This week’s podcast is brought to you by Terawatt – purpose-built charging for autonomous vehicle fleets.

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and Substack. We now have transcripts available too (Click on the "transcripts" button in the top right corner of this post to access them).

In today’s episode, I’m speaking with Daniel and Andres Munoz, co-founders of Tower Mobility. They are one of Uber’s largest fleet partners and operate with a unique W2 driver model, where all of their drivers are employees and they own every vehicle in the fleet. This model allows them to invest in training for their drivers, infrastructure for their vehicles, charging and more. We also go into the details of their Uber partnership, especially from the insurance and safety perspectives.

We also discuss the main challenges of managing a human fleet and how this might evolve with the advent of AV fleets, touching on charging infrastructure and Tower’s future plans as AVs take more market share.

If you enjoyed this episode and would like to hear more about Tower, they will be one of our featured speakers at the Urban Autonomy Summit in NYC on 10/8. Space is limited, but you can apply to attend here if you’re interested in joining the festivities!

Chapters

(0:00) Introduction to Daniel and Andres

(02:53) Background on Tower Mobility and how it started

(04:40) The difference between W2 drivers and independent contractors

(06:50) What types of drivers does Tower Mobility recruit and how do they find them?

(10:15) Tower Mobility driver benefits/comp

(13:27) Tower Mobility’s partnership with Uber and its benefits

(19:50) Insurance and Safety benefits of Towers model

(23:15) The main challenges of managing a human/autonomous vehicle fleet

(26:38) Tower’s fleet size and details

(27:58) What benefits come with managing an EV fleet?

(32:23) How Tower handles charging for their EV fleet

(34:18) Tower’s future plans in the advent of AVs, and business with Waymo

(39:25) Conclusion and final thoughts

Designing Charging Hubs for Autonomous Fleets

We are excited to partner with Terawatt, one of the leading providers of charging infrastructure. To learn more about Terawatt's network of AV charging hubs and track record of 99%+ uptime, reach out to Logan Szidik at [email protected]

- Harry

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