Photo by Andrej Sokolow / picture alliance via Getty Images Waymo’s autonomous vehicles are going to Tokyo, marking the first time that the Alphabet company is deploying vehicles on public roads in a foreign market. Waymo is billing the excursion as a simple “road trip” for collecting data about the nuances of Japanese driving, including left-hand traffic and navigating a dense urban environment. The vehicles will be driven manually for the purposes of gathering mapping data and will be managed by a local taxi fleet operator, Nihon Kotsu. About 25 vehicles will be sent, with the first set to arrive in early 2025. And while the tests will undoubtedly be seen as laying the groundwork for a future Tokyo-based robotaxi service, Waymo said it isn’t ready to announce anything quite yet. “While we look forward to bringing the life-saving benefits of the Waymo Driver global, we have no plans to serve riders in Tokyo at this time,” Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp said. “Rather, we’re bringing our technology to learn and understand how Waymo fits into the existing transportation landscape and learning how to best partner with local officials and communities.”The inclusion of GO, a popular taxi app in Japan, in the strategic partnership could signal Waymo’s intention to put its autonomous vehicles into service through a locally based mobility provider. Waymo is already doing this in the US, making its autonomous vehicles available on Uber’s ridehail app in Austin and Atlanta. “We have no plans to serve riders in Tokyo at this time”Waymo’s robotaxi business in the US is growing, albeit slowly. The company currently has approximately 700 vehicles in operation in several cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Phoenix. It also plans to launch a robotaxi service in Atlanta in an exclusive partnership with Uber and is planning to launch in Miami in 2026. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai recently said that Waymo was providing 175,000 paid trips per week, or about a million miles.In Tokyo, Waymo’s vehicles will be operated by trained autonomous specialists employed by Nihon Kotsu. Once the company feels like it’s ready, it will transition to hands-free autonomous driving with a safety driver behind the wheel. Karp wouldn’t say whether that would eventually progress to fully driverless operations. The vehicles will be geofenced to certain neighborhoods in Tokyo, including Minato, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Chiyoda, Chūō, Shinagawa, and Kōtō.In bringing its vehicles to its first foreign country, Alphabet is trying to project confidence in its technology, especially at a time when companies are pulling back on costly robotaxi projects. General Motors recently announced that it would no longer fund Cruise and would instead pivot to driver-assist technology and personally owned autonomous vehicles. Several companies have tested their autonomous vehicles in Japan, but the country is a bit of a backwater compared to China and the US. Part of the problem seems to be the country’s robust auto industry is focusing its testing in countries other than its native one. Toyota and Nissan are both seeking to deploy robotaxis in China in collaboration with local operators.

A slow-charging laptop can be incredibly frustrating, especially when your device is fully discharged and you urgently need to use it. While most modern laptops are designed to charge efficiently, several factors can slow down the process. Issues like using incompatible chargers, software glitches, background processes, outdated drivers, overheating, or even how you use your laptop while plugged in can all contribute to slow charging.

Many modern PC games are quite large, making storage management challenging for gamers. However, if you play your games on Steam, you're in luck. Steam allows you to move or store your games on an external hard drive, which helps free up space on your internal SSD or HDD. Transferring your Steam games to an external SSD offers several other benefits, including faster load times, portability, the ability to fix game launching issues, and the convenience of using the same library across multiple PCs. It's even more beneficial if your internal drive isn't an SSD.

Framework’s double SSD caddy for its Framework 16 expansion bay. | Image: Framework The most ambitious laptop ever made just got a long-promised modular upgrade. Starting today, you can pay $39 to add two extra M.2 slots to the Framework Laptop 16 — letting you potentially carry around an AI accelerator, an eGPU adapter, or a grand total of four solid state storage sticks for ludicrous capacity. As Framework’s blog post points out, the new “Dual M.2 Adapter” is Framework’s first new modular component since launch that takes advantage of the Laptop 16’s big expansion bay around back. At launch, you only had two options: a Radeon RX 7700S discrete graphics card for extra money, or a mostly empty bay that only contained fans. But now, you can add the Dual M.2 Adapter to that mostly empty bay to fit an additional pair of M.2 2280, 2260, 2240 or 2230 modules, with four lanes of PCIe 4.0 each, on top of the twin SSD slots (M.2 2280 and M.2 2230) that come with the laptop to begin with. With current stick SSD capacities topping out at around 8TB (2280) and 2TB (2230) respectively, that means you can theoretically cart around 26TB of storage at once... not counting any 1TB Framework Expansion Cards you stick into the sides of the laptop, or any giant SD cards you plug into the $25 full-size SD card modules that Framework finally released this fall. (With 2TB SD cards on the market and six expansion slots for them on the Laptop 16, I guess the actual maximum capacity of Framework’s laptop is now 38TB.)And while those who bought the Radeon discrete GPU won’t be able to take advantage without swapping out that module, swaps are thankfully quick and easy: View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Verge (@verge)In addition to the adapter, Framework has swapped out the Framework Laptop 16’s liquid metal cooling for Honeywell PTM7958 thermal paste, and will help provide that for any customer who asks; while Framework characterizes this as a change to fix possible “performance degradation over time,” I definitely encountered uncomfortable levels of heat and fan noise right away in my review and long-term tests. Find more about Framework’s recent updates in its full blog post — like the new “Framework Mystery Boxes” tinkerers can buy to try out an assortment of random, possibly non-functional parts that users have returned to the company.

Have you given the Nvidia App a try yet? If you're unfamiliar, it's the new game optimization app designed to take the torch from GeForce Experience. Eyebrows began to rise when reports claimed that installing the Nvidia App caused worse framerates in-game than after it was uninstalled, but fortunately, there's an easy fix.

The taskbar in Windows 11 can be a busy place full of pinned apps, Power Toys, and items in the System tray like the date and time. Things can get clogged up quickly, but you might want to create more space by hiding the system clock. You have all seen it, the clock with date and time that sits in the lower right corner of the taskbar.

Considering the sheer amount of space required to store high-resolution photos, Google Photos and other image management platforms seem perfect for backing up your precious shots. However, privacy – or rather, the lack thereof – is always an issue when storing your private data on external servers. There’s also the problem of constant subscription fees once your image and video collection hits a certain size.

In a world dominated by Chrome and Edge, it’s easy to feel like all browsers are the same. While Arc browser tried to change the game, the company’s Windows offering is nowhere near its Mac counterpart. Here is where I came across Vivaldi, which felt like a breath of fresh air with the latest v7.0 update. From its unique, flexible UI and intuitive dashboard to built-in utilities like note-taking, email, and a calendar, Vivaldi puts you in control.

There are a lot of laptop options out there, but some of our favorites are convertibles. You get something that's sturdy, portable, powerful, and can double as a tablet when needed. This Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition is a great example, with a sleek design, an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, and a beautiful 3K touchscreen display.

If you're looking to make an impression online, having good video and audio during a web call is going to be an absolute must. And while your old webcam or built-in variety may not have what it takes to really push your presentations to new levels, that's okay, because with this Logitech Brio 101 webcam, upgrading is simple and affordable.

Whether you're upgrading an existing rig or building a new one from scratch, there's nothing better than slotting in a shiny new GPU to your system. It's one of the most exciting times for any PC builder, but it's important not to get ahead of yourself. Before you speed through the checkout with a new card, there are some factors to consider that are of the utmost importance.

How many SSDs are too many SSDs? It's kind of like a "how long is a piece of string" thing; it depends on the person and how much storage they need. Well, if your desired number of SSDs is four or above, you're in luck; the laptop manufacturer Framework has finally released a device that lets you add quadruple storage to your laptop.