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Last month’s congressional hearing drew criticism toward Waymo for employing remote assistance workers in the Philippines. We’ve covered this in depth. Further details on Waymo’s remote assistance and road assistance teams can be found here and here.
Waymo often attracts attention as their robotaxis operate in 10 U.S. cities, and more are planned. However, the remote assistance issue is a broader autonomous vehicle technology concern.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) emphasized this point in a new report. Markey reached out to seven U.S. companies — Aurora, May Mobility, Motional, Nuro, Tesla, Waymo, and Zoox — working on autonomous vehicle technology, questioning their reliance on remote staff input.
All avoided disclosure, as Markey’s investigation revealed. He commented on the AV companies’ lack of transparency regarding remote assistance operators guiding their vehicles.
Read senior reporter Sean O’Kane’s article for an in-depth look and companies’ responses. Notably, Tesla stated its remote workers can temporarily assume direct vehicle control.
The remote assistance topic isn’t fading. Markey is increasingly driven to get answers, urging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to investigate remote assistance workers’ usage and working on legislation to impose constraints on AV companies’ employment of remote operators.
A Little Bird: Nothing verifiable this week. Send tips! Email Kirsten Korosec or Sean O’Kane for secure communication.
Deals! Recently, it seemed Uber was omnipresent, and this trend continues, though not directly with autonomous vehicles.
Uber announced it is acquiring Berlin-based startup Blacklane, known for its black-car chauffeur services, enhancing Uber’s luxury and executive travel offerings. Blacklane, founded in 2011, raised over $100 million from Sixt, Mercedes-Benz, and UAE’s Alfahim.
This acquisition follows Uber’s launch of Uber Elite, featuring luxury chauffeur services, including airport meet-and-greets and onboard amenities.
Other notable deals include Manna Air Delivery raising $50 million and Saronic Technologies securing $1.75 billion, pushing maritime autonomy forward. Voltify raised $30 million to retrofit diesel locomotives with battery power.
Notable reads:
Also teamed with DoorDash to create autonomous delivery vehicles after receiving $200 million in Series C funding, with DoorDash joining Also’s board.
Baidu robotaxis stalled in Wuhan due to a system failure, trapping passengers.
GM is enhancing its driver-assistance system, Super Cruise, with supervised highway testing.
Lucid recalled over 4,000 Gravity SUVs due to seat belt issues.
NHTSA reported a 6.7% drop in traffic deaths to 36,640 in 2025.
United Airlines updated its app to show TSA wait times at select airports.
The Subaru-Toyota partnership launched the all-electric Gateway SUV.
Tesla’s lower-priced vehicles haven’t reversed declining sales, impacting its Texas factory workforce, which dropped 22%. Tesla ended Model S and X production, signaling a shift toward self-driving cars.
Toyota’s Woven Capital appointed new leadership to explore mobility’s future.
Uber and WeRide launched robotaxi services in Dubai, expanding in the Middle East.
Waymo’s robotaxi service began at San Antonio International Airport. Wired examined Waymo’s challenges with school buses, highlighting Austin School District’s assistance, which proved ineffective.
One more thing: On the Autonocast podcast, DoorDash’s VP of Autonomy, Ashu Rege, shared insights into the company’s strategy before the Also-DoorDash partnership. Listen to the episode here.