla’s self-driving capabilities. The new computer is expected to be significantly more powerful than the current Hardware 4 (AI4) in Tesla vehicles today and produced since 2024.
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Back in June 2024, Musk officially renamed HW5 to AI5 and gave a specific timeline for its release, stating it would be “applied to autos in the second half of next year [2025].”
He also claimed at the time that the new system would be “10x” the power of the current hardware, creating the impression that the current computers might soon be obsolete for the true “unsupervised” autonomy Tesla has been promising for a decade, but as yet to achieve.
However, Musk took to X (formerly Twitter) this weekend to provide a “clarification” that effectively pushes that timeline back by nearly two years.
When discussing the production ramp of the new chip, Musk stated:
“AI5 will not be available in sufficient volume to switch over Tesla production lines until mid 2027, as we need several hundred thousand completed AI5 boards line side.”
This is a massive delay from the “second half of 2025” timeline provided just last year.
Perhaps more importantly, this delay creates a conflict with Tesla’s product roadmap. Tesla has scheduled the production of its dedicated robotaxi, the Cybercab, for 2026 (Musk recently cited Q2 2026 as the target).
Suppose the Cybercab enters production in 2026 and AI5 isn’t ready until mid-2027. In that case, the purpose-built robotaxi will have to launch on AI4 hardware, the same computer currently in the cars Tesla is selling today, which can’t achieve an unsupervised level of autonomy.
Musk seemed to confirm this implementation path, noting that while “samples” of AI5 might exist earlier, the volume needed for a vehicle launch won’t be there.
Musk shut down this idea, which came from his board chair, just days later – claiming that Cybercab won’t have pedals or a steering wheel.
Electrek’s Take
There’s good news and bad news here.
The good news is that AI4 will remain on top for an extended period of time, which means that Tesla will have to keep working the software to fit the computer rather than take advantage of the higher compute power of AI5.
However, it’s also bad news because Tesla is delaying another tech improvement, and Tesla is still not capable of delivering unsupervised self-driving on the hardware.
I have a feeling that Cybercab is going to have a steering wheel and pedals. It’s too big a risk otherwise to launch a vehicle program that would be virtually worthless beyond a very limited use case in some geo-fenced area.
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