An Exclusive First Look At Tensor’s Self-Driving Robocar

Plus, the rest of our CES news roundup

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I got an exclusive tour of Tensor’s self-driving robocar at CES.

And while Tensor’s show vehicle was not able to drive around the show floor, I did get a pretty good look at the insides, and most importantly, how its much touted retractable steering wheel worked in person.

But first, a refresher. Tensor is the reincarnation of former robotaxi startup AutoX, which had gone dark a few years ago, presumably to pivot from a robotaxi model to private ownership. The company is now claiming that its first product, the level 4 autonomy capable Tensor Robocar, will hit the streets sometime in 2026.

Whether or not those streets will be in the United States is yet to be seen. The current regulatory climate in the United States is not very conducive to vehicles with no steering wheels, and although new regulatory proposals have recently been introduced to alleviate those concerns, it remains to be seen if they actually become law. The Tensor Robocar may very well see its first 2026 outing in the UAE instead of the USA.

For now, though, we can still gawk at what might be the future of personal vehicles. While the Robocar has many features never before seen on a car such as outward facing status displays or palm-authenticated automatic suicide doors, the most compelling feature might be the retractable steering wheel. Developed in conjunction with Autoliv, the steering wheel, as well as control pedals, folds and retracts into the body of the car when the car is switched to autonomous mode. In person, the effect is trippy, especially when sitting in the driver’s seat. Tensor CMO Amy Luca said during my demo that this is an especially useful feature to prevent users from freaking out when waking up from a nap, thinking they had to immediately grab the wheel and drive.

Tensor Robocar steering wheel halfway hidden

I will have a full first look video of the Tensor Robocar out soon. But in the meanwhile, what do you think of the design, or the mission, or the steering wheel? Sound off in the comments below.

Motional will launch its renewed robotaxi service in Las Vegas in 2026.

The company confirmed the new launch date at a media event at its Las Vegas operations center during CES week. Motional CEO Laura Major laid out how the company plans to return to the market with a renewed driverless service after a deliberate pause in 2024 allowed engineers time to re-architect Motional’s systems around an AI-first stack. Instead of choosing between traditional rule-heavy robotics or fully end-to-end autonomy, the company said it focused first on mastering rare and difficult edge cases with specialized models, then rolling those capabilities into larger unified systems. That effort has been supported by large-scale simulation, automated data labeling, and a tool called OmniTag that uses large models to quickly surface rare scenarios from massive datasets.

With that reset largely complete, Motional said it has resumed ride-hailing in an internal pilot and is preparing to reopen to the public, targeting Las Vegas and Pittsburgh as its first markets. The two cities were selected as complementary testbeds, one defined by dense, modern traffic patterns and the other by older, more complex street layouts. The company said these deployments are intended to lead directly into a commercial driverless service launch in Las Vegas by the end of the year, marking Motional’s next attempt to turn years of testing into a sustainable autonomous business.

I was able to get a test ride of Motional’s renewed robotaxi service, and while it wasn’t altogether problem-free, I came away convinced the company could achieve its 2026 launch target. Expect a full video of the experience soon.

Waymo has announced the official name for its Zeekr-built next generation robotaxis.

The vehicles are now officially known as the Ojai, named after a city just outside of Los Angeles. According to a Waymo spokesperson I spoke to at CES, the reasoning for the new name was because consumers just aren’t as familiar with the Zeekr brand as they are with Jaguar or Hyundai. Waymo also wanted to exude a sense of “calmness” with the new name. The Ojai is scheduled to become generally available on Waymo’s network later this year.

China’s driverless delivery vans are having a rough time.

While autonomous delivery by drone or package van is becoming more common in China, edge cases are becoming more and more apparent. Please enjoy this compilation of the funniest and most unfortunate situations to happen to China’s autonomous delivery vans.

In Other News…

• Luminar lines up $22 million bidder for its lidar business

• Innoviz Announces First RGB-senging 3D LiDAR

Alright, that’s it from me… until next week. If you enjoy this newsletter, share it with your friend, colleague, or boss. Thank you for reading; Sophia out!