Austin-based Tesla showed off “Cybercab” vehicle this week. Photo via tesla.com

Texas-based Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, though fans of the electric vehicle maker will have to wait until at least 2026 before they are available.

CEO Elon Musk pulled up to a stage at the Warner Bros. studio lot in one of the company's “Cybercabs," telling the crowd that the sleek, AI-powered vehicles don't have steering wheels or pedals. He also expressed confidence in the progress the company has made on autonomous driving technology that makes it possible for vehicles to drive without human intervention.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

“We’ll move from supervised Full Self-Driving to unsupervised Full Self-Driving. where you can fall asleep and wake up at your destination,” he said. "It’s going to be a glorious future.”

Tesla expects the Cybercabs to cost under $30,000, Musk said. He estimated that the vehicles would become available in 2026, then added “before 2027.”

The company also expects to make the Full Self-Driving technology available on its popular Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in Texas and California next year.

“If they’re going to eventually get to robotaxis, they first need to have success with the unsupervised FSD at the current lineup,” said Seth Goldstein, equity strategist at Morningstar Research. “Tonight’s event showed that they're ready to take that step forward.”

When Tesla will actually take that step, however, has led to more than a little anxiety for investors who see other automakers deploying similar technology right now. Shares of Tesla Inc. tumbled 9% at the opening bell Friday.

Waymo, the autonomous vehicle unit of Alphabet Inc., is carrying passengers in vehicles without human safety drivers in Phoenix and other areas. General Motors’ Cruise self-driving unit had been running robotaxis in San Francisco until a crash last year involving one of its vehicles.

Also, Aurora Innovation said it will start hauling freight in fully autonomous semis on Texas freeways by year’s end. Another autonomous semi company, Gatik, plans to haul freight autonomously by the end of 2025.

“Tesla yet again claimed it is a year or two away from actual automated driving -- just as the company has been claiming for a decade. Indeed, Tesla’s whole event had a 2014 vibe, except that in 2014 there were no automated vehicles actually deployed on public roads,” Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor who studies automated vehicles, told The Associated Press in an email. “Now there are real AVs carrying real people on real roads, but none of those vehicles are Teslas. Tonight did not change this reality; it only made the irony more glaring.”

Tesla had 20 or so Cybercabs on hand and offered event attendees the opportunity to take rides inside the movie studio lot — not on Los Angeles' roads.

At the presentation, which was dubbed “We, Robot” and was streamed live on Tesla’s website and X, Musk also revealed a sleek minibus-looking vehicle that, like the Cybercab, would be self-driving and can carry up to 20 passengers.

The company also trotted out several of its black and white Optimus humanoid robots, which walked a few feet from the attendees before showing off dance moves in a futuristic-looking gazebo.

Musk estimated that the robots would cost between $28,000-$30,000 and would be able to babysit, mow lawns, fetch groceries, among other tasks.

“Whatever you can think of, it will do,” he said.

The unveiling of the Cybercab comes as Musk tries to persuade investors that his company is more about artificial intelligence and robotics as it labors to sell its core products, an aging lineup of electric vehicles.

Tesla’s model lineup is struggling and isn’t likely to be refreshed until late next year at the earliest, TD Cowen analyst Jeff Osborne wrote in a research note last week.

Osborne also noted that, in TD Cowen’s view, the “politicization of Elon” is tarnishing the Tesla brand among Democrat buyers in the U.S.

Musk has endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and has pushed many conservative causes. Last weekend he joined Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.

Musk has been saying for more than five years that a fleet of robotaxis is near, allowing Tesla owners to make money by having their cars carry passengers while they’re not in use by the owners. Musk said that Tesla owners will be able to put their cars into service on a company robotaxi network.

But he has acknowledged that past predictions for the use of autonomous driving proved too optimistic. In 2019, he promised the fleet of autonomous vehicles by the end of 2020.

The announcement comes as U.S. safety regulators are investigating Full Self Driving and Autopilot based on evidence that it has a weak system for making sure human drivers pay attention.

In addition, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration forced Tesla to recall Full Self-Driving in February because it allowed speeding and violated other traffic laws, especially near intersections. Tesla was to fix the problems with an online software update.

Last April in Snohomish County, Washington, near Seattle, a Tesla using Full Self-Driving hit and killed a motorcyclist, authorities said. The Tesla driver told authorities that he was using the system while looking at his phone when the car rear-ended the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

NHTSA says it’s evaluating information on the fatal crash from Tesla and law enforcement officials.

The Justice Department also has sought information from Tesla about Full Self-Driving and Autopilot, as well as other items.

Ken Nguyen, principal technical program manager at bp, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the company's new partnership with NASA. Photo courtesy of bp

Podcast: Houston energy tech leader on breaking down industry silos, sustainable digitization

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Ken Nguyen oversees the implementation of new technologies at bp, which has its United States headquarters in Houston, and that includes software and hardtech, from cybersecurity to the digitization of the industry, which is an integral part of bp's energy transition plan.

"For bp, we do feel like as we transition as an international oil and gas company into an integrated energy company and we lean into the energy transition, the adoption of new technology is a critical part of making that viable for the planet and for the company," he says on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

According to Nguyen, principal technical program manager at bp, the company has invested its resources into exploring energy transition technologies like electric vehicle charging — including opening a fast-charging station at its Houston office — and renewable energy, including a solar farm about 10 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.

Another technology bp is keen on is digital twin technology, which can be crucial for enhancing safety for bp personnel and reducing emissions.

Nguyen says digital twin technology "allows us to be able to design and mirror scenarios with real-time variables, such as weather, off-take demands, and volatility."

Recently, in order to explore innovation within these technology verticals, bp and NASA entered into a Space Act Agreement with NASA.

"Houston has always been known as the Space City, and we're also known as the Energy Capital of the World, but there hasn't always been collaboration," Nguyen says. "The challenges that NASA is facing is very similar to the challenges that the oil industry faces — we operate in very harsh environments, safety is the most critical aspect of our operation, and now the economic business model for NASA has changed."

Nguyen explains that while both bp and NASA are navigating similar challenges and changes within their industry, they are going about it in different ways. That's where the opportunity to collaborate comes in.

The partnership, which is still new and not fully fleshed out, will look at collaborative innovation into a few focus areas to start out with, including hydrogen storage and development, AI and general intelligence, robotics, and remote operations

"Houston continues to excel — in energy production and in space exploration — but by coming together," Nguyen says, "and for us to be able to tap into (NASA's) knowledge is tremendous. And we, within oil and gas, have a unique set of skills to blend into that with the hopes being that the city becomes this incubator for technology. The potential is there."

Each K1 Super Tower, being created in partnership with Mountain View, California-based Knightscope, will include public safety technology.

Houston solar-powered tech company to collaborate on street safety device

lights on

EnGoPlanet, a Houston-based company that makes solar-powered street lights, is collaborating with a Silicon Valley company to create a solar-powered street light with emergency detection features.

Each K1 Super Tower, being created in partnership with Mountain View, California-based Knightscope, will include public safety technology such as:

  • Automated gunshot detection
  • Automated license-plate recognition
  • Blue strobe light
  • Mass-notification speaker
  • 360-degree, ultra-high-definition video

“We have been hard at work transforming conventional street lighting to one of the most advanced solar, battery, and LED solutions in the market — and we are excited to work with Knightscope to leverage that technology to further the public safety mission in an innovative way,” Petar Mirovic, CEO of EnGoPlanet, says in a news release.

Investors in EnGoPlanet, founded in 2019, include Houston-based Sallyport Investments and Paul Hobby, founding partner and managing director of Houston-based private equity firm Genesis Park.

Among the target customers for the K1 Super Tower are cities and colleges.

“Knightscope is rethinking every aspect of public safety technology,” says William Santana Li, chairman and CEO of Knightscope. “Pairing EnGoPlanet’s sustainable street lights with our innovative portfolio of capabilities will help illuminate more areas and set the new standard for city and campus safety.”

Knightscope, a publicly traded company, specializes in robotics and artificial intelligence geared toward public safety.

EnGoPlanet announced in April that it neared completion on its Calhoun County project that features 300 solar-powered, motion-activated street lights and 20 camera-equipped power poles at several local parks.

Houston-based Nauticus Robotics has a new CEO and fresh funding. Photo via LinkedIn

Houston offshore robotics company secures $12M, makes major leadership changes

big moves

In the wake of a leadership reshuffling and amid lingering financial troubles, publicly traded Nauticus Robotics, a Webster-based developer of subsea robots and software, has netted more than $12 million in a second tranche of funding.

The more than $12 million in new funding includes a $9.5 million loan package.

Nauticus says the funding will accelerate certification of the company’s flagship Aquanaut robot, which is being prepared for its inaugural mission — inspecting a deep-water production facility in the Gulf of Mexico that’s owned by a major oil and gas company.

The new funding comes several weeks after the company announced a change in leadership, including a new interim CEO, interim chief financial officer, and lead general counsel.

Former Halliburton Energy Services executive John Gibson, the interim CEO, became president of Nauticus last October and subsequently joined the board. Gibson replaced Nauticus founder Nicolaus Radford in the CEO role. Radford’s LinkedIn profile indicates he left Nauticus in January 2024, the same month that Gibson stepped into the interim post.

Radford founded what was known as Houston Mechatronics in 2014.

Victoria Hay, the new interim CFO at Nauticus, and Nicholas Bigney, the new lead general counsel, came aboard in the fourth quarter of 2023.

“We currently have the intellectual property, prototypes, and the talent to deliver robust products and services,” Gibson says in a news release. “Team Nauticus is now laser-focused on converting our intellectual property, including both patents and trade secrets, into differentiated solutions that bring significant value to both commercial and government customers.”

A couple of weeks after the leadership shift, the NASDAQ stock market notified Nauticus that the average closing price of the company’s common stock had fallen below the $1-per-share threshold for 30 consecutive trading days. That threshold must be met to maintain a NASDAQ listing.

Nauticus was given 180 days to lift its average stock price above $1. If that threshold isn’t reached during that 180-day period, the company risks being delisted by NASDAQ. The stock closed February 6 at 32 cents per share.

The stock woes and leadership overhaul came on the heels of a dismal third-quarter 2023 financial report from Nauticus. The company’s fourth-quarter 2023 financial report hasn’t been filed yet.

For the first nine months of 2023, Nauticus reported an operating loss of nearly $20.9 million, up from almost $11.3 million during the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, revenue sank from $8.2 million during the first nine months of 2022 to $5.5 million in the same period a year later.

Nauticus went public in September 2022 through a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) merger with New York City-based CleanTech Acquisition Corp., a “blank check” company that went public in July 2021 through a $150 million IPO. The SPAC deal was valued at $560 million when it was announced in December 2021.

Nauticus recently hired investment bank Piper Sandler & Co. to help evaluate “strategic options to maximize shareholder value.”

One of the strategic alternatives involves closing Nauticus’ previously announced merger with Houston-based 3D at Depth, which specializes in subsea laser technology. When it was unveiled last October, the all-stock deal was valued at $34 million.

The robots, developed by UH researchers, will provide a safer and more cost effective alternative to pipeline inspections, which are traditionally performed by human divers and require a great deal of time and money. Photo via UH.edu

UH team partners with Chevron, Oceaneering for remote-operated pipeline inspector

subsea innovation

Two professors at the University of Houston have developed an autonomous subsea vehicle that aims to decrease the number and severity of oil spills.

Known as SmartTouch technology, the Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) use smart touch sensors, video cameras and scanning sonars to inspect flange bolts in subsea pipelines, which are considered to lead to increased rates of leakage, according to a release from the university.

The ROVs, developed by UH's Zheng Chen and Gangbing Song, will provide a safer and more cost effective alternative to pipeline inspections, which are traditionally performed by human divers and require a great deal of time and money.

“By automating the inspection process with this state-of-the art robotic technology, we can dramatically reduce the cost and risk of these important subsea inspections which will lead to safer operations of offshore oil and gas pipelines as less intervention from human divers will be needed,” Chen, the Bill D. Cook Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, said in a statement.

The technology will also be highly accurate in monitoring corrosion, which according to Song, the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is responsible for most small leaks in subsea pipelines.

The project is funded by a $960,000 grant from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), which is a part of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Chen and Song are also collaborating with Houston-based Oceaneering International on the development of the ROVs, which Oceaneering specializes in. Energy giant Chevron will evaluate the technology’s future commercialization, according to UH, and preliminary studies were funded by the university's Subsea Systems Institute.

Thus far, a prototype of the ROVs has been tested in Chen's lab at UH and in Galveston Bay. Experiments showed the technology's ability to inspect the looseness of subsea bolted connections, like flange bolts.

Chen and Song see other applications for their technology, as well.

"Ultimately, the project will push the boundaries of what can be accomplished by integrating robotics and structural health monitoring technologies," Chen added in the statement. "With proper implementation, the rate of subsea pipeline failure and related accidents will decrease, and subsea operations will be free to expand at a faster rate than before.”

Earlier this summer the UH Subsea Systems Institute and SPRINT Robotics teamed up to develop a robotics training program for the energy industry known as “Robotics in Energy.” The first of a series of two-day courses debuted in May and a subsequent course, Automation & Autonomy, will launch next month. Others are expected to be rolled out in the future as part of the university's Micro-Credentialing Programs in UH Energy.

Additionally Chevron and UH partnered up again last month to announce its inaugural cohort of UH-Chevron Energy Graduate Fellows.

UH is developing a wide range of robotics programming for the energy industry. Photo courtesy of University of Houston

University of Houston introduces robotics training programming for energy industry

automation station

Over the past 14 months, UH Energy at the University of Houston has developed a unique robotics training program for the energy industry.

UH Subsea Systems Institute and SPRINT Robotics teamed up to make the robotics-focused curriculum “Robotics in Energy,” which debuted in May. The two-day course offered hands-on training experience with innovative robotics technologies and attracted professionals from the oil and gas industry like participants from Chevron, and renewable energy sectors made up the 40 companies that were involved. The first day focused on topics like impact on business, safety and reliability, and risk analysis all within the spectrum of the energy industry. The second day of the course included a site tour at Sonardyne with instructor-led demonstrations of robotics technologies.

Wenyu Zuo, SSI coordinator of the robotics curriculum tells the University that he believes this will “address a critical workforce challenge.”

“The robotics program will help workforce development to give them robotic knowledge to help them to use robots to improve the quality, and in the future, the demand for remote operations- this is very important for current energy companies,” Zuo says.

The unique programming will prepare and upskill a workforce where robotics have a seat at the table. Photo via uh.edu

The Robotics in Energy class is the first of four modules in the robotics curriculum. The next courses are Robotics Foundation, Automation and Autonomy, and AI & the Vision for Integration, and are expected to be offered sometime later in 2023. Robotics Foundation will be a fundamentals of robotics course, Automation and Autonomy will aim to go in-depth on automation and robotics, and AI & the Vision for Integration,will look to “enhance integrity within energy operations” according to the official course descriptions.

While renewable energies and other energy innovations are being more accepted into the discourse among the industry, the UH Subsea Systems Institute saw an opening to integrate robotics as a new innovation for companies to consider.

“We are upscaling…we see the energy industry from an innovation perspective as very invested in certain things, but not very invested in this automation and robotics space, so it is quite needy “ says John Allen, adviser to the program who previously has experience as an executive at General Electric and Automation Machinery Manufacturing along with various other energy organizations.

When labor-intensive work conditions offshore provide some risk to the humans doing the job, robotics may work in the environment to get people out of “harm's way” and “automate” the work according to Allen.

For now, the workforce is the audience that they are targeting to help companies catch up with the technology, which the course hopes to evolve with.

“In the future, as the technology is developing , and robotics is rapidly developing technology, we want to keep it (the program) evolving year-by-year,” Zuo says on how Robotics in Energy may look going forward.

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Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week announces 2025 dates, key events

comeback tour

Six local organizations focused on the energy transition have teamed up to bring back Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week.

The second annual event will take place Sept. 15-19, according to an announcement. The Ion District will host many of the week's events.

Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week was founded in 2024 by Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, Halliburton Labs, Greentown Labs, Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI), Digital Wildcatters and Activate.

“Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week was created to answer a fundamental question: Can we achieve more by working together than we can alone?” Jane Stricker, senior vice president at the Greater Houston Partnership and executive director of HETI, said in the release.

So far, events for the 2025 Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week include an introduction to climatetech accelerator Activate's latest cohort, the Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum, a showcase from Greentown Labs' ACCEL cohort, and Halliburton Labs Pitch Day.

Houston organizations New Climate Ventures and Digital Wildcatters, along with Global Corporate Venturing, are slated to offer programming again in 2025. And new partners, Avatar Innovations and Decarbonization Partners, are slated to introduce events. Find a full schedule here.

Other organizations can begin entering calendar submissions starting in May, according to the release.

Last year, Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week welcomed more than 2,000 attendees, investors and industry leaders to more than 30 events. It featured more than 100 speakers and showcased more than 125 startups.

"In 2024, we set out to build something with lasting impact—rooted in the ingenuity of Houston’s technologists and founders. Thanks to a collaborative effort across industry, academia, and startups, we’ve only just begun to showcase Houston’s strengths and invite others to be part of this movement," Stricker added in the release. "We can’t wait to see the city rise to the occasion again in 2025.”

Dow aims to power Texas manufacturing complex with next-gen nuclear reactors

Clean Energy

Dow, a major producer of chemicals and plastics, wants to use next-generation nuclear reactors for clean power and steam at a Texas manufacturing complex instead of natural gas.

Dow's subsidiary, Long Mott Energy, applied Monday to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a construction permit. It said the project with X-energy, an advanced nuclear reactor and fuel company, would nearly eliminate the emissions associated with power and steam generation at its plant in Seadrift, Texas, avoiding roughly 500,000 metric tons of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions annually.

If built and operated as planned, it would be the first U.S. commercial advanced nuclear power plant for an industrial site, according to the NRC.

For many, nuclear power is emerging as an answer to meet a soaring demand for electricity nationwide, driven by the expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence, manufacturing and electrification, and to stave off the worst effects of a warming planet. However, there are safety and security concerns, the Union of Concerned Scientists cautions. The question of how to store hazardous nuclear waste in the U.S. is unresolved, too.

Dow wants four of X-energy's advanced small modular reactors, the Xe-100. Combined, those could supply up to 320 megawatts of electricity or 800 megawatts of thermal power. X-energy CEO J. Clay Sell said the project would demonstrate how new nuclear technology can meet the massive growth in electricity demand.

The Seadrift manufacturing complex, at about 4,700 acres, has eight production plants owned by Dow and one owned by Braskem. There, Dow makes plastics for a variety of uses including food and beverage packaging and wire and cable insulation, as well as glycols for antifreeze, polyester fabrics and bottles, and oxide derivatives for health and beauty products.

Edward Stones, the business vice president of energy and climate at Dow, said submitting the permit application is an important next step in expanding access to safe, clean, reliable, cost-competitive nuclear energy in the United States. The project is supported by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

The NRC expects the review to take three years or less. If a permit is issued, construction could begin at the end of this decade, so the reactors would be ready early in the 2030s, as the natural gas-fired equipment is retired.

A total of four applicants have asked the NRC for construction permits for advanced nuclear reactors. The NRC issued a permit to Abilene Christian University for a research reactor and to Kairos Power for one reactor and two reactor test versions of that company's design. It's reviewing an application by Bill Gates and his energy company, TerraPower, to build an advanced reactor in Wyoming.

X-energy is also collaborating with Amazon to bring more than 5 gigawatts of new nuclear power projects online across the United States by 2039, beginning in Washington state. Amazon and other tech giants have committed to using renewable energy to meet the surging demand from data centers and artificial intelligence and address climate change.

Houston geothermal company closes $13M in investments to fuel growth

fresh funding

XGS Energy, a California-headquartered geothermal power company with a major presence in Houston, has closed $13 million in new financing that included new investors Aligned Climate Capital, ClearSky, ClimateIC and WovenEarth Ventures, in addition to inside investors.

The company plans to “aggressively expand” its team in Houston this year, according to a news release.

“We are facing global energy supply challenges of unprecedented scale and urgency,” Kevin Kimsa, Managing Partner at ClimateIC, said in the release. “The XGS team is uniquely primed to meet the moment, bringing together innovative technology and leading engineering talent with the deep experience in infrastructure development and financing critical to deploying large-scale energy systems at speed.”

As part of the financing deal, Mano Nazar, ClearSky Senior Advisor and the former Chief Nuclear Officer of NextEra Energy, will join the XGS Energy Board of Directors.

“XGS’s advanced geothermal technology is uniquely positioned to deliver abundant energy to the grid faster than any other baseload energy technology at a time of unprecedented demand for energy resources,” Nazar said in a news release. “We are excited to partner with XGS to deliver on their mission of sustainable, reliable, and scalable geothermal energy.”

XGS is known for its next-gen closed-loop geothermal well architecture. The company saw massive growth in the Houston market last year and recently completed a 100-meter field demonstration in central Texas. The new funding supports the XGS’s multi-gigawatt project pipeline.

The recent financing also builds on an oversubscribed Series A round led by Constellation Technology Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures, and Valo Ventures that closed last year.