The Cybertruck never made it on sale in Europe because it did not reach the required safety standards. The Cybertruck never made it on sale in Europe because it did not reach the required safety standards. Decision made in order for factory in Texas to be used for Cybercab, the carmaker's self-driving taxi Elon Musk has announced that Tesla will wind down production of its Cybertruck, marking the end of a failed effort to take a chunk of the lucrative market for pickups in the US. The billionaire chief executive said production of the car would stop in about the middle of next year at the company's factory in Texas in order to use the plant for the Cybercab, its self-driving taxi. Musk did not say whether Tesla had plans to produce the vehicle in another factory, although that would probably require significant investment for the specialised tooling needed to make it.

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More than five million industrial robots are now operating in factories worldwide, according to the International Federation of Robotics' newly released World Robotics 2026 report . Factories installed more than 600,000 industrial robots during 2025, an increase of 11% on the previous year. The global operational stock grew by 9%. China continued to pull away from the rest of the world. Its factories installed 354,000 robots, accounting for 59% of the global total.

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They power our phones, cars, dishwashers--and the A.I. systems that prop up the economy. "We don't have a rating scale for complexity, but rockets are maybe a five," an investor said. His partner added, "Semiconductors are an eleven." There are a handful of truly monumental collective achievements in our history: Machu Picchu, the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Giza, and perhaps, if we're being generous, the Roman aqueducts. Modern global civilization has made one contribution to this eternal pantheon. It is not the moon landing. It is the semiconductor supply chain. A microchip is a bauble of metal and refined sand. It doesn't appear to have epic proportions. Upon close examination, however, the epic proportions are there in miniature. Imagine a perfect replica of a sprawling metropolis, a Tokyo or a São Paulo, engraved at atomic dimensions on a tile the size of a fingernail. The urban details would be faithfully rendered to the last golf ball or egg--each reduced to ...

Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK. Is China Replacing Workers With Robots? Today, we discuss China's £14.7bn investment into AI and robotics in the hopes of overtaking the US as the world leader in innovation. China has two million robots already working in factories, and is investing heavily in the hopes that one day they could bridge gaps in an already sluggish economy. What can these robots do?

Beyond China's humanoid robots, a quieter machine revolution is unfolding To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. I take a nap and the world changes, says Chen Tianyu. The 28-year-old keeps up with the latest technology by spending his spare time in factories that are switching to automation. That way he knows what to prioritise when teaching his class about artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. In front of him, around 30 college students are studying code.

I wore the world's first HDR10 smart glasses TCL's new E Ink tablet beats the Remarkable and Kindle Anker's new charger is one of the most unique I've ever seen I wore the world's first HDR10 smart glasses TCL's new E Ink tablet beats the Remarkable and Kindle Anker's new charger is one of the most unique I've ever seen Imagine submitting your vibe-coded app to a service that validates, tests, and then mass-produces it in a repeatable, automated fashion for delivery to a wide audience. Software factories will prepare prototypes for wide distribution. Leading AI companies are creating the foundations. Tune into the TV show Shark Tank, and the most recurring question you hear voiced by the venture capitalists to budding entrepreneurs is whether they have arrangements with a factory to cost-effectively mass-produce their pooper-scoopers, comfort socks, or scrub pads. The idea of a mass-production facility may make sense for software delivery as well.

Solar panels arranged on the rooftop of an industrial park in Jimo, Qingdao, in eastern China's Shandong province. Solar panels arranged on the rooftop of an industrial park in Jimo, Qingdao, in eastern China's Shandong province. Donald Trump has ordered a new 15% tariff on imported products made of polysilicon, an important ingredient in microchip manufacturing that is primarily produced by China. The new tariff, which will take effect on 4 December, is aimed at supporting US chip and solar panel supply chains to compete with Beijing on artificial intelligence and energy. The executive order signed by the president on Thursday evening said: "The plan of action in this proclamation will, among other things, help ensure the commercial viability of United States production of polysilicon and its derivatives that is necessary to meet United States economic and national security requirements."

Solid-state batteries are safer and more capable--but harder to mass-produce. They also represent an opportunity for non-Chinese companies to get back in the game. The field of lithium batteries is currently dominated by Chinese companies like BYD and CATL. Not only do they sell the majority of batteries that go into electric vehicles and energy storage projects worldwide, they're also opening up new factories in your backyard . When companies outside China try to compete, like Europe's Northvolt, they quickly realize how hard it is .