TechCrunch Mobility: ‘Physical AI’ enters the hype machine
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for all things “future of transportation.”
physical ai
Inside CES 2026’s “physical AI” takeover
After years of chatbots and image generators, AI is finally leaving the screen. At CES 2026, that shift became impossible to ignore. The annual tech showcase in Las Vegas was dominated by “physical AI” and robotics, from Boston Dynamic’s newly redesigned Atlas humanoid robot to AI-powered ice makers (yes, really). The companies in attendance clearly want consumers […]
Where VCs think AI startups can win, even with OpenAI in the game
Vanessa Larco, partner at Premise and former partner at NEA, thinks 2026 will finally be the year of consumer AI. Larco, who’s been investing in consumer and prosumer for years, thinks we’re about to see a shift in how consumers spend time online, with AI powering “concierge-like” services. The question is, will legacy consumer products […]
Caterpillar taps Nvidia to bring AI to its construction equipment
Caterpillar is piloting Cat AI, a system of AI agents in one of its excavators built on Nvidia’s physical AI platform.
Nvidia wants to be the Android of generalist robotics
Nvidia unveiled a full-stack robotics ecosystem at CES 2026, including foundation models, simulation tools, and hardware. It wants to be the default platform for robotics.
Nvidia launches Alpamayo, open AI models that allow autonomous vehicles to ‘think like a human’
Nvidia unveiled Alpamayo at CES 2026, which includes a reasoning vision language action model that allows an autonomous vehicle to think more like a human and provide chain-of-thought reasoning.
In 2026, AI will move from hype to pragmatism
In 2026, here’s what you can expect from the AI industry: new architectures, smaller models, world models, reliable agents, physical AI, and products designed for real-world use.
Nvidia bulks up open source offerings with an acquisition and new open AI models
Nvidia acquired SchedMD, the lead developer of Slurm, and launched the Nemotron 3 family of open source AI models.
Nvidia announces new open AI models and tools for autonomous driving research
Nvidia continues its push into physical AI with the release of a new reasoning world model and other tools for physical AI.
Finland’s NestAI lands €100M, partners with Nokia to build AI for defense applications
Finnish startup NestAI said it has raised €100 million to build “Europe’s leading physical AI lab.”