Jul 16, 2025 5 min read Daily Rundown

⛵ Tesla Runs Grok

More Stories: Bezos Needs Musk, Roblox's Franchise Farming

Good Morning, Early Adopters!

The steering wheel talks, the rival brings rockets, and IP just jumped from legal to engine. Everyone’s building tools—no one reads the manual. Welcome to tech’s wild west, where the rules are still downloading.

LAUNCH

Grok Will See You Now, Driver

👀 What’s the move: Starting this month, Tesla is rolling out Grok—the X-branded AI chatbot—into its vehicles. First stop: the U.S. Model S, 3, X, and Y. It’s basically ChatGPT on wheels, letting drivers talk to their car like it’s a snarky co-pilot. Integration is early-stage, but the interface is parked under the Toybox menu…for now.

💡 Why it’s not boring: This isn’t just voice assistant fluff. It’s Elon threading xAI deeper into Tesla’s operating system—on-device, vertically integrated, and unbothered by OpenAI or Google. Think Grok as UX layer for Autopilot, diagnostics, even commerce. If Grok starts mediating how you drive, fix, or buy stuff inside Tesla, we’re watching the first real AI-car OS war rev up. And yes, the car might start pitching you Twitter takes in traffic.

⛵ Key takeaway: Grok isn’t a gimmick—it’s Elon’s Trojan horse to make Teslas run on his own AI stack.

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SPACE

Amazon Hitches a Ride to Space on Musk’s Taxi

👀 What’s the move: Amazon needs to get at least half of its 3,200-satellite Kuiper fleet in orbit by July 2026 or risk losing FCC backing. Problem is, only one of their launch providers (ULA) is actually operational. So they turned to their biggest rival, SpaceX — whose Starlink already blankets the Earth with 8,000+ satellites — to keep the Kuiper dream alive.

💡 Why it’s not boring: This isn’t just awkward — it’s existential. Bezos is buying time with Musk because Blue Origin is still stuck in rocket kindergarten. And if Kuiper can’t get critical mass in the sky fast, it risks becoming just another ambitious Amazon side quest that never quite makes orbit.

⛵ Key takeaway: When your competition becomes your only lifeline, it’s less strategy — more survival math.

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ENTERTAINMENT

Roblox Made Licensing a Loot Box

👀 What’s the move: Roblox launched a new licensing platform with Netflix, Lionsgate, Sega, and Kodansha, making it stupid-simple for creators to legally build games around mega-franchises like Stranger Things, Twilight, Saw, and Blue Lock. Instead of months of legal red tape, devs get plug-and-play IP access. This isn’t a cute brand collab—it’s infrastructure.

💡 Why it’s not boring: Roblox is quietly positioning itself as the operating system for youth culture. By cracking open IP gates, it’s weaponizing 97.8M daily active users to become Hollywood’s fastest, cheapest sandbox. If Roblox can take a real cut of global gaming content, it's no longer just a platform—it’s a market maker.

⛵ Key takeaway: Roblox didn’t just license IP—it licensed growth from every studio still chasing Gen Z.

STARTUP SPOT

🛻 Pronto AI
“Autonomy built for hard terrain.”
Off-road self-driving system for dump trucks & quarries—AI vision stack + remote ops mesh → Focused on mining/logistics vs. city AV; recently acquired rival SafeAI to consolidate tech & talent.
→ Founded by Anthony Levandowski (ex-Waymo/Uber/Otto); launched coast-to-coast AV demo in 2018; now powers 100+ autonomous haulers with Komatsu, Heidelberg. Profitable niche in autonomy.

🛸 Xtend
"Human-guided AI for tactical robots."
Develops AI-powered tactical autonomous drone systems for defense and public safety, enabling operators to control multiple robots in complex, high-risk environments with minimal training via their XOS platform.
→ Founded 2018 by Aviv Shapira (2x Emmy winner, ex-Intel acquired startup founder). Recently closed $70M Series B (total $95M+ raised). Battle-proven, deployed with US DoD and allied forces globally.

🧠 Qdrant
"High-performance vector database for AI."
An open-source vector search engine built in Rust for storing and querying high-dimensional embeddings, crucial for AI apps like RAG, semantic search, and recommendation systems.
→ Founded 2020 by Andre Zayarni (CEO) and Andrey Vasnetsov (CTO). Raised $28M Series A in Jan 2024 led by Spark Capital. 5M+ downloads of their open-source solution.

BAY AREA MEMOS

Google signs a $3 billion hydropower deal with Brookfield, marking its biggest corporate clean energy agreement to date, following its recent fusion power deal.
Apple's iPhone 17 is rumored to feature a new A19 chip based on TSMC's 2nm process.
Broadcom launches a new Tomahawk Ultra networking chip to compete with Nvidia in the artificial intelligence market.
Autonomous vehicle startup Pronto AI acquires off-road rival SafeAI, expanding its reach into heavy equipment.
Rivian integrates custom Google Maps into its electric vehicles and app, enhancing navigation with EV-specific features.

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