This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk are joined by their first-ever guest, David Moss, to discuss his 12,961-mile zero-intervention drive across the country on Tesla FSD, the reality of the Unsupervised Robotaxi rollout in Austin, and the commercial viability of LiDAR sensors in consumer vehicles.

The conversation heats up as Walt questions David, a LiDAR LiDAR Salesman on whether the massive data processing requirements of LiDAR could introduce latency, potentially citing a recent Waymo incident involving a child as a case study. David argues that while LiDAR offers theoretical range advantages, the compute wall and cost constraints make it a one-trick pony compared to the scalability of a vision-only stack.

While the group debates sensor suites, David shares his on-the-ground experience in Austin, revealing it took 58 attempts to finally secure a ride in a Unsupervised Tesla Robotaxi, and confirmed the fleet is being retrofitted with new cleaning jets for the camera sensors to handle weather occlusion.

Looking at the broader robotaxi market, the trio analyzes their Zoox experiences at CES, with David noting the vehicle’s braking was significantly harsher than Waymo or Tesla FSD, while Walt highlights the motion sickness challenges inherent in the vehicle’s carriage-style seating configuration.

In Prediction Corner, the group debates the timeline for Tesla removing the safety driver on highways, with David offering a bullish forecast for Memorial Day, while Walt and Grayson take a more conservative stance, predicting a rollout closer to late 2026.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Coast to Coast Fully Autonomous in a Tesla Model 3

10:49 The Next Record

12:16 FSD Unsupervised in Austin

16:16 Waymo Experience on Uber in Austin

17:17 Robotaxi Safety Attendants

19:44 Unsupervised Robotaxi Service Area

21:43 Sensor Cleaning

26:05 Robotaxi, No Highways in Austin, Yet

32:11 Zoox Las Vegas Experiences

37:13 LiDAR

48:07 Why Autonomy

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™.

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