Thursday Overnight Open Thread - October 8, 2026

Adirondack Mountains, New York - From Aesthetic vibes

Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Thursday ONT! Mixed bag of content for those who care. Open thread, as always. On time, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?

To embrace rapidly increasing technological advances or not.

Kodiak says yes. Kodiak ready to 'pull the driver' and launch unsupervised driverless trucks by end of year

Kodiak's unsupervised driverless long-haul delivery trucks will soon hit Texas roads as its partnership with Swedish furniture giant IKEA enters a new phase.

Kodiak founder and CEO Don Burnette joined "Varney & Co." Tuesday to shed light on the rollout and the technology behind the autonomous trucks.

"We're starting with one. We're gonna get that first one out by the end of the year, and then we're gonna start to scale throughout 2027 and beyond," Burnette said.

Burnette said IKEA will serve as the launch partner later in the year.

"We're doing just over 200-mile trips to start, but nobody in the driver's seat, nobody in [the] cab," Burnette said.

Burnette explained that Kodiak provides the AI-powered software that serves as "the brain" behind how the autonomous trucks drive.

"We've proven the technology is safe and reliable. We've done a lot of work over the last decade or so to make sure we've covered every contingency, and now we're ready to go," he said.

Video segment at the link.

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Doordash says yes. DoorDash drone delivery doesn’t spell end for drivers, executive says

DoorDash is revolutionizing the way it delivers food to its Northern California customers thanks to drones, officials say.

The company insists that all will remain the same, except deliveries made by drones will ensure faster arrivals and more options for consumers.

Harrison Shih, head of DoorDash Air, joined “The Hill on NewsNation” to discuss the new delivery method, adding it may “one day” be an offering in big cities such as New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles.

“DoorDash really is the strongest in your standard suburbs, and I think that’s what makes this service so good for DoorDash, as we think about drone delivery, is DoorDash has really been built around… connecting those communities with their neighbors and getting food across all of those areas,” Shih said.

DoorDash says its new drone can get food to you in under five minutes — but Texas residents are already calling Amazon drone noise a 'big problem'

The future of doorstep delivery is drones apparently (well, drones and robots): DoorDash has unveiled a new drone ready to get food to you in under five minutes on average, even as Amazon faces a growing number of complaints over its own drone delivery service.

DoorDash has been planning drone deliveries for a while, calling the scheme DoorDash Air, and we've now been given a look at the six-propeller aircraft that'll be doing the delivering. A trial is planned for Northern California, in partnership with restaurant brands including Chipotle and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.

A lot of work has gone into the pick-up and drop-off infrastructure and ordering system, DoorDash says, as well as the drone itself. The company estimates that around 80% of customer orders are light enough to transport by drone, and initial tests suggest orders can be delivered in less than five minutes on average.

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The drones won't land when they deliver — they'll lower their cargo in front of your door or in your backyard and then zoom away again. According to DoorDash, failsafes will be built in so the drones can safely land in emergencies, and their cruising noise will be comparable to a passing car "at delivery height".

That noise element might be crucial to the scheme's success. As TechSpot reports, residents in Richardson, Texas are none too pleased about the constant buzzing being created by Amazon drones, which launched Prime Air in the area last December. The sound has been compared to that of a flying lawnmower.

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Chick-fil-A says not so fast. Chick-fil-A rules out AI drive-thru ordering as fast-food rivals embrace technology

Chick-fil-A is bucking a growing fast-food industry trend, with CEO Andrew Cathy saying the chicken chain does not plan to use artificial intelligence to take customers' drive-thru orders.

While Chick-fil-A is exploring potential uses for AI behind the scenes, Cathy told CNBC that the company wants to preserve human interaction in its drive-thru lanes even as competitors increasingly experiment with automated ordering technology.

"From our experience, we really want that hospitality to be human to human," Cathy told the outlet. "We’re not going to substitute that interaction with technology, because we feel like that hospitality is so important to create that warm environment for consumers."

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The US Army unsurprisingly says yes. US Army tests counter-drone tech at Mexican border as cartel drone use rises

The US Army is testing counter-drone technology in the US-Mexico border area, seeking to ‌sharpen its defenses against the growing threat of drone use by cartels and emulate the rapid battlefield innovation happening in Ukraine's war with Russia.

At Falcon Peak, a US Northern Command exercise held in September in Arizona, soldiers watched as defense firms demonstrated radars, ​interceptor drones, autonomous gun systems and other technologies designed to detect, track and destroy small unmanned ​aircraft.

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Will we reach a tipping point with the proliferation of surveillance overreach?

This guy takes a step in pushing back

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He finally gets it!

DJ Doof - [BLANK] on the [BLANK] Edition

Can you think of any other tunes that fit the BLANK on the BLANK theme??

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posted by Doof at 10:00 PM

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