Your monthly dose of 
autonomy: 
December 2025

Aurora continues to scale: now operating five driverless trucks on highways between Dallas and Houston, and recently opening a second route to El Paso. The company recently surpassed 100,000 driverless truck miles with a perfect safety record.

Waymo faces scrutiny in San Francisco: A massive power outage on December 20 left a fleet of Waymo robotaxis stalled in intersections, obstructing traffic and prompting city officials to launch a formal investigation. Waymo has since rushed a software update to address behavior during infrastructure failures.

Zoox issues recall: Amazon’s Zoox recalled 332 vehicles this month following an NHTSA warning. The issue involved a software error that allowed vehicles to cross yellow center lines, which the company states has been patched.

Tesla rolls out FSD v14: Tesla began releasing FSD v14.2.2, with Nvidia’s Director of Robotics describing the system’s performance as the first AI to pass a “Physical Turing Test.” The update coincides with a small fleet of ~30 Tesla robotaxis operating in Austin.

VW conducts autonomous testing: Volkswagen initiated autonomous testing of the Gen.Urban vehicle in Wolfsburg to analyze passenger experiences. The trials focus on user interaction and trust within a complex, real-world urban environment.

Zipline partners with Africa CDC: On December 11, Zipline signed a strategic partnership with the Africa Centres for Disease Control to integrate drone logistics into public health systems across the continent, despite facing funding headwinds earlier in the month.

Serve Robotics hits fleet milestone: The sidewalk delivery company announced it has deployed over 2,000 robots as of December 12, claiming the title of the largest autonomous sidewalk fleet in the U.S.

Wisk Aero completes Gen 6 flight: In a major milestone for air mobility, Wisk completed the first flight of its Generation 6 aircraft on December 16. It is the first candidate for an FAA-certified autonomous passenger aircraft in the U.S.

Wing enters Atlanta: Wing and Walmart launched drone delivery services in the Metro Atlanta area on December 3, marking the first major new metropolitan expansion for the partnership with 5-minute delivery times.

Cyngn enters agriculture: Cyngn announced a partnership with Chandler Automation on December 29 to deploy its autonomous DriveMod Tuggers in food processing and agricultural packing facilities.

CiDi cements mining dominance: As part of its IPO filing, CiDi Inc. revealed scaled commercial deployment of its full-stack autonomous systems in closed mining environments, positioning itself as a leader in industrial autonomy.

TIER IV Invests in Turing Drive: TIER IV announces a strategic investment in Taiwan-based Turing Drive. The alliance focuses on enhancing open-source autonomous driving solutions for low-speed and geofenced applications across the Asia-Pacific region.

Joby doubles down on manufacturing: The company announced plans to double its manufacturing capacity, targeting a production rate of four aircraft per month by 2027 to meet anticipated demand.

VisionWave acquires Solar Drone: Defense tech developer VisionWave Holdings completed its acquisition of Solar Drone Ltd., signaling a consolidation of autonomous capabilities for defense and infrastructure monitoring.

CiDi kicks off IPO: The Chinese autonomous trucking and mining unicorn CiDi formally commenced its IPO process on December 11, with a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange imminent.

US DOT releases AAM Strategy: The Department of Transportation released its National Strategy for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), a move publicly supported by key players like Joby Aviation on December 17 as a critical step toward commercial launch.

San Francisco probes blackout response: Following the Waymo stalling incident, San Francisco supervisors have called for hearings to determine if autonomous fleets pose a risk to emergency services during city-wide power failures.