Thomas Hawk posted a photo:
Waymo is recalling almost 3,800 robotaxis amid fears they may go off-script and drive into floods on high-speed roads. All 3,791 cars running Waymo’s fifth and sixth-generation Automated Driving Systems (ADS) are being taken off the road before they potentially injure passengers. "The software may allow the vehicle to slow and then drive into standing water on higher speed roadways," Waymo said in a letter [PDF] to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) this week. "Entering a flooded roadway can cause a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash or injury." The Alphabet-owned robotaxi biz said all affected cars received an update on April 20, which increased "weather-related constraints and updated the vehicle maps," which served as an "interim remedy" while it works on a more permanent solution. This coincided with a case in San Antonio, Texas, on April 20, in which a car was caught on video - shared with broadcaster KSAT 12 - driving into floodwater and becoming stuck. “On 4/20/2026, an unoccupied Waymo AV encountered an untraversable flooded section of a roadway that has a 40 mph speed limit,” the company wrote in one document [PDF] supporting the recall notice. “The Waymo AV detected potentially untraversable flood water and proceeded at reduced speed.” Waymo temporarily suspended its services in San Antonio as a result and started pulling cars from the city’s fleet days after. The suspension remains in place today. The Register asked Waymo for more information. The company currently operates 24/7 driverless robotaxi services in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Waymo has also set its sights on launching in London in September, its first foray outside the US, pending necessary regulatory changes that would allow driverless cars to operate in the city. Test cars have already been spotted on the capital’s streets with trained experts behind the wheel, should any of the cars encounter issues, much like the deal Waymo agreed to in New York when the state handed its testing license back. As The Register previously reported, given the differences in the roads and other motoring infrastructure between the US and UK, Waymo will have to overcome unique challenges before opening its car doors to the public. In testing these vehicles now, Waymo is building a base of evidence to support its bid to operate in the UK. In recent years, however, the company has had to tackle some tricky PR hiccups, mainly related to safety – an issue that autonomous car companies often claim their tech will help improve, not hinder. Reports of serious issues, including cars ignoring red lights and veering into moving traffic, and killing dogs, sit alongside evidence of the technology helping to avoid potential freeway pile-ups, like a recent Waymo case study in LA shows. Serious issues continue to plague cars, and while they attract more media scrutiny than equivalent human-driver mishaps, public trust will remain strained until cases become far rarer. ®
William Majcher was accused of helping Chinese police coerce a Vancouver-area real estate investor, accused of fraud, to return to China
A retired police officer Canada accused of being an agent for China has been acquitted of national security charges after prosecutors failed to prove he acted illegally.
William Majcher, who served in the RCMP’s financial crime unit, was charged in 2023 over allegations he had breached Canada’s Security of Information Act by helping Chinese police coerce a Vancouver-area real estate investor, accused of fraud, to return to China.
Continue reading...Chinese leader appears to be in the driving seat as the unusually polite US president ignores questions on Taiwan
Why does Donald Trump look so at home in China?
The US president spent day one of his summit in Beijing basking in rigid pageantry, heroically managing not to offend his hosts and offering the verdict: “China is beautiful.”
Continue reading...A stoppage-time eruption and a crying Manolo González means the Catalan club’s long-awaited victory changes everything
After 143 days and many more sleepless nights Manolo González was liberated, if only for a little while. In the 92nd minute of the 19th game of 2026, something amazing happened: Espanyol won and Espanyol went wild. A goal up against Athletic Club, a late Gorka Guruzeta header had shaken them more than the post it hit, a familiar fatalism refusing to leave, and they were desperately hanging on to what they had now and had lost too many times before, whistling for this suffering to finally end, when at last they could let go. “You have to be strong in life but, bloody hell, we all have limits,” González said, and they had reached theirs but now, on a Wednesday evening in May, they were released.
Ramon Terrats, a boyhood Espanyol, nodded the ball on. Kike García, the only member of the squad born in the 80s and a man with a bit of the 80s about him, a 36-year-old, 6ft 1in, 12-stone striker they call the “labourer of goals”, a sub who had only been out there six minutes, ran on to it. Keeping his head, he guided a shot past Unai Simón so everyone else could lose theirs. The clock said 91.06. The scoreboard said 2-0. The table said: 14th, 42 points, 11 wins. And 29,943 people said: argrhjrfujhkngsafkjhfskljdzrogjdgixjkgjhlkbxcfh. As for González, he broke down and cried.
Continue reading...There are so many causes here that aren’t up to him, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Rather than trying to change him, change the goal
Read more Leading questions
I am in a relationship with a lovely man who I first dated when we were 19 and 20 years old respectively. Now in our mid-50s, we have been together for three years. We laugh a lot and enjoy doing lots of things together – his enthusiasm for travel matches mine.
The issue is he sleeps a lot – at least 10 hours a night but could be 12 hours. He could easily stay in bed until 1pm on any day off. This means when we are on one of our frequent trips away, we rarely get to do things together in the morning – a time I love. I’ve addressed it with him and he sometimes makes the effort, but then reverts back. We don’t live together and only see each other one day a week, so time is precious and I often end up waiting around for him to get up.
Continue reading...(Ourness)
Seething with righteous anger and moshpit-ready tracks, the Australian artist’s genre-hopping but cohesive LP makes a case for the durability of the form
Last September, Genesis Owusu road-tested material from his then-untitled third album at three intimate gigs at Sydney Opera House. Performing in the round for adoring fans, he radiated the confidence of an artist sharing music he deeply believes in. What made the new songs so arresting were the contrasts – snarling punk intermingling with neosoul and dexterous hip-hop – all grounded in Kofi Owusu-Ansah’s magnetic charisma. Even then, months before the album’s release, it was clear the next era of the Ghanaian Australian artist would be something special.
Now titled Redstar Wu & the Worldwide Scourge, Genesis Owusu’s third album arrives with significant expectation after its predecessors – 2021’s Smiling With No Teeth and 2023’s Struggler – rode waves of acclaim and went on to win the Aria album of the year. Following the dense symbolism of those records, with their vivid imagery of black dogs and the unkillable roach, Genesis Owusu has made clear his latest exists “very much on planet Earth in the 2020s”.
Continue reading...With the release of Michael and not one but four Beatles feature films under way, I am once again calling for a moratorium on these films (with one exception)
In the last few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion around the new Michael Jackson biopic. It is a film that has seen huge success at the box office, while receiving mixed (mostly negative) reviews.
It has been skewered as a shallow film, more like a well-performed playlist of Michael Jackson songs than a deep dive into his complicated story. The movie also ends in 1988, a seemingly deliberate choice to avoid having to reckon with the darker aspects of his life that followed.
Rebecca Shaw is a writer based in Sydney
Continue reading...
Yun Kloosterman (14) wil de top van het rolstoeltennis bereiken. Maar rolstoelsporten is veel duurder dan valide sporten. „Eindelijk een sport die lukt. Maar het geld is op.”
/s3/static.nrc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/13125908/140526SPO_2033630064_Yun8.jpg)
Top spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Brussels of being a “direct participant” in the war due to its continued support of Ukraine.
BRUSSEL (ANP/RTR) - Voorzitter van de Europese Commissie Ursula von der Leyen heeft op X kritiek geuit op "een van de langste en meest meedogenloze droneaanvallen tegen Oekraïne" door Rusland. "Terwijl Rusland diplomatieke inspanningen openlijk tart, blijven wij Oekraïne versterken."
Von der Leyen deelde een bericht van de Oekraïense president Volodymyr Zelensky. Daarin schrijft hij over vijf doden in Kyiv, vele tientallen gewonden in heel Oekraïne en schade op 180 plaatsen. "Weer een nacht van dood en vernietiging. En het zonder aanzien des persoons aanvallen van burgers", merkt Von der Leyen daarbij op.
De commissievoorzitter zegt dat een nieuw dronepakket ter waarde van 6 miljard euro wordt afgerond en dat de sancties tegen Rusland "steeds strenger" worden.
Kremlinwoordvoerder Dmitri Peskov zei donderdag volgens het staatspersbureau RIA dat Europa er niet op moet rekenen dat het een rol krijgt in vredesbesprekingen over Oekraïne. Volgens hem is Europa betrokken bij de oorlog door zich achter Oekraïne te scharen.
AKEN (ANP/DPA) - Mario Draghi, de voormalige president van de Europese Centrale Bank (ECB) en oud-premier van Italië, heeft donderdag in het Duitse Aken de prestigieuze Karelsprijs ontvangen. Bij de uitreiking sprak de Duitse bondskanselier Friedrich Merz zijn lof uit voor Draghi en zijn bijdrage aan de Europese eenheid en het redden van de euro tijdens de Europese schuldencrisis.
In januari werd al bekend dat Draghi dit jaar de Internationale Karel de Grote Prijs van Aken zou ontvangen. De 78-jarige Draghi was van november 2011 tot en met oktober 2019 voorzitter van de ECB. Tijdens de eurocrisis in 2012 hield hij een beroemde speech, waarin hij verklaarde dat de ECB "er alles aan zal doen om de euro te redden". Mede daardoor herstelde de rust op de financiële markten en werd de crisis bezworen. Draghi is bij de centrale bank in Frankfurt opgevolgd door Christine Lagarde.
Merz noemde Draghi bij zijn bijnaam 'Super Mario', naar het beroemde Nintendo-computerspelfiguur. Hij zei dat Draghi tijdens de crisis risico's nam toen de euro in gevaar was en dat dit de eenheidsmunt heeft gered.
Rapport
In 2024 kwam Draghi ook nog met een belangrijk rapport waarin hij waarschuwde dat de Europese Unie dringend innovatiever moest worden om niet achterop te raken bij concurrerende economische grootmachten als de Verenigde Staten en China. Merz zei dat Draghi hier de weg heeft gewezen voor Europa om concurrerender te worden in de wereld. Draghi was tussen februari 2021 en oktober 2022 premier van Italië.
De Karelsprijs wordt sinds 1950 uitgereikt in de West-Duitse stad Aken. De onderscheiding is vernoemd naar Karel de Grote en is bedoeld voor personen of instellingen die zich inzetten voor de Europese eenwording. De prijs ging eerder naar de Oekraïense president Volodymyr Zelensky en het Oekraïense volk, de Britse premier Winston Churchill en paus Franciscus. Toenmalig koningin Beatrix ontving de prijs in 1996. Vorig jaar ging de eer naar de voorzitter van de Europese Commissie, Ursula von der Leyen.