China: Ordos Reinvents Itself as an AV Hub
Once known as one of China’s “ghost cities,” Ordos in Inner Mongolia is now positioning itself as a real-world lab for autonomous driving. The city has invested in hundreds of kilometers of smart roads and thousands of sensors to attract AV developers. Sparse traffic and wide boulevards make it an ideal test site for freight, particularly coal transport, though some analysts caution that the environment is too controlled to prepare vehicles for the unpredictability of denser urban areas. Still, Ordos shows how infrastructure-heavy regions can pivot toward becoming testbeds for cutting-edge mobility.
Read more: Rest of World
Leadership Watch: The Quiet Force Behind a Popular Rideshare Company’s Autonomy Push
A new profile spotlights the AI/Autopilot chief steering the company’s vision-only autonomy bet, translating the CEO’s ambitions into shippable software and fleet operations. The piece traces his rise from early autonomy work to today’s robotaxi and humanoid-robot programs, with praise for hands-on engineering and alignment with top leadership. It also acknowledges intensified scrutiny over safety practices and litigation risk around supervised features. Net: the org’s autonomy agenda is increasingly centralized under a single technical leader, for better focus, and higher accountability.
Read more: Business Insider
DC Moves: Zoox to Test On Washington Streets
Zoox will begin testing in Washington, DC, joining existing AV pilots and pushing the capital toward a denser mixed-operator environment. City streets and traffic patterns (circles, diagonal avenues, and frequent protests/events) will stress routing and safety-case transparency. Expect coordination with DDOT on routes, ODD limits, incident reporting, and neighborhood engagement as rides approach popular corridors. For policymakers, DC becomes a showcase for inter-agency playbooks as federal, city, and operator priorities intersect.
Read more: NBC Washington
Freight Milestone: First Cabless Autonomous Border Crossing
Sweden’s Einride completed what it calls the world’s first cabless, driver-out autonomous truck crossing of a national border, moving between Norway and Sweden and digitally clearing customs. The run leaned on remote oversight (a “control tower”) and EU-backed corridor work, showing how autonomy, electrification, and digitized customs can dovetail. Beyond the PR moment, this signals how cross-border standards, liability frameworks, and insurance capacity will need to mature in tandem. Freight operators should watch for replicable playbooks at other “green lanes.”
Read more: FreightWaves
Enforcement Edge Case: Can Police Ticket a Driverless Car?
A Bay Area traffic stop involving a driverless Waymo put a spotlight on policy gray zones: who gets cited when there’s no human behind the wheel how instructions are issued at roadside, and what data is exchanged. The incident underscores why agencies are drafting protocols for stops, tows, crash scenes, and evidence handling with AVs. Expect more MOUs and standardized “pull-over” behaviors coded into fleets, plus having legislation clarifying responsibility between operators and OEMs.
Read more: Los Angeles Times
Macro Trend: Cities Will See AVs Faster Than They Think
“Urban planners should plan for near-term AV scaling, not a distant future,” says a new analysis. Priorities include curb management, transit integration, data-sharing rules, and proactive safety metrics tied to permits. The argument: AV growth is already clustering around airports, entertainment districts, and freight corridors; the cities that set frameworks now will capture benefits and mitigate friction later.
Read more: Forbes
