The Road to Autonomy

Hugh Nguyen, Partner, Automotive Technology & Mobility, KPMG and Lerrel Pinto, Co-Founder, Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI) joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss why the immediate future of humanoid robotics lies in enterprise applications, rather than consumer homes. Powering the humanoids is the software "brain" and system integration, which are becomin...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Uber and WeRide's fully autonomous launch in Abu Dhabi, marking Uber's first robotaxi deployment without a safety driver outside the United States. On WeRide's earnings, the company announced a fleet of 1,600 autonomous vehicles with 750 robotaxis, while Pony.ai announced plans to triple its fleet to 3,000 by end of next year...

Mark Seeger , Founder & Co-CEO,  Glydways  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how a mesh network of private, on-demand autonomous pods can solve global urban congestion at a fraction of the cost of traditional transit. While today’s narrative currently centers around robotaxis, the real breakthrough may come from rethinking the physics and ec...

This week on  Autonomy Markets ,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Waymo’s accelerated nationwide expansion with new markets, Minneapolis, Tampa, New Orleans, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando getting ready to come online, while breaking down and coin Waymo’s Six Stages of Autonomy. As  Waymo  expands, competition is brewing in Dall...

Hugh Nguyen , Partner, Automotive Technology & Mobility,  KPMG  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the emerging wave of autonomous vehicle partnerships, the hidden value in fleet operations, and the coming M&A consolidation that will reshape the industry. As the autonomous vehicle ecosystem accelerates through a phase of rapid partnership...

This week on  Autonomy Markets ,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Waymo’s great highway unlock, their Bay Area expansion to 260 square miles and the launch of commercial service at the San Jose Airport. Despite the expansion,  Waymo  remains sharply vehicle-constrained. Bloomberg reported this week that the company is operating roughly 1,000 vehi...

This week on  Autonomy Markets ,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Waymo’s expansion into three new markets, Uber’s role in autonomy and Lyft’s growing infrastructure ambitions.  Beneath the headlines, Tesla is aiming to once again reshape the entire autonomous driving industry with their AI5 chip, FSD Unsupervised deployment, and the expansion of their ins...

This week on  Autonomy Markets ,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss NVIDIA’s ever expanding autonomy ambitions and the fracturing relationship between  Waymo  and Uber, which may signal the end of one of the industry’s most-watched partnerships.  Jensen Huang’s latest GTC announcements further signaled that NVIDIA is moving beyond supplying co...

David Welch, Detroit Bureau Chief, Bloomberg joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss GM’s return to autonomy and the company’s long-term strategy for personally owned autonomous vehicles. As GM once again re-enters the autonomous vehicle market, the company is signaling a new chapter, one centered on developing a hands-free, eyes-free driving system under the leadership of...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Tesla’s Q3 earnings call, NVIDIA’s strategic partnership with Uber, and GM’s surprising return to autonomy under Sterling Anderson’s leadership. The conversation opens with Walt’s firsthand insights from Tesla’s Q3 2025 earnings call, where the company confirmed plans to remove safety attendants across “large parts” of Austin...

This week on  Autonomy Markets ,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Tesla’s continued FSD 14 updates, Waymo’s expansion to London and the growing political and infrastructure challenges shaping the next phase of robotaxi growth. Walt shares his latest hands-on experience with FSD 14, including testing the new “Mad Max” mode, featuring more assertive lane changes,...

David Doria , Director of Engineering – Automated Driving, Magna joined  Grayson Brulte  on The  Road to Autonomy podcast  to discuss Magna’s approach to developing autonomous driving systems. As the automotive industry transitions toward software-defined vehicles that will eventually become fully autonomous, the core technologies driving this transformation are...

This week on  Autonomy Markets ,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Tesla’s FSD 14 release and Waymo’s potential market expansions.  The episode begins with Walt sharing his firsthand experience testing FSD 14, showcasing its breakthrough ability to autonomously back out of driveways and park at destinations with a single tap. While impressive, he notes chal...

Varun Jain , Of Counsel, K&L Gates joined  Grayson Brulte  on The  Road to Autonomy podcast  to discuss why the next 15 months will define autonomous vehicle policy in America.  With new leadership at NHTSA and growing interest in Congress, Varun outlines why the next 15 months will be pivotal for establishing a national autonomous vehicle framework. From updating outd...

This week on  Autonomy Markets ,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss the accelerating global expansion of robotaxis. In London,  Wayve  is proving its adaptable, AI-powered autonomous system can navigate complex roadways, from double roundabouts to unpredictable pedestrian interactions without reliance on LiDAR. Wayve’s strategy of working hand-in-hand w...

Martyn Briggs , Director, Thematic Investing Strategy, Bank of America joined  Grayson Brulte  on The  Road to Autonomy podcast  to discuss why 2035 might be the year the car peaks and what that means for the market.  Breakthroughs in AI, falling sensor costs, and favorable regulation have shifted autonomy from a “moonshot” to a fast-emerging industry and soon, a global ec...

This week on  Autonomy Markets ,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss the upcoming release of Tesla FSD 14, Waymo’s potential expansion to London and Nuro taking delivery of their first Lucid-built robotaxi. What will the highly anticipated release of FSD 14 (Supervised) mean for the market? Could reduced driver monitoring signal that Tesla is inching closer to FSD...

Chuck Price , President,  AI Kinetics  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The  Road to Autonomy podcast  to discuss Bot Auto’s successful 40-mile, fully autonomous run with no human in the cab or operating the vehicle remotely. In what Chuck Price calls a “watershed event,”  Bot Auto  successfully completed a driver-out run in under two years with less than $45 mill...

This week on Autonomy Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Lyft’s dramatic return to the big leagues of the autonomous vehicle industry through a surprise partnership with  Waymo  in Nashville, including fleet management, sending  Lyft  stock soaring 20% while Uber dropped 5%. Grayson and Walt examine the strategic implications of this non-e...

Qasar Younis , CEO and  Peter Ludwig , CTO, Co-Founders of  Applied Intuition  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss why Applied Intuition continues to be one of the most interesting companies in autonomy. The conversation explores Applied Intuition’s growing portfolio of partnerships, including a major deal with Komatsu and the launch of their...

This week on Autonomy Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss the rapidly shifting landscape of AI inside of vehicles, exploring how xAI’s Grok and Google’s Gemini are shaping the future of in-vehicle experiences. Grayson and Walt debate whether these AI systems will remain as assistants limited to Q&A or evolve into agentic copilots capable of controlling eve...

Dean Foreman , Chief Economist,  Texas Oil & Gas Association  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how record-breaking global energy demand and Texas’s energy dominance are reshaping markets amid the AI revolution and shifting geopolitical dynamics.  With the Energy Information Administration (EIA) projecting consecutive oil demand records...

This week on Autonomy Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss the new expansion announcements from both Waymo and Tesla, framing it as a “heavyweight fight”.  Waymo announced plans to expand to Denver and Seattle, with Denver set to become the first city where its fleet will include both Jaguar I-PACEs and Zeekrs. The company also gained regulatory approval t...

This week on Autonomy Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  marked the one-year anniversary of Autonomy Markets and discussed the reignited debate between LiDAR and vision-only after comments made by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi during an interview.  During the interview, Mr. Khosrowshahi stated that in the short term, a combination of camera, LiDAR, and radar is the...

Anshuman Saxena, Vice President and Head of ADAS/Autonomous Driving Products, Qualcomm joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Qualcomm’s Snapdragon autonomy strategy. Qualcomm’s automotive division is rapidly expanding, with revenue up 59% year-over-year to $959 million. At the center of this growth is the company’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis, a comprehensive automotive p...