Self-driving taxis on London roads from 2026, Plug-in hybrids pollute nearly as much as petrol cars

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Self-driving taxis could be on the streets of London from next year, according to autonomous taxi firm Waymo.  The taxis have become a regular feature on San Francisco’s roads and recently launched in Tokyo. London, often associated with the famous black cab, will be the first European city to get the driverless taxis. However, Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association which represents cab drivers in London, is not worried. “Will I be concerned in 25 years’ time? Maybe. I’m certainly not concerned at the moment,” he told Sky News.

For almost two decades, rumours have swirled about a handheld Xbox console to rival Nintendo and PlayStation. Now, it’s finally here. The ROG Xbox Ally has been released worldwide, putting an end to the speculation. It works natively with Xbox’s Game Pass subscription service out of the box, meaning members will start off with hundreds of games in their library. But its big trick is that it’s really a portable computer running Windows, meaning most digital PC games people already own will work too – so long as they don’t need a keyboard and mouse to play. BBC 

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) pump out nearly five times more planet-heating pollution than official figures show, a report has found. The cars, which can run on electric batteries as well as combustion engines, have been promoted by European carmakers as a way to cover long distances in a single drive – unlike fully electric cars – while still reducing emissions. Data shows PHEVs emit just 19% less CO₂ than petrol and diesel cars, an analysis by the non-profit advocacy group Transport and Environment found on Thursday. Under laboratory tests, they were assumed to be 75% less polluting. Guardian 

The first pictures of the new MG S6 EV have surfaced ahead of the car’s official unveiling after it was included in the most recent group of Euro NCAP crash tests. It bears a strong visual similarity to the smaller S5 EV, with low-set headlights and narrow triangular daytime-running lights up front, and a light bar spanning the width of its rear end. Inside, it appears to get a similar digital instrument panel and steering wheel to the S5, though little else can be seen in the images published by Euro NCAP. Autocar

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media), which just spent £13m to secure 800MHz (frequency) of 26GHz (band) spectrum and 1,000MHz of 40GHz spectrum in Ofcom’s auction of the two 5G centric millimetre wave (mmW) bands (here), has revealed that a test of the new spectrum has already delivered mobile broadband speeds of 4Gbps (4,000Mbps). The “real-world” test is said to have involved O2’s latest 5G Standalone (SA) network using a trial licence for the mmWave spectrum, which saw speeds of 4Gbps being hit on a single device. ISPreview

Aside from the Magic8 and Magic8 Pro smartphones, Honor yesterday unveiled the MagicPad3 Pro 13.3 tablet and Watch 5 Pro. The tablet comes with a 13.3-inch LCD screen with 3200×2136 resolution and 165Hz refresh rate, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset at the helm, 12/16GB of RAM, 256/512GB of storage, and a 12,450 mAh battery with support for 66W wired charging.

  
Honor MagicPad3 Pro 13.3

It boasts a 13 MP rear camera, a 2 MP macro camera, and a 9 MP front camera. It measures 293.88 x 201.38 x 5.79 mm and weighs 595g. It comes with MagicOS 10.0 based on Android 16, and is offered in white, gold, and gray. GSM Arena 

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