The Road to Autonomy

This week on Autonomy   Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  preview Tesla’s upcoming FSD robotaxi launch, Waymo’s continued interest in personally-owned autonomous vehicles and Aurora’s stumbles.  As we approach June, all eyes are on Austin in anticipation of Tesla’s highly awaited robotaxi launch. With real-world testing already underway, Tesla is taki...

Ali Kashani, Co-Founder & Serve Robotics joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how sidewalk delivery robots are transforming the economics and experience of last-mile delivery. Ali shares the origin story of Serve Robotics, which was incubated within Postmates and later spun out of Uber into a publicly traded company. What began as a simple idea, delivering smal...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s recall, Tesla’s most recent NHTSA letter and Sterling Anderson’s surprise move to join GM as EVP & Chief Product Officer. For the first time ever, Waymo had a fleet-wide recall after a series of minor collisions involving stationary objects, a recall that was fixed with a simple over-the-air update. As Waymo update...

David Welch, Detroit Bureau Chief, Bloomberg joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Waymo’s growing competitive advantage in the market, Uber’s strategy and the many challenges facing Tesla. Waymo continues to strengthen its market share in the robotaxi sector, recently announcing a strategic partnership with Magna to significantly expand autonomous vehicle manufacturing...

This week on Autonomy   Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss the abrupt resignation of Aurora Co-Founder Sterling Anderson, why Waymo needs more vehicles and the continued fragmentation of the robotaxi market.  Mr. Anderson’s sudden departure sent shockwaves through the industry, raising critical questions about his next move and the potential im...

Earl Adams Jr. , Vice President for Policy and Regulatory Affairs,  Plus  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how autonomous trucking is poised to transform local communities, economically, socially, and operationally.  In Texas, Plus is actively working to deploy fully autonomous trucks in partnership with International by 2027. As part of t...

This week on Autonomy   Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Waymo’s potential new partnership with Toyota, the launch of Aurora’s driver-out commercial operations and Uber’s continued effort to challenge the autonomy duopoly.  On Tuesday, Waymo announced a potential partnership with Toyota to develop personally-owned autonomous vehicles, confirm...

Sergey Litvinenko , Co-Founder & CEO,  Koop  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the emergence of autonomous vehicle fleets and why the fleet model is becoming the model for scaling autonomous vehicles globally.  In the autonomous vehicle market there are new emerging business models for owning and operating the fleets from leasing to REI...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo's potential pivot away from HD maps, their 250,000 fully autonomous rides per week milestone, Tesla's pending robotaxi launch and Aurora's long-promised driver-out launch. In a post announcing the milestone on X, Waymo used the term "generalizable Waymo Driver”, potentially hinting that the company may move away fro...

Christian John , President,  TIER IV  North America joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how TIER IV is scaling open-source autonomous driving platform software globally.  Tier IV is using the foundational elements of Autoware, an open-source autonomous driving software stack to build scalable, modular reference platforms for everything f...

This week on Autonomy   Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Kodiak starting the process to become a publicly traded company, the anxiety leading up to Aurora’s driver-out commercial launch and Lyft’s expansion into Europe through the acquisition of FREENOW. Kodiak  has officially filed to go public in a $2.5 billion SPAC deal, backed by a $100 m...

Jim Liefer , CEO,  Ambi Robotics  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how physical AI is transforming warehouse automation and redefining global supply chain efficiency.  Ambi Robotics systems have logged over 200,000 hours of real-world autonomous operations, equivalent to 22 years of experience. As the foundation models powering these syste...

This week on Autonomy   Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Wayve’s OEM partnership with Nissan, Nuro’s Series E capital raise and why the Uber/Waymo partnership in Austin does not guarantee future deployments.  Wayve  is going to power Nissan’s next-generation ProPILOT technology starting in fiscal year 2027. The deal with Nissan validates...

Pete Bigelow , Senior Reporter, Automotive News joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how Detroit is handing tariffs, the slow adoption of electric vehicles and consumers increasing interest in autonomous vehicles.  Detroit’s automakers are grappling with a future that is no longer electric, it’s autonomous. After racing full steam ahead towards ele...

This week on Autonomy   Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Waymo’s unforced error with the Zeekr RT robotaxi, Uber’s future with autonomous vehicles and the winners and losers from the latest round of tariffs.  Waymo’s Zeekr RT robotaxi has seen its price double due to a 100% tariff on Chinese-made vehicles, igniting a debate over whether Waymo...

Jeremy Bird , EVP, Driver Experience, Lyft joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Lyft’s approach to autonomous vehicles and why Lyft is embracing a hybrid network strategy.  As part of their autonomous vehicle strategy, Lyft is developing partnerships with autonomous vehicle developers and vehicle manufacturers that will enable them to put thei...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss their road trip to Forward Forth Worth, Waymo’s expansion to Washington, D.C. and the emerging opportunity in autonomous trucking. Texas is thriving capital of autonomous trucking with Aurora, Bot Auto, Kodiak, Torc and Waabi all having a presence in the state. Now autonomous vehicle companies are flocking to the state with Av...

Nat Beuse , Chief Safety Officer,  Aurora  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the development of Aurora’s Safety Case Framework and how the company is preparing to safely launch fully autonomous commercial trucks. Aurora’s rigorous safety case framework is built around trust, transparency and continuous improvement. From fostering a dee...

This week on Autonomy   Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and  Walter Piecyk  discuss Waymo’s mapping expansion to San Francisco International Airport (SFO), their continued Bay Area expansion and Tesla’s ambitious plans for launching a FSD Unsupervised.  As Waymo begins mapping SFO, there are still hurdles that the company has to overcome before offering commercial serv...

Adrienne Gildea , Deputy Executive Director,  Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how CVSA developed enhanced inspections and the positive impact that they will have on roadway safety.  CVSA is preparing for autonomous trucks to scale by working with the autonomous trucking industry, law enforceme...

This week on Autonomy   Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s Bay Area expansion and what it means for the great highway and airport unlocks, our visit to  May Mobility  in Ann Arbor and Amazon’s struggles with Zoox.  Waymo has expanded its service area in the Bay Area by 50%, adding 27 square miles in Silicon Valley, for residents only at t...

Peter Ludwig , CTO & Co-Founder and  Jason Brown , General Manager-Government,  Applied Intuition  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the company’s acquisition of EpiSci and how they are developing all-domain autonomy solutions for defense applications. In December 2024, Applied Intuition acquired EpiSci to accelerate the growt...

This week on Autonomy   Markets,  Grayson Brulte  and Walter Piecyk discus Waymo’s launch in Austin, Alphabet’s strong commitment to Waymo and Hyundai’s robotaxi ambitions.  On March 5, Waymo launched exclusively on the Uber app in Austin. However, riders cannot guarantee a Waymo vehicle, as there is no dedicated Waymo tier in the app. This lack of certainty could dilute t...

Dean Foreman , Chief Economist,  Texas Oil & Gas Association  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Autonomy Economy podcast to discuss the current state the U.S. economy and the global oil and natural gas markets. Consumer debt in the U.S. is rising and that could have potential impacts on GDP. While the economic picture in the U.S. is uncertain at the moment, global oil demand i...

Gavin Jackson , CEO of  Oxa  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Oxa’s approach to autonomy—universal autonomy.  Oxa specializes in industrial mobility applications within repetitive environments such as airports, ports, and logistics hubs, where driving patterns are predictable. When Oxa deployed autonomous vehicles at Heathrow Air...