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Ed Markey

Ed Markey

United States Senator

Appears in 2 stories

Born: July 11, 1946 (age 79 years), Malden, MA
Previous offices: Representative, MA 5th District (1976–2013) and Massachusetts State Representative (1973–1976)
Party: Democratic Party
Spouse: Susan Blumenthal (m. 1988)
Office: United States Senator

Notable Quotes

"Having people overseas influencing American vehicles is a safety issue." — Senate hearing, February 4, 2026

"The information the operators receive could be out of date. It could introduce tremendous cybersecurity vulnerabilities." — Senate hearing, February 4, 2026

Stories

Waymo reveals the human scaffolding behind its driverless fleet

New Capabilities

Leading investigation into autonomous vehicle companies' use of remote operators

For years, autonomous vehicle companies kept a basic operational question unanswered: how many humans does it actually take to run a driverless fleet? On February 4, 2026, Waymo's chief safety officer told a Senate committee the number. At any given moment, roughly 70 remote agents oversee Waymo's entire fleet of more than 3,000 vehicles across six American cities — a ratio of about one human for every 43 robotaxis.

Updated Feb 21

TikTok's American rebirth

Money Moves

Questioning deal details

For five years, the world's most popular social media app lived under a death sentence. TikTok, used by 170 million Americans, faced repeated ban threats from two administrations convinced its Chinese ownership posed an unacceptable national security risk. On January 23, 2026, that uncertainty ended: TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC became operational, transferring 80.1% ownership to American and allied investors while ByteDance retained a non-controlling 19.9% stake.

Updated Jan 25