Alibaba's Qwen team has released Qwen-Drive-1.0-4B, an open-source vision-language model for autonomous driving. This new model, built upon a Qwen3.5-4B base, integrates 3D perception and vehicle trajectory planning capabilities. Its components are available under an Apache 2.0 license, with variants accessible via Hugging Face and GitHub for developers.

Chinese artificial intelligence companies Z.ai and MiniMax are projected to remain loss-making until 2030, despite substantial revenue growth. This forecast, from Ellie Jiang, head of Asia internet and software research at Macquarie Group, highlights the significant costs associated with competing at the technological forefront.

SoftBank Corp. and Sceye, Inc. completed Japan's inaugural stratospheric communications trials. Conducted off Cape Muroto in Kochi Prefecture, these tests verified stable voice, high-capacity data transfer, and emergency alert system functionality using a High Altitude Platform Station, or HAPS.