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The robotaxi price war has started. Here’s everything you need to know.

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The robotaxi price war has started. Here’s everything you need to know.

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Right now, in several American cities, you can open an app, and a car with no driver pulls up and takes you wherever you want to go. No small talk. No wrong turns. No tip. No perfume covering up the cigarette smells.

A driverless Waymo ride in San Francisco averages $8.17. A human Uber in the same city? $17.25. The robotaxi price war is here.

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I live in Phoenix most of the time, and I see Waymos everywhere. At the grocery store. On the freeway. Sitting at red lights with nobody behind the wheel, just vibing. I still haven’t gotten in one. But I’m giving myself two weeks.

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If I survive, I’ll share the ride. Mostly kidding.

A Waymo drives across Congress Avenue on 8th Street in front of the Capitol Building as rain arrives in the Austin area on Friday, Jan. 23, 2025 ahead of anticipated drops in temperature and freezing rain over the weekend.  (Sara Diggins/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)

Who’s on the road?

Waymo (owned by Google’s parent Alphabet) is the clear leader. It gave 15 million driverless rides in 2025, and today, it’s about 400,000 per week. Valued at $126 billion. Available in Phoenix, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and Miami. Coming in 2026: Dallas, Denver, DC, London, Tokyo and more.

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Tesla launched in Austin last June but is way behind. Roughly 31 cars. One tester took 42 trips, and every single one still had a safety monitor on board. So supervised.

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Zoox (owned by Amazon) is the wild card. Their pod has no steering wheel and drives in both directions. Rides are free in Vegas and San Francisco while they wait for approval to charge.

A Cruise vehicle in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday Feb. 2, 2022. Cruise LLC, the self-driving car startup that is majority owned by General Motors Co., said its offering free rides to non-employees in San Francisco for the first time, a move that triggers another $1.35 billion from investor SoftBank Vision Fund. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

How do these things ‘see’?

Waymo uses cameras, lidar (laser radar that builds a 3D map around the car) and traditional radar. It works in total darkness and heavy rain. Tesla uses cameras only. Eight of them, no lidar. Cheaper, which is how they offer rides at $1.99 per kilometer. 

Now, are they safe? 

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Tesla has reported seven crash incidents to regulators since launching. Waymo says it has 80% fewer injury crashes than human drivers. But NHTSA has logged 1,429 Waymo incidents since 2021, 117 injuries, two fatalities. Three software recalls, including one last December for passing stopped school buses. 

A friend of mine took a Waymo, and it dropped her off a full mile from where she was going. No way to change it. No human to flag down. Just a robot car that said, “You have arrived.” 

She had not. So yeah. I’m curious. But I’m also cautious.

A Tesla Inc. robotaxi on Oltorf Street in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, June 22, 2025. The launch of Tesla Inc.’s driverless taxi service Sunday is set to begin modestly, with a handful of vehicles in limited areas of the city.  (Tim Goessman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Here’s where it gets spicy

When a robotaxi gets confused, a human in a remote center sees through the car’s cameras and draws a path for it. At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 4, Waymo admitted some of those helpers are in the Philippines. Senators were not amused. I wasn’t either.

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Your car sits parked 95% of the time. Robotaxis run 15+ hours a day. When a driverless ride costs less than gas and insurance, owning a car feels like a gym membership you never use.

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The future of driving is nobody driving. Steering us in a whole new direction.

Know someone who still thinks self-driving cars are science fiction? Forward this. They’re in for a ride.

Copyright 2026, WestStar Multimedia Entertainment. All rights reserved.

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Godzilla Minus Zero stomps through New York in first teaser trailer

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Godzilla Minus Zero stomps through New York in first teaser trailer

*insert Godzilla screeching sound* Here’s the very first look at the next big kaiju feature. Godzilla Minus Zero will continue the story of 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, which returned the franchise to the more grounded tone established in the original film, and while the new teaser trailer doesn’t show a whole lot, it suggests some big things for the series.

Minus Zero is set in 1949, two years after the first movie, “and continues the story of the Shikishima family as they face an all-new calamity,” according to the official logline. Apparently that includes shifting the setting from Tokyo to New York, as we see Godzilla right next to the Statue of Liberty. Stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe will be reprising their roles, while director Takashi Yamazaki — who is also making a giant robot movie called Grandgear — will once again be helming the film. Toho also says that Minus Zero will be the first Japanese movie filmed for IMAX.

It’s a busy time for the world’s most famous kaiju, who will also be appearing in the next entry in Legendary’s monsterverse with Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, and is currently featured in the Apple TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Godzilla Minus Zero, meanwhile, hits theaters on November 6th.

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Why your home Wi-Fi needs more than just a strong password

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Why your home Wi-Fi needs more than just a strong password

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If you’ve locked down your home Wi-Fi with a strong password, you’re already ahead of the game. But here’s the reality: a password alone isn’t enough to keep your online activity private.

Most people think of Wi-Fi security as simply keeping strangers off their network. And while that matters, it’s only part of the picture. Even with a secure password, your internet activity can still be visible to others in ways you might not expect.

A Wi-Fi password keeps people out, but it does not hide what happens inside your connection.

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DO YOU NEED A VPN AT HOME? HERE ARE 10 REASONS YOU DO

A strong Wi-Fi password can keep intruders off your network, but it does not stop others from seeing what you do online. A VPN adds encryption and helps protect your privacy. (trumzz/Getty Images)

Who can still see your data?

When you connect to the internet at home, your internet service provider (ISP) can see a surprising amount of what you do online. That can include the websites you visit, how long you spend on them and sometimes even more detailed activity.

In some cases, that data can be:

  • Logged and stored
  • Shared with third parties
  • Used to build advertising profiles

And it’s not just your ISP. Websites, apps, big tech companies, governments and data brokers are constantly collecting information about your behavior, often without you realizing it. Think of it this way: your password locks the front door, but once your data leaves your house, it can still be exposed along the way. That’s where a VPN comes in.

How a VPN adds real privacy

A virtual private network (VPN) creates a secure, encrypted tunnel between your device and the internet. That means your data is scrambled before it leaves your home network, making it much harder for anyone to see what you’re doing online. 

In addition, connecting to a VPN server gives you a new IP address, so your online activity can’t be easily traced back to you. This makes it harder for advertisers, social networks and scammers to construct behavioral profiles, which can be used to target you with things like phishing attacks.

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With a VPN:

  • Your browsing activity is hidden from your ISP
  • Your IP address is masked, making tracking more difficult
  • Your connection is encrypted, even on everyday home Wi-Fi

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Even on protected home Wi-Fi, your ISP and other companies may still see parts of your online activity. (Liudmila Chernetska/Getty Images)

Many VPN services are popular for their speed, simplicity and overall feature sets. This becomes even more important if you ever use public Wi-Fi, where your data is far more exposed.

What does this mean in practice?

For starters, most VPN services are easy to use. They offer apps for nearly every device imaginable, including options that work directly with routers. These apps are straightforward to set up and configure.

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Once running, a single click or tap is all it takes to change your virtual location, mask your IP address and encrypt your connection. High-speed servers mean they don’t fall into the trap of slowing you down. In many cases, using a VPN can even provide more consistent, reliable speeds.

With a more anonymous IP address, your ISP is also less able to throttle (cap) your connection speeds, as some providers do.

Setting up a VPN on your router protects every device in your home automatically, including smart TVs, gaming consoles and other connected devices.

Many VPN providers now go beyond basic protection and offer additional privacy tools. These can include password managers, email protection, identity monitoring and even private AI tools designed to keep your data more secure.

In short, it’s no longer just about securing your connection. It’s about protecting your entire digital footprint.

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A smarter way to protect your home network

Your home Wi-Fi is the gateway to everything you do: online banking, shopping, working and staying connected. Relying on just a password is like locking your door but leaving the curtains wide open.

Adding a VPN gives you an extra layer of privacy that works quietly in the background while enhancing every corner of your digital life.

It’s about being prepared, sure. But it’s also about peace of mind.

5 SIMPLE TECH TIPS TO IMPROVE DIGITAL PRIVACY

A secure password protects your router, but not necessarily your digital footprint. Using a VPN can help keep your browsing, IP address and home network more private. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

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Ways to protect your privacy beyond a password

  • Use a VPN on your home network and public Wi-Fi
  • Enable automatic updates on all your devices
  • Use strong, unique passwords and consider a password manager
  • Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) whenever possible
  • Limit app permissions and review privacy settings regularly

For the best VPN software, see my expert review of the best VPNs for browsing the web privately on your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at CyberGuy.com.

Kurt’s key takeaways

A strong password is a smart first step, but it only protects who gets onto your network, not what happens to your data after it leaves. Your internet activity still passes through systems designed to track, analyze and sometimes profit from it. Adding a VPN shifts the balance back in your favor by encrypting your connection and limiting how much others can see. It is a simple upgrade that turns basic security into real privacy, without changing how you use the internet day to day.

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Where should we draw the line between staying connected and staying private? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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  • Get my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox.
  • For simple, real-world ways to spot scams early and stay protected, visit CyberGuy.com trusted by millions who watch CyberGuy on TV daily.
  • Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide free when you join.

Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.

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A sleek, wearable airbag for cyclists is nearly here

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A sleek, wearable airbag for cyclists is nearly here

What you’re looking at is a new airbag system integrated directly into a “race-ready” skinsuit, not bolted on like other solutions. It was developed for road cyclists by Van Rysel, with the help of airbag technology specialist In&motion. It’s currently being tested on pro riders ahead of a general consumer release sometime “within the next two years.”

Its development comes after the UCI, pro cycling’s governing body, put out a call in February seeking gear that could help protect riders traveling faster than ever.

The current version is in final validation ahead of potential race deployment. It has a total weight of about 700 grams (500 grams for the airbag components), making it significantly lighter than airbag systems worn in MotoGP, says Van Rysel. And like the proven MotoGP solutions, Van Rysel’s Airbag deploys in just 60 milliseconds after its impact-detection algorithm senses that something has gone horribly wrong.

The skinsuit is design to be aerodynamic and to dissipate heat, with abrasion-resistant materials used to help reduce the risk of road rash and other surface-level skin injuries. The Airbag deploys to protect areas of the upper body not covered by a helmet, including the central core, cervical zone, and spinal line. More extensive protection will be explored in the future.

“Behind every race number, there’s a human being and sadly it is still widely accepted that a rider can lose everything in a fraction of a second due to a crash,” says Van Rysel product manager Jocelyn Bar. “What helmets represented 20 years ago, we think Airbag can represent today, but now, we’re looking beyond the head, we need to protect as much of the body as we can.”

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