Davis Wilson:

New Bill Would Ban Tesla’s Camera-Only Robotaxi, Not Waymo

New Jersey lawmakers are advancing a bill that would require driverless commercial vehicles to carry cameras plus two additional sensor types – a mandate Tesla’s camera-only Robotaxi can’t meet.

The proposed law, S1677, would effectively lock Tesla out of the most densely populated U.S. state unless it adds the radar and lidar hardware that Elon Musk has spent years insisting his cars don’t need.

The bill sets up a three-year pilot program with hard requirements. Operators must equip fully driverless vehicles with cameras plus two other sensing technologies – in practice, radar and lidar. They must also complete at least 50,000 miles of supervised testing with a human safety driver in the state before removing the driver, report every crash to the state, and get official authorization before launching any commercial driverless network.

There’s a second problem for Tesla buried in the details. The bill favors keeping traditional controls like a steering wheel and pedals, which would exclude the Tesla Cybercab – a vehicle Tesla is already mass-producing with no steering wheel or pedals at all. And neighboring New York is considering a nearly identical hardware mandate.

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Enrique Abeyta:

Anthropic Is Adding Former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to Its AI Oversight Board

Anthropic on Thursday appointed Ben Bernanke, the former chair of the Federal Reserve and a Nobel laureate in economics, to its Long-Term Benefit Trust, the company's independent oversight body.

The Long-Term Benefit Trust exists to hold Anthropic to its stated mission of developing AI for the long-term benefit of humanity. Compensation is limited to time and service; no trust member holds an equity stake in the company, and all are selected independently of Anthropic's management and investors.

The trust has the authority to appoint members to Anthropic's board of directors. Bernanke is the fourth member of the body, joining Chair Neil Buddy Shah, national security expert Richard Fontaine, and international affairs expert Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar.

Ben Bernanke led the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014, guiding the central bank through the 2008 financial crisis.

Anthropic said economic analysis will be Bernanke's primary contribution to the trust, particularly helping the company track and interpret AI's effects on the broader economy.

"Anthropic has created a unique governance structure to try to ensure that the long-run benefits of AI for humanity far outweigh the risks, " Bernanke said in a statement. "I am honored to have this opportunity."

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Chris Campbell:

Circle Stock Pops After Stablecoin Issuer Wins Approval To Establish a Trust Bank

Circle (CRLC) stock surged 8% in early trading on Friday after the blockchain-focused financial technology company said it received regulatory approval to establish its own national trust bank, reducing its reliance on outside banks.

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has authorized the stablecoin issuer to directly manage its reserve assets and provide digital asset custody services for institutional clients. The new entity, Circle National Trust, will operate under direct federal banking oversight.

Until now, the cash and short-term U.S. Treasurys backing Circle's flagship stablecoin, USDC, have been held by third-party banking partners.

With its new trust bank charter, Circle will be able to eventually hold those multibillion-dollar reserves under its own federally regulated custody.

The approval also removes a key regulatory hurdle, making it easier for banks, asset managers, and other institutional investors to use Circle's infrastructure for digital asset custody and blockchain-based payments.

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