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Best Apple Watch apps for boosting your productivity | TechCrunch

Best Apple Watch apps for boosting your productivity | TechCrunch

The Apple Watch helps people track their health and fitness, but it can also be a great tool to help people stay productive and get work done. This is especially true for people who get easily distracted by their phone.

Although the Apple Watch comes with simple built-in productivity apps like Reminders and Calendar, it’s worth exploring some third-party apps that are designed to boost productivity by offering additional functionality. 

Todoist

Image Credits:Todoist

Todoist is a great app for managing tasks on your Apple Watch when you don’t want to pull out your iPhone. The app lets you create and manage tasks, organize these tasks into projects, mark them as complete, and also set reminders. You can add tasks via voice command or the keyboard. 

The app is great for people who prefer to quickly glance at their wrist instead of pulling out their phone when doing things, like looking at a grocery list at the store or jotting down a quick note or reminder. 

You can stay updated on the progress of your tasks for the day straight from your Apple Watch’s face. For instance, you can choose to have your next task or the completed percentage of tasks for the day displayed. 

Todoist is free and offers a $4 monthly subscription if you want additional features like custom task reminders, an AI assistant, a calendar layout, and more.

Drafts

Image Credits:Drafts

Since the Apple Watch doesn’t have a Notes app, Drafts is a good app for those who want a digital notepad without a phone. You can capture notes through voice command, the watchOS Scribble feature, or the keyboard. 

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Your drafts inbox syncs from your iPhone and displays the number of drafts you have, while also showing the number of flagged drafts, so you can quickly access important ones. 

The app defaults to a blank note to give you a place to quickly enter an idea without interrupting your thought process. You can file notes into a folder to organize your thoughts or just have a free-flowing canvas. 

The app is free and offers a $1.99 monthly subscription if you want access to additional functionality, such as themes and the ability to send your emails to the app. 

Focus

Image Credits:Focus

Focus is a good app for people who want a productivity timer to help them get work done and like to complete tasks one at a time. The app is designed to break down your work time into smaller chunks, which it calls “Focus Sessions.” By working in sessions, you can stay focused on the task at hand before moving on to the next task. 

By using your Apple Watch instead of your phone to stay focused, you can minimize distractions. You can quickly glance at your wrist to see how much time is left in your Focus Session and then get right back to work. Focus will also encourage you to take breaks between your sessions. 

The app is available for $7.99 per month. 

AutoSleep

Image Credits:AutoSleep

AutoSleep is one of the most popular Apple Watch apps for tracking your sleep, and that’s for good reason. The app gives you an informative look at your sleep quality, heart rate, sleep consistency, and more. It can help you track the time it takes you to fall asleep and measure the efficiency of your sleep. 

AutoSleep shows you all of this data through a clock view with sleep rings to give you a quick overview of your stats in a way that’s similar to your Watch’s Activity Rings. You can see if you’re getting enough sleep or if you need to try to sleep more. 

The app also shows you a “readiness” score that estimates how mentally and physically ready you are for the day ahead based on how you slept, which resembles how the Oura Ring’s app tackles the same metric. It can also suggest the best time for you to go to bed to ensure you catch up on sleep. 

You can get access to the app for a one-time fee of $5.99. 

Streaks

Image Credits:Streaks

Streaks is a good app for people who want to form good habits and track their progress. Each day that you complete a task, your streak is extended. If you break the chain, your streak resets to zero. You can track up to 24 habits, such as flossing your teeth, practicing a new language, and eating healthy. 

The app also lets you track tasks that aren’t meant to occur every day, too. For instance, you may want to set a task of walking to work from Monday to Friday, going to the gym three days a week, or avoiding junk food over the weekend. 

A quick glance at your Apple Watch lets you quickly see which tasks you still need to complete for the day, see your progress, and mark tasks as completed.

The app is available for a one-time fee of $5.99.

Fantastical 

Image Credits:Fantastical

Fantastical is a great calendar app that can help you stay organized right from your Apple Watch. You can use the app to create events and set reminders that you can view with a quick glance. 

The Apple Watch app has three views that you can choose from. The “Up Next” view gives you a quick overview of your next appointment alongside the current weather. The “List” view shows you any events and tasks that you have coming up over the next few days, alongside the expected weather forecast. The “Tasks” view compiles all of your tasks into one view and allows you to check them off with a quick tap. 

The app also lets you receive alerts for upcoming events and tasks. If you want this information on your watch face, Fantastical’s Smart Stack widget gives you a quick peek at your calendar.

Fantastical costs $4.99 per month.

Things 3

Image Credits:Things 3

Things 3 is a great productivity manager that can help you create to-do lists, manage projects, and track progress toward your goals. It can be used to organize your personal, work, financial, and other aspects of your life into special “Areas.”

The app features reminders, a calendar integration, widgets, tags to categorize your to-do lists, and more. Things 3 also lets you automatically repeat to-dos on a schedule you set and has a special place for evening plans under the “This Evening” section.

As the day goes on, you can quickly check off things from your wrist and add new ones on the go.

You can get Things 3 for a one-time payment of $9.99.

Structured

Image Credits:Structured

Structured is a simple app that helps you plan your day by combining your calendar, to-do list, habit tacker, reminders, and routines into a single timeline.

You can navigate through your structured timeline on your wrist to see your upcoming tasks and stay on top of your routine without having to pull out your phone. The app lets you store thoughts and quickly capture notes in your Inbox to sort them later. You can also break down bigger projects with “sub-tasks.”

Structured also lets you personalize your different tasks with various icons and colors to visually organize your to-do list. Structured syncs with your Mac, iPhone, and iPad as well.

Structured’s basic features are available for free, but you can pay a $6.49 monthly fee to unlock additional features, such as the ability to use AI to draft and plan tasks.

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We are in the middle of a collectibles craze in which people are increasingly looking for things that help them feel connected with their passions and a community, but we’re really gotta do better than this. According to a report from CBS News, people paid $25 a pop for literal trash that came from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden.

To be fair, it’s not loose garbage that people paid for. Instead, it’s a 1 by 1 by 0.75-inch cube filled with bits of refuse pulled from outside of the venue on July 3, the day of the pop star’s somehow very secretive and very public wedding. The trash was collected and ultimately curated by artist Justin Gignac, who said he picked up most of it from around the Garden’s perimeter.

According to CBS News, he had some interesting finds: a Ring Pop, presumably not fully eaten, a single AirPod, and an ovulation test kit, among other things. He took his findings, divided it up, and preserved it in the cubes before selling them for $25 a pop—though he did also make some larger cubes, 3.5 by 3.5 by 4.5 inches, that went for $100. He made 50 of the small cubes, and they reportedly sold out on the first day he made them available, because we as a society are sick and broken in ways that are difficult to describe.

When your side hustle is trash

While Gigac was certainly capitalizing on the matrimony, it was also kind of just any other day for the artist, who has been collecting, packaging, and selling trash from around New York City for 25 years now as part of an art project/side hustle. Per an interview with Fast Company, Gigac has sold more than 1,700 garbage cubes to patrons around the world who just want a part of the Big Apple.

There’s no authentication process for ensuring the trash in the cubes came from Swift’s wedding, but Gigac seems like a man of his word. Plus, Swifties apparently dined on pastries that they believed but could not confirm came from the wedding, so it’s not like they’re being a particularly discerning bunch about this whole thing. They just want to feel like they’ve gotten a piece of the action, real or imagined.

People can do whatever they want with their time and money, obviously, and Gigac is certainly not at fault here at all for finding an opportunity to make a little money off a thing he’s been doing for decades anyway—and frankly, there’s something cool about the whole concept of his garbage reclamation project in a “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” kind of way. But paying money for literal scraps from a wedding of an ultra-wealthy celebrity just feels so incredibly on the nose.

But hey, let them eat cake.

#Pay #Taylor #Swifts #Garbage #Isntgarbage,Taylor Swift,trash">How Much Would You Pay for Taylor Swift’s Garbage and Why Isn’t it alt=

report from CBS News, people paid $25 a pop for literal trash that came from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden.

To be fair, it’s not loose garbage that people paid for. Instead, it’s a 1 by 1 by 0.75-inch cube filled with bits of refuse pulled from outside of the venue on July 3, the day of the pop star’s somehow very secretive and very public wedding. The trash was collected and ultimately curated by artist Justin Gignac, who said he picked up most of it from around the Garden’s perimeter.

According to CBS News, he had some interesting finds: a Ring Pop, presumably not fully eaten, a single AirPod, and an ovulation test kit, among other things. He took his findings, divided it up, and preserved it in the cubes before selling them for $25 a pop—though he did also make some larger cubes, 3.5 by 3.5 by 4.5 inches, that went for $100. He made 50 of the small cubes, and they reportedly sold out on the first day he made them available, because we as a society are sick and broken in ways that are difficult to describe.

When your side hustle is trash

While Gigac was certainly capitalizing on the matrimony, it was also kind of just any other day for the artist, who has been collecting, packaging, and selling trash from around New York City for 25 years now as part of an art project/side hustle. Per an interview with Fast Company, Gigac has sold more than 1,700 garbage cubes to patrons around the world who just want a part of the Big Apple.

There’s no authentication process for ensuring the trash in the cubes came from Swift’s wedding, but Gigac seems like a man of his word. Plus, Swifties apparently dined on pastries that they believed but could not confirm came from the wedding, so it’s not like they’re being a particularly discerning bunch about this whole thing. They just want to feel like they’ve gotten a piece of the action, real or imagined.

People can do whatever they want with their time and money, obviously, and Gigac is certainly not at fault here at all for finding an opportunity to make a little money off a thing he’s been doing for decades anyway—and frankly, there’s something cool about the whole concept of his garbage reclamation project in a “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” kind of way. But paying money for literal scraps from a wedding of an ultra-wealthy celebrity just feels so incredibly on the nose.

But hey, let them eat cake.

#Pay #Taylor #Swifts #Garbage #Isntgarbage,Taylor Swift,trash">How Much Would You Pay for Taylor Swift’s Garbage and Why Isn’t it $0?How Much Would You Pay for Taylor Swift’s Garbage and Why Isn’t it $0?
                We are in the middle of a collectibles craze in which people are increasingly looking for things that help them feel connected with their passions and a community, but we’re really gotta do better than this. According to a report from CBS News, people paid $25 a pop for literal trash that came from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden. To be fair, it’s not loose garbage that people paid for. Instead, it’s a 1 by 1 by 0.75-inch cube filled with bits of refuse pulled from outside of the venue on July 3, the day of the pop star’s somehow very secretive and very public wedding. The trash was collected and ultimately curated by artist Justin Gignac, who said he picked up most of it from around the Garden’s perimeter. According to CBS News, he had some interesting finds: a Ring Pop, presumably not fully eaten, a single AirPod, and an ovulation test kit, among other things. He took his findings, divided it up, and preserved it in the cubes before selling them for $25 a pop—though he did also make some larger cubes, 3.5 by 3.5 by 4.5 inches, that went for $100. He made 50 of the small cubes, and they reportedly sold out on the first day he made them available, because we as a society are sick and broken in ways that are difficult to describe.

 When your side hustle is trash While Gigac was certainly capitalizing on the matrimony, it was also kind of just any other day for the artist, who has been collecting, packaging, and selling trash from around New York City for 25 years now as part of an art project/side hustle. Per an interview with Fast Company, Gigac has sold more than 1,700 garbage cubes to patrons around the world who just want a part of the Big Apple.

 There’s no authentication process for ensuring the trash in the cubes came from Swift’s wedding, but Gigac seems like a man of his word. Plus, Swifties apparently dined on pastries that they believed but could not confirm came from the wedding, so it’s not like they’re being a particularly discerning bunch about this whole thing. They just want to feel like they’ve gotten a piece of the action, real or imagined. People can do whatever they want with their time and money, obviously, and Gigac is certainly not at fault here at all for finding an opportunity to make a little money off a thing he’s been doing for decades anyway—and frankly, there’s something cool about the whole concept of his garbage reclamation project in a “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” kind of way. But paying money for literal scraps from a wedding of an ultra-wealthy celebrity just feels so incredibly on the nose. But hey, let them eat cake.      #Pay #Taylor #Swifts #Garbage #Isntgarbage,Taylor Swift,trash

We are in the middle of a collectibles craze in which people are increasingly looking for things that help them feel connected with their passions and a community, but we’re really gotta do better than this. According to a report from CBS News, people paid $25 a pop for literal trash that came from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden.

To be fair, it’s not loose garbage that people paid for. Instead, it’s a 1 by 1 by 0.75-inch cube filled with bits of refuse pulled from outside of the venue on July 3, the day of the pop star’s somehow very secretive and very public wedding. The trash was collected and ultimately curated by artist Justin Gignac, who said he picked up most of it from around the Garden’s perimeter.

According to CBS News, he had some interesting finds: a Ring Pop, presumably not fully eaten, a single AirPod, and an ovulation test kit, among other things. He took his findings, divided it up, and preserved it in the cubes before selling them for $25 a pop—though he did also make some larger cubes, 3.5 by 3.5 by 4.5 inches, that went for $100. He made 50 of the small cubes, and they reportedly sold out on the first day he made them available, because we as a society are sick and broken in ways that are difficult to describe.

When your side hustle is trash

While Gigac was certainly capitalizing on the matrimony, it was also kind of just any other day for the artist, who has been collecting, packaging, and selling trash from around New York City for 25 years now as part of an art project/side hustle. Per an interview with Fast Company, Gigac has sold more than 1,700 garbage cubes to patrons around the world who just want a part of the Big Apple.

There’s no authentication process for ensuring the trash in the cubes came from Swift’s wedding, but Gigac seems like a man of his word. Plus, Swifties apparently dined on pastries that they believed but could not confirm came from the wedding, so it’s not like they’re being a particularly discerning bunch about this whole thing. They just want to feel like they’ve gotten a piece of the action, real or imagined.

People can do whatever they want with their time and money, obviously, and Gigac is certainly not at fault here at all for finding an opportunity to make a little money off a thing he’s been doing for decades anyway—and frankly, there’s something cool about the whole concept of his garbage reclamation project in a “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” kind of way. But paying money for literal scraps from a wedding of an ultra-wealthy celebrity just feels so incredibly on the nose.

But hey, let them eat cake.

#Pay #Taylor #Swifts #Garbage #Isntgarbage,Taylor Swift,trash

Tesla is building a wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle, a Tesla representative told lawmakers in Washington, DC, on Monday.

“We are in development for a purpose-built, wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle,” Tesla senior policy advisor India Herdman told members of the DC City Council on Monday, during a hearing focused on a controversial bill that could allow robotaxi services to operate in the District. “We know that paratransit can be very difficult, and people who are confined to wheelchairs permanently should still be able to move around freely, so that is an active product being built by Tesla in Texas,” she said.

Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment. Herdman provided no further details about when a wheelchair-accessible product might be available. The electric automaker often takes several years to manufacture its announced products.

Tesla operates a small fleet of autonomous vehicles in the Texas cities of Austin, Dallas, and Houston and, as of this month, in Miami, Florida. (It also operates a service that uses human drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area.) The limited fleet uses Tesla Model Y, a compact SUV that is not wheelchair accessible.

The company has started to manufacture and test a purpose-built Cybercab, meant exclusively for autonomous driving and without steering wheels or pedals. These Cybercabs are not wheelchair accessible, though Tesla highlighted in an X post this month its accessibility features, including braille lettering on controls and wheelchair-height seating to allow for easier transfers.

Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, have hinted previously at a wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle. The company introduced an accessibility tab in its Robotaxi app last fall, though it directs users to other wheelchair-accessible ride providers in the area, rather than to Tesla’s own service. “We are working on accessible rides,” the app says. In response to an X user’s post last fall about Tesla working on accessible rides, Musk responded, “Absolutely.”

No US robotaxi company currently offers fleetwide driverless, wheelchair-accessible rides, including market leader Waymo. At the DC hearing on Monday, Waymo regional head of state and local policy Matt Walsh said, “To date, it’s my understanding that we haven’t been able to identify a platform that is fully wheelchair-accessible while also meeting the unique specifications to retrofit that vehicle with our technology.” He continued: “Now, I don’t want that to sound like a cop-out. We are trying to find that vehicle.”

Waymo has touted the accessibility features of its newest vehicle, the Zeekr-built Ojai, including its flat floor, low step-in height, and grab bars. But it is not wheelchair accessible. Michigan-based Ann Arbor autonomous-vehicle developer May Mobility offers rides in wheelchair-accessible vehicles in some of its markets, with a human operator on board to help deploy necessary ramps.

The Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in transportation services and requires reasonable modifications to provide equal access. Some but not all US cities require ride-hailing companies to provide wheelchair-accessible services. Many of those companies provide those rides through partnerships with specialized fleets made up of wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

In September 2025, the US Department of Justice sued Uber for “refusing to reasonably modify its policies, practices, or procedures where necessary to avoid discriminating against riders with disabilities.” The case is being litigated.

General Motors’ Cruise introduced a prototype wheelchair-accessible driverless taxi in 2023 and said it intended to roll out the vehicle in its self-driving car service in 2024. But following a collision with a pedestrian, Cruise all but halted national service in 2023. The next year, General Motors stopped funding its self-driving unit entirely.

#Tesla #Building #WheelchairAccessible #Robotaxitesla,disability,accessibility,cars,self-driving cars,autonomous vehicles,elon musk,electric vehicles">Tesla Says It’s Building a Wheelchair-Accessible RobotaxiTesla is building a wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle, a Tesla representative told lawmakers in Washington, DC, on Monday.“We are in development for a purpose-built, wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle,” Tesla senior policy advisor India Herdman told members of the DC City Council on Monday, during a hearing focused on a controversial bill that could allow robotaxi services to operate in the District. “We know that paratransit can be very difficult, and people who are confined to wheelchairs permanently should still be able to move around freely, so that is an active product being built by Tesla in Texas,” she said.Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment. Herdman provided no further details about when a wheelchair-accessible product might be available. The electric automaker often takes several years to manufacture its announced products.Tesla operates a small fleet of autonomous vehicles in the Texas cities of Austin, Dallas, and Houston and, as of this month, in Miami, Florida. (It also operates a service that uses human drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area.) The limited fleet uses Tesla Model Y, a compact SUV that is not wheelchair accessible.The company has started to manufacture and test a purpose-built Cybercab, meant exclusively for autonomous driving and without steering wheels or pedals. These Cybercabs are not wheelchair accessible, though Tesla highlighted in an X post this month its accessibility features, including braille lettering on controls and wheelchair-height seating to allow for easier transfers.Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, have hinted previously at a wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle. The company introduced an accessibility tab in its Robotaxi app last fall, though it directs users to other wheelchair-accessible ride providers in the area, rather than to Tesla’s own service. “We are working on accessible rides,” the app says. In response to an X user’s post last fall about Tesla working on accessible rides, Musk responded, “Absolutely.”No US robotaxi company currently offers fleetwide driverless, wheelchair-accessible rides, including market leader Waymo. At the DC hearing on Monday, Waymo regional head of state and local policy Matt Walsh said, “To date, it’s my understanding that we haven’t been able to identify a platform that is fully wheelchair-accessible while also meeting the unique specifications to retrofit that vehicle with our technology.” He continued: “Now, I don’t want that to sound like a cop-out. We are trying to find that vehicle.”Waymo has touted the accessibility features of its newest vehicle, the Zeekr-built Ojai, including its flat floor, low step-in height, and grab bars. But it is not wheelchair accessible. Michigan-based Ann Arbor autonomous-vehicle developer May Mobility offers rides in wheelchair-accessible vehicles in some of its markets, with a human operator on board to help deploy necessary ramps.The Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in transportation services and requires reasonable modifications to provide equal access. Some but not all US cities require ride-hailing companies to provide wheelchair-accessible services. Many of those companies provide those rides through partnerships with specialized fleets made up of wheelchair-accessible vehicles.In September 2025, the US Department of Justice sued Uber for “refusing to reasonably modify its policies, practices, or procedures where necessary to avoid discriminating against riders with disabilities.” The case is being litigated.General Motors’ Cruise introduced a prototype wheelchair-accessible driverless taxi in 2023 and said it intended to roll out the vehicle in its self-driving car service in 2024. But following a collision with a pedestrian, Cruise all but halted national service in 2023. The next year, General Motors stopped funding its self-driving unit entirely.#Tesla #Building #WheelchairAccessible #Robotaxitesla,disability,accessibility,cars,self-driving cars,autonomous vehicles,elon musk,electric vehicles

autonomous vehicle, a Tesla representative told lawmakers in Washington, DC, on Monday.

“We are in development for a purpose-built, wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle,” Tesla senior policy advisor India Herdman told members of the DC City Council on Monday, during a hearing focused on a controversial bill that could allow robotaxi services to operate in the District. “We know that paratransit can be very difficult, and people who are confined to wheelchairs permanently should still be able to move around freely, so that is an active product being built by Tesla in Texas,” she said.

Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment. Herdman provided no further details about when a wheelchair-accessible product might be available. The electric automaker often takes several years to manufacture its announced products.

Tesla operates a small fleet of autonomous vehicles in the Texas cities of Austin, Dallas, and Houston and, as of this month, in Miami, Florida. (It also operates a service that uses human drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area.) The limited fleet uses Tesla Model Y, a compact SUV that is not wheelchair accessible.

The company has started to manufacture and test a purpose-built Cybercab, meant exclusively for autonomous driving and without steering wheels or pedals. These Cybercabs are not wheelchair accessible, though Tesla highlighted in an X post this month its accessibility features, including braille lettering on controls and wheelchair-height seating to allow for easier transfers.

Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, have hinted previously at a wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle. The company introduced an accessibility tab in its Robotaxi app last fall, though it directs users to other wheelchair-accessible ride providers in the area, rather than to Tesla’s own service. “We are working on accessible rides,” the app says. In response to an X user’s post last fall about Tesla working on accessible rides, Musk responded, “Absolutely.”

No US robotaxi company currently offers fleetwide driverless, wheelchair-accessible rides, including market leader Waymo. At the DC hearing on Monday, Waymo regional head of state and local policy Matt Walsh said, “To date, it’s my understanding that we haven’t been able to identify a platform that is fully wheelchair-accessible while also meeting the unique specifications to retrofit that vehicle with our technology.” He continued: “Now, I don’t want that to sound like a cop-out. We are trying to find that vehicle.”

Waymo has touted the accessibility features of its newest vehicle, the Zeekr-built Ojai, including its flat floor, low step-in height, and grab bars. But it is not wheelchair accessible. Michigan-based Ann Arbor autonomous-vehicle developer May Mobility offers rides in wheelchair-accessible vehicles in some of its markets, with a human operator on board to help deploy necessary ramps.

The Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in transportation services and requires reasonable modifications to provide equal access. Some but not all US cities require ride-hailing companies to provide wheelchair-accessible services. Many of those companies provide those rides through partnerships with specialized fleets made up of wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

In September 2025, the US Department of Justice sued Uber for “refusing to reasonably modify its policies, practices, or procedures where necessary to avoid discriminating against riders with disabilities.” The case is being litigated.

General Motors’ Cruise introduced a prototype wheelchair-accessible driverless taxi in 2023 and said it intended to roll out the vehicle in its self-driving car service in 2024. But following a collision with a pedestrian, Cruise all but halted national service in 2023. The next year, General Motors stopped funding its self-driving unit entirely.

#Tesla #Building #WheelchairAccessible #Robotaxitesla,disability,accessibility,cars,self-driving cars,autonomous vehicles,elon musk,electric vehicles">Tesla Says It’s Building a Wheelchair-Accessible Robotaxi

Tesla is building a wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle, a Tesla representative told lawmakers in Washington, DC, on Monday.

“We are in development for a purpose-built, wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle,” Tesla senior policy advisor India Herdman told members of the DC City Council on Monday, during a hearing focused on a controversial bill that could allow robotaxi services to operate in the District. “We know that paratransit can be very difficult, and people who are confined to wheelchairs permanently should still be able to move around freely, so that is an active product being built by Tesla in Texas,” she said.

Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment. Herdman provided no further details about when a wheelchair-accessible product might be available. The electric automaker often takes several years to manufacture its announced products.

Tesla operates a small fleet of autonomous vehicles in the Texas cities of Austin, Dallas, and Houston and, as of this month, in Miami, Florida. (It also operates a service that uses human drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area.) The limited fleet uses Tesla Model Y, a compact SUV that is not wheelchair accessible.

The company has started to manufacture and test a purpose-built Cybercab, meant exclusively for autonomous driving and without steering wheels or pedals. These Cybercabs are not wheelchair accessible, though Tesla highlighted in an X post this month its accessibility features, including braille lettering on controls and wheelchair-height seating to allow for easier transfers.

Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, have hinted previously at a wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle. The company introduced an accessibility tab in its Robotaxi app last fall, though it directs users to other wheelchair-accessible ride providers in the area, rather than to Tesla’s own service. “We are working on accessible rides,” the app says. In response to an X user’s post last fall about Tesla working on accessible rides, Musk responded, “Absolutely.”

No US robotaxi company currently offers fleetwide driverless, wheelchair-accessible rides, including market leader Waymo. At the DC hearing on Monday, Waymo regional head of state and local policy Matt Walsh said, “To date, it’s my understanding that we haven’t been able to identify a platform that is fully wheelchair-accessible while also meeting the unique specifications to retrofit that vehicle with our technology.” He continued: “Now, I don’t want that to sound like a cop-out. We are trying to find that vehicle.”

Waymo has touted the accessibility features of its newest vehicle, the Zeekr-built Ojai, including its flat floor, low step-in height, and grab bars. But it is not wheelchair accessible. Michigan-based Ann Arbor autonomous-vehicle developer May Mobility offers rides in wheelchair-accessible vehicles in some of its markets, with a human operator on board to help deploy necessary ramps.

The Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in transportation services and requires reasonable modifications to provide equal access. Some but not all US cities require ride-hailing companies to provide wheelchair-accessible services. Many of those companies provide those rides through partnerships with specialized fleets made up of wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

In September 2025, the US Department of Justice sued Uber for “refusing to reasonably modify its policies, practices, or procedures where necessary to avoid discriminating against riders with disabilities.” The case is being litigated.

General Motors’ Cruise introduced a prototype wheelchair-accessible driverless taxi in 2023 and said it intended to roll out the vehicle in its self-driving car service in 2024. But following a collision with a pedestrian, Cruise all but halted national service in 2023. The next year, General Motors stopped funding its self-driving unit entirely.

#Tesla #Building #WheelchairAccessible #Robotaxitesla,disability,accessibility,cars,self-driving cars,autonomous vehicles,elon musk,electric vehicles

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