The Download

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TL;DR: The world’s most sci-fi-looking robotaxi is hitting the roads soon—without a steering wheel or brake pedal. But while Tesla’s been promoting the big public debut of the Cybercab, there are a lot of outstanding questions about how they will actually operate.

What happened: Almost two years after Tesla first revealed the Cybercab, the company’s about to start opening them up to customers. It’s hosting a splashy, invite-only event in Austin on September 3 tied to the robotaxi’s launch, which the company frames as a chance to “experience the future of full autonomy.”

Despite the imminent launch, though, there’s a lot we still don’t know—including how many Cybercabs will be roaming the streets of Austin, and whether Tesla’s nascent robotaxi business is ready to unleash cars that nobody can physically drive.

What we know so far: The Cybercab first drew attention for its distinctive (and polarizing) look, but its unusual design goes beyond the paint color: The car has no steering wheel, brake pedal, or rear window—and it seats just two people. Cybercabs have been spotted on some public roads since about June, often with steering wheels during these test drives (and sometimes, apparently, human supervisors).

Miles to go: It’s unclear whether Tesla is ready to debut unsupervised rides (with only remote monitoring). Tesla launched its robotaxi service about a year ago, but its operation remains minuscule compared to competitors—as of June, it had just 59 total cars in its fleet across three Texas cities. (Waymo, meanwhile, now has nearly 4,000 driverless cars on the road in 15 cities.)

Tesla’s unsupervised robotaxis have so far logged about 380,000 miles across six cities, according to a Tesla earnings call from July. Compare that to Waymo (220 million fully autonomous miles as of March) and Amazon’s Zoox, which makes its own steering wheel-less robotaxi (and now has 3 million miles). Zoox launched with free passenger rides in Las Vegas last September, and recently got the green light to start charging for them.

The full self-driving question: Cybercabs will likely run on some version of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software—the public version of which still requires “active supervision.” With nobody aboard to do that in Cybercabs, though, Tesla leans on remote operators—who’ve caused several minor crashes themselves.

Bottom line: Next week’s event might answer some questions about this robotaxi’s readiness, but the launch remains a big jump for a business with a tiny fleet and few logged miles. —WK

      

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How to link to text anywhere on a page

Picture this: You’re deep in a Slack thread discussion, and someone hits you with the dreaded question—“source?” You have the receipts buried in paragraph 14 of a 3,000-word article, so you drop the link and hope they find what you were talking about. Then, you’re pinged with a rage-inducing follow-up: “Wait, where?”

Thankfully, your browser has a fix for the pesky problem above: linking to specific text on a page. The feature is based on a web standard called text fragments, which adds a reference to the end of a URL so the browser knows where to jump to when opened.

How to share a link to a specific phrase: On the page you want to share, highlight the text you want to point to → right-click → click Copy Link to Highlight.

File this trick under “things your future self will thank you for” the next time you want to prove a point. —LC

If you have a tech tip or life hack you just can’t live without, fill out this form and you may see it featured in a future edition.

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The Zeitbyte

These robots are all gas, no brakes

Pedro Pardo/Getty Images

Humanoid robots can now outrun Usain Bolt. Just don’t expect them to brake when they see a wall. The second annual World Humanoid Robot Games is wrapping up in Beijing, where over 2,000 robots competed across 51 events in five days. Many of them tested athletic ability, from sprinting to weightlifting to tug-of-war—and a few competitors actually broke human records. There were also a raft of oddly specific challenges, like plugging in cables and doing restaurant work. Several events tested hand dexterity, which included picking up beans with tweezers.

But while there were some high highs, there were also some very low lows: a lot of tripping and toppling, with human “medics” carrying the fallen bots off on stretchers. A few even caught on fire and needed to be extinguished, and a viral video (apparently from a practice run) shows a robot slamming into a padded barrier at breakneck speed—then crumpling at the waist in a shower of sparks. On the one hand, it’s a sign that humanoids are still far from perfect. On the other, it’s a rousing performance from an athlete willing to leave it all on the track. —WK

Chaos Brewing Meter: ☕☕/5

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• First, the tracking and ads took over our smart TVs. Now, they’re coming for our smart monitors, too.
• Nine people have been indicted for allegedly smuggling Nvidia servers to China—including one of its employees.
• Have you struggled with—or been frustrated by—the login process for an app or website lately? You’re not alone.
• What a bargain! Apple’s latest polishing cloth (you heard us) looks exactly like the old one, but it’s no longer $19.

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