In autonomous and self-driving vehicle news are Rivian, CoreWeave, Wayve, Kakao, Nvidia, Kia, ASI, TIER IV, MAN Truck & Bus, Komatsu, May Mobility, Volkswagen, Tesla, Terawatt & Waymo.
AutoMobility LA Puts ADAS Governance and Rivian’s Hands-Free Driving in the Spotlight
AutoMobility LA, the media and industry preview day for the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 19, 2026, will open with a core focus on the governance and technical deployment of autonomous systems. A dedicated panel featuring National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator Jonathan Morrison will address evolving federal regulatory frameworks, public safety integration and the commercial scaling requirements that arise as automated vehicle technologies move from concept validation to consumer deployment. The public show follows from November 20 to 29 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, with an emphasis on autonomy, energy and entertainment across consumer product lines.
The program highlights a broader shift toward software-defined architectures and hands-free driving in series-production passenger vehicles. Rivian will offer public drives of its production R2 Performance electric SUV, which carries an AI-defined vehicle architecture equipped with Rivian Autonomy+ and Universal Hands-Free operation mapped across 3.5 million miles of North American highways. Participating global automakers, including Lucid, Genesis, General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, Nissan and Subaru, are fielding production systems that incorporate Level 2 and Level 2+ hands-free highway cruising, memory-based automated parking routines, camera-radar fusion and over-the-air update capabilities across mainstream, performance and commercial vehicle platforms.
CoreWeave Secures Multi-Year Agreement to Power Wayve’s Autonomous Driving Models
Embodied AI developer Wayve has entered a multi-year cloud computing agreement with CoreWeave to train, evaluate and simulate its end-to-end autonomous driving foundation models. The arrangement moves Wayve from its existing integration with Weights & Biases directly onto CoreWeave Cloud clusters accelerated by NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs. The dedicated high-performance compute environment is designed to scale the data pipelines, closed-loop simulation validation and physical AI training runs required for Wayve’s AI Driver software stack.
Wayve’s foundation model processes continuous multi-modal driving datasets gathered across more than 70 countries, supporting software-defined deployment in both passenger vehicles and autonomous commercial robotaxi fleets. The partnership supports the company’s continuous data flywheel methodology, enabling comparative evaluation and safety benchmarking across extended training iterations before production deployment. The contract reflects growing institutional compute requirements for embodied AI models that depend on specialized, low-latency GPU infrastructure able to maintain high-throughput reliability during intensive physical-world simulation cycles.
Kakao Mobility and Nvidia Team Up on a Level 4 System for Kia’s PV5
Kakao Mobility has executed a memorandum of understanding with Nvidia to co-develop a production-oriented SAE Level 4 autonomous driving system. The effort combines Kakao’s proprietary end-to-end driving AI models with Nvidia’s centralized compute infrastructure, sensor reference architecture and safety toolchains. The system will first deploy on Kia purpose-built vehicles, specifically the PV5 platform, building on a vehicle manufacturing and autonomous fleet integration agreement that Kakao Mobility and Kia established in July 2026. The strategy keeps the physical AI software stack under Kakao’s internal control while standardizing high-compute hardware components for scalable commercial rollout.
Under the technical collaboration, Kakao Mobility’s custom autonomous driving control unit will incorporate dual Nvidia Drive AGX Thor system-on-chip platforms to run real-time multi-modal inference that links sensor perception directly to vehicle trajectory planning. The physical integration follows Nvidia’s Hyperion reference architecture to ensure sensor-compute synchronization and hardware compatibility, while Nvidia’s Halos safety platform oversees runtime monitoring, fault tolerance and software-in-the-loop validation. The deployment expands Kakao Mobility’s urban autonomous testing in Seoul’s Gangnam district and targets full commercialization across domestic Korean robotaxi fleets before international expansion.
ASI and RDO Equipment Co. to Detail Industrial Fleet Automation at AEMP EQShift 2026
Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (ASI) and the equipment dealership network RDO Equipment Co. will co-present an operational deployment review at the Association of Equipment Management Professionals (AEMP) EQShift 2026 conference in New Orleans. The session, scheduled for November 18, outlines field implementation benchmarks drawn from large-scale autonomous deployments that use ASI’s Mobius platform for industrial autonomous fleet orchestration (IAFO).
The presentation addresses three foundational requirements for commercial worksites: digital terrain mapping and site-level telecommunications infrastructure, workforce role evolution and preventative maintenance workflows, and mixed-fleet interoperability. The briefing is aimed at equipment managers and fleet operators moving off-highway machinery from supervised evaluation phases into commercial autonomous production environments.
TIER IV and Shunan Bulk Terminal Aim to Automate Dump Trucks at the Port of Tokuyama-Kudamatsu
TIER IV and Shunan Bulk Terminal, a consolidated subsidiary of chemical manufacturer Tokuyama Corporation, have launched a collaboration to automate bulk cargo transport at Japan’s Port of Tokuyama-Kudamatsu in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Using TIER IV’s open-source Autoware software stack, the project aims to convert currently crewed dump truck routes to driverless operation by the end of 2028. The routes haul coal and biomass fuels from Shunan Bulk Terminal’s storage yards to Tokuyama’s in-house power generation facilities.
To address Japan’s commercial driver shortage while reducing operational greenhouse gas emissions, the autonomous dump truck will run on Idemitsu Renewable Diesel supplied by shareholder Idemitsu Kosan. After site-specific integration and development of an operational framework for Tokuyama’s receiving infrastructure, the partners plan to extend the autonomous transport architecture to additional routes across the port’s industrial zone.
TIER IV, TUM and MAN Truck & Bus Build an Autonomous City Bus for Munich
TIER IV and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are applying open-source Autoware software to develop a full-size automated city bus at the German Center for Future Mobility (DZM) Munich site. The work falls under the €20 million, three-year RISE consortium funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport, and it adapts operational software data from TIER IV’s Japanese autonomous bus deployments to European vehicle architectures and urban transit conditions.
MAN Truck & Bus is integrating autonomous actuation hardware and low-level control software onto the full-size bus platform, while TUM engineers the sensor suite and the high-level Autoware driving stack. After controlled track validation, the vehicle will move to real-world public transit testing on Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft (MVG) service routes with onboard safety personnel. The project is managed through the TUM Autoware Research Center by TIER IV, established in October 2026 across TUM’s automotive, cyber-physical and autonomous vehicle research groups, and it creates a repeatable validation framework for scaling open-source automated transit across European OEM platforms. Findings from system integration and field evaluation will feed back into the broader Autoware open-source ecosystem.
TIER IV and Komatsu Develop Autonomous Systems for Three Dump Truck Platforms
TIER IV and Komatsu have begun joint development and verification of autonomous driving systems for three heavy-duty dump truck platforms, targeting commercial deployment at quarry and construction sites across Japan and North America in 2027. The program builds on a collaboration launched in September 2025 with Komatsu subsidiary EARTHBRAIN and covers the rigid-frame HD785, with a 93.9-metric-ton maximum payload, and the HD605, at 64.1 metric tons, along with the articulated HM400/460, at 42 metric tons.
The technical architecture pairs TIER IV autonomous driving software with Komatsu vehicle engineering, system integration and chassis control hardware to carry out end-to-end loading, hauling and dumping cycles. Integration with EARTHBRAIN fleet management software extends automation from single-vehicle autonomy to coordinated jobsite-wide dispatch, with the aim of improving operational throughput and labor efficiency.
May Mobility Plans More Than 10,000 Autonomous Volkswagen ID. Buzz Robotaxis Through 2031
May Mobility has announced plans to deploy more than 10,000 autonomous Volkswagen ID. Buzz vehicles across global ride-hail networks through 2031. Operating under an asset-light Autonomy-as-a-Service (AaaS) model, the company will integrate its autonomous driving kit (ADK) into AV-ready ID. Buzz platforms in collaboration with ECARX (Nasdaq: ECX) and fleet deployment partner Charlton Intelligence.ai. On-road U.S. validation testing is scheduled to begin in early 2027, ahead of initial production vehicle deliveries targeted for 2028. According to May Mobility, the supply chain alignment with ECARX and Charlton Intelligence.ai will yield all-in vehicle cost reductions exceeding 50 percent compared with its current-generation fleet.
The all-electric ID. Buzz will run May Mobility’s on-vehicle physical AI stack, which combines deep learning, a dynamic predictive world model that simulates up to 10 seconds ahead, and a real-time reasoning engine. The company has logged more than 600,000 commercial rides across 1.1 million miles in the U.S. and Japan, including three driver-out deployments. It currently operates commercial services with Lyft in Atlanta and municipal routes in Eden Prairie and Grand Rapids, Minnesota, alongside an on-demand pilot with NTT Mobility in Nagoya, Japan, and a planned 2027 commercial rollout with Uber in Arlington, Texas.
Tesla Opens Invitation-Only Cybercab Orders With Autonomy Subscription Terms Attached
Tesla has opened invitation-only order books for the Cybercab, its steering-wheel-free, pedal-free, two-seat autonomous vehicle, with a base price of $29,990 and initial personal deliveries targeted for December 2026. Reserving a Cybercab requires a $1,000 non-refundable deposit, and the base price covers the vehicle itself. The design omits both a steering wheel and pedals, meaning the car is built to be operated solely by Tesla’s autonomous driving system rather than by a human driver.
Tesla restricts Cybercab use to personal, non-commercial operation. Vehicles may run only within active Tesla Robotaxi geofenced zones, which span eight cities across two states: Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio in Texas, and Miami, Orlando and Tampa in Florida. Under these terms, an owner cannot use the vehicle to earn income and cannot take it beyond the boundaries of the designated service areas.
Operating the vehicle requires an active Autonomy Subscription priced at $299 per month. The subscription includes Unsupervised FSD software and Premium Connectivity, along with roadside assistance, and it also covers routine wear items such as tires, windshield replacements, wiper blades and cabin air filters. Charging, registration, parking and general cleaning remain with the buyer, as does carrying third-party liability insurance. Tesla keeps remote access to the vehicle and control over its telematics, and it holds the authority to suspend a Cybercab’s operation if it determines the vehicle has been subject to unauthorized modifications or that a policy has been violated.
Terawatt Infrastructure Adds Nearly 22 MW of Fleet Charging Across Four US Cities
Terawatt Infrastructure has expanded its commercial and autonomous electric vehicle charging footprint with four dedicated depots in South San Francisco, Nashville, Miami and Dallas, bringing nearly 22 MW of combined capacity online. The sites are engineered to support more than 3,000 daily vehicle charges. They include a 6.6 MW site near San Francisco International Airport, completed ahead of schedule with six-figure cost savings through Pacific Gas & Electric energization methods, a 4.5 MW hub near Nashville International Airport, a 3.5 MW depot in Miami’s Design District/Wynwood area and a 7 MW facility near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Terawatt managed permitting, utility interconnection and engineering for all four sites from start to finish and will oversee operations and maintenance using proprietary charge management software. The depots join nearly 30 Terawatt facilities in construction or development across 16 U.S. markets serving commercial partners such as Waymo and Flexdrive by Lyft. The airport-adjacent, high-concurrency capacity aligns with Waymo’s active and planned robotaxi deployments and with third-party fleet operations managed by Element and Moove.
NHTSA Opens Recall Query on Waymo’s Fifth-Generation Driving System Over School Bus Remedy
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened recall query RQ26006 covering 2,895 fifth-generation Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis operated by Waymo, to evaluate the efficacy of an over-the-air (OTA) software remedy deployed in late 2025. Waymo completed the firmware update on November 17, 2025, before filing voluntary recall 25E084 on December 10, yet a majority of reported incidents involving autonomous vehicles passing stopped school buses occurred after deployment. Subsequent infractions include 19 documented violations and multiple $300 citations from the Austin Independent School District, alongside six violations recorded by Atlanta public schools.
The inquiry highlights friction between continuous machine learning iterations and conventional automotive defect compliance. Waymo stated it has incurred zero citations since March 2026 and advocated for updated federal recall frameworks tailored to iterative automated driving systems (ADS). NHTSA, by contrast, requires that a formally filed remedy perform strictly as specified upon deployment, noting that ongoing post-recall software drift complicates regulatory verification of the initial patch.
Compound operational vulnerabilities remain outside the scope of OTA perception and path-planning patches. A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report on a January 12 violation in Austin confirmed that a Waymo vehicle halted correctly before querying a remote assistance operator in Novi, Michigan, who erroneously cleared the vehicle to pass an active school bus. Coupled with an open federal investigation into a January pedestrian collision near a Santa Monica elementary school, the query exposes Waymo to potential mandatory geofencing and operational restrictions during school loading hours.