Tech
GM is working on an eyes-off, hands-off driving system
Seven years ago, GM became the first automaker to offer hands-free driving when it rolled out its Super Cruise advanced driver assistance system. Now, it’s looking to push that capability even further with a system that would allow drivers to keep their eyes off the road too, according to one of GM’s top software executives.
These hands-off, eyes-off systems — also known in the industry as Level 3 or L3 — are not self-driving cars like the ones Waymo operates (which are considered Level 4). Instead, they typically operate only on highways and at reduced speeds. And unlike a robotaxi, the driver is still required to take control if needed.
Despite these constraints, a hands-off, eyes-off system would push GM beyond nearly every other automaker that offers an advanced driver assistance system. The majority of automakers today offer what is known as Level 2, a system that automates some of the driving, but still requires the driver to pay attention. Tesla’s Autopilot — and even its FSD software system — is still considered a Level 2 system, along with GM’s Super Cruise and Ford’s Blue Cruise systems.
Today, only Mercedes-Benz offers a limited hands-off, eyes-off system called Drive Pilot in the United States.
“Super Cruise, I think, is an industry-leading L2 solution for hands off, eyes on,” Dave Richardson, Senior Vice President of Software and Services Engineering at GM, told TechCrunch in a wide-ranging interview. “We’re looking aggressively to make that an L3 solution, where you don’t even have to look at the road anymore.”
Super Cruise uses a combination of lidar map data, high-precision GPS, cameras and radar sensors, as well as a driver-attention system, which monitors the person behind the wheel to ensure they’re watching the road. When the system is activated, it will accelerate or brake to maintain a selected following distance from a vehicle ahead, steer to keep its lane position, and make automatic change lanes to pass slower traffic.
While Super Cruise was the industry’s first true hands-free ADAS on the market when it launched in 2017, GM wasn’t viewed as a dominant player because it severely limited access to the system. For three years, the system was only available on one model, the Cadillac CT6, and was restricted to certain divided highways. Today, Super Cruise is widely available across GM brands like Chevrolet and GMC. By the end of 2025, GM has said Super Cruise will be available on about 750,000 miles of roads in the United States and Canada, including rural and minor highways that often connect smaller cities and townships.
Richardson didn’t provide a timeline for when such a system might become publicly available. And he played coy as to exactly how far the company had progressed in this mission.
“When we have L3 I do think that’s meaningful … I think that’s a game changer,” Richardson said. The crux, of course, is knowing when such a system is fully developed; launching anything earlier could turn customers off, Richardson noted.
“If you don’t quite trust it, and it kicks you out, then it’s sort of like — the analogy I give sometimes is — you’re driving with your 15-year-old that’s just learning how to drive. You don’t really trust them, and it almost becomes a little bit more stressful.”
Some recent hires suggest the company is ramping up its efforts.
In December, GM hired Anantha Kancherla as vice president of ADAS. One of Kancherla’s directives is to take the foundation of Super Cruise and expand or innovate to the next phase, GM spokesperson Stuart Fowle said. That includes leveraging the Super Cruise system (notably through software) and applying it elsewhere. For instance, the monitoring system used to ensure driver’s eyes are on the road was recently applied to discouraging distracted driving even when Super Cruise isn’t activated. That new feature, known as driver attention assist, rolled out a few months ago.
Kancherla has had a long tech career in Silicon Valley working for Meta, Microsoft, and Dropbox. But it was his five years as VP engineering of software at Lyft’s autonomous vehicles unit that may prove most useful to GM. (Lyft eventually sold that business to Toyota.)
Kancherla and Richardson are among a cadre of recent software-focused hires that have hailed from Silicon Valley tech companies. Richardson joined GM last year after an 11-year stint at Apple.
Tech
ElevenLabs lists BlackRock, Jamie Foxx, and Eva Longoria as new investors
Voice AI company ElevenLabs revealed new investors that are part of its $500 million Series D fundraise, which was first announced in February. The additions include institutions such as BlackRock, Wellington, D.E. Shaw, and Schroders; enterprises like Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, Santander, KPN, and Deutsche Telekom; and individual investors such as Jamie Foxx, Eva Longoria, and Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk.
The startup also noted that it surpassed $500 million in ARR (annual recurring revenue), after ending last year with nearly $350 million in ARR. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Mati Staniszewski, said last month that ElevenLabs added $100 million in net new ARR in Q1 2026, ending the quarter at roughly $450 million in ARR.
The company has also accelerated its valuation rapidly, growing from $6.6 billion last September to $11 billion this February.
“Voice is the highest-stakes channel for any customer interaction, and the bar for quality, latency, and security is extremely high. ElevenLabs is not just a category leader – it is becoming a foundational enabler of Deutsche Telekom’s broader Industrial AI vision. From voice-as-a-service to multilingual automation and in-network AI agents, we believe the company is uniquely positioned to reshape how businesses interact with customers across all channels,” Karine Peters, managing director at Deutsche Telekom’s venture arm T.Capital, said in a statement.
In the past quarter, the voice AI company has signed enterprise contracts with the likes of Deutsche Telekom, Revolut, and Klarna.
ElevenLabs said that, besides the fundraising, it also closed a $100 million tender, a second in roughly six months after the company issued one last September. Staniszewski said in a blog post that the company will give an opportunity to retail investors to invest in ElevenLabs through Robinhood Ventures, but didn’t provide details about the program.
Staniszewski noted that consumers won’t trust systems that sound robotic or “interact strangely” and emphasized the importance of building “human-level AI voice models.” Last month, the company acquired the team from Polish voice AI startup Papla to bolster its research team.
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Tech
Kaspersky suspects Chinese hackers planted a backdoor into Daemon Tools in ‘widespread’ attack
Security researchers at Kaspersky say they have identified a malicious backdoor planted in the popular and long-running Windows disc imaging software, Daemon Tools.
The Russian cybersecurity company said on Tuesday that data collected from computers around the world running the Kaspersky antivirus software shows a “widespread” attack is under way, targeting thousands of Windows computers running Daemon Tools.
The hackers, whom Kaspersky has linked to a Chinese-language speaking group based on an analysis of the malware, used the backdoor in Daemon Tools to plant additional malware on a dozen computers across the retail, scientific and manufacturing sectors, as well as government systems. Kaspersky said the hacking of these specific computers implied a “targeted” effort.
The company said the targeted organizations are located in Russia, Belarus, and Thailand.
Kaspersky said the backdoor was first detected on April 8.
Kaspersky said it had contacted Disc Soft, the company that maintains Daemon Tools, but did not say if the developer responded or took action. Kaspersky said the supply chain attack is “still active,” suggesting that the hackers can still plant malware on thousands of computers running the disc imaging software.
This is the latest in a string of so-called “supply chain” attacks that have targeted developers of popular software in recent months. Hackers are increasingly taking aim at the accounts of developers who work on widely used code and software, and abusing that access to push malicious code to anyone who relies on the software. This approach lets the hackers break into a large number of computers at once when their malicious code is delivered as a software update.
Earlier this year, hackers associated with the Chinese government hijacked the popular text editing software Notepad++ to deliver malware to a number of organizations with interests in East Asia. Security researchers also warned of another attack last month targeting users who visited the website of CPUID, which makes the popular HWMonitor and CPU-Z tools.
TechCrunch downloaded the Windows installer from Daemon Tools’ website, and the file appeared to contain the backdoor when we checked it with the online malware scanner service VirusTotal.
It’s not known if the macOS version of Daemon Tools was compromised, or if other apps made by Disc Soft are affected.
When contacted for comment, a Disc Soft representative said they are “aware of the report and are currently investigating the situation.”
“Our team is treating this matter with the highest priority and is actively working to assess and address the issue. At this stage, we are not in a position to confirm specific details referenced in the report. However, we are taking all necessary steps to remediate any potential risks and to ensure the security of our users,” the representative said.
Do you know more about the cyberattack targeting Daemon Tools users? Did you receive an antivirus alert saying you were affected? We want to hear from you. To contact this reporter securely, reach out via Signal username zackwhittaker.1337.
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Tech
Etsy launches its app within ChatGPT as it continues its AI push
Etsy announced Tuesday the launch of its native app within ChatGPT, opening up a new way for shoppers to explore its catalog of over 100 million listings.
The new experience is designed to move beyond the limitations of traditional keyword queries. Instead of typing something like “wooden coffee table,” then scrolling and adjusting filters, users can now express what they’re looking for in natural language. For instance, “Help me find a Mother’s Day gift under $100 for my mom who loves gardening.”
Now live in beta, the feature allows users to tag @Etsy directly within a prompt. From there, the Etsy app in ChatGPT surfaces relevant product listings that users can browse, compare, and click through to Etsy for additional details or purchase.
This isn’t Etsy’s first experiment inside ChatGPT. Back in September, Etsy became an early partner in ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout integration, which let users buy products directly inside the chat interface. However, the initiative ended in March, suggesting it didn’t perform as OpenAI had hoped. It was reported that Etsy didn’t see a large volume of sales from the integration, leading Etsy to start building a native app within ChatGPT instead.
Alongside this launch, Etsy also revealed it’s testing a beta conversational search experience within its platform, specifically geared toward helping users find gifts. The gift assistant acts as a personal shopper, offering a guided, conversational way to discover ideas, narrow down preferences, and surface relevant products.
This builds on Etsy’s broader AI push, which includes an AI-powered discovery experience featuring curated collections and a suite of seller tools, including a tool that helps generate product titles and descriptions, as well as a writing assistant to help draft messages to buyers. In 2024, Etsy introduced a new “Designed” label to identify AI content, part of an effort to increase transparency as AI-generated artwork becomes more prevalent on the platform.
The news of a ChatGPT integration comes a week after Etsy reported its Q1 2026 earnings, surpassing revenue expectations with $631 million, and marketplace gross merchandise sales were up 6% year over year. Notably, active buyers increased for the first time in two years to 86.6 million. Etsy also touted 5.6 million active sellers on the platform.
In February, the company announced it was selling Depop to eBay for $1.2 billion in cash, a move aimed at doubling down on its core marketplace.
Etsy joins a growing list of companies building native apps within ChatGPT, including Angi, SeatGeek, Tubi, and Wix. Developers have been able to build apps within the chatbot since October.
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