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Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Unveil Robotaxi in August

Elon Musk says Tesla will unveil its robotaxis on August 8, 2024. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File
Elon Musk says Tesla will unveil its robotaxis on August 8, 2024. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File
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Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Unveil Robotaxi in August

Elon Musk says Tesla will unveil its robotaxis on August 8, 2024. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File
Elon Musk says Tesla will unveil its robotaxis on August 8, 2024. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/File

Elon Musk revealed Friday that Tesla will pull back the curtain on a robotaxi this summer, news that comes as adoption of self-driving vehicles hits speed bumps over safety concerns.
The billionaire boss of the electric car maker did not provide details, saying only in his post on X that the "Tesla Robotaxi unveil" will come on August 8.
Tesla shares rose more than three percent in after-market trades following the post, after finishing the day down, AFP said.
Musk has long boasted of work Tesla is doing on its systems for electric cars to drive themselves.
Tesla models with FSD (Full Self-Driving) "will be superhuman to such a degree that it will seem strange in the future that humans drove cars, even while exhausted and drunk!" he said in a post on X in March.
Musk has also said that owners of Tesla vehicles with FSD will be able to have their cars serve as robotaxis, rather than remain idly parked.
Despite its potential, rollout of self-driving vehicles in the United States has been tentative and rocky so far as both regulators and the public voice safety concerns.
San Francisco has been a testing ground for the technology.
Robotaxis from Google's Waymo in the city have been targeted by vandals opposed to autonomous vehicles, while GM-owned Cruise indefinitely suspended its robotaxi service at the end of October after several accidents sparked a crackdown by California regulators.
Tesla's "autopilot" feature has also come under scrutiny, facing accusations the marketing of the feature oversold its actual capabilities.
Tesla's robotaxi reveal came on the heels of a Reuters report that the company had abandoned Musk's long-touted plan to manufacture an electric car model selling close to $25,000 to drive adoption in the mass market.
Musk fired off a post denying the report.
Tesla this week reported sharply lower first-quarter auto sales amid an underwhelming demand outlook for electric vehicles, while legacy players including Toyota rode improved US inventories to higher sales.
Musk's auto giant reported global deliveries fell 8.5 percent in the quarter, reflecting in part a weak sales market in China, where it faces heavy competition from local electric vehicle makers.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives called the quarterly results "an unmitigated disaster."

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Technology

Microsoft to Invest $10 bn for Japan AI Data Centers

Microsoft's Vice Chair and President Brad Smith (4th L) and (L-R) Sakura Internet Inc President and CEO Kunihiro Tanaka, SoftBank Corp. President and CEO Junichi Miyakawa, Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka, hold a meeitng with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (2nd R) and Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshiro Ino (R) at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 3, 2026. Kazuhiro NOGI / POOL/AFP
Microsoft's Vice Chair and President Brad Smith (4th L) and (L-R) Sakura Internet Inc President and CEO Kunihiro Tanaka, SoftBank Corp. President and CEO Junichi Miyakawa, Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka, hold a meeitng with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (2nd R) and Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshiro Ino (R) at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 3, 2026. Kazuhiro NOGI / POOL/AFP
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Microsoft to Invest $10 bn for Japan AI Data Centers

Microsoft's Vice Chair and President Brad Smith (4th L) and (L-R) Sakura Internet Inc President and CEO Kunihiro Tanaka, SoftBank Corp. President and CEO Junichi Miyakawa, Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka, hold a meeitng with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (2nd R) and Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshiro Ino (R) at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 3, 2026. Kazuhiro NOGI / POOL/AFP
Microsoft's Vice Chair and President Brad Smith (4th L) and (L-R) Sakura Internet Inc President and CEO Kunihiro Tanaka, SoftBank Corp. President and CEO Junichi Miyakawa, Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka, hold a meeitng with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (2nd R) and Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshiro Ino (R) at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 3, 2026. Kazuhiro NOGI / POOL/AFP

Microsoft said Friday it will invest $10 billion in Japan over the next four years to build artificial intelligence data centers and related infrastructure.

Power-hungry data centers -- warehouse-like facilities that power AI tools from chatbots to image generators -- are springing up worldwide, and the sector is growing particularly fast in Asia.

Microsoft President Brad Smith met Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at her office on Friday to announce the investment, said AFP.

Smith said in a statement that it was a "response to Japan's growing need for cloud and AI services".

Businesses in Japan, the world's fourth-largest economy, are keen to get ahead in the fast-moving AI field.

But data centers expansion there is constrained by limited space and relatively expensive electricity.

The US tech giant will collaborate with Japan's SoftBank Group and Sakura Internet to expand domestic tech infrastructure, it said in a press release.

It follows a $2.9 billion two-year investment Microsoft announced in 2024 to bolster the country's push into AI and strengthen its cyber defenses.

The investment unveiled Friday also includes funds to enhance cybersecurity partnerships with Japanese government agencies, and to train one million engineers in cooperation with telecom and tech giants NTT and NEC.

A rush to build data centers in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in India and Southeast Asia, has sparked concerns over the facilities' environmental impact.

That includes increased demand on electricity grids that are often reliant on fossil fuels, and on local water supplies used to cool the hot servers inside.

Microsoft says it has pledged to become carbon negative, zero-waste and "water positive" by 2030.

On Tuesday, the company announced plans to invest more than $1 billion in cloud and AI data center infrastructure and operations in Thailand over the next two years.

Technology

Kia to Sell Lower-priced Electric Vehicle in US

A KIA logo on an electric vehicle is seen on display at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
A KIA logo on an electric vehicle is seen on display at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
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Kia to Sell Lower-priced Electric Vehicle in US

A KIA logo on an electric vehicle is seen on display at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
A KIA logo on an electric vehicle is seen on display at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

Kia said Wednesday it will begin selling a lower-priced electric vehicle in the United States later this year as automakers work to recharge EV sales.

The Korean automaker said at the New York Auto Show it will offer the EV3 in the US market starting later this year, Reuters reported.

Automakers are facing a tougher EV market in the United States after Congress repealed the $7,500 EV tax credit last year but higher gasoline prices in recent weeks has prompted new interest in the EVs.

Technology

Passengers Stranded in Moving Traffic after Robotaxi Outage in China

This file photo taken on August 1, 2024 shows a general view of a driverless robotaxi autonomous vehicle developed as part of tech giant Baidu's Apollo Go self-driving project, in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO / AFP)
This file photo taken on August 1, 2024 shows a general view of a driverless robotaxi autonomous vehicle developed as part of tech giant Baidu's Apollo Go self-driving project, in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO / AFP)
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Passengers Stranded in Moving Traffic after Robotaxi Outage in China

This file photo taken on August 1, 2024 shows a general view of a driverless robotaxi autonomous vehicle developed as part of tech giant Baidu's Apollo Go self-driving project, in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO / AFP)
This file photo taken on August 1, 2024 shows a general view of a driverless robotaxi autonomous vehicle developed as part of tech giant Baidu's Apollo Go self-driving project, in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO / AFP)

Some robotaxi passengers were left stranded in the middle of fast-moving traffic in a major Chinese city after their driverless vehicles stopped running, according to police and media reports on Wednesday.

A preliminary investigation indicates more than 100 robotaxis came to a halt because of a “system malfunction,” police in the city of Wuhan said in a statement, without elaborating. No injuries were reported.

One passenger told Chinese media that their robotaxi stopped after turning a corner. An instruction on a screen read: “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.” After no one showed up, the passenger pushed an SOS button and was told that staff were on their way. The car door could be opened, so the passenger got out on their own.

It is the first time a mass shutdown of robotaxis has been reported in China, The Associated Press said. In December, many of Waymo’s self-driving cars came to a stop in San Francisco because of a power outage.

The taxis in Wuhan are operated by Baidu, a major Chinese internet and AI company that is expanding its Apollo Go robotaxi business to overseas locations in Europe and the Mideast.

Baidu did not have any immediate comment.

Police said reports that taxis were coming to a halt started coming in around 9 p.m., while media reports said multiple people were rescued.

While some passengers were able to exit their taxis on their own, others were afraid to get out because their vehicle had stopped in the middle lane of a ring road with other vehicles passing on both sides, the reports said. Ring roads are elevated roads without traffic lights designed to move traffic quickly in urban areas.

Baidu operates hundreds of robotaxis in Wuhan, which hosted an early pilot project for the company.