Autonomy Markets

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk explored the potential impacts of President Trump's administration on the autonomous vehicle and truck industries. With tensions brewing between labor interests and technology companies, the hosts analyzed who might ultimately gain ground from a policy perspective. At Davos, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said autonomous vehicle techn...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk headed to Washington, D.C. where they attended an event held by The Council for Economic Resilience that focused on the future of autonomous vehicle and truck policy. With President Trump being sworn into office next week, there is an opportunity to usher in the golden age of autonomy.  To usher in the golden age of autonomy, there ha...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss how the momentum has shifted in the autonomous vehicle and truck industries after NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang declared it will become the first multi-trillion dollar robotics industry at CES 2025.  While the momentum shift has been significant, legacy OEMs are facing headwinds and long-term challenges as Ford shutdown Argo AI, GM...

In the first episode of Autonomy Markets in 2025, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss the ever-evolving landscape of autonomous vehicles and the growth of big tech. Waymo's technical advancements and steady expansion made the company the clear leader in robotaxis in 2024. While Waymo cemented their role as the leader in robotaxis, Tesla is nipping at their heels as the company prepares to int...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Tesla FSD 13, autonomous trucking’s regularity roadblocks and Waymo’s path to offering service at theSan Francisco International (SFO) Airport.  Tesla’s FSD 13 is as a major technical leap forward. While we have been impressed with its more natural driving style and improved responsiveness to traffic flow, it’s not ready for d...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Apple’s potential return to the robotaxi market through Foxconn, Waymo's expansion to Japan and Uber's fleet strategy. Rather than building their own autonomous driving system from the ground-up, Apple could partner with Wayve to power the autonomous system, while Foxconn could be the contract manufacturer to build the vehicle...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss the dramatic turn of events that led GM to abruptly shut down Cruise, just days before a planned driver-out launch in Houston. The decision, made by CEO Mary Barra, reportedly stems from fears of another incident.  With the decision to pull the plug on  Cruise , GM burnt $9 billion of investment dollars with nothing to show fo...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo's expansion to Miami, Uber and Lyft's future in the era of autonomy and Tesla's releases of FSD 13.Waymo is expanding to Miami in 2025 without one of their partners—Uber. Instead, Waymo chose Moove as their fleet management partner. Could this signal something more broad, as Moove is also taking over the fleet management...

This week Tesla unveiled their fleet API which could be a precursor to Tesla introducing a Cybercab service with 3rd party fleet operators. The company also begun the process of strategically positioning Cybercabs in showrooms, malls around the world and at high-profile events such as Art Basel in Miami. Tesla is effectively using these displays as a form of brand advertising. While brand advertis...

A significant shift in autonomous vehicle policy appears imminent with President-elect Trump’s plans to implement a national autonomous vehicle framework. Key cabinet appointments, including Congressman Duffy for Transportation Secretary and Pam Bondi for Attorney General, signal strong support for autonomy.  The incoming administration is strategically positioning pro-autonomy officials, with the...

In this episode of Autonomy Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss the Waymo's public launch in LA, Zoox's debut in San Francisco and the emergence of Bot Auto.  This week Waymo removed the waitlist and opened the service to the public in Los Angeles in an 80 square mile area. Even though the public can now ride in the vehicles, there are extended wait times (up to 40 minutes) and t...

The election of Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States could dramatically reshape the autonomous vehicle industry, with Elon Musk positioned as a key influence in the new administration. A national framework for autonomous vehicles and trucks is expected to be a top priority, potentially overriding state-specific regulations like California's strict regulations. Episode Chapter...

In this episode of Autonomy Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Waymo’s new EMMA model (End-to-End Multimodal Model) for Autonomous Driving, their increased weekly ridership and how a shortage of skilled mechanics and technicians could slow down the growth of the Waymo One service.  As Waymo grows their service, Zoox is now preparing to join the party and launch a robotaxi servic...

In this episode of Autonomy Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss the opening of the autonomy IPO market and investors increasing desire to own autonomous vehicle companies.  On October 23rd, Tesla’s stock rallied 20% following earnings that beat the street and Elon Musk’s continued commentary about Tesla’s robotaxi ambitions. WeRide completed its NASDAQ IPO raising $440M on Octobe...

In this episode of Autonomy Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss the details emerging from Tesla’s robotaxi unveiling at We, Robot. Tesla’s robotaxi is projected to have a 200-mile range with FSD 13 powering Full Self-Driving Unsupervised.  Could FSD 13 be Tesla’s breakthrough autonomy moment? Or will it be a later version of FSD? Later the conversation shifts to the emerging news...

In this episode of Autonomy Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Tesla’s We Robot event, an event that Grayson has dubbed as “Autonomy Disneyland” and the markets mixed market reaction. While the We Robot event was impressive and Disneyesque, it fell short on providing concrete details about timelines, financial projections, and technological progress in Tesla’s development of ful...

In this episode of Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Tesla's highly anticipated 10/10 We Robot event and what could be announced. Could Optimus have a friend? Could Tesla introduce Full Self-Driving (Supervised) for Tesla Semi? Will the robotaxi be a two passenger vehicle? There are lots of questions that will be answered next week live on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burba...

In this episode of Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss the U.S. Commerce Department’s proposed ruling to prohibit the sale or import of vehicles that have hardware and software integrated into the vehicle connectivity system (VCS) and software integrated into the Automated Driving System from China and Russia. They explored the potential impact of the proposed rule and what...

In this episode of Autonomy Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Waymo’s potential pivot away from Zeekr to Hyundai, Zoox’s commercialization strategy and why  Uber is the platform for autonomy . Waymo’s potential deal with Hyundai for the IONIQ 5 platform could mark the end of Waymo’s deal with Zeekr, ending what we have termed an unforced error. If Waymo is indeed abandoning the...

In this episode of Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss the latest developments in the autonomous vehicle industry, drawing insights from Grayson's recent trip to Silicon Valley. There is an emerging shift towards developing autonomous driving stacks and licensing the technology to OEMs and mobility platform providers. Nuro is embracing this trend as they announced their new...

Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk, discuss Wall Street's perspective on autonomy, the implications that autonomy could have on Uber and whether it's a strength or weakness for Uber. Along with the impact of Tesla entering the robotaxi market and the growth of Waymo. Later in the conversation they explore topics such as the potential for autonomous vehicles to be marketed as a premium service, the c...