News from across intelligent machines.

Kim Byoung-soo is betting the AI Sapiens humanoid on torque-based control and a new Uzbekistan plant — securing price and production capacity ahead of mass-market demand, rather than racing to be first with a viral video.

Waymo went live with paid driverless rides in Denver, San Diego, and Tampa on Sept 1; Zoox began supervised testing in Houston the same week. Goldman Sachs projects the U.S. robotaxi market growing from roughly $3B to $48B by 2035.

Two more manufacturers won conditional FCC approval this month, extending a workaround path that now covers 17 companies. Consumer drones from DJI and Autel remain locked out, and the FCC is separately weighing tighter rules on military-grade foreign drones.

Meta holds 58% of the XR headset market, but the real story is the split: VR headset shipments fell 17% year-over-year while AR smart glasses grew 136%, as the category shifts toward lightweight, everyday-wearable frames.

"Not a single robot… will be allowed to enter the workplace" without a labor-management agreement first, the union says, reacting to Hyundai's CES announcement of Atlas humanoid deployment plans.