Don't expect to see many Waymo-powered autonomous big rigs in the near future. Waymo now plans to "push back" its driverless trucking efforts and shift its attention toward its One ride-hailing service. The move will help the company concentrate on making these self-driving taxis a "commercial success," according to co-CEOs Dmitri Dolgov and Tekedra Mawakana.

Waymo justified the decision by pointing to "significant" growth in demand for its robotaxis in Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. It also noted rapid upgrades to Driver, the AI system that handles its autonomous cars. There's "tremendous momentum" in One, the co-chiefs say, and the new strategy will help make the most of this trend.

The Alphabet-owned brand still intends to work with Daimler on self-driving semi trucks. It's shifting most of its technical development toward Waymo One, but believes work on Driver (particularly for highway driving) will indirectly benefit trucking. There's no updated timeline for when trucks may reach the roads, but TechCrunchunderstands only a handful of workers will lose jobs as a result of the transition. Most have taken other positions at Waymo.

Waymo started testing autonomous big rig trucks in 2017, with rapid expansions in 2019 and 2020 that included the launch of its Via cargo transportation division. The firm won the attention of major partners, including UPS and former rival Uber Freight. However, there's no doubt that Waymo One was the star and won the most interest. Uber even expects to offer Waymo rides and deliveries in Phoenix later this year.

The change isn't guaranteed to pan out. While Waymo is closer to offering paid rides in multiple markets, it's still facing opposition from officials who are concerned about safety issues. Driverless cars have blocked traffic, interfered with first responder vehicles and otherwise caused problems, and there's a call for regulators to limit just where and when robotaxis can operate.

Elon Musk's rebranding of Twitter as X is... not going according to plan. Indonesia has temporarily blocked X.com due to the country's laws forbidding gambling and porn. Officials don't think the site is suddenly going downhill, though. Rather, it's that the web domain's previous owners broke the country's content laws. In other words, X didn't check to see if the the predecessors had done anything leading to national bans.

The impasse likely won't last long. Information director general Usman Kansong tells the press that X has already been in touch about the issue, and is sending a letter to indicate that Twitter is taking ownership of X.com. This is more a formality than a major legal hurdle.

Still, this is another indicator of just how unplanned the Twitter-to-X transition was. Meta, Microsoft and numerous other companies already own trademarks on X, opening the door to lawsuits. X may have trouble registering and protecting trademarks, too. The company has even had problems changing its signage — a crew pulling down the Twitter sign in San Francisco had to stop over permit issues, leaving the "er" and old bird logo intact.

Musk announced the sudden transition as part of a broader plan to turn Twitter into a "super app" like China's WeChat. In theory, you could use X for payments, messaging and other tasks that go well beyond social media. The service has also lately tried to steer users toward $8 per month Blue subscriptions by both offering perks (such as much longer posts) and limiting existing features.

The momentary Indonesia ban isn't a major roadblock. However, it still means that roughly 24 million users can't even try X.com at the moment. That may be welcome news for competitors that don't face similar restrictions, including Meta's recently launched Threads (already available in Indonesia).

Microsoft isn't done refining the interface on your Xbox console. The company is rolling out an updated home screen for Xbox Series/X and One users that theoretically puts games within closer reach while giving you more room to customize the experience. There's now a quick access menu that helps you jump to your collection, Game Pass, the Microsoft Store and common functions like search and settings. You can pin favorite games and groups, and there are curated lists of games to help discover titles. The update should reach everyone within a few weeks.

At the same time, a simpler layout creates more room for your custom background. An option can change the background to match the game you've selected in your recently played list, somewhat like PlayStation's carousel. A refreshed community row helps show what friends are doing, while media spotlights and lists help you find new content to see or hear.

It's easier to buy games, too. At the same time, PayPal has revealed that you can "soon" use Venmo to buy games, apps and subscriptions in the Microsoft Store on Xbox in the US. This will help you make use of spare Venmo funds, of course, but it will also give you a way to split payments if you can't justify an up-front purchase.

The rethink comes eight months after Microsoft began publicly experimenting with a new Xbox interface. The company has a history of frequent UI redesigns and tweaks, particularly in the Xbox One era. Sony, in contrast, is relatively conservative and rarely makes major changes to the PlayStation front end in the middle of a console cycle. Microsoft's iteration may be frustrating if you're hoping for a consistent experience, but it does suggest the company is responding to gamers' feedback and hoping to stand out in the market.

The Overture Maps Foundation, a group founded by Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and TomTom, has released an initial open dataset that will help developers build mapping apps and other location-based tools. The "alpha" set includes worldwide info for over 59 million places, 780 million unique buildings, road data from OpenStreetMap and borders.

The map layers are packaged in a recently-launched Overture map format that's meant to be standardized and interoperable between platforms. The group is mainly sharing the data at this stage to get public feedback, rather than to support complete products.

The foundation was formed in December last year by a range of companies that include geospatial and mapping firms in addition to tech giants. While open map data isn't a new concept, Overture believes the collective effort is necessary to deliver accurate, up-to-date info that's no longer practical for any one organization to provide. Ideally, a newcomer won't have to worry about supplying outdated or incomplete directions.

Overture is quick to warn that there's still a lot of work left before its material is truly ready. Upcoming releases will include more open data, greater interoperability and the use of a stable ID system that will help map builders consistently add content. You might not see apps relying much (if at all) on the alpha dataset, but it serves as a starting point that gives app creators an idea of what's possible.

Google has historically dominated the mobile navigation app market, with Google Maps and Waze together claiming a clear majority of use in recent years. Apple Maps, meanwhile, tends to get nearly all the remaining share. There's not much room for challengers, and they normally need massive resources just to be competitive. Overture's open data could make it much easier to produce viable alternatives, even if they're unlikely to unseat Apple or Google any time soon.

This year's summer edition of Samsung Unpacked was busy, to put it mildly. The company not only introduced its latest wave of foldable phones, but major updates to its smartwatch and tablet lineups. But don't worry if that's a lot to take in — here's everything Samsung introduced at its event.

Watch the highlights of Galaxy Unpacked summer 2023 

If 7AM Eastern was too early for you to watch live, don't worry. We've cut down Samsung's summer Unpacked presentation to a more reasonable nine minutes. You can watch the highlights of the keynote here, including all the major product introductions. 

Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

In a slight twist, the highlight of the foldable phones this year was the "entry" clamshell device, the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The new model has a much larger 3.4-inch external display than its predecessor, letting you reply to messages, use Wallet and otherwise handle tasks that previously required opening the phone. A new hinge design also eliminates the gap when the handset is closed. You can also expect a speedier custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip and double the storage. It starts at $999, and is available for pre-order through Samsung and Amazon ahead of its August 11th release. 

The Galaxy Z Fold 5, meanwhile, is an iterative (if still welcome) update. The book-style foldable delivers a thinner, gapless design with a brighter primary display, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and improved multitasking abilities. It ships August 11th starting at $1,799, and you can pre-order it now through Samsung and Amazon.

Galaxy Watch 6

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The biggest update at summer Unpacked was arguably for Samsung's smallest computing device. The company unveiled a Galaxy Watch 6 family that makes some much-requested improvements to the Wear OS timepieces. Most notably, the rotating bezel is back — buy a Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and you can scroll through apps and widgets with a tactile feel. Both watches offer larger, brighter displays, upgraded processors, larger batteries and a "one-click" strap swapping system.

The Galaxy Watch 6 line arrives August 11th. You can pre-order through Samsung and Amazon starting at $300 for the base model and $400 for the Classic.

Galaxy Tab S9

Photo by Mat Smith/Engadget

Samsung catered to fans of high-end Android tablets at unpacked by introducing the Galaxy Tab S9 range. While the design hasn't changed much (mainly slimmer bezels), it's still a significant upgrade with dynamic refresh rate AMOLED screens, the custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, more powerful speakers and even IP68 water and dust resistance for both the tablet and included S Pen.

The series goes on sale August 11th, with pre-orders open at Samsung and Amazon. The 11-inch Galaxy Tab S9 starts at $800, while the 12.4-inch Tab S9+ begins at $1,000. The enormous 14.6-inch Tab S9 Ultra costs at least $1,200.

OpenAI was true to its word. As promised, the company has released a ChatGPT app for Android. Like the iOS version, you can talk to the generative AI to get advice, answers and other (hopefully) helpful responses. You can make voice requests using OpenAI's in-house speech recognition, sync your chat history across devices and export data — you'll mainly miss out on plugins.

ChatGPT Plus subscribers can also switch between standard (GPT-3.5) and GPT-4 language models at will. Regardless of the tier you're using, you'll need at least Android 6.0 to use the app.

The app could make ChatGPT more accessible, particularly in countries where Android dominates or PCs are less common. The software has been available for iPhone users since May, and was updated with iPad support afterward.

As with Bing Chat (based on GPT-4), Bard and other conversational AI systems, you won't want to completely rely on the results. The technology is prone to "hallucinations" that can lead to false claims, poor contextual logic and other output that isn't trustworthy. ChatGPT is sometimes more useful as a starting point than definitive answers. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Elon Musk is taking his battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the highest court in the country. Attorney Alex Spiro has confirmed that Musk will ask the Supreme Court to decide whether the SEC went too far with a consent decree determining what Musk can say about Tesla's financials on Twitter (now X). He's challenging a May 15th appeals court decision dismissing allegations the SEC abused the decree to harass him with investigations over Twitter usage.

The new appeal comes a day after a judicial panel denied Musk's request that judges reexamine the case. The entrepreneur previously claimed he was pushed into the decree, and had to give up his right to contest the constitutionality of the SEC's terms if he wanted to pursue the eventual settlement. The truce saw a total of $40 million in fines between Musk and Tesla, and required that Musk both step down as board chairman and seek legal approval when posting about company financials.

Musk drew the SEC's attention in August 2018, when he tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private and had "funding secured" with "investor support." The deal never went through, and shareholders pinned ensuing losses on Musk's posts. The Commission sued Musk over the tweets, arguing that they could be considered fraud.

During a shareholder trial, Musk contended that people didn't necessarily believe or respond to his tweets the way you'd expect. He pointed to one example where Tesla's stock price surged despite a tweet saying the value was too high. At the same time, he acknowledged that he has ignored requests to stop tweeting over delicate subjects, such as when he accused a Thai cave rescue diver of being a "pedo guy."

There's no certainty the Supreme Court will take the case or overturn the outcome. Either way, the court's response should have a significant impact on Musk's social media posting, either forcing him to honor the SEC's decisions or giving him more flexibility in what he says online.

If you've wanted to customize (or simply deface) the websites you visit, you'll now have an easy time of it. The Browser Company has released its Arc 1.0 browser for the Mac, no waitlist required. The finished version includes a few features that have popped up in recent weeks, including an optional toolbar, a site "control center" and picture-in-picture support for Google Meet video calls. The software should be leaner and faster than previous versions, too.

As before, Arc rethinks some of the fundamentals of web browsers. You can personalize the look and layout of a website using Boosts that let you change colors, replace fonts and even "zap" sections you don't want to see. While this doesn't work perfectly for every website, you can share many customizations with other users. You can use coding and scripts to create Boosts, but they don't require that know-how.

Tabs are still present. However, you primarily organize browsing around switchable virtual spaces (effectively tab groups) that help you focus on a given task, such as work or your social media catch-up. You can pin sites you use often, and there's a command bar that courts power users.

A Windows version of Arc is coming "soon," the company says. This probably won't supplant Chrome, Edge or Safari if you're a fan of those browsers. They still cover common tasks well, and the familiar interfaces may well be enough. However, Arc may be what you're looking for if you wish you could reshape the web to your liking.

How do you create a large audience for a game's spiritual sequel? Make sure everyone has played the original. Sega and Amplitude Studios have made Dungeon of the Endlessavailable for free on Steam before its follow-up, Endless Dungeon, arrives on October 19th. You have until July 27th to grab the freebie. You can also download both DLC packs through the community hub "while supplies last," according to the developers. The older game is available for both Mac and PC, although it won't work with Macs running macOS Catalina or newer.

Dungeon of the Endless drew attention by mashing up multiple game genres, including roguelikes (a brutal crawl through dynamically generated dungeons), classic role-playing, squad tactics and tower defense. You lead a team that has to defend its crashed spaceship against a horde of enemies while exploring an ever-larger dungeon. No one element is particularly complicated, but juggling them all can be challenging.

Endless Dungeon is still a hybrid game, but it's now more of a twin-stick shooter and has a gentler "roguelite" progression that lets you keep some of what you earn each time you fail. It's also built from the ground up for multiplayer. While you still lead a squad in solo play, you can invite two friends to join in. While it's more accessible, our early play session suggested it was still difficult. It'll be available on PC, PS4, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, with a closed beta available in September to Last Wish Edition pre-order customers.

If Apple is going to make the Vision Pro a success, it's going to need compelling apps — and that means giving developers hardware ahead of time. Accordingly, the company is now making Vision Pro developer kits available. If you qualify, you'll get a loaned mixed reality headset as well as help with setup, expert "check-ins" and extra support requests beyond what developers normally get.

The operative term, as you might guess, is "if." You're submitting an application, not buying a product like the old Apple Silicon Developer Transition Kit. In addition to being part of the Apple Developer Program, you'll need to detail your existing apps and overall team talent. The company will favor creators whose app "takes advantage" of the Vision Pro's features. You can't just assume you'll get a headset, then, and you're less likely to get one if you're a newcomer or simply porting an iPad app. You'll have to be content with the visionOS beta software if you don't make the cut.

You also can't use the wearable for bragging rights. Apple requires that developers keep the Vision Pro in a secure workspace that only authorized team members can access. The company can also request a unit return at any time. Don't expect many leaked details, in other words.

The current kit may only end up in the hands of larger developers as a result. However, the launch shows how Apple intends to court app creators, and what titles you're likely to see when Vision Pro arrives early next year. The focus is on polished experiences that help sell the concept, rather than a huge catalog. That's not surprising when the Vision Pro is a $3,499 device aimed at professionals and enthusiasts, but you may have to wait a while before small studios release apps based on real-world testing.