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Welcome back. Three stories this week show autonomous systems moving from pilots to production. China's WeRide secured the first city-level driverless license outside the United States, manufacturing giant Foxconn announced humanoid robots on production lines within six months, and the Pentagon is buying drone swarms that learned from Ukraine.
WeRide Gets World's First City-Level Driverless License Outside US
Chinese autonomous driving company WeRide secured approval from the UAE federal government to operate fully driverless robotaxis in Abu Dhabi. The license, approved October 31 by the RegLab under the UAE Cabinet Secretariat, authorizes Level 4 autonomous commercial operations without safety drivers.
This marks the first city-level commercial driverless license granted outside the United States. WeRide launches the service through Uber and TXAI platforms. As of October, WeRide's fleet accumulated nearly one million kilometers of operation in Abu Dhabi.
Design lesson: Sometimes the fastest path to commercial deployment isn't fighting US regulations. WeRide secured city-level driverless approval while competitors navigate multi-year processes in California. The UAE's willingness to approve driverless operations creates a testing ground for business models that work without safety drivers.
With the license allowing removal of in-vehicle safety operators, WeRide expects Abu Dhabi robotaxis to achieve per-vehicle operational break-even. Safety driver wages represent significant operational costs. WeRide plans to expand its regional fleet to 1,000 vehicles by 2026 and tens of thousands by 2030.
Foxconn to Deploy Humanoid Robots Within Six Months
Manufacturing giant Foxconn plans to use humanoid robots to make servers for Nvidia "within the next six months or so," according to CEO Young Liu. The deployment would mark a first for the Taiwanese company, which manufactures tech products for Apple, Nintendo, Sony, Google, Microsoft, and Nvidia.
Foxconn produces servers in Texas, California, and Wisconsin, with plans to expand to Ohio. Using humanoid robots will improve efficiency, Liu said, explaining that "speed is very critical for high technology like AI." A company statement confirmed it's working with Nvidia in Houston to build a next-generation smart manufacturing plant for AI servers that will be among the first to deploy humanoid robots.
Design lesson: Major manufacturers are committing to humanoid deployments with tight timelines. Foxconn's six-month deadline signals either limited initial deployment (a statement of intent) or significant confidence that the technology is ready. Watch whether they meet the deadline or need more development time.
Few details exist about the proposed deployment. It's unclear what work the robots will do or whether fewer humans will take positions inside the facility. Foxconn has replaced human workers with non-humanoid robots before. Integrating humanoid robots into spaces occupied by humans presents unique safety challenges in confined environments.
XTEND Wins Pentagon Contract for Drone Swarms
XTEND Reality secured a multi-million-dollar contract with the US Department of War to produce one-way attack drone kits. The contract covers autonomous drone swarms where a single operator controls multiple drones simultaneously. The drones will be manufactured at XTEND's Tampa Bay, Florida headquarters.
CEO Aviv Shapira told The Robot Report the company incorporated lessons from Gaza and Ukraine directly into its drone swarm architecture. The system executes complex missions with multiple drones working together, replacing human soldiers in dangerous scenarios.
XTEND's XOS platform unifies sensors, radars, payloads, and third-party features into a single AI-driven system. Each drone operates from autonomous nests deployed on trucks and remotely activated. The fleet includes specialized drones for indoor and outdoor operations, plus mothership drones managing mesh communications and battle damage assessment.
Design lesson: Combat experience accelerates product development faster than simulation. XTEND built its swarm architecture by incorporating real lessons from Gaza and Ukraine where drone warfare evolved rapidly. Companies with direct battlefield feedback iterate faster than competitors working from theory.
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Quick Hits
Foxglove raises $40M for robotics infrastructure. San Francisco's Foxglove closed $40 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The company builds observability platforms for robotics teams, handling multimodal sensor data at scale. Customers include Amazon, Anduril, Dexterity, NVIDIA, and Shield AI. Dexterity reported 20 percent savings in development time and $150,000 annually in reduced tooling costs. The horizontal approach serves warehouse robots, defense systems, agricultural automation, and self-driving vehicles. Finsmes, November 12, 2025
Humanoid market to hit $51B by 2035. Yole Group forecasts the global humanoid robot market will reach $6 billion in 2030 and $51 billion by 2035, with 55 percent CAGR. Shipments will rise to 136,000 units in 2030 and over 2 million by 2035. Average selling price will drop from $75,000 in 2025 to $25,000 in 2035, driven by Chinese OEMs and reduced component costs. Industrial adoption happens now with early rollouts targeting intralogistics and light assembly. China leads with over 50 percent of active humanoid companies. Electronics Weekly, November 12, 2025
Warehouse robots hit $6.79B market. Global warehouse robotics market reached $6.79 billion in 2024 and projects to $21.80 billion by 2032, growing at 15.7 percent CAGR. Autonomous mobile robots and automated storage systems drive growth, with over 90 percent of warehouses expected to deploy AI-powered warehouse management systems by 2025. Asia Pacific leads with massive investments and high robot density. Maximize Market Research, November 11, 2025
Xpeng launches humanoid robots and robotaxis. Chinese EV maker Xpeng unveiled its second-generation Iron humanoid robot and announced robotaxi launches for next year at AI Day on November 5, 2024. The Iron robot uses three of Xpeng's Turing AI chips and targets commercial service scenarios like reception and guiding rather than factories or homes. Mass production planned for end of 2026. Xpeng will deploy three robotaxi models using four self-developed AI chips with 3,000 TOPS combined computing power. CNBC, November 5, 2024
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Until next time. Forward this to someone tracking where autonomous systems are actually deploying commercially, not just testing.