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Robotics and automation news covering Houston, Texas, and the industry at large.

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Amazon's Zoox Brings a Robotaxi With No Steering Wheel to Houston
General September 16, 2026

Amazon's Zoox Brings a Robotaxi With No Steering Wheel to Houston

Zoox has begun testing in Houston, calling it the company's most sprawling market to date. Unlike its rivals, Zoox isn't retrofitting cars — its production robotaxi is purpose-built with no driving controls at all, carriage-style seating, and sliding doors. It makes Houston a four-way robotaxi contest.

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Uber Just Bet on Drones — and Houston Is One of the First Two Cities
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Uber Just Bet on Drones — and Houston Is One of the First Two Cities
Uber and Zipline announced a long-term partnership on August 17, with Uber taking a strategic stake in the drone company. Houston and Dallas are the first two markets, and Zipline deliveries will appear inside the Uber Eats app itself. The stated ambition: one million drone deliveries a day by the end of 2029.
Houston Robotics Staff Aug 19, 2026
Houston's Horizon Aerobotics Is Automating Drone Inspection for Critical Infrastructure
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Houston's Horizon Aerobotics Is Automating Drone Inspection for Critical Infrastructure
Horizon Aerobotics, a Houston enterprise-drone company, builds autonomous aerial inspection for critical infrastructure — starting with railyards. Its Vantage AI service and HX1 drone target operators who need reliable, repeatable security and safety inspections without standing up their own drone program.
Houston Robotics Staff Jul 17, 2026
Houston's Paladin Wants a Drone Answering Every 911 Call — and Just Launched Knighthawk 2.0
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Houston's Paladin Wants a Drone Answering Every 911 Call — and Just Launched Knighthawk 2.0
Houston's Paladin builds Drone-as-First-Responder systems that put live aerial video over an emergency scene before officers or firefighters arrive. Its new Knighthawk 2.0 — NDAA-compliant, 40+ mph — can reach a scene miles away in about 70 seconds. Paladin's stated goal: a drone responding to every 911 call in the U.S. by 2027.
Houston Robotics Staff Jul 17, 2026
Houston's Tempest Droneworx Turns Drones, Robots, and Sensors Into Real-Time Intelligence — and Is Building a Shipyard Welding Robot
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Houston's Tempest Droneworx Turns Drones, Robots, and Sensors Into Real-Time Intelligence — and Is Building a Shipyard Welding Robot
Tempest Droneworx, a Houston startup, fuses data from drones, robots, and sensors into real-time actionable intelligence through its Harbinger platform — built on a video-game engine. It's also developing a robot-welder prototype for Hyundai's shipbuilding division, planned to debut in 2026.
Houston Robotics Staff Jul 13, 2026
Walmart's Drone Delivery Is Spreading Fast Across Houston — Now 13 Stores and Counting
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Walmart's Drone Delivery Is Spreading Fast Across Houston — Now 13 Stores and Counting
Walmart and drone operator Wing added eight new Houston-area stores to their drone-delivery network in July, reaching 13 locations and more than a million residents. Orders of everyday essentials arrive by autonomous drone in under five minutes — lowered by tether — bypassing Houston's notorious traffic.
Houston Robotics Staff Jul 13, 2026
Houston's Bot Auto Hauled Freight 231 Miles Across Texas With Nobody in the Truck
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Houston's Bot Auto Hauled Freight 231 Miles Across Texas With Nobody in the Truck
Houston-founded Bot Auto ran a commercial freight load 231 miles from Houston to the Dallas area overnight with no safety driver, no remote operator, and no in-cab observer — a fully humanless run that puts a homegrown startup in the front rank of autonomous trucking. Founder Xiaodi Hou is a TuSimple veteran.
Houston Robotics Staff Jul 13, 2026
Why Texas Became the Capital of Autonomous Trucking
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Why Texas Became the Capital of Autonomous Trucking
Driverless trucks are now hauling real freight across Texas — Aurora running fully driverless lanes including Dallas-Houston, and Kodiak targeting a long-haul driverless launch. A guide to why Texas became the proving ground for autonomous freight, how the technology works, and where Houston fits in.
Houston Robotics Staff Jun 24, 2026
Houston's Robotaxi Race Heats Up: Uber, Nuro, and Lucid Join Waymo on City Streets
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Houston's Robotaxi Race Heats Up: Uber, Nuro, and Lucid Join Waymo on City Streets
Uber, Nuro, and Lucid are bringing a new autonomous ride-hail service to Houston, joining Waymo in turning the city into one of the country's most active robotaxi markets. The service will pair Lucid EVs with Nuro's Level 4 self-driving platform, with a premium Uber rollout planned for mid-2027.
Houston Robotics Staff Jun 19, 2026
Pony.ai's Robotaxi Revenue Grew 395% in Q1 — and It's Just Getting Started
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Pony.ai's Robotaxi Revenue Grew 395% in Q1 — and It's Just Getting Started
Autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai posted 395% year-over-year robotaxi revenue growth in Q1 2026, raised its year-end fleet target from 3,000 to 3,500 vehicles, and launched what it calls Europe's first commercial robotaxi service in Zagreb — putting real commercial numbers behind the autonomous vehicle industry's promises.
Houston Robotics Staff May 29, 2026
Waymo Suspends Houston Robotaxi Service After Vehicles Drive Into Floodwaters
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Waymo Suspends Houston Robotaxi Service After Vehicles Drive Into Floodwaters
Less than two weeks after announcing its World Cup expansion, Waymo has paused robotaxi service in Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio following a high-profile incident in Atlanta where an unoccupied Waymo vehicle drove into a flooded road and sat stranded for an hour — exposing a core software flaw the company had not yet fully fixed.
Houston Robotics Staff May 29, 2026
Houston Robotics: Why the Energy Capital Is Also America's Automation Hub
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Houston Robotics: Why the Energy Capital Is Also America's Automation Hub
Houston is home to one of the most concentrated robotics ecosystems in the United States — spanning offshore energy, the world's largest medical complex, NASA's Johnson Space Center, the Port of Houston, and a growing humanoid robot manufacturing presence. Here's the full picture.
Houston Robotics Staff May 25, 2026
A Humanoid Robot Just Cleaned a Real Apartment. A Startup Called Gatsby Did It First.
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A Humanoid Robot Just Cleaned a Real Apartment. A Startup Called Gatsby Did It First.
Gatsby, a San Francisco startup backed by NVIDIA Inception, completed the first humanoid robot residential cleaning service for a U.S. consumer on May 14 — $150 flat via an iOS app, with no hardware of its own, building the consumer platform layer on top of whatever robot hardware is best.
Houston Robotics Staff May 25, 2026
Waymo Doubles Its Houston Footprint Just in Time for the World Cup
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Waymo Doubles Its Houston Footprint Just in Time for the World Cup
Waymo is nearly doubling its Houston robotaxi coverage from 25 to 50 square miles, adding the Texas Medical Center, EaDo, and NRG Stadium ahead of FIFA World Cup matches beginning next month — making Houston one of the first cities where autonomous vehicles will serve a major global sporting event.
Houston Robotics Staff May 25, 2026
Welcome to Houston Robotics: Your Hub for Automation in the Energy Capital
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Welcome to Houston Robotics: Your Hub for Automation in the Energy Capital
Houston is more than oil and gas — it's becoming one of the most important robotics and automation hubs in the country. Here's why, and what we're building here.
Houston Robotics Staff Apr 20, 2026