Waymo Doubles US Footprint with Fully Autonomous Robotaxi Service in 5 New Cities

Waymo is significantly expanding its fully autonomous vehicle operations, doubling the number of cities where its self-driving cars operate without a human safety driver. The company has initiated fully autonomous operations for employees in Miami, with plans to roll out in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando in the coming weeks. A public launch for paid rides in these new locations is slated for 2026. This expansion builds on Waymo’s existing public robotaxi services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin. The move intensifies competition in the growing robotaxi market as rivals also invest heavily in autonomous driving technology.

OpenAI and Target Partner to Develop AI-Powered Retail Experiences

OpenAI has announced a strategic partnership with retail giant Target. The collaboration is set to develop and deploy novel AI-powered experiences for customers, although specific details of the joint initiatives have not yet been disclosed. This partnership marks a significant step for OpenAI in integrating its advanced generative AI technologies into the mainstream retail sector to enhance the customer journey.

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Salesforce Launches eVerse to Simulate and Test Enterprise AI Agents

Salesforce AI Research has introduced eVerse, a sophisticated simulation environment designed for creating and testing enterprise-ready voice and text-based AI agents. This platform aims to solve the problem of “jagged intelligence”—where AI excels at complex tasks but fails at simpler ones—by enabling a continuous loop of data synthesis, performance measurement, and agent behavior optimization. The ultimate goal of eVerse is to build greater trust in AI outputs, fostering a collaborative ecosystem where human employees and AI agents can work together seamlessly and effectively.

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Rubrik Unveils AI-Powered Recovery for Microsoft 365 and DevOps Security

Rubrik has launched two new AI-driven solutions to enhance cyber resilience: Intelligent Business Recovery for Microsoft 365 and a new protection solution for Azure DevOps and GitHub. These offerings are designed to minimize downtime after cyberattacks or outages by helping organizations prioritize and restore critical data and workflows. The Microsoft 365 tool uses an automated approach to identify and restore essential users and data, such as those of executives, to maintain business continuity. For DevOps, the new solution provides policy-driven, immutable backups for Azure DevOps and GitHub assets, safeguarding against threats like ransomware and malicious code alterations.

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Japan Aims for Room-Temperature Quantum Computing with NTT and OptQC Partnership

NTT Corporation and OptQC have announced a major collaboration to develop optical quantum computers capable of operating at room temperature, a significant advancement over current systems that require expensive cryogenic cooling. This initiative supports the Japanese government’s goal of making 2025 the “first year of quantum industrialization.” The partnership’s ambitious roadmap targets 10,000 qubits by 2027, one million by 2030, and an ultimate goal of 100 million qubits. A successful light-based qubit approach could make quantum computing more practical, accessible, and less expensive to deploy by eliminating the need for specialized, power-intensive infrastructure.

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Ainekko Acquires Esperanto Technologies IP to Open-Source RISC-V for Edge AI

Open-source AI hardware startup Ainekko has acquired the intellectual property and assets of AI chip company Esperanto Technologies. Ainekko plans to open-source Esperanto’s powerful many-core RISC-V architecture, including its RTL, reference designs, and development tools. This strategic move aims to foster a community-driven approach to hardware innovation, specifically targeting AI inference at the edge. While Esperanto focused on data center applications, Ainekko is pivoting the technology toward the significant opportunity in edge computing. The company has already successfully run llama.cpp and the tinygrad framework on Esperanto’s chips.

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Git 2.52 Released with ’last-modified’ Command and Initial Rust Integration

The open-source Git project has released version 2.52, featuring contributions from over 94 developers. This latest version introduces several new features, including a git last-modified sub-command to easily find the most recent commit that affected a specific file path. Notably, Git 2.52 includes initial optional support for using Rust code for some internal functions, paving the way for deeper Rust integration in future releases. The release also continues preparatory work for the eventual transition to SHA-256 hashing in Git 3.0. Other enhancements include a new git repo sub-command for displaying repository characteristics and various performance improvements.

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