By Grayson Brulte
How would you feel if the transport truck beside you on the highway had no driver? Or the car passing beside you had no driver? Would it make a difference if the widespread deployment of autonomous
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The podcast currently has 247 episodes available.
Pete Bigelow, Senior Reporter, Automotive News joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast the potential implications of Donald J. Trump’s second term as U.S. President on the advancement and commercialization of autonomous vehicles.
With significant deregulation anticipated in Trump’s second term, there is optimism about the “golden age” of autonomy that could be ushered in with a national framework for autonomous vehicles that addresses liability concerns and regulatory patchworks.
Episode Chapters
0:00 EVTOLs
3:35 Autonomy Under Trump
7:34 Waymo
15:43 Zoox
20:49 Autonomous Vehicle Industry
24:59 Trump Autonomous Vehicle Policy
29:18 Electrification
40:35 Key Takeaways
Recorded on Tuesday, November 12, 2024
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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™.
Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-economy/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In this episode of Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss the Waymo’s public launch in LA, Zoox’s debut in San Francisco and the emergence of Bot Auto.
This week Waymo removed the waitlist and opened the service to the public in Los Angeles in an 80 square mile area. Even though the public can now ride in the vehicles, there are extended wait times (up to 40 minutes) and the inability to use freeways, increasing the average ride time.
Without freeways, the Waymo service is limited in major markets such as LA and San Francisco because of the increased travel time. While Waymo is working on highway driving, the service is not available to members of the public, yet.
In autonomous trucking, we are on the precipice of the emergence of the “big three”: Aurora, Kodiak, and Bot Auto. Each company has distinct advantages—Aurora’s partnership with Uber Freight, Kodiak’s diversified business model and capital efficiency, and Bot Auto’s plan to operate their own trucking service.
Episode Chapters
0:00 Waymo’s Los Angeles Public Launch
4:10 Autonomous Vehicles on Freeways
9:54 Zoox Hits The Road in San Francisco
18:27 Bot Auto
21:12 Autonomous Trucking Market
25:48 Highway Driving
28:16 Instacart
31:47 Off-Road Autonomy Market
33:38 Next Week
Recorded on November 13, 2024
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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™.
Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-economy/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Bibhrajit Halder, Founder & CEO, Safe AI joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the growth of autonomous mining and construction.
The surging demand for autonomous equipment in mining and construction is being driven partly by severe labor shortages and potential productivity gains in the range of 20-25%.
Episode Chapters
0:00 Current State of Autonomous Construction and Mining Markets
5:04 Connectivity
8:40 End-to-end Models
13:52 LiDAR Debate
21:05 Retrofitting Trucks for Autonomy
28:59 Redundancy
30:20 Safe AI Use Cases
32:35 Electrification
35:23 Future of Autonomous Construction and Mining
Recorded on Friday, November 1, 2024
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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™.
Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-economy/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The election of Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States could dramatically reshape the autonomous vehicle industry, with Elon Musk positioned as a key influence in the new administration. A national framework for autonomous vehicles and trucks is expected to be a top priority, potentially overriding state-specific regulations like California’s strict regulations.
Episode Chapters
0:00 Impact of the Presidential Election on Autonomy Markets
11:07 Toyota & May Mobility
15:25 Lyft
17:02 Zoox
23:24 Autonomous Vehicle Policy
27:05 Tesla
33:18 Next Week
Recorded on November 7, 2024
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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™.
Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-economy/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Sergey Litvinenko, Co-Founder & CEO, Koop joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss insuring personally owned autonomous vehicles beginning with the Tesla Cybercab.
Insuring autonomous vehicles without steering wheels and pedals presents unprecedented challenges that could potentially halt widespread adoption if the insurance is not figured out. While there currently isn’t an insurance product for personally owned fully autonomous vehicles, perhaps Tesla Insurance may have been created specifically to address this challenge?
A critical aspect of insuring personally owned autonomous vehicles will be the handling of post-accident repairs and liability. OEM-backed insurance, particularly Tesla Insurance, is best positioned to handle these challenges due to their direct access to vehicle data, repair capabilities, and understanding of their unique vehicle designs.
While there may be initial concerns about litigation and fraudulent claims, the comprehensive data collection from autonomous vehicles will help combat false claims. The future of personally owned autonomous vehicle insurance is likely to see rates decrease over time as safety performance improves.
Episode Chapters
0:00 Insuring CyberCab
4:23 Insuring Personally Owned Autonomous Vehicles
7:13 Liability for Personally Owned Autonomous Vehicles with No Manual Controls
9:01 Repairing Personally Owned Autonomous Vehicles
13:23 In The Event of a Crash, Who is Responsible?
23:36 Rider Liability Insurance
26:54 Underwriting Risk
36:43 First Personally Owned Autonomous Vehicle Policies
38:27 Key Takeaways
Recorded on Tuesday, October 29, 2024
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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™.
Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-economy/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In this episode of Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s new EMMA model (End-to-End Multimodal Model) for Autonomous Driving, their increased weekly ridership and how a shortage of skilled mechanics and technicians could slow down the growth of the Waymo One service.
As Waymo grows their service, Zoox is now preparing to join the party and launch a robotaxi service in both San Francisco and Las Vegas next year. While Zoox is about to join the robotaxi party, Tesla and their desire to launch a robotaxi service continues to divide the public and the market.
Episode Chapters
0:00 Waymo
3:02 Autonomous Vehicle Mechanics
5:46 Uber
11:20 Pricing Waymo One
14:53 Economy
18:12 Waymo EMMA model (End-to-End Multimodal Model) Paper
21:53 Tesla Shade
27:28 Zoox
31:41 Aurora Delays Driver Out Until April 2025
38:45 Lyft
39:36 WeRide
Recorded on October 31, 2024
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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™.
Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-economy/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Sam Abidi, President, Apex Advisors joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the rapidly evolving off-road autonomy market, its unique dynamics and why the market is full of opportunity.
Autonomy is transforming off-road industries, from sprawling mine sites to vast agricultural fields and busy construction sites. As traditional equipment manufacturers and innovative startups race to meet surging demand, autonomous systems are proving to be more than just a solution to persistent labor shortages—they’re becoming a cornerstone of operational excellence.
The economics are compelling: autonomous vehicles operate longer, work more efficiently, and significantly reduce operational expenses. Mining companies can run their haul trucks around the clock, farmers can precisely manage their fields with fewer workers, and construction sites can maintain productivity even amid staffing challenges.
This convergence of necessity and innovation has sparked intense competition, as both established heavy equipment giants and agile tech startups vie to capture their share of this rapidly expanding market. What’s driving this gold rush? The promise of scalable operations and robust profit margins, underpinned by proven success stories across multiple sectors.
Episode Chapters
0:00 Off-Road Autonomy Market
2:35 Ag Autonomy
8:51 Startups Competing with Established Industrial OEMs
11:01 OEM Deals
13:20 Off-Road Autonomy Regulatory Market
16:05 Western Australia Mines
20:10 Apex Advisors
24:20 Workforce Development
27:34 Private Equity Roll-Ups
35:17 Growth of the Off-Road Autonomy Market
38:31 Future of Off-Road Autonomy
Recorded on Monday, October 18, 2024
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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™.
Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-economy/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In this episode of Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss the opening of the autonomy IPO market and investors increasing desire to own autonomous vehicle companies.
On October 23rd, Tesla’s stock rallied 20% following earnings that beat the street and Elon Musk’s continued commentary about Tesla’s robotaxi ambitions. WeRide completed its NASDAQ IPO raising $440M on October 25th, the same day Waymo announced a massive $5.6B funding round led by Alphabet with participation from Tiger Global and Sliver Lake.
Episode Chapters
0:00 Capital Markets are Open
3:07 Tesla Robotaxi Service in Palo Alto?
5:43 The Interrelationships and Risks of the Elon Musk Companies
10:43 WeRide IPO
19:37 Waymo's Latest Funding Round
23:17 Lucid is Finding Out Autonomy is Hard
29:40 Wayve
32:02 Cruise Goes Driverless in Houston
33:16 Uber
37:02 Next Week
Recorded on October 25, 2024
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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™.
Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-economy/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Xiaodi Hou, Founder & CEO, Bot Auto joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss his plans for building and scaling a profitable autonomous trucking company.
In a revealing conversation Dr. Xiaodi candidly discusses his departure from TuSimple and the founding of Bot Auto, offering candid insights into lessons learned, decisions he made and why his new approach to building an autonomous trucking business is largely focused on profitability over rapid scaling.
Episode Chapters
0:00 What Happened at TuSimple
3:52 What if TuSimple Did Not Go Public
6:46 Decision Making
9:41 Bot Auto Business and Commercialization Strategy
20:39 Bot Auto Cost Structure
24:07 Making a Truck Autonomous and Going Driver-Out
30:18 Safety
33:11 Tesla FSD (Full Self-Driving)
37:08 Bot Auto Lanes
39:47 Small Teams
44:53 Commercial Operations Timeline
50:35 GPUs
52:17 Takeaway
Recorded on Monday, October 14, 2024
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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™.
Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-economy/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In this episode of Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss the details emerging from Tesla’s robotaxi unveiling at We, Robot. Tesla’s robotaxi is projected to have a 200-mile range with FSD 13 powering Full Self-Driving Unsupervised.
Could FSD 13 be Tesla’s breakthrough autonomy moment? Or will it be a later version of FSD? Later the conversation shifts to the emerging news about Uber’s potential acquisition of Expedia and what that acquisition would mean to both the travel and autonomy markets.
The IPO market for autonomy is heating up, as Horizon Robotics has filled for an IPO on the Hong Kong Exchange and Pony AI is preparing for a U.S. listing. Could this be a sign of things to come?
Episode Chapters
0:00 We, Robot
15:39 Autonomy Use Cases
18:48 Horizon Robotics and Pony.AI IPOs
24:46 Potential; Uber / Expedia Deal
33:24 Lyft Makes a Move?
40:06 Next Week
Recorded on October 17, 2024
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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™.
Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-economy/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The podcast currently has 247 episodes available.
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