Steering-wheel-free Taxis, Gloria Steinem, & Unlikely Friends

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Adam Rogers
September 04, 2026

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Tesla deployed dozens of its purpose-built Cybercabs on public streets in Austin, Texas, Thursday, putting vehicles without steering wheels or pedals into service for the first time. Tesla's existing robotaxi fleet uses conventional cars that can be driven manually.
Tesla is trying to close a sizable gap with Waymo. It currently operates more than 200 unsupervised robotaxis across six cities in Texas and Florida, compared with more than 4,000 Waymo vehicles across 14 cities. Tesla also relies primarily on cameras for autonomous driving, while Waymo supplements cameras with radar and lidar.
Winning over passengers could prove just as difficult as perfecting the technology. A February Pew survey found 70% of U.S. adults were uncomfortable riding in a driverless vehicle, including 45% who said they were not at all comfortable. Tesla plans to expand Cybercab service to additional cities.

Gloria Steinem, the journalist and activist who became one of the most influential figures in the modern women's rights movement, has died at 92. Steinem emerged as a national figure during the women's rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s and remained one of its most recognizable voices for decades.
Steinem gained national attention with a 1963 exposé documenting the working conditions of women employed as Playboy Club “Bunnies.” She later helped found New York magazine and Ms. magazine, which became an influential platform for reporting and commentary on women's rights.
In 1971, she helped establish the National Women's Political Caucus alongside figures including Shirley Chisholm, seeking to increase women's representation in government. She spent subsequent decades campaigning for reproductive rights, workplace equality and greater political representation for women, helping turn many of the movement's priorities into mainstream political issues.

The SEC sued LSU Thursday, accusing one of its founding members of deliberately recruiting former professional athletes despite new conference rules barring them from returning to college competition. LSU is pursuing several former NFL players after a Louisiana judge temporarily blocked the NCAA from declaring them ineligible.
The dispute stems from recent NCAA changes allowing some athletes five full seasons of college competition. Former pros argue those rules were adopted only after they left college, forcing them to choose between turning professional and using eligibility they didn't know they would eventually receive. Roughly 450 athletes are now challenging eligibility decisions in court.
The SEC recently adopted its own restrictions against former professionals, backed 15-0 by university presidents as LSU abstained. The conference is threatening schools that violate them with substantial fines, coach suspensions, and loss of voting privileges.

A federal grand jury indicted ICE officer Christian Castro on six charges of lying to investigators about a January shooting in Minneapolis that left a 24-year-old Venezuelan immigrant wounded. (More)

A federal judge blocked President Trump’s latest attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, ruling that provisions targeting “birth tourism” and other foreign parents are likely unconstitutional. (More)

American journalist Thomas Weir Pauken II was sentenced to two years in federal prison after admitting he worked as an undisclosed agent for the Chinese government while receiving at least $100,000. (More)

At least 14 people in Serbia’s civil society were targeted with advanced spyware ahead of elections, researchers found, though there is no evidence linking the attacks to the Serbian government. (More)

Israel agreed to release five Lebanese detainees after Lebanon assisted efforts to locate the remains of Lebanese Jewish community figures killed during the 1980s. (More)

Norwegian authorities seized a Russian state-owned cruise vessel in Svalbard at Ukraine’s request as Kyiv seeks Russian assets to collect compensation for property seized during the 2014 annexation of Crimea. (More)

US stock markets closed higher on Thursday (S&P +1.06%, Nasdaq +1.40%, Dow +1.18%) after a Federal Reserve official signaled support for holding interest rates steady, easing concerns about another rate hike this month. (More)

The average 30-year mortgage rate climbed to 6.71%, its highest in more than a year, as rising bond yields and inflation concerns increased borrowing costs for homebuyers. (More)

Nvidia will acquire Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, giving the chipmaker ownership of a major platform used by more than 18 million developers to build and share AI models. (More)

Fox News Media parted ways with longtime financial journalist Maria Bartiromo after more than 12 years at the network. (More)

The Houston Rockets agreed to a five-year, $208 million extension with Amen Thompson after he posted career highs in points, assists and steals last season. (More)

An internal review found former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini violated newsroom standards through her relationship with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel but found no clear evidence it biased her reporting. (More)

Surfing scientists quantified how seafloor slope shapes breaking waves, finding steeper slopes produce larger, more horizontal barrels while gentler slopes create smaller, more angled breaks. (More)

Venus may have once had a moon that was ultimately destroyed by the planet’s own tidal forces, according to simulations offering a potential explanation for its lack of a satellite. (More)

Paleontologists identified a new dinosaur species from fossils discovered in Zimbabwe, revealing a 15-foot-long early relative of long-necked dinosaurs that lived roughly 210 million years ago. (More)

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