tech

Rani Molla11/12/25

Google’s Waymo has started letting passengers take the freeway

Waymo’s approach to robotaxi expansion has been slow and steady — a practice that has meant the Google-owned autonomous ride-hailing service that launched to the public in 2020 is only just now taking riders on freeways.

On Wednesday, Waymo announced that “a growing number of public riders” in the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, and Los Angeles can take the highway and are no longer confined to local routes. The company said it will soon expand freeway capabilities to Austin and Atlanta. It also noted that its service in San Jose is now available, meaning Waymos can traverse the entire San Francisco Peninsula.

Waymo’s main competitor, Tesla, so far operates an autonomous service in Austin as well as a more traditional ride-hailing service across the Bay Area, where a driver uses Full Self-Driving (Supervised). On the company’s last earnings call, CEO Elon Musk said Tesla would expand its robotaxi service to 8 to 10 markets this year.

More Tech

tech

Two charts that show why Amazon is building a giant physical store

This week Amazon received approval to build a hybrid big-box store and fulfillment center outside Chicago that’s roughly twice the size of a typical Target. Why would the e-commerce giant want to wade into a costly and cumbersome physical store, especially after earlier brick-and-mortar iterations like Amazon Go have failed?

There are at least two reasons. First, despite e-commerce’s rapid growth, the vast majority of retail purchases still happen in physical stores, according to Census Bureau data:

Second, Amazon’s own customers regularly shop at competing big-box retailers. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners finds that 93% have also shopped at Walmart. And as Amazon pushes further into groceries — a category still dominated by in-person shopping — CIRP estimates that basically all Amazon customers buy groceries elsewhere.

See for yourself just how massive Meta’s Hyperion data center is

It’s hard to overstate just how massive Meta’s Richland Parish, Louisiana, data center site is. Use this tool to compare it to where you live.

hyperion on manhattan

tech

OpenAI rolls out age prediction system ahead of allowing adult content

OpenAI is rolling out a new “age prediction” feature for ChatGPT users.

The company will look at various signals from users to predict if a user is underage.

In a blog post, the company said:

“The model looks at a combination of behavioral and account-level signals, including how long an account has existed, typical times of day when someone is active, usage patterns over time, and a user’s stated age.”

If the system suspects the user is a minor, it will reduce content with graphic violence, harmful viral challenges, sexual or romantic role play, depictions of self-harm, and material promoting “extreme beauty standards, unhealthy dieting, or body shaming.”

If a user is incorrectly flagged as under 18, they will have to submit a selfie to an identity verification service to have the restrictions removed.

An age verification system is part of OpenAI’s plan to reduce harmful mental health encounters with the chatbot, while also allowing ChatGPT to generate “erotica” in the near future.

Our approach to age prediction

Our approach to age prediction

“The model looks at a combination of behavioral and account-level signals, including how long an account has existed, typical times of day when someone is active, usage patterns over time, and a user’s stated age.”

If the system suspects the user is a minor, it will reduce content with graphic violence, harmful viral challenges, sexual or romantic role play, depictions of self-harm, and material promoting “extreme beauty standards, unhealthy dieting, or body shaming.”

If a user is incorrectly flagged as under 18, they will have to submit a selfie to an identity verification service to have the restrictions removed.

An age verification system is part of OpenAI’s plan to reduce harmful mental health encounters with the chatbot, while also allowing ChatGPT to generate “erotica” in the near future.

tech

Google’s YouTube maintains its top spot as streaming accounts for nearly half of all TV-watching time

People spent a record 47.5% of their TV-watching time on streaming platforms in December, according to new data from Nielsen, up from the previous record of 47.3% in July. Google’s YouTube once again was the most popular streaming service by time spent, but Netflix’s share inched slightly upward to 9% from 8.8% in July, while YouTube’s fell to 12.7% from 13.4%. The jump was largely thanks to “Stranger Things,” which was the most watched streaming title last month.

tech

Amazon CEO says tariffs are inflating prices and buyers are looking for bargains

While the legality of President Trump’s tariffs winds its way through the courts, their effects are beginning to show up in prices.

During an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said he is starting to see tariffs “creep into” pricing, as some sellers are “passing on those higher costs to consumers in the form of higher prices.”

Jassy said that while consumers are still spending, they are becoming more price conscious.

“I think that wherever they can, they are trying to trade down in price — they are looking for bargains wherever they can find bargains,” he said. “I see people a little more hesitant on higher-priced discretionary items.”

Trump has maintained that other countries are footing the bill for his tariffs. But new research suggests Americans will ultimately be the ones paying those higher prices.

Amazon CEO Jassy says Trump's tariffs have started to 'creep' into prices

Amazon CEO Jassy says Trump's tariffs have started to 'creep' into prices

Jassy said that while consumers are still spending, they are becoming more price conscious.

“I think that wherever they can, they are trying to trade down in price — they are looking for bargains wherever they can find bargains,” he said. “I see people a little more hesitant on higher-priced discretionary items.”

Trump has maintained that other countries are footing the bill for his tariffs. But new research suggests Americans will ultimately be the ones paying those higher prices.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.

©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC