Trucks VC says 81 new autonomous vehicle startups have pitched it so far in 2026, two-thirds more than last year and above the 2016–17 peak, with partner Puneeth Meruva crediting foundation models for making end-to-end AV systems viable. Open models such as Nvidia's Alpamayo have lowered the barrier enough that, he says, startups deploy within a few months on under $1 million raised, and a growing share are pitching robotaxi businesses positioned against Waymo.
Axios reports OpenAI is preparing a "PR blitz" for after Tuesday's midterm elections, with chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane saying the vote is "a bit of a movie trailer" for 2028, when he expects AI to be "the issue." Among the proposals he discussed are AI "speed limits," a US role in global standards, and rebranding data centers as "AI compute campuses."
California's Proposition 45 would compress environmental review timelines and narrow court challenges for projects deemed essential, which backers say would ease the housing shortage and speed renewable power. Earthjustice attorney Fernando Gaytan warns data center developers supporting the measure could "shoehorn" their projects into the essential category and bypass community input.
On TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Amanda Silberling argued that executives including Marissa Mayer, Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg describe AI use cases — from drafting a description of a daughter to meeting romantic needs — that read as disconnected or dystopian to ordinary users. She framed it as both a marketing and a product problem, arriving as Anthropic is set to go public while Wall Street cools on heavy AI spending.
Grand Theft Auto VI and Nintendo's Ocarina of Time remake launch weeks apart this month, with Circana estimating 29 percent of US gamers intend to buy GTA VI and analyst Mat Piscatella saying demand could pull holdouts into buying a PS5 or Xbox Series. The Verge frames both as outliers in a year defined by layoffs, studio closures and rising hardware costs.
Binance said customers pulled a net $3.64 billion on Sunday as it restored withdrawals in phases following a record $6.3 billion hack that the FBI attributed to North Korean hackers. The exchange said outflow volumes were stabilizing after an initial spike, and that it has covered around 95% of the affected amount rather than passing losses to users.
Brookings senior fellow Robin Brooks argued in a Substack post that Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's mixed signals reflect yield curve management driven by the US debt position rather than any hawkish or dovish stance. He suspects the Fed and Treasury are operating under a de facto accord to keep borrowing costs stable, pointing to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's bond buybacks and yen intervention.
Third-quarter reporting is producing the first company-level figures on AI payoffs, with Santander putting €194 million of business value on its AI initiatives and Standard Chartered and Novartis executives crediting AI for operating leverage and P&L contribution. Novartis and Standard Chartered did not quantify the AI share, and Carlsberg's CEO said his company is not yet seeing benefits at scale.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that President Trump has not made a decision on further military action and would prefer to resolve the war with Iran peacefully, while expressing confidence in US capability. Reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times indicate Washington is preparing for possible renewed strikes after the midterm elections, and Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei ordered the armed forces to prepare an "immediate, impactful, and geographically unrestricted response" to any threat.
Laika's stop-motion feature Wildwood has taken $25.9 million domestically and nearly $36 million worldwide, a rebound for the studio but well short of break-even against a budget widely reported at about $100 million. The privately held studio does not report financials and is sustained by majority owner Phil Knight, the Nike co-founder whose son Travis Knight runs it and directed the film.
Rep. Haley Stevens, who lost the Democratic Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed, appeared with Republican Mike Rogers on Sunday and endorsed him, saying she did not belong in El-Sayed's campaign after he reportedly asked her not to attend a unity event. El-Sayed said he was focused on voters' problems and does not think about Stevens, while Michigan Democratic chair Curtis Hertel said she had abandoned what she claims to care about and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called it "a despicable betrayal."
NPR's analysis argues Trump is facing record-low approval and voter blame for rising prices, with the Iran war and tariffs described as choices that directly raised goods and energy costs, while an economy split between AI-driven stock gains and wage-lagging inflation angers swing voters. Democrats are favored to take the House and are within striking distance in the Senate, though structural factors — far fewer competitive districts and mid-decade redistricting — cloud how large any gains could be.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason ruled Sunday that the federal government cannot bring its suit, filed under the National Voter Registration Act's preamble, seeking to stop Alaska officials from certifying Senate results if the Republican incumbent loses, finding such an order would likely violate voters' right to a secret ballot. The Justice Department plans to appeal, with spokesperson Kiersten Pels saying Alaskans deserve a fair election, while the ACLU's Sophia Lin Lakin called the suit lawless from the start.
Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola said Thursday she knew nothing about any candidate on the ballot other than herself and the incumbent, responding to a New York Times report, unverified by the BBC, that people connected to her campaign and senior DSCC aides tried to recruit retired teacher Dan J Sullivan as a spoiler. The U.S. attorney for Alaska, Michael Heyman, said civil and criminal investigations are ongoing, and administration lawyers asked a federal judge to order officials to preserve and segregate ballots ranking Dan J Sullivan.
The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce said its retail price index rose 2.47% in October, up from 2.11% in September, while the annual Istanbul consumer price figure eased to 32.47% from 33.55%. Clothing and footwear was the largest monthly contributor, and nationwide October data from TurkStat is due Tuesday.
Speaking at a news conference with Volodymyr Zelensky in İstanbul on Saturday, Erdoğan said attacks on civilian vessels in the Black Sea were unacceptable regardless of who carried them out, and urged Russia and Ukraine to act responsibly. Zelensky accused Russia of undermining Black Sea security; Turkey says it has proposed both sides halt strikes on civilian ships but that neither has acted on the proposal.
Turkish defense officials and companies including Aselsan, TAI and Otokar are expanding joint production in Kazakhstan, which is preparing to become the first country outside Turkey to manufacture TAI's Anka drones under a joint venture agreed in May. The two countries are also aiming to raise bilateral trade volume to $15 billion, with defense cooperation framed by Turkey's defense industries head Haluk Görgün as a "win-win" approach.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Türkiye generated $25.5 billion in third-quarter tourism revenue, a 5% increase, and $51.3 billion in the first nine months, up 2.4%. He said the sector has held stable through the Russia-Ukraine war, the war in Iran and Gulf developments, with cancellations after the Iran conflict offset by promotional and sales campaigns.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will attend the COP31 climate summit in Antalya from November 9 to 20, a government source told AFP on Saturday. Turkey holds the summit presidency with Australia leading negotiations, and among its ten priority issues proposes raising electricity's share of global energy consumption from around 23% to 35% by 2035.
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