Uber, Nvidia Plan Global Robotaxi Rollout to 28 Cities

Uber Technologies and Nvidia said on Monday they will deploy a fleet of robotaxis powered by Nvidia's autonomous driving software on the ride-hailing network. The service will launch in Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2027, with plans to expand to 28 cities globally by 2028.

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The vehicles will run on the DRIVE Hyperion autonomous vehicle platform along with Alpamayo, a reasoning-based AI model designed to handle complex road scenarios.

The rollout process will commence with data-collection vehicles to train the system on city-specific driving conditions. This will precede operator-supervised launches and eventually fully driverless Level 4 operations.

The companies aim to expand the service across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. This initiative forms part of a broader push to introduce autonomous ride-hailing to the market.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated the partnership supports a "multi-player" autonomous vehicle ecosystem on the company’s platform. This enables more developers and automakers to bring robotaxi services to market.

This collaboration reinforces Uber’s strategy of establishing partnerships across the autonomous vehicle industry. The company prioritises this approach over developing its own technology.

Competition in the robotaxi sector has intensified as companies expand driverless fleets. Alphabet’s Waymo currently operates the most advanced commercial robotaxi service, running fully driverless rides in cities including Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and steadily expanding its fleet.

Tesla, meanwhile, is pursuing a camera-based approach to autonomy and has stated plans to launch its own robotaxi service. It intends to leverage its significant vehicle manufacturing capacity.

Uber previously formed agreements with electric vehicle maker Lucid Group and autonomous driving startup Nuro. These deals involved deploying robotaxis built on Lucid vehicles, powered by Nuro’s self-driving software, on the Uber network.

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• Uber and Nvidia plan to launch a robotaxi fleet in 28 cities globally by 2028.

• Initial deployment is set for Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2027.

• The robotaxis will use Nvidia’s DRIVE Hyperion platform and Alpamayo AI model.

Source: REUTERS

Samsung Showcases Nvidia AI Chip at Developer Conference

Samsung Electronics showcased Nvidia's new artificial intelligence chip, which was manufactured using Samsung's 4-nanometre process. The demonstration took place at Nvidia's GTC developer conference in California on Monday.

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Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang stated at the event that Samsung produces Nvidia's new AI inference processor. This processor is based on technology from chip startup Groq.

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• Samsung Electronics showcased Nvidia's new artificial intelligence chip.

• The chip was manufactured using Samsung's 4-nanometre process.

• The showcase occurred at Nvidia's GTC developer conference in California.

Source: REUTERS

Meta Considers Major Layoffs Amid Rising AI Infrastructure Costs

Meta is planning sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of the organisation, according to three sources familiar with the matter. These potential cuts aim to offset costly artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investments and prepare for greater efficiency from AI-assisted workers.

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No date has been set for the cuts, and their exact magnitude has not been finalised. Top executives have recently signalled these plans to other senior leaders at Meta and instructed them to begin planning how to reduce staff, two of the people said.

The sources, who spoke anonymously, were not authorised to disclose the information. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone stated, "This is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches," in response to enquiries about the plan.

If Meta proceeds with a 20% reduction, it would be the organisation's most significant since a restructuring in late 2022 and early 2023. That period, dubbed the "year of efficiency," saw Meta lay off 11,000 staffers in November 2022, approximately 13% of its workforce at the time.

Approximately four months later, the company announced another 10,000 job cuts. As of late December, Meta employed nearly 79,000 people, according to its latest filing.

Over the past year, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has pushed Meta to compete more forcefully in generative AI. The organisation has offered substantial pay packages, some worth hundreds of millions of USD over four years, to attract top AI researchers to a new superintelligence team.

Meta has announced plans to invest USD 600 billion to build data centres by 2028. Earlier this week, it acquired Moltbook, a social networking platform built for AI agents. The organisation is also spending at least USD 2 billion to purchase Chinese AI startup Manus, Reuters previously reported.

CEO Zuckerberg alluded to efficiency gains from these investments in January. He noted he was observing "projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person."

Meta's plans align with a broader pattern among major U.S. companies, particularly in the technology sector, this year. Executives have cited recent improvements in AI systems as a reason for such changes.

In January, Amazon confirmed it would cut approximately 16,000 jobs, amounting to nearly 10% of its workforce. Last month, the fintech organisation Block reduced nearly half of its staff, with CEO Jack Dorsey explicitly pointing to AI tools and their growing capability to help companies achieve more with smaller teams.

Meta's planned AI investments follow a series of setbacks with its Llama 4 models in the prior year. These included criticism that the models provided misleading results on benchmarks used for early versions.

Meta abandoned the release of the largest version of that model, known as Behemoth, which had been scheduled for the summer period. The superintelligence team has been working to reassert the company's standing this year by developing a new model called Avocado, but its performance has also fallen short of expectations.

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• Meta is considering layoffs that could impact 20% or more of its workforce.

• These potential cuts are aimed at offsetting high AI infrastructure costs and increasing efficiency.

• The organisation plans to invest USD 600 billion in data centres by 2028 and has made significant AI-related acquisitions.

Source: REUTERS