Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek released a major upgrade to its V3 large language model, intensifying competition with U.S. tech leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic.
TakeAway Points:
- A significant update to DeepSeek’s V3 large language model was released by the Chinese artificial intelligence startup, escalating competition with American tech giants Anthropic and OpenAI.
- Waymo One, owned by Alphabet, will launch in Washington, D.C., in 2026, the firm said Tuesday.
- Waymo Driver will be used to conduct a series of human-operated road excursions to kick off the rollout.
Upgrade in AI model
The new model, DeepSeek-V3-0324, was made available through AI development platform Hugging Face, marking the company’s latest push to establish itself in the rapidly evolving AI market.
The latest model demonstrates significant improvements in areas such as reasoning and coding capabilities compared to its predecessor, with benchmark tests showing enhanced performance across multiple technical metrics published on Hugging Face.
According to the report, DeepSeek has rapidly emerged as a notable player in the global AI landscape in recent months, releasing a series of models that compete with Western counterparts while offering lower operational costs.
The company launched its V3 model in December, followed by the release of its R1 model in January.
Waymo will launch robotaxi in Washington
The Alphabet-owned autonomous driving robotaxi service will be available in Washington, D.C., in 2026, the company announced Tuesday.
“I’ve experienced firsthand how safely the Waymo Driver operates around pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users,” said Governors Highway Safety Association CEO Jonathan Adkins. “Waymo has worked with GHSA and our first responder network as they’ve expanded their service, always putting safety first. As someone who walks to work almost every day, I’m excited to share the road with Waymo in Washington, D.C.”
So far, Waymo One currently operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and Phoenix, and is also driving in Austin and Atlanta through its partnership with Uber.
The expansion follows a dominating 2024 for Waymo, which completed more than 4 million paid autonomous rides last year as other robotaxi competitors still lagged in the churning market. Service in Miami will be also launched in 2026 through a partnership with startup Moove.io, a spokesperson said.
Robotaxi services
General Motors began shuttering its Cruise robotaxi service in December. Elon Musk’s Tesla still doesn’t manufacture a robotaxi or run a hailing service despite promising “robotaxi cars” for roughly a decade. Amazon’s Zoox is continuing road testing in multiple U.S. cities, with plans to start service in Las Vegas, then San Francisco.
The report states that the rollout will get underway through a series of road trips with the Waymo Driver. At first, test rides are operated manually by human drivers who give the company feedback and context about driving nuances in the city.
“We’ll continue introducing ourselves to D.C.’s communities and emergency responders over the coming months,” the company said in the release. “We’ll also continue to work closely with policymakers to formalize the regulations needed to operate without a human behind the wheel in the District.”
