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TechCrunch Mobility: Tesla’s ride-hailing gambit | TechCrunch

TechCrunch Mobility: Tesla’s ride-hailing gambit | TechCrunch

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Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is in what one might describe a suboptimal position. He’s pushed hard to get shareholders to view Tesla as an AI and robotics company, not a maker of EVs. And yet, the company’s most visible products, which generate the bulk of its revenues, are its electric cars. 

Yes, Tesla EVs are advanced, particularly when it comes to its underlying vehicle architecture and software. And its driver-assistance system known as Full Self-Driving Supervised, which can be used on highways and city streets and requires hands on the wheel and the driver to be ready to take over, is considered among the most capable on the market today. But to Musk, the ultimate illustration of an AI and robotics company is self-driving cars and humanoid robots. And today, neither of them exist at any scale. 

Tesla’s first notable step toward that goal was in June when it launched a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. Those Robotaxi-branded vehicles, which invited customers can hail via an app, have a Tesla employee sitting in the front passenger seat. But it’s still far from Musk’s original vision of a “general solution” that would allow a Tesla owner to earn money by renting out their vehicle as a robotaxi service. 

The clock is ticking and Musk needs to show more progress — or at the very least tease upcoming launches to keep antsy shareholders content. Which is perhaps why Tesla is embarking on this ride-hailing gambit in California.

Earlier this month, Musk noted that Tesla would be launching a robotaxi service in the Bay Area “in a month or two” — regulatory approvals being the primary hang-up.

The problem? Tesla hasn’t even applied for the permits that would allow it to operate a robotaxi service. I checked Friday morning with the California DMV, which regulates driverless testing, and Tesla has not yet applied for the necessary permits. (A spokesperson did tell me the DMV met with Tesla to discuss the company’s plans to test autonomous vehicles in the state.)

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So, instead Tesla has launched a ride-hailing service in the Bay Area. And yeah, users keep calling these robotaxis. 

To be clear, while folks — including Musk’s brother and Tesla board member Kimbal Musk — may refer to these as robotaxis, they are not driving autonomously. (And if they are, it would be a violation of current regulations.) Again, Tesla does not currently have the permits to do anything beyond pay its own employees to use its fleet of EVs to drive people around the Bay Area. No autonomous driving in any way, shape, or form. You can read a recent explainer here that will take you through all of the various permits Tesla needs.

This ride-hailing launch has many folks wondering, what gives? My answer: optics.

A little bird

Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

Recent chatter among some little birds suggests that the National Automobile Dealers Association is focusing its efforts on VW Group spinout Scout and the EV company’s plans for direct sales. The dealership industry group has opposed the direct sales model before. But unlike direct-sales adopters Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid, Scout is attached to a legacy automaker with a long-established dealer network.

Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. 

Deals!

money the station
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

Think back to the fall of 2023. Logistics company Flexport had captured the attention of Silicon Valley, in part because of founder Ryan Petersen’s fallout with ousted CEO Dave Clark and because of its acquisition of Convoy, the former freight tech unicorn that had just shut down. 

Here’s an update. Flexport has now sold the Convoy platform to DAT Freight & Analytics. The terms were undisclosed, although the company said it had delivered a “massive return on investment for Flexport.” Reporting from Axios’ Dan Primack suggests that, yes, indeed “massive return” is an appropriate description. 

Flexport never disclosed exactly what it had paid for Convoy’s tech, although reporting at the time put the figure at $16 million — a fraction of the unicorn’s previous valuation of $3.8 billion. Primack reported this week that Flexport sold the Convoy platform for $250 million. 

Other deals that got my attention this week …

AIR, an Israel-based startup developing eVTOLs, raised $23 million in a Series A funding round led by Entrée Capital, with participation from existing backer Dr. Shmuel Harlap, an early investor in Mobileye. 

LG Innotek, the components and materials subsidiary of South Korea’s LG Group, is investing up to $50 million in Aeva, acquiring an equity stake of about 6% in the U.S. lidar company. The investment is part of a broader manufacturing partnership between the two companies and marks Aeva’s push into consumer electronics, robotics, and industrial automation. 

Notable reads and other tidbits

Image Credits:Bryce Durbin

Aurora shared some notable progress in its Q2 earnings report. The autonomous vehicle tech company has three self-driving trucks operating commercially between Dallas and Houston, logging more than 20,000 driverless miles by the end of June. It is piloting driverless trucks on a 15-hour route from its terminal in Fort Worth, Texas, to a new terminal in Phoenix and is operating at night. CEO Chris Urmson told me what is next on his list.

Elon Musk’s tunnel-digging company The Boring Company plans to build a 10-mile “loop” that will connect Nashville’s downtown and its convention center and airport. Important side notes: This will be funded by The Boring Company and its private partners, which are not named. And this is the start of a public process to evaluate routes, which means work won’t be starting right away.

Ford plans to reveal more information about its upcoming low-cost electric vehicles at an event in Kentucky on August 11. And, as senior reporter Sean O’Kane notes, the company is talking a very big game.

Joby Aviation has signed an agreement with defense contractor L3Harris Technologies to “explore opportunities” to develop a new aircraft class — specifically, a gas-turbine hybrid vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft that can fly autonomously — for defense applications. The gas-turbine hybrid VTOL will be based on Joby’s current S4 aircraft platform. This isn’t a contract, per se. But it does mark progress in Joby’s bid to go to market in the defense and consumer sectors.

While Uber continues to partner with every autonomous vehicle company under the sun, Lyft is trying to make its own deals. Lyft said it will add autonomous shuttles made by Austrian manufacturer Benteler Group to its network in late 2026. The shuttles will be deployed in partnership with U.S. cities and airports.

Waymo plans to launch a robotaxi service next year in Dallas, and this time it is partnering with Avis Budget Group to manage its fleet of autonomous vehicles. In other Waymo happenings, two of its robotaxis crashed into each other at one of the company’s staging lots in Phoenix this week, proving that the company’s rapid expansion into new cities does not mean it has ironed out all the kinks. Waymo says it’s investigating the cause.

Chinese AV company WeRide received an autonomous driving permit from Saudi Arabia. The company holds similar permits in China, the UAE, Singapore, France, and the United States.

One last thing

waymo's tekedra mawakana at strictly vc
Image Credits:Slava Blazer Photography

Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana will join the Disrupt Stage for a wide-ranging conversation on the current state of AVs — and where the industry goes from here. TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 will be held October 27–29 at Moscone West in San Francisco.

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX spent an eye-watering $18.4 billion in its first quarter as a publicly traded company and warned investors to expect similarly high spending in the next two financial quarters, sending the stock price down more than 8% in late trading on Tuesday evening. A whopping $15.8 billion of that spending was to power its artificial intelligence efforts, a division that ended the quarter with a $1.3 billion net operating loss.

The figure comes from the company’s first earnings report since the record-setting initial public offering hit the market in mid-June. Although the IPO was surely an amazing day for Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire, things have not been all peachy since then, with the stock price currently well below its IPO price. As of last week, the company’s stock was so far down from its IPO highs that the value it shed was roughly equal to Musk’s other company, Tesla’s, market capitalization. Tuesday’s stock sales are unlikely to help that scenario, and neither is the fact that the company’s first lockup period ends on Thursday, meaning some company insiders will be able to sell more than $100 billion worth of stock for the first time since SpaceX went public.

To ease some of those worries, Musk promised dramatic AI advancements.

“Our rate of growth certainly is faster than anyone else, and our efficiency of compute deployment I think is also the highest,” Musk claimed. “So we expect to end this year with over two gigawatts of compute, and probably our cumulative compute online by the end of next year will be several times higher.”

Those compute plans are ambitious, but Musk struck a defiant tone against any doubters in the earnings call on Tuesday.

“The terrestrial data centers are a trivial problem compared to making gigantic reusable rockets which are launched frequently,” Musk said.

Musk said SpaceX’s data centers will be exclusively built on Nvidia chips. The two companies are also partnering to build Starmind AI satellites, a part of SpaceX’s even more ambitious plan to put a giant colony of up to a million AI data centers in Earth’s orbit. Some experts are hesitant that Musk and his company will be able to pull off the space-based data center colony plan, while many have also raised concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impact of such a huge launch program if it does pan out as promised.

On the call, Musk said that SpaceX would begin launching the Starmind AI satellites in 2027.

The company will also be unveiling Grok 5 before the end of the year, which Musk said would be trained on “all the data that SpaceX has ever produced,” making the chatbot “by far the best engineer.” Musk has previously claimed the yet-to-be-unveiled LLM will be AGI-level, aka a contested hypothetical AI that would theoretically equal or beat all human capabilities.

“We expect the cadence of AI development to improve dramatically,” Musk said. “I think, by the end of next year, it’s not clear to me that there’s anything digital at least that AI won’t be able to do based on the current rate of improvement.”

All of this comes with a huge, obvious caveat: Musk has long had a penchant for overpromising. His hefty promises extended beyond the AI sphere on Tuesday as well, with the CEO claiming that the company’s space business would be launching a rocket a day by next year and that there will be robots working in manufacturing operations on the literal Moon.

“I know this sounds totally nuts, but you can probably scale to a thousand times the economy of Earth in terms of intelligence launched to space, but probably maybe even a million times,” Musk claimed. “We’re going to build the factories on the Moon; the robots will be helpful with that.

#SpaceX #Stock #Drops #Earnings #Call #Musk #Fails #Woo #Investors #Goalscapex,Elon Musk,SPACEX">SpaceX Stock Drops After First Earnings Call as Musk Fails to Woo Investors With AI Goals Elon Musk’s SpaceX spent an eye-watering .4 billion in its first quarter as a publicly traded company and warned investors to expect similarly high spending in the next two financial quarters, sending the stock price down more than 8% in late trading on Tuesday evening. A whopping .8 billion of that spending was to power its artificial intelligence efforts, a division that ended the quarter with a .3 billion net operating loss. The figure comes from the company’s first earnings report since the record-setting initial public offering hit the market in mid-June. Although the IPO was surely an amazing day for Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire, things have not been all peachy since then, with the stock price currently well below its IPO price. As of last week, the company’s stock was so far down from its IPO highs that the value it shed was roughly equal to Musk’s other company, Tesla’s, market capitalization. Tuesday’s stock sales are unlikely to help that scenario, and neither is the fact that the company’s first lockup period ends on Thursday, meaning some company insiders will be able to sell more than 0 billion worth of stock for the first time since SpaceX went public. To ease some of those worries, Musk promised dramatic AI advancements. “Our rate of growth certainly is faster than anyone else, and our efficiency of compute deployment I think is also the highest,” Musk claimed. “So we expect to end this year with over two gigawatts of compute, and probably our cumulative compute online by the end of next year will be several times higher.” Those compute plans are ambitious, but Musk struck a defiant tone against any doubters in the earnings call on Tuesday. “The terrestrial data centers are a trivial problem compared to making gigantic reusable rockets which are launched frequently,” Musk said. Musk said SpaceX’s data centers will be exclusively built on Nvidia chips. The two companies are also partnering to build Starmind AI satellites, a part of SpaceX’s even more ambitious plan to put a giant colony of up to a million AI data centers in Earth’s orbit. Some experts are hesitant that Musk and his company will be able to pull off the space-based data center colony plan, while many have also raised concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impact of such a huge launch program if it does pan out as promised. On the call, Musk said that SpaceX would begin launching the Starmind AI satellites in 2027. The company will also be unveiling Grok 5 before the end of the year, which Musk said would be trained on “all the data that SpaceX has ever produced,” making the chatbot “by far the best engineer.” Musk has previously claimed the yet-to-be-unveiled LLM will be AGI-level, aka a contested hypothetical AI that would theoretically equal or beat all human capabilities. “We expect the cadence of AI development to improve dramatically,” Musk said. “I think, by the end of next year, it’s not clear to me that there’s anything digital at least that AI won’t be able to do based on the current rate of improvement.” All of this comes with a huge, obvious caveat: Musk has long had a penchant for overpromising. His hefty promises extended beyond the AI sphere on Tuesday as well, with the CEO claiming that the company’s space business would be launching a rocket a day by next year and that there will be robots working in manufacturing operations on the literal Moon. “I know this sounds totally nuts, but you can probably scale to a thousand times the economy of Earth in terms of intelligence launched to space, but probably maybe even a million times,” Musk claimed. “We’re going to build the factories on the Moon; the robots will be helpful with that. #SpaceX #Stock #Drops #Earnings #Call #Musk #Fails #Woo #Investors #Goalscapex,Elon Musk,SPACEX

down more than 8% in late trading on Tuesday evening. A whopping $15.8 billion of that spending was to power its artificial intelligence efforts, a division that ended the quarter with a $1.3 billion net operating loss.

The figure comes from the company’s first earnings report since the record-setting initial public offering hit the market in mid-June. Although the IPO was surely an amazing day for Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire, things have not been all peachy since then, with the stock price currently well below its IPO price. As of last week, the company’s stock was so far down from its IPO highs that the value it shed was roughly equal to Musk’s other company, Tesla’s, market capitalization. Tuesday’s stock sales are unlikely to help that scenario, and neither is the fact that the company’s first lockup period ends on Thursday, meaning some company insiders will be able to sell more than $100 billion worth of stock for the first time since SpaceX went public.

To ease some of those worries, Musk promised dramatic AI advancements.

“Our rate of growth certainly is faster than anyone else, and our efficiency of compute deployment I think is also the highest,” Musk claimed. “So we expect to end this year with over two gigawatts of compute, and probably our cumulative compute online by the end of next year will be several times higher.”

Those compute plans are ambitious, but Musk struck a defiant tone against any doubters in the earnings call on Tuesday.

“The terrestrial data centers are a trivial problem compared to making gigantic reusable rockets which are launched frequently,” Musk said.

Musk said SpaceX’s data centers will be exclusively built on Nvidia chips. The two companies are also partnering to build Starmind AI satellites, a part of SpaceX’s even more ambitious plan to put a giant colony of up to a million AI data centers in Earth’s orbit. Some experts are hesitant that Musk and his company will be able to pull off the space-based data center colony plan, while many have also raised concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impact of such a huge launch program if it does pan out as promised.

On the call, Musk said that SpaceX would begin launching the Starmind AI satellites in 2027.

The company will also be unveiling Grok 5 before the end of the year, which Musk said would be trained on “all the data that SpaceX has ever produced,” making the chatbot “by far the best engineer.” Musk has previously claimed the yet-to-be-unveiled LLM will be AGI-level, aka a contested hypothetical AI that would theoretically equal or beat all human capabilities.

“We expect the cadence of AI development to improve dramatically,” Musk said. “I think, by the end of next year, it’s not clear to me that there’s anything digital at least that AI won’t be able to do based on the current rate of improvement.”

All of this comes with a huge, obvious caveat: Musk has long had a penchant for overpromising. His hefty promises extended beyond the AI sphere on Tuesday as well, with the CEO claiming that the company’s space business would be launching a rocket a day by next year and that there will be robots working in manufacturing operations on the literal Moon.

“I know this sounds totally nuts, but you can probably scale to a thousand times the economy of Earth in terms of intelligence launched to space, but probably maybe even a million times,” Musk claimed. “We’re going to build the factories on the Moon; the robots will be helpful with that.

#SpaceX #Stock #Drops #Earnings #Call #Musk #Fails #Woo #Investors #Goalscapex,Elon Musk,SPACEX">SpaceX Stock Drops After First Earnings Call as Musk Fails to Woo Investors With AI GoalsSpaceX Stock Drops After First Earnings Call as Musk Fails to Woo Investors With AI Goals Elon Musk’s SpaceX spent an eye-watering $18.4 billion in its first quarter as a publicly traded company and warned investors to expect similarly high spending in the next two financial quarters, sending the stock price down more than 8% in late trading on Tuesday evening. A whopping $15.8 billion of that spending was to power its artificial intelligence efforts, a division that ended the quarter with a $1.3 billion net operating loss. The figure comes from the company’s first earnings report since the record-setting initial public offering hit the market in mid-June. Although the IPO was surely an amazing day for Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire, things have not been all peachy since then, with the stock price currently well below its IPO price. As of last week, the company’s stock was so far down from its IPO highs that the value it shed was roughly equal to Musk’s other company, Tesla’s, market capitalization. Tuesday’s stock sales are unlikely to help that scenario, and neither is the fact that the company’s first lockup period ends on Thursday, meaning some company insiders will be able to sell more than $100 billion worth of stock for the first time since SpaceX went public. To ease some of those worries, Musk promised dramatic AI advancements. “Our rate of growth certainly is faster than anyone else, and our efficiency of compute deployment I think is also the highest,” Musk claimed. “So we expect to end this year with over two gigawatts of compute, and probably our cumulative compute online by the end of next year will be several times higher.” Those compute plans are ambitious, but Musk struck a defiant tone against any doubters in the earnings call on Tuesday. “The terrestrial data centers are a trivial problem compared to making gigantic reusable rockets which are launched frequently,” Musk said. Musk said SpaceX’s data centers will be exclusively built on Nvidia chips. The two companies are also partnering to build Starmind AI satellites, a part of SpaceX’s even more ambitious plan to put a giant colony of up to a million AI data centers in Earth’s orbit. Some experts are hesitant that Musk and his company will be able to pull off the space-based data center colony plan, while many have also raised concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impact of such a huge launch program if it does pan out as promised. On the call, Musk said that SpaceX would begin launching the Starmind AI satellites in 2027. The company will also be unveiling Grok 5 before the end of the year, which Musk said would be trained on “all the data that SpaceX has ever produced,” making the chatbot “by far the best engineer.” Musk has previously claimed the yet-to-be-unveiled LLM will be AGI-level, aka a contested hypothetical AI that would theoretically equal or beat all human capabilities. “We expect the cadence of AI development to improve dramatically,” Musk said. “I think, by the end of next year, it’s not clear to me that there’s anything digital at least that AI won’t be able to do based on the current rate of improvement.” All of this comes with a huge, obvious caveat: Musk has long had a penchant for overpromising. His hefty promises extended beyond the AI sphere on Tuesday as well, with the CEO claiming that the company’s space business would be launching a rocket a day by next year and that there will be robots working in manufacturing operations on the literal Moon. “I know this sounds totally nuts, but you can probably scale to a thousand times the economy of Earth in terms of intelligence launched to space, but probably maybe even a million times,” Musk claimed. “We’re going to build the factories on the Moon; the robots will be helpful with that. #SpaceX #Stock #Drops #Earnings #Call #Musk #Fails #Woo #Investors #Goalscapex,Elon Musk,SPACEX

Elon Musk’s SpaceX spent an eye-watering $18.4 billion in its first quarter as a publicly traded company and warned investors to expect similarly high spending in the next two financial quarters, sending the stock price down more than 8% in late trading on Tuesday evening. A whopping $15.8 billion of that spending was to power its artificial intelligence efforts, a division that ended the quarter with a $1.3 billion net operating loss.

The figure comes from the company’s first earnings report since the record-setting initial public offering hit the market in mid-June. Although the IPO was surely an amazing day for Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire, things have not been all peachy since then, with the stock price currently well below its IPO price. As of last week, the company’s stock was so far down from its IPO highs that the value it shed was roughly equal to Musk’s other company, Tesla’s, market capitalization. Tuesday’s stock sales are unlikely to help that scenario, and neither is the fact that the company’s first lockup period ends on Thursday, meaning some company insiders will be able to sell more than $100 billion worth of stock for the first time since SpaceX went public.

To ease some of those worries, Musk promised dramatic AI advancements.

“Our rate of growth certainly is faster than anyone else, and our efficiency of compute deployment I think is also the highest,” Musk claimed. “So we expect to end this year with over two gigawatts of compute, and probably our cumulative compute online by the end of next year will be several times higher.”

Those compute plans are ambitious, but Musk struck a defiant tone against any doubters in the earnings call on Tuesday.

“The terrestrial data centers are a trivial problem compared to making gigantic reusable rockets which are launched frequently,” Musk said.

Musk said SpaceX’s data centers will be exclusively built on Nvidia chips. The two companies are also partnering to build Starmind AI satellites, a part of SpaceX’s even more ambitious plan to put a giant colony of up to a million AI data centers in Earth’s orbit. Some experts are hesitant that Musk and his company will be able to pull off the space-based data center colony plan, while many have also raised concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impact of such a huge launch program if it does pan out as promised.

On the call, Musk said that SpaceX would begin launching the Starmind AI satellites in 2027.

The company will also be unveiling Grok 5 before the end of the year, which Musk said would be trained on “all the data that SpaceX has ever produced,” making the chatbot “by far the best engineer.” Musk has previously claimed the yet-to-be-unveiled LLM will be AGI-level, aka a contested hypothetical AI that would theoretically equal or beat all human capabilities.

“We expect the cadence of AI development to improve dramatically,” Musk said. “I think, by the end of next year, it’s not clear to me that there’s anything digital at least that AI won’t be able to do based on the current rate of improvement.”

All of this comes with a huge, obvious caveat: Musk has long had a penchant for overpromising. His hefty promises extended beyond the AI sphere on Tuesday as well, with the CEO claiming that the company’s space business would be launching a rocket a day by next year and that there will be robots working in manufacturing operations on the literal Moon.

“I know this sounds totally nuts, but you can probably scale to a thousand times the economy of Earth in terms of intelligence launched to space, but probably maybe even a million times,” Musk claimed. “We’re going to build the factories on the Moon; the robots will be helpful with that.

#SpaceX #Stock #Drops #Earnings #Call #Musk #Fails #Woo #Investors #Goalscapex,Elon Musk,SPACEX

real-life ray gun into a 747 to shoot down ballistic missiles and stuck a laser on top of a Humvee to zap roadside bombs. For more than 50 years, the United States military and its researchers have tried to develop laser weapons. None of them panned out.

But now, the US Army is about to make a working laser weapon an official part of its arsenal. The Pentagon is poised to sign a contract to acquire and rapidly deploy what’s called an Enduring High Energy Laser in and around bases across the world to defend them from drone attacks, according to sources familiar with the matter. The official announcement could come as early as this week. When the deal is signed, it will mark the first time that the US military will have committed to equipping its forces with laser weapons in significant numbers.

“For years, lasers were going to be the future, and they never really came to their own. Now, they’re actually coming to their own,” Mark J. Lewis, the former Air Force chief scientist, tells WIRED.

The Iran and Ukraine wars have shown that drones are now so cheap, so plentiful, and so deadly that they’re impossible to stop with any single countermeasure. Some of the traditional ones have been particularly clunky. During the early days of the Iran conflict, the US even resorted to firing $4 million Patriot missiles at $35,000 Iranian drones—a waste of money, and a move that depleted the American interceptor stockpile.

Modern lasers, on the other hand, never run out of ammunition. “Basically, you can keep firing them as long as you’ve got power,” Lewis says. “There are some other issues with lasers, including how rapidly you can refire and recharge. But if you solve those problems, then suddenly you’ve got a pretty nifty way to help counteract things like a drone swarm attack.”

That’s one reason why the US military, at this moment, has either deployed or is actively testing a half-dozen laser weapons systems, according to the Laser Wars newsletter. The Navy has installed laser “dazzlers” on two of its ships to blind drones’ electro-optical sensors. The Air Force’s command for Europe and Africa has sent Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapons System “to locations across the theater.” In late June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to the Army’s test range in White Sands, New Mexico, for a demonstration of all sorts of directed-energy weapon projects.

The deployments haven’t all gone great. Four vehicles equipped with Raytheon air-defense lasers were yanked from the Middle East after poor reviews from soldiers. One laser, built by the defense contractor AeroVironment and positioned along the southern US border, accidentally zapped a party balloon in February, causing the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly close the airspace around El Paso, Texas. Once it was reopened, the laser shot down a Border Patrol drone by mistake.

Despite such mishaps, the Army appears ready to go beyond the one-offs and the experiments. In fact, in some ways, the accidental kill helped make the case for the laser, proving it could actually take out such a drone.

The Pentagon and its suppliers had been scrambling to field something, anything to defend against mass-produced, low-cost attack drones. They’ve rolled out radio frequency jammers, microwave weapons, an array of missiles, drones designed to kill other drones, even copies of the Iranian robots. None of them in isolation have been enough. On March 1, an Iranian drone killed six US service members and injured 30 others.

#Landmark #Deal #Officially #Add #Laser #Weapons #Army #Arsenallasers,drones,weapons and ammo,iran,military,military tech,army">Landmark Deal Would Officially Add Laser Weapons to US Army ArsenalThey stuffed a real-life ray gun into a 747 to shoot down ballistic missiles and stuck a laser on top of a Humvee to zap roadside bombs. For more than 50 years, the United States military and its researchers have tried to develop laser weapons. None of them panned out.But now, the US Army is about to make a working laser weapon an official part of its arsenal. The Pentagon is poised to sign a contract to acquire and rapidly deploy what’s called an Enduring High Energy Laser in and around bases across the world to defend them from drone attacks, according to sources familiar with the matter. The official announcement could come as early as this week. When the deal is signed, it will mark the first time that the US military will have committed to equipping its forces with laser weapons in significant numbers.“For years, lasers were going to be the future, and they never really came to their own. Now, they’re actually coming to their own,” Mark J. Lewis, the former Air Force chief scientist, tells WIRED.The Iran and Ukraine wars have shown that drones are now so cheap, so plentiful, and so deadly that they’re impossible to stop with any single countermeasure. Some of the traditional ones have been particularly clunky. During the early days of the Iran conflict, the US even resorted to firing million Patriot missiles at ,000 Iranian drones—a waste of money, and a move that depleted the American interceptor stockpile.Modern lasers, on the other hand, never run out of ammunition. “Basically, you can keep firing them as long as you’ve got power,” Lewis says. “There are some other issues with lasers, including how rapidly you can refire and recharge. But if you solve those problems, then suddenly you’ve got a pretty nifty way to help counteract things like a drone swarm attack.”That’s one reason why the US military, at this moment, has either deployed or is actively testing a half-dozen laser weapons systems, according to the Laser Wars newsletter. The Navy has installed laser “dazzlers” on two of its ships to blind drones’ electro-optical sensors. The Air Force’s command for Europe and Africa has sent Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapons System “to locations across the theater.” In late June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to the Army’s test range in White Sands, New Mexico, for a demonstration of all sorts of directed-energy weapon projects.The deployments haven’t all gone great. Four vehicles equipped with Raytheon air-defense lasers were yanked from the Middle East after poor reviews from soldiers. One laser, built by the defense contractor AeroVironment and positioned along the southern US border, accidentally zapped a party balloon in February, causing the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly close the airspace around El Paso, Texas. Once it was reopened, the laser shot down a Border Patrol drone by mistake.Despite such mishaps, the Army appears ready to go beyond the one-offs and the experiments. In fact, in some ways, the accidental kill helped make the case for the laser, proving it could actually take out such a drone.The Pentagon and its suppliers had been scrambling to field something, anything to defend against mass-produced, low-cost attack drones. They’ve rolled out radio frequency jammers, microwave weapons, an array of missiles, drones designed to kill other drones, even copies of the Iranian robots. None of them in isolation have been enough. On March 1, an Iranian drone killed six US service members and injured 30 others.#Landmark #Deal #Officially #Add #Laser #Weapons #Army #Arsenallasers,drones,weapons and ammo,iran,military,military tech,army

to shoot down ballistic missiles and stuck a laser on top of a Humvee to zap roadside bombs. For more than 50 years, the United States military and its researchers have tried to develop laser weapons. None of them panned out.

But now, the US Army is about to make a working laser weapon an official part of its arsenal. The Pentagon is poised to sign a contract to acquire and rapidly deploy what’s called an Enduring High Energy Laser in and around bases across the world to defend them from drone attacks, according to sources familiar with the matter. The official announcement could come as early as this week. When the deal is signed, it will mark the first time that the US military will have committed to equipping its forces with laser weapons in significant numbers.

“For years, lasers were going to be the future, and they never really came to their own. Now, they’re actually coming to their own,” Mark J. Lewis, the former Air Force chief scientist, tells WIRED.

The Iran and Ukraine wars have shown that drones are now so cheap, so plentiful, and so deadly that they’re impossible to stop with any single countermeasure. Some of the traditional ones have been particularly clunky. During the early days of the Iran conflict, the US even resorted to firing $4 million Patriot missiles at $35,000 Iranian drones—a waste of money, and a move that depleted the American interceptor stockpile.

Modern lasers, on the other hand, never run out of ammunition. “Basically, you can keep firing them as long as you’ve got power,” Lewis says. “There are some other issues with lasers, including how rapidly you can refire and recharge. But if you solve those problems, then suddenly you’ve got a pretty nifty way to help counteract things like a drone swarm attack.”

That’s one reason why the US military, at this moment, has either deployed or is actively testing a half-dozen laser weapons systems, according to the Laser Wars newsletter. The Navy has installed laser “dazzlers” on two of its ships to blind drones’ electro-optical sensors. The Air Force’s command for Europe and Africa has sent Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapons System “to locations across the theater.” In late June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to the Army’s test range in White Sands, New Mexico, for a demonstration of all sorts of directed-energy weapon projects.

The deployments haven’t all gone great. Four vehicles equipped with Raytheon air-defense lasers were yanked from the Middle East after poor reviews from soldiers. One laser, built by the defense contractor AeroVironment and positioned along the southern US border, accidentally zapped a party balloon in February, causing the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly close the airspace around El Paso, Texas. Once it was reopened, the laser shot down a Border Patrol drone by mistake.

Despite such mishaps, the Army appears ready to go beyond the one-offs and the experiments. In fact, in some ways, the accidental kill helped make the case for the laser, proving it could actually take out such a drone.

The Pentagon and its suppliers had been scrambling to field something, anything to defend against mass-produced, low-cost attack drones. They’ve rolled out radio frequency jammers, microwave weapons, an array of missiles, drones designed to kill other drones, even copies of the Iranian robots. None of them in isolation have been enough. On March 1, an Iranian drone killed six US service members and injured 30 others.

#Landmark #Deal #Officially #Add #Laser #Weapons #Army #Arsenallasers,drones,weapons and ammo,iran,military,military tech,army">Landmark Deal Would Officially Add Laser Weapons to US Army Arsenal

They stuffed a real-life ray gun into a 747 to shoot down ballistic missiles and stuck a laser on top of a Humvee to zap roadside bombs. For more than 50 years, the United States military and its researchers have tried to develop laser weapons. None of them panned out.

But now, the US Army is about to make a working laser weapon an official part of its arsenal. The Pentagon is poised to sign a contract to acquire and rapidly deploy what’s called an Enduring High Energy Laser in and around bases across the world to defend them from drone attacks, according to sources familiar with the matter. The official announcement could come as early as this week. When the deal is signed, it will mark the first time that the US military will have committed to equipping its forces with laser weapons in significant numbers.

“For years, lasers were going to be the future, and they never really came to their own. Now, they’re actually coming to their own,” Mark J. Lewis, the former Air Force chief scientist, tells WIRED.

The Iran and Ukraine wars have shown that drones are now so cheap, so plentiful, and so deadly that they’re impossible to stop with any single countermeasure. Some of the traditional ones have been particularly clunky. During the early days of the Iran conflict, the US even resorted to firing $4 million Patriot missiles at $35,000 Iranian drones—a waste of money, and a move that depleted the American interceptor stockpile.

Modern lasers, on the other hand, never run out of ammunition. “Basically, you can keep firing them as long as you’ve got power,” Lewis says. “There are some other issues with lasers, including how rapidly you can refire and recharge. But if you solve those problems, then suddenly you’ve got a pretty nifty way to help counteract things like a drone swarm attack.”

That’s one reason why the US military, at this moment, has either deployed or is actively testing a half-dozen laser weapons systems, according to the Laser Wars newsletter. The Navy has installed laser “dazzlers” on two of its ships to blind drones’ electro-optical sensors. The Air Force’s command for Europe and Africa has sent Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapons System “to locations across the theater.” In late June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to the Army’s test range in White Sands, New Mexico, for a demonstration of all sorts of directed-energy weapon projects.

The deployments haven’t all gone great. Four vehicles equipped with Raytheon air-defense lasers were yanked from the Middle East after poor reviews from soldiers. One laser, built by the defense contractor AeroVironment and positioned along the southern US border, accidentally zapped a party balloon in February, causing the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly close the airspace around El Paso, Texas. Once it was reopened, the laser shot down a Border Patrol drone by mistake.

Despite such mishaps, the Army appears ready to go beyond the one-offs and the experiments. In fact, in some ways, the accidental kill helped make the case for the laser, proving it could actually take out such a drone.

The Pentagon and its suppliers had been scrambling to field something, anything to defend against mass-produced, low-cost attack drones. They’ve rolled out radio frequency jammers, microwave weapons, an array of missiles, drones designed to kill other drones, even copies of the Iranian robots. None of them in isolation have been enough. On March 1, an Iranian drone killed six US service members and injured 30 others.

#Landmark #Deal #Officially #Add #Laser #Weapons #Army #Arsenallasers,drones,weapons and ammo,iran,military,military tech,army

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#sign #Mashable #push #notifications">How to sign up for Mashable push notifications The internet moves fast. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend all day refreshing your browser to keep up with it.Mashable push notifications deliver our latest news, trending stories, and hottest deals directly to your screen. Here’s how to turn them on in just a few clicks.Google Chrome on AndroidOpen Chrome and visit Mashable.com.Tap the three-dot menu to the right of the address bar.Select Settings, followed by Site settings and Notifications.Make sure notifications are enabled.Return to Mashable. Tap the site information icon to the left of the address bar, select Permissions, and set Notifications to Allow.Google Chrome on a PC or MacVisit Mashable.com.Click the View site information icon to the left of the URL in your address bar.Select Site settings from the menu.Find Notifications and select Allow from the dropdown menu.Return to Mashable and refresh the page.That’s it. We’ll take it from here. Safari on a MacOpen Safari and visit Mashable.com.When Safari asks whether you would like to receive notifications from Mashable, select Allow.If the request doesn’t appear, go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications. Find Mashable and select Allow. You should also make sure Allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications is turned on.Microsoft EdgeVisit Mashable.com.Click the site information icon to the left of the URL.Open Permissions for this site.Find Notifications and select Allow.Return to Mashable and refresh the page.Mozilla FirefoxVisit Mashable.com.When Firefox asks whether Mashable can send notifications, select Allow.If you don’t see the prompt, open the Firefox menu and go to Settings > Privacy & Security. Scroll to Permissions, find Notifications, and click Settings. Locate Mashable, change its status to Allow, and save your changes.Help! I signed up, but I’m not receiving notificationsIf you followed the steps above but Mashable alerts remain suspiciously absent, don’t worry. A browser or device setting may be getting in the way.1. Check your browser settingsStart by returning to Mashable.com and clicking the site information icon beside the URL. Make sure Notifications is set to Allow.You can also check the notification permissions in your browser’s settings:Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > NotificationsFirefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions > NotificationsSafari: Settings > Websites > NotificationsEdge: Settings > Cookies and site permissions > NotificationsFind Mashable and confirm that notifications are allowed. Mashable Trend Report 2. Check your device settingsYour browser may have permission to send alerts while your computer is quietly blocking them.On a Mac, open System Settings > Notifications. Select the browser you used to sign up, turn on Allow notifications, and choose Banners or Alerts as the notification style. On older versions of macOS, you may find these controls under System Preferences.On a Windows PC, open Settings > System > Notifications. Make sure notifications are turned on for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or whichever browser you used.3. Make sure notifications aren’t silencedFinally, check whether a focus setting has put your alerts on mute.On a Mac, open Control Center > Focus and make sure Do Not Disturb is turned off.On Windows 11, go to Settings > System > Notifications and check that Do not disturb is disabled. If you’re using Windows 10, open Focus assist and make sure it is not set to Alarms only.Once those settings are cleared, Mashable notifications should be free to make their grand entrance.Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter today.Barbara Pavone contributed to this article. #sign #Mashable #push #notifications

  1. Mashable.com.

  2. Tap the three-dot menu to the right of the address bar.

  3. Select Settings, followed by Site settings and Notifications.

  4. Make sure notifications are enabled.

  5. Return to Mashable. Tap the site information icon to the left of the address bar, select Permissions, and set Notifications to Allow.

Google Chrome on a PC or Mac

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. Click the View site information icon to the left of the URL in your address bar.

  3. Select Site settings from the menu.

  4. Find Notifications and select Allow from the dropdown menu.

  5. Return to Mashable and refresh the page.

That’s it. We’ll take it from here.

Safari on a Mac

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  3. If the request doesn’t appear, go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications. Find Mashable and select Allow. You should also make sure Allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications is turned on.

Microsoft Edge

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. Click the site information icon to the left of the URL.

  3. Open Permissions for this site.

  4. Find Notifications and select Allow.

  5. Return to Mashable and refresh the page.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. When Firefox asks whether Mashable can send notifications, select Allow.

  3. If you don’t see the prompt, open the Firefox menu and go to Settings > Privacy & Security. Scroll to Permissions, find Notifications, and click Settings. Locate Mashable, change its status to Allow, and save your changes.

Help! I signed up, but I’m not receiving notifications

If you followed the steps above but Mashable alerts remain suspiciously absent, don’t worry. A browser or device setting may be getting in the way.

1. Check your browser settings

Start by returning to Mashable.com and clicking the site information icon beside the URL. Make sure Notifications is set to Allow.

You can also check the notification permissions in your browser’s settings:

  • Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Notifications

  • Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions > Notifications

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Find Mashable and confirm that notifications are allowed.

2. Check your device settings

Your browser may have permission to send alerts while your computer is quietly blocking them.

On a Mac, open System Settings > Notifications. Select the browser you used to sign up, turn on Allow notifications, and choose Banners or Alerts as the notification style. On older versions of macOS, you may find these controls under System Preferences.

On a Windows PC, open Settings > System > Notifications. Make sure notifications are turned on for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or whichever browser you used.

3. Make sure notifications aren’t silenced

Finally, check whether a focus setting has put your alerts on mute.

On a Mac, open Control Center > Focus and make sure Do Not Disturb is turned off.

On Windows 11, go to Settings > System > Notifications and check that Do not disturb is disabled. If you’re using Windows 10, open Focus assist and make sure it is not set to Alarms only.

Once those settings are cleared, Mashable notifications should be free to make their grand entrance.

Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter today.

Barbara Pavone contributed to this article.

#sign #Mashable #push #notifications">How to sign up for Mashable push notifications

The internet moves fast. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend all day refreshing your browser to keep up with it.

Mashable push notifications deliver our latest news, trending stories, and hottest deals directly to your screen. Here’s how to turn them on in just a few clicks.

Google Chrome on Android

  1. Open Chrome and visit Mashable.com.

  2. Tap the three-dot menu to the right of the address bar.

  3. Select Settings, followed by Site settings and Notifications.

  4. Make sure notifications are enabled.

  5. Return to Mashable. Tap the site information icon to the left of the address bar, select Permissions, and set Notifications to Allow.

Google Chrome on a PC or Mac

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. Click the View site information icon to the left of the URL in your address bar.

  3. Select Site settings from the menu.

  4. Find Notifications and select Allow from the dropdown menu.

  5. Return to Mashable and refresh the page.

That’s it. We’ll take it from here.

Safari on a Mac

  1. Open Safari and visit Mashable.com.

  2. When Safari asks whether you would like to receive notifications from Mashable, select Allow.

  3. If the request doesn’t appear, go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications. Find Mashable and select Allow. You should also make sure Allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications is turned on.

Microsoft Edge

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. Click the site information icon to the left of the URL.

  3. Open Permissions for this site.

  4. Find Notifications and select Allow.

  5. Return to Mashable and refresh the page.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. When Firefox asks whether Mashable can send notifications, select Allow.

  3. If you don’t see the prompt, open the Firefox menu and go to Settings > Privacy & Security. Scroll to Permissions, find Notifications, and click Settings. Locate Mashable, change its status to Allow, and save your changes.

Help! I signed up, but I’m not receiving notifications

If you followed the steps above but Mashable alerts remain suspiciously absent, don’t worry. A browser or device setting may be getting in the way.

1. Check your browser settings

Start by returning to Mashable.com and clicking the site information icon beside the URL. Make sure Notifications is set to Allow.

You can also check the notification permissions in your browser’s settings:

  • Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Notifications

  • Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions > Notifications

  • Safari: Settings > Websites > Notifications

  • Edge: Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Notifications

Find Mashable and confirm that notifications are allowed.

2. Check your device settings

Your browser may have permission to send alerts while your computer is quietly blocking them.

On a Mac, open System Settings > Notifications. Select the browser you used to sign up, turn on Allow notifications, and choose Banners or Alerts as the notification style. On older versions of macOS, you may find these controls under System Preferences.

On a Windows PC, open Settings > System > Notifications. Make sure notifications are turned on for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or whichever browser you used.

3. Make sure notifications aren’t silenced

Finally, check whether a focus setting has put your alerts on mute.

On a Mac, open Control Center > Focus and make sure Do Not Disturb is turned off.

On Windows 11, go to Settings > System > Notifications and check that Do not disturb is disabled. If you’re using Windows 10, open Focus assist and make sure it is not set to Alarms only.

Once those settings are cleared, Mashable notifications should be free to make their grand entrance.

Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter today.

Barbara Pavone contributed to this article.

#sign #Mashable #push #notifications

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