Modern companies worldwide are actively using artificial intelligence to solve problems in the physical world. One such example is the British startup CuspAI, which, in collaboration with Nvidia and other industry leaders, applies AI to discover new materials in semiconductors, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing.
CuspAI raised $450 million in a Series B round to strengthen its material science research. Investors include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the UK government's sovereign AI fund.
In other UK news, Andy Burnham has taken over as Prime Minister of Britain, replacing Keir Starmer. Burnham plans to focus on issues such as the cost of living, housing, and utilities.
Meanwhile, Shoko Kawata, Mayor of Yawata in Japan, became the first sitting mayor in the country to take maternity leave. Although her decision attracted international media attention, it also drew domestic criticism, highlighting a serious gender gap in Japan, particularly in the political sphere.
Kawata stated: 'People talk about gender equality and work style reform, but we need to build a society where people, in all professions, including leadership positions, do not hesitate to have children.'
The startup Metastable claims that the growing volume of battery waste in India is valuable raw material. This Bengaluru-based company extracts lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and aluminum from used batteries and sells them as refined commodity metals.
Metastable was founded in October 2021 by IIT Roorkee graduates Shubham Vishwakarma and Manikumar Uppal. Their idea was that spent batteries should be viewed not as waste, but as ore that needs to be recycled.
Metastable acquires used lithium-ion batteries, disassembles them, and purifies the internal materials into high-purity metals. The process is fully closed-loop: from purchasing and dismantling batteries to extracting and refining metals. Dismantling takes place underwater, which eliminates the risk of fire and the emission of toxic gases characteristic of traditional crushing methods.
The company designs and manufactures most of its own equipment, including mills, heating furnaces, magnetic and density separators, agitators, boilers, and crushers. The resulting lithium is supplied to manufacturers of glass, ceramics, cement, and lubricants. Nickel, whose largest global consumer is the stainless steel industry, can be integrated into this supply chain. Cobalt is used in the production of pigments and magnets, copper goes into tire and distribution line manufacturing, and aluminum is primarily sold for automotive casting.
OpenAI promoted Uday Radraraju to Chief Technology Officer of Compute (CTO of Compute), as access to large-scale computing infrastructure has become one of the defining competitive factors in the AI sector.
This appointment comes amid a race among AI companies to secure the computational power, network capabilities, and data center capacity needed to create increasingly sophisticated foundational models. Uday Radraraju's new role underscores a broader shift in the AI industry: while new models attract attention, companies are investing heavily in the underlying infrastructure required to train and deploy these models.
Radraraju noted the scale of OpenAI's ambitions: 'Our mission is to build the world's largest computing base so that cutting-edge AI is accessible to everyone and every workflow. We have a very exciting plan ahead for scaling up compute power. There is much to be built in large-scale distributed systems, hardware, manufacturing, and data center construction.'
A decision has been made in Uzbekistan to attract 10 thousand available freight wagons from partner countries, with the private sector participating in this process. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced this measure at a meeting held on July 21.
The head of state emphasized that rail transport accounts for the carriage of 70% of the country's foreign trade goods, totaling 46 million tons. Nevertheless, business representatives continue to raise concerns regarding the lack of wagons and the functioning of the entire freight transportation system.
It was noted that cement producers have not received 2800 requested wagons since the beginning of the current year. Furthermore, the president pointed out that the planned production of an additional 1300 freight wagons in the second half of the year is insufficient to meet the needs of enterprises.
Responsible agencies were instructed to develop calculations within ten days regarding the attraction of 10 thousand available wagons from partner countries with the participation of the private sector. The meeting also recorded information that the Angren—Pap, Tashguzar—Kumkurgan, and Tashkent—Samarkand railway lines are operating under overload.
The goal is set to attract $200 million from the World Bank by the end of the year for the development of railway infrastructure. Additionally, the Prosecutor General's Office has been instructed to audit the use of funds allocated for increasing the fleet of freight wagons and to study the existing procedure for issuing them to entrepreneurs. Based on the results of this audit, the agency must submit proposals to increase the transparency of this system.
As part of long-term plans, it is foreseen in Uzbekistan to construct 151 kilometers of new railway tracks, electrify 182 kilometers of existing lines, and modernize 27 stations and 100 kilometers of railway track by 2030. To improve suburban train service, it is proposed to introduce 15 new routes.
Arrow Mobility, a gaucho manufacturer specializing in electric vehicles that has its own factory unit in Caxias do Sul (RS), launched the Arrow One Pax. This new, fully electric minibus was developed to meet passenger transport needs in the charter, tourism, and school sectors.
The creation of this model aims to fill an existing gap in the Brazilian market, positioning itself between the most compact electric cabin vans and large minibuses, which are considered excessively expensive for smaller-scale operations. The vehicle's design combines the robust structure of a minibus, designed to comply with impact and rollover standards, with the agility and size of a van.
Internally, the Arrow One Pax offers several amenities, such as a lowered and flat floor, high headroom, reclining seats, air conditioning system, and large windows. It is available in three distinct configurations: Executive, which accommodates 16 passengers plus the driver; Urban, with a capacity for 20 passengers plus the driver; and School, which can transport up to 20 students plus the driver.
The main differential presented by Arrow is the financial aspect. Although the initial investment is higher than that of a similar-capacity diesel van (approximately R$ 600,000), the manufacturer states that the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of the Arrow One Pax will be 16% lower over five years of use. This saving is attributed to a reduction of up to 70% in energy expenses and a 20% reduction in maintenance costs, allowing the return on the additional investment to occur in less than four years.
The batteries used are LFP (lithium, iron, and phosphate) type, supplied by the Chinese company CATL, and have an estimated lifespan from the manufacturer exceeding 1 million kilometers.
Founded in 2020, Arrow Mobility was established by professionals with prior experience at Marcopolo and began serial production in 2023. Initially, the group provided bus engineering services for clients located in the United Kingdom, Egypt, Spain, and India, before developing its own product. Its first launch was the Arrow ONE, an electric van intended for last-mile logistics, with a cargo volume of about 16.5 m³. This model debuted in Mercado Livre's delivery fleet and received the international iD Design Award in 2024.
