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The June 22 launch of Tesla’s robotaxis in Austin, Texas, actually occurred. It’s a tentative first step for the company, however: a human “Tesla Safety Monitor” is accompanying the first riders. There are also only ten cars and rides are limited to certain Tesla users. Those early riders and influencers have been sharing their experiences on social media, mostly (surprise) on X. 

Most of the early riders appear to be pro-Tesla users, with a company mention in their social media bio or a Tesla cap in their profile picture (or both), so consider these initial reactions within that context. Having said that, an autonomous car ride is… an autonomous car ride. Many livestreams show the safety monitor gripping a handle on the right side of the passenger seat, possibly with emergency controls. However, that hasn’t yet been confirmed. Many passengers attempted to talk with their safety monitors, with, er, limited success.

One user, Bearded Tesla Guy called the app “basically Uber.” Others found it challenging to summon a Tesla car from the limited pool of rides, watching multiple driverless Waymos pass them by as they waited. Austin is the place for autonomous ride testing: Waymo is scaling up its service in partnership with Uber, while Amazon’s Zoox is also testing its tech in the area.

After verifying your identity with the human safety monitor, you initiate the journey by pressing the “start ride” button. Tesla has linked the service to users’ existing profiles, allowing you to import your existing music playlists, which is a nice touch. You can also adjust your temperature settings, seat position and more from the companion app. Unlike a typical Tesla, the robotaxi has buttons to ask the car to pull over or stop in lane. There’s also the option to call support if you encounter any issues with your automated ride, although we’d assume that a human safety monitor would likely offer quicker assistance.

As the service kicked off, Tesla revealed a new robotaxi page, with all the guidelines and rules for its Robotaxis. The company also has detailed FAQs for using the service and a sign-up sheet for updates. Early access riders are being charged a flat rate of $4.20 for their journeys.

Parameters are strict, on top of the limited pool of cars. Rides have to go within a geofenced area that excludes airports and run between 6AM and midnight. At this point, we know to take Musk’s claims with a grain of salt, but the Tesla boss says the company plans to grow its taxi fleet to a thousand driverless cars on the road “within a few months.” Tesla has also said it will operate its robotaxi network using an “unsupervised” version of its self-driving software.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/teslas-first-robotaxi-rides-kick-off-in-austin-texas-100015076.html?src=rss 

One of the games that really caught my eye during the Xbox Games Showcase at the beginning of June was The Blood of Dawnwalker, a dark fantasy action-RPG from Rebel Wolves, the studio co-founded by Witcher 3 director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz. First teased earlier this year, The Blood of Dawnwalker is a single-player open-world game set in a version of 14th-century Europe that’s crawling with vampires. 

The first two trailers gave us a bit of a glimpse at what the gameplay will be like, but the developer has now shared an in-depth look in a 21-minute video, which you can watch below. It looks pretty sick — but keep in mind that this footage is from the “pre-beta” game, so there’s still a lot of polishing to be done.

In The Blood of Dawnwalker, “You play as Coen, a young man turned into a Dawnwalker, forever treading the line between the world of day and the realm of night. Fight for your humanity or embrace the cursed powers to save your family.” It’s slated to hit PC, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-blood-of-dawnwalker-developers-share-a-look-at-gameplay-from-the-upcoming-vampire-fantasy-rpg-185720914.html?src=rss 

Perplexity is planning to open up its Comet browser that’s powered by “agentic search” to Windows users, according to the company’s CEO. Aravind Srinivas posted on X that the Windows build of Comet is ready and has sent out invites to early testers already. Perplexity’s CEO also hinted at a potential release for Android devices, adding that it was “moving at a crazy pace and moving ahead of schedule.”

In May, Perplexity launched a beta version of its AI-powered Comet browser, only available to Mac users running Apple Silicon. The intelligent browser comes with AI features baked in, like the ability to ask it questions, check shopping carts for discounts and dig up unanswered emails. The beta version even showcases a “Try on” feature where users can upload a photo of themselves and Comet will generate an image of them wearing a selected piece of clothing.

There’s still no official debut set, but Srinivas previously hinted at an upcoming release in an X post earlier this month. Comet is still only offering a waitlist for those interested, but the browser has already stirred up controversy. The company’s CEO previously made comments during a podcast interview that Perplexity would use Comet “to get data even outside the app to better understand you.” Srinivas later clarified on X that the comment was taken out of context, adding that “every user will be given the option to not be part of the personalization” when it comes to targeted ads. When Comet is released, the agentic browser will face competition from Opera Neon and similar offerings from Google and OpenAI.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/perplexitys-ai-powered-browser-opens-up-to-select-windows-users-180629870.html?src=rss 

Starting September 1, fully autonomous cars will require a permit to operate in Texas. This new restriction comes after the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, signed into law the SB 2807 bill that requires authorization from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles for self-driving cars on public streets without human interaction.

The signing of the new law coincides with Tesla’s launch of its robotaxi service in Austin today where invited guests got to ride in fully autonomous Model Ys. While the law doesn’t go into effect until a few months later, Tesla’s robotaxi launch could have skirted this new regulation since all rides are accompanied by a human “safety monitor” in the front passenger seat.

In the coming months, Texas’ new law may prove to be more than just a headache for Tesla. Besides the permits, the upcoming regulation allows state authorities the ability to revoke permits and requires companies to provide methods of dealing with self-driving cars in emergency situations to police and first responders. While this could become a serious hurdle for Tesla, it’s also likely to affect Waymo, since it currently operates an autonomous ride-hailing service in Austin.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/texas-will-require-permits-for-self-driving-cars-starting-in-september-164755457.html?src=rss 

I didn’t really need an excuse to begin another playthrough of Look Outside, but the developer just dropped an update that provides plenty of reasons to dip back into the survival horror RPG if you were looking for any. Update 1.5 brings new crafting recipes, new interactions with people in the apartment building — some familiar, some not — and big changes to the flooded basement area, along with a slew of other tweaks and bug fixes. You can take a look through the update notes to see everything that’s been added, or just jump right in and let yourself be surprised.

Look Outside is a survival horror game with turn-based combat that was released on Steam in March. The game sees the player character Sam trapped in an apartment building for two weeks to ride out some strange, apocalyptic event happening outside. The weirdness, of course, makes its way inside too, and you’ll find yourself up against all sorts of body horror monstrosities and trying to figure out who you can trust. Between the art, the music and the story, it’s an all-around masterpiece that I haven’t been able to stop yapping about since playing it for the first time back in April.

It’s really cool to see the developer is continuing to add to it because this is one of those games that’s just made to be played over and over. If you haven’t picked it up yet, there’s no time like the present.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/look-outside-just-got-a-big-update-bringing-a-bunch-of-new-creepy-experiences-162541662.html?src=rss