Disruption Drive

Today, we dive deep into the future of our streets, our sidewalks, and the very fabric of our cities with one of the most unique thinkers in the entire mobility ecosystem. When he looks at transport, he does so through the lens of social good, public policy, and human harmony, combining insights from Design, Systems engineering and human Behavioral Economics. Bern Grush is the Co-Founder and Execu...

My next guest is a true expert on all things Transportation. Kelly McGuiness is Director of the Sam Schwartz Transportation Research Program at the Roosevelt Public Policy Institute at Hunter College New York where she works as the right hand to the peerless sage of the road Sam Schwartz. I had a hard time deciding on a topic for her since Kelly is truly one of the deepest minds focused on not jus...

The world of Autonomous Vehicles can often feel like an already crowded house. But if you look deep, the unsung workhorse on the road remains - the Bus. AdasTec is currently the only major player building Level 4 Autonomous Driving capability for the City Transit bus system. This endeavor is not just technologically bold, it is truly the most socially impactful bet of our time. By automating publi...

Physical AI has often been explained as a story of labor replacement. My next guest isn't coming for the farmer’s job—he is building their newest coworker. The story of Physical AI has often been sold as one of labor replacement. But in the vineyards and raspberry fields, Burro is forging new paths - Autonomous systems that are rugged enough for the grit, affordable enough for the orchard, and sma...

While Goldman Sachs projects autonomous vehicles and robotaxis to grow at 90% CAGR, fleet experts generally agree the state of the art robot will be soon defeated by a metal kiosk on the curbside. The taxi cannot feed a coin slot and probably not download many consumer software that vary city to cuty- creating a very real likelihood of empty cars just circling around causing even more congestion w...

While we chase the technological vision of Full Self Driving cars, millions of legacy driven vehicles already ply on our roads. Mapless AI isn’t waiting for a driverless future; they’re retrofitting today’s cars to be operated from afar, prioritizing resilient engineering and safe unit economics over integrated HD maps. My guest is working on turning existing fleets into remote-ready assets. He be...

For ten thousand years, the 'cutting edge' of civilization was tiny seeds with the promise of food sunk into the Earth. Farming is our oldest technology; it is the engine that created our calendars, our cultures, and our very survival. Today, we are standing at the very beginning of a digital revolution that promises to change the landscape of the earth as profoundly as the first plow. My next gue...

In the autonomous vehicle industry, credibility has long anchored in safety. But while safety is non-negotiable, it’s also an intangible baseline to drive adoption. On the flip side, we see headlines dominated by miles driven and total revenue, metrics that often leave stakeholders wondering if the needle is being moved at all. Bot Auto has decided to bypass the vanity metrics to obsess over a sin...

On this podcast entirely focused on the massive Disruptions in Mobility, I always make it a point to ask: What does the "Human in the Loop" look like? My guest today is building the answer to that question. While the automation industries races to perfect Physical AI pouring Billions to make Technology smarter, Remotics is training the Human Behind it . In fact, they may be the first company we’ve...

The traditional history of innovation follows a predictable script. New, transformative technology almost always starts as a luxury—a high-priced toy for early adopters. Eventually getting adopted as aspirational consumers surge. Beep flips that script. They take 'Space Age' technology of Autonomous Vehicles and putting it to work right now where it’s needed most: in our transit agencies, our univ...

While everyone’s looking at robotaxis on sunny boulevards, Forterra is busy where the asphalt ends. 🌲🪖 Forget predictable lane lines. We’re talking about "GPS-denied," high-consequence environments where "edge cases" aren't the exception—they’re the entire job description. From Defense to Commercial Heavy Logistics, Forterra is building autonomous systems for worlds where roads don't even exist...

The frontier to Mobility is currently blocked by a massive financial and technical bottleneck. Training an autonomous vehicle or any autonomous system on the infinite list of edge cases is prohibitively expensive and technically complex. And hence new market launches can often take more than a year. What if you could compress that entire year into twenty-four hours? I talk to Balint Pasztor from D...

For decades, the auto industry was obsessed with the moment of sale . You built it, sold it, and moved on. But the "one-and-done" era is dying. Today, the first purchase is just the opening act My next guest is truly an expert on the Lifecycle of a Car. Hakan Dogu is widely considered one of the Top 0.1% of the most influential executives in the Auto industry. He previously served as the SVP Of Af...

My next guest is truly moving the needle beyond the “experiment” phase of self-driving cars, focusing instead on providing a luxury-grade user experience that treats the passenger as an esteemed guest rather than a Rider. Shalin James Anto is the Founder and CEO of Pliyt, a revolutionary design for the car of the future. With a background deep in Safety and Interior Design of vehicles including st...

Most people see a bus, a bike lane, or a bridge and think about getting from A to B. But my guest Peter Schenkman sees it as the circulatory system of the global economy. Peter is a titan in the world of urban planning and a leading voice on Mobility as an Economic Engine. Peter argues that transport isn’t just a public utility; it is the primary driver of social mobility, labor market density, an...

Michigan put the "world on wheels." It's now taking it's legacy to the skies. 🚁 I recently sat down with Charlie Tyson, Technology Activation Director at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), to discuss how the state is architecting the Future of Mobility. While Michigan is the heart of the automotive world, the next frontier is Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). We talked: - What is Mi...

Historically, cars talked about torque, horsepower, and fuel efficiency. But in an era of Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs) and EVs, hardware is rapidly becoming a commodity. I sat down with Jennifer Gallagher, Founder and CEO of Mach BD, to peel back the layers of the esoteric technology in automotive. Jennifer specializes in translating complex disruption into what actually matters for the driver...

We are starting off the New Year with a massive goal: reducing traffic congestion and, more importantly, saving lives. I sat down with Robert Putt, the CEO and Founder of Argus AI, to discuss how they are redefining traffic safety. Argus AI monitors and tracks traffic incidents in under 10 seconds. Compare that to the standard 6-16 minutes for commonly used navigation apps We talked about: The "Ho...

Everyone dreams of a shiny, driverless future, but Colleen McCracken (Necture, ex-Lyft, ex-Adobe) is asking, "Who changes the tires?" Colleen is that unicorn who speaks both fluent "Software" and fluent "Fleet." While the rest of the industry obsesses over AI, she’s obsessed with the one thing that actually stops the future in its tracks: Maintaining the Car. We dig into: The real mobility inflect...

We used to judge a car by its horsepower, the roar of the engine, and the freedom of the open road. But today? We are witnessing the biggest shift in mobility since the Model T. The car is no longer just a machine. It is increasingly a device. I recently sat down with Partha Goswami for a deep-dive podcast episode that completely reframed how I see the vehicle sitting in my driveway. We explore th...

A very special episode where I host Dan Grossman (ex-Zipcar, GM Ford Chariot) and Robert Baertsch (Line Mobility, ex-NASA) on an audacious vision to change transport without creating congestion. If you thought the Jetsons were a century away, think again. We talk: - What is Personal Rapid Transit (PRT)? How does it move more people? - How do we improve Transit infrastructure? Stations, signals and...

I host Deniz Cetin, Chief Commercial Officer at Karsan. Karsan is revolutionizing public transit and has deployed the first ever autonomous buses on European and US roads. Watch this episode for a great discussion on: 1. Civilizational imperative of public Transport 2. Barriers to adopting public transport 3. Does size matter in buses? 4. Can the humble Bus be a greater Autonomous Vehicle than a R...

I host the inimitable John Moon, a true expert on disruption to discuss what it means when a Manufacturer decides that they want to become a Mobility company: 1. What does Mobility mean as different from Manufacturing? 2. How does building Software differ from Manufacturing and what do companies get wrong when pursuing such approaches? 3. How does Autonomy change Mobility? 4. What lessons and para...

I host the brilliant Mark Norman to talk about the massive commercialization going on in Freight and Logistics automation. Mark has worn every hat imaginable in Automotive - CEO, Operator and now a Venture Capitalist investing in the transportation ecosystem. We talk: 1. How do you contrast the adoption curves of Robotaxis with the equally profound disruptions in Freight? 2. What lessons translate...

This week I host Bhuvan Atluri, of the MIT Mobility Initiative to discuss the history, present and future of Software Defined Vehicles. We talk about the implications of what the current trajectory of automotive manufacturing looks like: - How do SDVs help Automakers? - How are Suppliers adapting as a result? - What are the implications for Mechanics, Dealers and Technicians? - What new Business M...