Google announced on Thursday that Google Maps users can now access Gemini hands-free while walking and cycling. The update comes a few months after Google Maps rolled out its Gemini-powered hands-free, conversational driving experience. The announcement marks Google’s ongoing efforts to plug Gemini into more parts of people’s everyday lives, while shifting Google Maps from static directions to real-time, conversational navigation. When you’re walking around and navigating with Maps, you can now ask Gemini questions like “Tell me more about the neighborhood I’m in,” “What are some must-see attractions?” or “Are there cafes with a bathroom along my route?” Google…

A Waymo robotaxi struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica on January 23, according to the company. Waymo told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that the child — whose age and identity are not currently public — sustained minor injuries. The NHTSA has opened an investigation into the accident, and Waymo said in a blog post that it “will cooperate fully with them throughout the process.” Waymo said its robotaxi struck the child at 6 miles per hour, after braking “hard” from around 17 miles per hour. The young pedestrian “suddenly entered the roadway from…

ServiceNow announced a deal with major AI player Anthropic just a week after it announced a partnership with OpenAI. Enterprise workflow software company ServiceNow has entered into a multi-year deal with AI research lab Anthropic on Wednesday. This partnership involves further embedding of Anthropic’s AI models into ServiceNow’s platform for its customers and bringing Anthropic’s AI to its employees. ServiceNow declined to clarify the duration of the partnership or the monetary size of the deal. This deal entails making Anthropic’s Claude model family the preferred AI models across ServiceNow’s AI-driven workflow products. Claude is now also the default model powering…

Tesla’s profit fell 46% in 2025 compared to the prior year, as CEO Elon Musk assumed a role in the Trump administration and federal electric vehicle subsidies were killed off by Congress, causing sales to plummet. The electric vehicle company reported Wednesday that it recorded just $3.8 billion in profit across 2025, its lowest tally in years. Total revenue from car sales fell 11% year-over-year, too. Tesla already revealed that it shipped 1.63 million cars globally across 2025. That marks the second year in a row that its sales have declined, after Musk spent years promising average annual growth of…

Outtake, which makes an agentic cybersecurity platform to help enterprises detect, investigate, and take down identity fraud, has raised a $40 million Series B round of funding. While that might not sound like a lot given the huge sums some AI companies are raising, the names involved in this financing reads like a tech industry who’s who. The round was led by Iconiq’s Murali Joshi, who helped lead the firm’s investments in companies like Anthropic, Datadog, Drata, 1Password, among others. Angels who invested include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella; Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora; Pershing Square Holdings CEO Bill Ackman;…