Weekly output: game development, Tesla Robotaxi, Bluetooth upgrades

I started this week in Austin for SXSW and will start the coming week by flying to Los Angeles, courtesy of an event United Airlines is hosting at LAX to show off tech upgrades coming to its fleet. The airline is covering my airfare and lodging, the reverse of the pattern that has prevailed over decades of my business travel.

3/17/2026: Crafting Global Games with Local Insight and Cultural Fusion, SXSW

I returned to SXSW after a year off when Nika Nour, a pal from D.C. tech-policy circles who’s now a senior vice president leading international business development at Savvy Games Group, asked if I could step in to moderate this panel. And then two of the other panelists got changed out less than a week in advance. Fortunately, everybody else on the panel (Nika, actor/producer/author Anjali Bhimani, and Six Foot chief marketing officer Manuel Delgado) was a practiced speaker and eased my job of leading a conversation about an industry that I haven’t covered that much lately.

3/19/2026: I Got Around SXSW in Tesla Robotaxis: The Rides Were Better Than the Buggy, Juvenile App, PCMag

I thought I should try Tesla’s self-driving-car taxi service while in Austin, but it took a day of unsuccessful attempts before I could book my first ride. And then the experience was surprisingly uneventful, with each of my five rides featuring a safety operator in the front passenger seat who didn’t do anything that I noticed.

3/19/2026: Get Ready: Bluetooth 6 and Other Advances Will Give Your Devices a Much Needed Upgrade, PCMag

PCMag elected to re-publish this post with some new text by me to highlight Bluetooth version numbers.

#ATX #AUS #Austin #autonomousVehicles #Bluetooth #Bluetooth60 #gameDevelopment #LAX #SavvyGamesGroup #selfDrivingCars #sxsw #TeslaRobotaxi #UA #United #UnitedAirlines #videoGames #Waymo
sxsw – Rob Pegoraro

Posts about sxsw written by robpegoraro

Rob Pegoraro
‘We don’t tell the car what it should do’: my ride in a self-driving taxi

Driverless ‘robotaxis’ will be accepting fares in Britain’s biggest city by the end of next year. Can they deal with London’s medieval roads, hordes of pedestrians and errant ebikers? I got in the passenger seat to find out

The Guardian

How hard is it to leave a cult? I’ve seen a few videos of folks who left MAGA behind, but there’s another cult that’s hard to leave as well, and that’s the Tesla cult.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-tesla-influencers-leaving-the-cult/

#tesla #selfdrivingcars #LeaveTheCult

The Tesla Influencers Leaving the ‘Cult’

The EV manufacturer is supported by a robust online community. But Elon Musk’s politics and overblown hype about Full Self-Driving are turning some loyalists away.

WIRED
How driverless vehicles can be made safer for deaf and hard of hearing people | The-14

Driverless vehicles need inclusive design to protect deaf and hard-of-hearing pedestrians using clear visual and audio signals to communicate vehicle actions.

The-14 Pictures
Union tries to seize control of works council at Tesla’s German factory

Lawsuits and slander claims fly in IG Metall’s battle with Elon Musk over employment rights and conditions

The Guardian
Self-Driving Cars: The Innovation That Benefits Everyone Except the People Who Are Raising the Next Generation

Imagine waking at four in the morning, stumbling to your car half-asleep, and drifting off as the vehicle navigates you to work two hours away.

Ben
Nvidia and UK Wealth Fund invest in British autonomous driving startup Oxa

Oxford-based firm has raised $103m for commercial development of software for self-driving industrial vehicles

The Guardian