Tesla’s Driverless Cybercab Hits Austin as Feds Open a Safety Probe

AI & Machine Learning

Microsoft AI released MAI-Transcribe-2, a speech-recognition model it says is the fastest, most accurate, and cheapest currently available, ranking first on the FLEURS benchmark across 60 languages with an average word error rate of 5.2%. The company claims it transcribes up to 10 times faster than OpenAI’s GPT-Transcribe and 5 times faster than Google’s Gemini 3.5 Transcribe, while adding speaker diarization, word-level timestamps, and automatic code-switching for mixed-language conversations. Pricing starts at $0.10 per audio hour through the end of 2026, well below the $0.36 launch price of the first-generation model. MAI-Transcribe-2 is available now in public preview through Microsoft Foundry, the MAI Playground, and OpenRouter. Source: Microsoft AI Verified: True

Nvidia is in talks to invest roughly $2.5 billion in Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup led by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, as part of a $5-6 billion round that would value the company at about $40 billion. Venture firm Accel is reportedly leading the raise, and Nvidia’s stake would account for roughly half the total round, marking one of its largest startup bets to date. The investment builds on a March 2026 agreement under which Thinking Machines will deploy at least one gigawatt of Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin systems starting in early 2027. The talks underscore Nvidia’s growing role as both chip supplier and financier across the AI ecosystem, a strategy also visible in its pending acquisition of Hugging Face. Source: TechCrunch Verified: True

Consumer Hardware

Xiaomi used its first-ever appearance at IFA Berlin to announce a €7.4 billion commitment to AI research and development spanning 2026 through 2028, part of a broader plan to spend more than €24 billion on AI, electric vehicles, robotics, and operating systems through 2030. The company is positioning Europe as a global innovation hub and used the show to introduce its “Human × Car × Home” ecosystem, linking phones, smart-home devices, and electric vehicles under one AI layer. Xiaomi says its AI ecosystem already spans more than 1.1 billion connected devices worldwide across over 200 product categories. The debut comes as longtime IFA fixture Samsung scales back its presence at the show after 35 years. Source: ITBrief Verified: True

Dyson unveiled the CameraJet, its first electric toothbrush, at IFA 2026, combining a 100,000-pixel macro-lens camera with a built-in water flosser. The camera analyzes 28 images per second using Dyson’s Gap Optical Targeting system to locate spaces between teeth and automatically fire mouthrinse into them as the user brushes. The $499 device uses sonic oscillation moving nearly 1,000 times per second and pairs firmer inner bristles for stain removal with softer outer bristles for gumline cleaning. The full Dyson Dental System, including charging dock, travel case, toothpaste, and mouthrinse, went on sale September 1 through dyson.com and Dyson Demo Stores. Source: Dyson Verified: True

Cybersecurity

The Russia-linked Qilin ransomware gang claimed it breached LISI Group, a French industrial supplier whose components are used by Airbus, Boeing, engine maker Safran, and automakers including Stellantis and Volkswagen. The attackers say they stole financial and corporate data from the roughly €1.8 billion ($2.1 billion) revenue company, which has confirmed a “cyber incident” without detailing the scope of the theft. The breach adds LISI to a growing list of aerospace supply-chain compromises this year and raises fresh concerns about how deeply ransomware groups have penetrated tiered manufacturing networks feeding major aircraft programs. Neither Airbus nor Boeing has confirmed any direct exposure to the stolen data. Source: Cybernews Verified: True

CISA added seven vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog based on evidence of active exploitation, including flaws in SonicWall SMA1000 appliances, JFrog Artifactory, BerriAI’s LiteLLM framework, Kestra OSS, and Sangoma Switchvox. Two of the SonicWall bugs, an SSRF flaw and an OS command-injection vulnerability, can reportedly be chained together for unauthenticated remote code execution against exposed appliances. Federal civilian agencies face mandated deadlines to patch or discontinue use of the affected products under CISA’s binding operational directive. The mix of enterprise VPN, AI-tooling, and workflow-orchestration software on the list reflects how attackers are increasingly targeting the infrastructure layer beneath AI and DevOps pipelines. Source: CISA Verified: True

Enterprise Infrastructure

Vertiv agreed to acquire UtilityInnovation Group for about $1.45 billion in cash at closing, with up to $1.15 billion more tied to EBITDA targets over the following two years, in a deal aimed at speeding up power delivery to AI data centers. UIG builds microgrid controls, onsite generation systems, energy-storage orchestration platforms, and microgrid-specific switchgear, extending Vertiv’s reach upstream to the grid interconnect as utility bottlenecks increasingly delay AI infrastructure buildouts. The company operates in the US and Europe, with a Dublin headquarters and manufacturing in North Carolina and New Jersey. Vertiv expects the deal to add to adjusted earnings per share within the first year after closing. Source: Vertiv Verified: True

Cloud and data-center developer Crusoe closed a funding round of more than $3 billion at roughly a $30 billion valuation, nearly tripling the value investors assigned the company less than a year ago. Atreides Management and Valor Equity Partners co-led the round, joined by Mubadala Capital, the alternative-asset arm of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund. Crusoe builds AI data-center capacity for OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta, including a 1.2-gigawatt cluster under construction for OpenAI in Abilene, Texas, and recently signed a five-year, $13 billion GPU-cloud contract with trading firm Jane Street. The raise underscores how much private capital is still chasing AI infrastructure buildout even as compute costs and power constraints mount. Source: TechCrunch Verified: True

Policy & Regulation

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Tesla’s Cybercab hours after the company began commercial rides in Austin, Texas, in a two-seat vehicle built without a steering wheel, pedals, or side mirrors. NHTSA says it will examine the technical basis Tesla used to certify the Cybercab as compliant with federal motor vehicle safety standards, including whether the company was correct to conclude that certain requirements, such as those governing manual controls, do not apply. Unlike Amazon’s Zoox, which sought a formal federal exemption for its purpose-built robotaxi, Tesla certified the Cybercab on its own determination rather than requesting an exemption. Tesla has said it plans to gradually expand the service to more vehicles and locations in Austin as the inquiry proceeds. Source: TechCrunch Verified: True