The Road to Autonomy

Jan Becker , CEO & Co-Founder,  Apex AI  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how the autonomous vehicle industry has evolved from the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge to the dawn of the era of commercialization in 2023.  The conversation begins with Jan discussing the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge and his role on Stanford's team. People called it...

Zander Cook, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Lease End joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how consumers can capture equity at the end of their car lease.  The conversation begins with Zander sharing his insights into what he is currently seeing in the leasing market. Putting this into context, the average price of a new vehicle has risen mor...

Akshay Jaising , VP of Commercialization,  Motional  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Motional’s commercialization strategy and how Motional is scaling robotaxi operations in multiple cities. The conversation begins with Akshay discussing Motional’s commercialization strategy.  We have taken a very partner centric approach. We want to focu...

Don Burnette , Founder & CEO,  Kodiak Robotics  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss building an autonomous trucking business and why Kodiak did not SPAC. The conversation begins with Don discussing the last 18 months in autonomous trucking and why Kodiak did not SPAC.  We had multiple SPAC offers, but at the end of the day we felt li...

Christian Spano , Director of Innovation,  International Council of Mining and Metals  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss decarbonizing mining and how the circular economy can be ushered in through building stocks of materials that can be reused forever. The conversation begins with Christian discussing what is being done to decarbonize mining tr...

Oliver Cameron , VP, Product,  Cruise  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss scaling Cruise, the passenger experience and the role AI plays in the Cruise product.  The conversation begins with Oliver reflecting on the last four years in autonomy. The biggest change for me that has happened over the last four years is that in 2019 everyone in th...

Jim Mullen , Founder & President, Mullen Consulting joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss how traditional trucking and autonomous trucking compliment each other and their combined benefits to the U.S. freight network. The conversation begins with Jim discussing what is causing the decline rates in spot truckload rates, which are down 57.3% year-over-year....

Sergey Litvinenko , Co-Founder & CEO,  Koop Insurance  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss how Koop is reimagining how you underwrite autonomous vehicle insurance.  The conversation begins with Sergey describing Koop. We are an insurance technology startup that is focused on everything automated. We focus on fully autonomous vehicles that...

Dean Foreman , Chief Economist,  American Petroleum Institute (API)  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss his 2023 Q1 outlook for the oil and gas markets. The conversation begins with Dean sharing his thoughts and insights into the current state of the oil and gas markets.  As the economy goes, that is what we are going to look for in oil...

David Welch , Detroit Bureau Chief, Bloomberg and Author of  Charging Ahead, General Motors, Mary Bara, and the Reinvention of an American Icon  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss his 2023 outlook on the autonomous vehicle market.  The conversation begins with David sharing his outlook for the autonomous vehicle market in 2023. Dav...

Matt Soule , Co-Founder & CEO,  Parallel Systems  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss Parallel’s electric, autonomous freight rail system.  The conversation begins with Matt discussing the founding of Parallel Systems. The energy efficiency of rail uniquely allows for reduction in energy and therefore reduction in CO2. – Matt Soule Parall...

John Tully , Vice President of Strategy and Business Development,  Pilot Flying J  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss how Pilot Flying J is developing the travel centers of the future. The conversation begins with John discussing how Pilot Flying J will continue to prosper as Bloomberg New Energy Finance is projecting that road fuel demand will p...

Mike Doucleff , Senior Vice President & Global Head of eMobility Division,  Schneider Electric  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss destination electric vehicle charging solutions.  The conversation begins with Mike sharing his opinion on the current state of the electric vehicle industry.  We are really starting to enter t...

Matt Horton , CEO,  Voltera  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss scaling electric vehicle fleet charging.  The conversation begins with Matt discussing a Bloomberg Intelligence report that states there needs to be at least $42 billion in EV charging infrastructure investments by the end of the decade to keep up with the projected electri...

Paul Newman , Founder,  Oxbotica  and  Andrew Pyne , President & CEO,  Wenco International Mining Systems  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss their partnership and open autonomy.  The conversation begins with Paul discussing the founding of Oxbotica in 2014 and his thoughts on applying autonomy to the mining sector. The ec...

Igino Cafiero , CEO & Co-Founder,  Bear Flag Robotics  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss autonomous tractors, the technology’s benefits to farmers and the acquisition of Bear Flag by John Deere.  The conversation begins with Igino discussing what it has been like since John Deere acquired Bear Flag Robotics in August 2021 and what the i...

Jason Fischer , Executive Chief Engineer, Autonomous Vehicles,  GM  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss the creation of the Cruise Origin and how GM is going to manufacturer and scale the Origin.  The conversation begins with Jason discussing how important the Cruise Origin is to GM’s autonomous vehicle plans.  The Cruise Origi...

Russ Mitchell  who covers the rapidly changing global auto industry, with special emphasis on California, including electric vehicles, driverless cars and vehicle safety at  The Los Angeles Times  once again joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss overcoming electric vehicle charging anxiety.  The conversation begins with Russ discussing how...

Rich Steiner , Head of Policy & Communications,  Gatik  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss how Gatik is ushering in the era of autonomous commerce through policy innovations and partnerships. The conversation begins with Rich discussing how Gatik approached the mid-term election from a policy perspective.  Gatik’s priorities at...

Matt Stover , Director of Charging & Energy Services, North America,  Ford Motor Company  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss Ford’s strategy for public electric vehicle charging.  The conversation begins with Matt discussing the current state of public electric vehicle charging.  When we look at public charging right now, the indust...

Henry Sanderson , Author,  Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss the geopolitics of the electric vehicle supply chain and his book. The conversation begins with Henry discussing why he wrote the book. I really wanted to capture the idea that the energy transition, the move to clean energy wa...

David Hanngren , Investment Director,  Volvo Group Venture Capital  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss how the Volvo Group is transforming from a hardware business to an as a service business, and the role that the venture capital group is playing in Volvo’s transformation.  The conversation begins with David discussing how all of the Volvo...

Mazen Danaf , Senior Economist,  Uber Freight  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss the current state of surface freight transportation market and Uber Freight’s approach to autonomous trucking starting with a hub-to-hub strategy.  The conversation begins with Mazen discussing how he sees the $1.06 trillion dollar surface freight transportatio...

Francesca Favarò , Safety Best Practices Lead,  Waymo  joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss Waymo’s layered approach to safety.  The conversation begins with Francesca discussing how Waymo approaches safety for autonomous vehicles.  Waymo has an approach that we call a layer approach to safety. – Francesca Favarò Waymo’s layered...

Pat Dillon , Chief Financial Officer, Flock Freight joined  Grayson Brulte  on The Road to Autonomy Podcast to discuss the current economic outlook and Flock’s carpooling for freight model that unlocks value for shippers and carriers.  The conversation begins with Pat sharing his insight on how as CFO, he is preparing Flock Freight for a potential recession in the United States whic...