Submission + - Tesla robotaxi now has safety monitors following behind (electrek.co)

Submitted by XXongo
XXongo writes: Tesla's robotaxis had been criticized for the fact that, although they had no driver behind the wheel, they still had a "safety monitor". That silent human employees sat in the front passenger seat, instead of the driver’s. Now, over half a year into the service’s launch, Elon Musk announced on X that Tesla had “just started Tesla Robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car.” Tesla’s stock immediately jumped over 4%, and robotaxis are being spotted without the monitor in the front. So, do they really have no safety monitor? Not so fast: New video evidence posted by Joe Tegtmeyer on X shows Tesla’s “unsupervised” Robotaxis operating in Austin, and they’re not alone. In the video, two Robotaxis are visible, and both are closely followed by black Tesla vehicles. These trailing cars undoubtedly have safety monitors sitting inside, ready to intervene if something goes wrong.

As Futurism.com comments, Tesla has struggled to refine its self-driving technology. The driverless-but-not-quite-superviserless cabs have already gotten into numerous accidents, have been spotted ignoring speed limits and other traffic laws, on top of instances of driving dangerously or erratically. The human monitors have also been forced to make interventions to prevent a potential accident, and have even at times taken complete control of the vehicles. While you can’t fault Tesla for going the safe route by still supervising its cabs, absurd as its new methods are, it’s clearly misleading its fans and investors into thinking it’s on the pathway to full autonomy.

Submission + - 'Kill Switch' for Cars Approved by House Republicans (newsweek.com)

Submitted by SonicSpike
SonicSpike writes: House Republicans led a failed effort to block enforcement related to socalled vehicle kill switch technology, which would be able to monitor diver behavior, detect impairment such as intoxication and intervene.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky introduced an amendment to a federal spending bill that would reverse the mandating of the technology. On Thursday, 160 Republicans voted in favor, but the legislation failed 164-268, according to the House Clerk's official roll call—with 57 Republicans joining 211 Democrats in voting against it.

The House vote signals substantial Republican support for curbing any move toward mandated impaired-driving prevention systems, but not enough to pass such legislation.

Critics of the kill switch technology see it as government overreach, while those in favor argue that it could prove to be lifesaving.

Massie's amendment is one of several Republican attempts to block the technology's enforcement. He was also one of the Republicans who introduced the No Kill Switches in Cars Act in February 2025, calling to "repeal a requirement for the Secretary of Transportation to issue certain regulations with respect to advanced impaired driving technology."

While the technology is not yet a legal requirement in cars, Congress passed a law with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 that requires the Department of Transportation to create the mandate.

Thursday's House vote was about Massie's amendment to the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 7148), calling to "prohibit the use of funds made available by this Act to implement section 24220 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, including any requirements enabling or supporting vehicle 'kill switch' technology, and to block federal spending for the execution or enforcement of such authorities."

Submission + - TikTok Is Now Collecting Even More Data About Its Users (wired.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: When TikTok users in the US opened the app today, they were greeted with a pop-up asking them to agree to the social media platform’s new terms of service and privacy policy before they could resume scrolling. These changes are part of TikTok’s transition to new ownership. In order to continue operating in the US, TikTok was compelled by the US government to transition from Chinese control to a new, American-majority corporate entity. Called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, the new entity is made up of a group of investors that includes the software company Oracle. It's easy to tap “agree” and keep on scrolling through videos on TikTok, so users might not fully understand the extent of changes they are agreeing to with this pop-up.

Now that it’s under US-based ownership, TikTok potentially collects more detailed information about its users, including precise location data. Here are the three biggest changes to TikTok’s privacy policy that users should know about. TikTok’s change in location tracking is one of the most notable updates in this new privacy policy. Before this update, the app did not collect the precise, GPS-derived location data of US users. Now, if you give TikTok permission to use your phone’s location services, then the app may collect granular information about your exact whereabouts. Similar kinds of precise location data is also tracked by other social media apps, like Instagram and X.

[...] Rather than an adjustment, TikTok’s policy on AI interactions adds a new topic to the privacy policy document. Now, users' interactions with any of TikTok’s AI tools explicitly fall under data that the service may collect and store. This includes any prompts as well as the AI-generated outputs. The metadata attached to your interactions with AI tools may also be automatically logged. [...] This change to TikTok’s privacy policy may not be as immediately noticeable to users, but it will likely have an impact on the types of ads you see outside of TikTok. So, rather than just using your collected data to target you while using the app, TikTok may now further leverage that info to serve you more relevant ads wherever you go online. As part of this advertising change, TikTok also now explicitly mentions publishers as one kind of partner the platform works with to get new data.

Submission + - Microsoft Gave FBI a Set of BitLocker Encryption Keys To Unlock Suspects' Laptop (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft provided the FBI with the recovery keys to unlock encrypted data on the hard drives of three laptops as part of a federal investigation, Forbes reported on Friday. Many modern Windows computers rely on full-disk encryption, called BitLocker, which is enabled by default. This type of technology should prevent anyone except the device owner from accessing the data if the computer is locked and powered off.

But, by default, BitLocker recovery keys are uploaded to Microsoft’s cloud, allowing the tech giant — and by extension law enforcement — to access them and use them to decrypt drives encrypted with BitLocker, as with the case reported by Forbes. The case involved several people suspected of fraud related to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program in Guam, a U.S. island in the Pacific. Local news outlet Pacific Daily News covered the case last year, reporting that a warrant had been served to Microsoft in relation to the suspects’ hard drives. Kandit News, another local Guam news outlet, also reported in October that the FBI requested the warrant six months after seizing the three laptops encrypted with BitLocker. [...] Microsoft told Forbes that the company sometimes provides BitLocker recovery keys to authorities, having received an average of 20 such requests per year.

Submission + - New, faster solution to removing PFAS (the 'forever chemicals') from water (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Bruce66423
Bruce66423 writes: 'New filtration technology developed by Rice University may absorb some Pfas “forever chemicals” at 100 times the rate than previously possible, which could dramatically improve pollution control and speed remediations.

'Researchers also say they have also found a way to destroy Pfas, though both technologies face a steep challenge in being deployed on an industrial scale.

'A new peer-reviewed paper details a layered double hydroxide (LDH) material made from copper and aluminum that absorbs long-chain Pfas up to 100 times faster than commonly used filtration systems.'

Submission + - £1.5bn legal action in UK against Apple over wallet's 'hidden fees' (theguardian.com)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: The financial campaigner James Daley has launched a £1.5bn class action lawsuit against Apple over its mobile phone wallet, claiming the US tech company blocked competition and charged hidden fees that ultimately harmed 50 million UK consumers.

The lawsuit takes aim at Apple Pay, which they say has been the only contactless payment service available for iPhone users in Britain over the past decade.

Daley, who is the founder of the advocacy group Fairer Finance, claims this situation amounted to anti-competitive behaviour and allowed Apple to charge hidden fees, ultimately pushing up costs for banks that passed charges on to consumers, regardless of whether they owned an iPhone.

Submission + - Cheap green tech allows faster path to electrification for the developing world (japantimes.co.jp)

Submitted by Mr. Dollar Ton
Mr. Dollar Ton writes: According to a new report from a think tank, "Ember", the availability of cheap green tech can have developing countries profit from earlier investment and skip steps in the transition from fossil to alternatives.

India is put forward as an example. While china’s rapid electrification has been hailed as a miracle, by some measures, India is moving ahead faster than China did when it was at similar levels of economic development. It’s an indication that clean electricity could be the most direct way to boost growth for other developing economies.

That’s mainly because India has access to solar panels and electric cars at a much lower price than China did about a decade ago. Chinese investments lowered the costs of what experts call "modular technologies” — the production of each solar panel, battery cell and electric car enables engineers to learn how to make it more efficiently.

India's per-capita consumption of oil for road transport is 60% lower than when China hit that milestone. As a result India’s peak road-oil consumption per person will likely never reach Chinese levels.

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