A new presidential administration is nearly upon us, and with it, the autonomous-vehicle sector hopes, will come major changes to the way the federal government regulates driverless cars and trucks.

Tech Brew previously noted why AV sector leaders are enthusiastic about a reported plan by President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team to establish a federal regulatory framework for AVs. Introducing a federal rule, stakeholders in the sector believe, will speed up their ability to get driverless vehicles onto US roads and boost confidence in a technology about which the public has some doubts.

At CES 2025, we caught up with Earl Adams Jr., the newly appointed VP of public policy and regulatory affairs for Plus AI, a Santa Clara, California-based autonomous driving tech company that provides AV software to trucking companies.

Adams, now in his second week on the job at Plus, has more than 20 years of experience in transportation policy and regulation, according to a news release. He previously served as the deputy administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and, most recently, as a partner at global law firm Hogan Lovells. In both roles, he worked on issues related to AV policy.

As the Republican trifecta takes on the mantle of leadership in Washington, Plus is working with its commercial vehicle partners (including the Traton Group’s commercial truck brands, Hyundai, and Iveco) to test, validate, and eventually commercially deploy driverless trucks in the US and Europe. It’s aiming to launch commercial operations in Texas by 2027.

Keep reading here.—JG

Delta is joining the seemingly ever-expanding club of companies rolling out AI chatbots.

That was just one of a slew of announcements CEO Ed Bastian made during a keynote address at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, speaking during a splashy event at the Sphere that featured appearances from Viola Davis and Tom Brady.

“The goal is to create a seamless, connected travel experience, from start to finish,” Bastian told the crowd.

Delta Concierge: Across the Sphere’s massive LED screen, a hypothetical scenario played out: While a business traveler got ready for her flight, Delta Concierge provided updates on her estimated travel time and offered to summon a Joby electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft to get her to the airport.

The scene reflected the vision for the future of air travel that Bastian described: personalized, seamless, and requiring little effort on the part of the human traveler.

In a news release, Delta said that customers will be able to engage the tool using text or voice inputs. It’ll notify users of upcoming passport expiration and visa requirements. And, according to the company, the chatbot will become smarter and more predictive over time. Future capabilities could include, for example, giving users “destination-specific notifications” on the weather, help navigating through airports, and notifying them “when there’s a dedicated TSA PreCheck Touchless ID line for an expedited security experience.”

“Delta Concierge will serve as a thread across your experience, a GenAI-powered personal assistant that anticipates your needs, provides real-time guidance, and delivers tailored recommendations—combining the context of who you are and how you travel with the deep knowledge and insights that we’ve already built as the world’s most reliable airline,” Bastian said.

Keep reading here.—JG

To conserve water, Microsoft is doing more than limiting showers to under five minutes.

The company announced last month that its new data centers will be cooled using a water recycling system that doesn’t consume any extra water. That means that after the system is filled with water during construction, the same water will circulate to cool the servers and then be chilled again in a “closed loop.” Similar technology is currently being used to heat and cool residential buildings.

The new water strategy will go live in Microsoft data centers in Arizona and Wisconsin starting in 2026.

That said, all the company’s existing data centers will continue to use Microsoft’s current water- and air-cooling technology, which includes adiabatic and free air cooling systems.

In a statement to Tech Brew, Steve Solomon, Microsoft’s VP of datastructure engineering, said Microsoft doesn’t “currently have plans to retrofit existing data centers” with the new water system.

“[We] will continually invest in improving the operation of all our data centers to minimize water use,” he said.

Keep reading here.—TC

Usually, we write about the business of tech. Here, we highlight the *tech* of tech.

Tuned in: Although Morning Brew sent a bunch of reporters to CES this year, it’s too large an event to cover everything. To pluck out one bit of reporting from across the web, Wired’s Julian Chokkattu filed a dispatch from CES about the future of AI wearables, with an eerie headline: “Your next AI wearable will listen to everything all the time.”

Resolved: Here we are, a full 10 days into 2025. It doesn’t feel like the sort of year for hardcore resolutions, and we’re not here to pressure you. But if you’re looking for a way to clear your head a little bit, perhaps it’s time to evaluate how you consume information online. The Washington Post has tips.