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 REIT-like structures to vertically integrated fleet mangers with each model posing it’s own unique challenges. From insurance requirements to financing to operational complexities, making entering the sector difficult without the right partners. Yet despite these complexities, there are vast opportunities.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Autonomous Vehicle Fleets

5:51 Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Franchises

8:30 Individual Fleet Owners 

14:42 Personally-Owned Autonomous Vehicles 

18:41 Autonomous Driving Developers / OEM Partnerships 

22:46 Insuring Autonomous Vehicle Fleets

26:51 Bundling Autonomous Vehicle Insurance with Fleet Management 

31:33 Rental Car Companies

33:25 Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Model Challenges

36:40 Future of Autonomous Vehicle Fleets

Recorded on Friday, April 25, 2025

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy provides market intelligence and strategic advisory services to institutional investors and companies, delivering insights needed to stay ahead of emerging trends in the autonomy economy™. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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.

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 from HD maps. Could Waymo be moving towards an end-to-end approach in similar fashion to Tesla?

Tesla that is actively preparing to launch their robotaxis in Austin this June. Will they launch in June, or will they delay until July as Elon Musk hinted at on Tesla's Q1 2025 earnings call. When Tesla launches their robotaxi network, the market will change and the question becomes how does Waymo react?

For the time being, all eyes are on Aurora, with just days left in April to meet their driver-out launch deadline, anxiety is building as the clock is ticking. The pressure is on to launch fully-autonomous, driver-out operations.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Waymo 250k Paid Rides a Week

1:04 Generalizable Waymo Driver

3:12 Highways Coming Soon for Waymo?

4:33 Personally-Owned Waymo Vehicles?

5:55 Personally-Owned Waymos Impact on Uber & Lyft

9:39 Tesla Robotaxi Launch

16:59 Tesla vs Waymo Robotaxi Costs

18:07 Testing FSD Supervised in Europe

19:02 Wayve Expands to Japan

22:48 Uber / VW Robotaxi Partnership

26:29 Toyota

27:46 U.S. DOT Automated Vehicle Framework

30:58 Aurora Driver-Out Countdown

Recorded on Thursday, April 24, 2025

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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™.

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™. The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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.

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 from robotaxis to autonomous buses and industrial logistics. This open platform approach allows multiple companies to collaborate, innovate, and distribute development costs across the ecosystem, similar to Meta’s open-source LLama model for AI.

In Japan, TIER IV is experiencing particular success with autonomous buses in Japan, where they’ve secured approximately 50% of municipal contracts as part of Japan’s Mobility DX initiative addressing the country’s aging population and driver shortage.

As autonomy scales globally, open-source autonomous driving software could play a vital role. It’s a role that TIER IV wants to play in the global autonomy market.

Episode Chapters

0:00 TIER IV Platform

6:27 Open-Source Software

8:25 Autoware

9:52 Building on the TIER IV Platform

11:52 Japanese Autonomy Market

17:32 Nippon Steel

21:46 Vehicle Platforms 

23:51 Developing Public Trust

26:31 Robotaxis

31:58 Scaling in North America 

36:00 Future of TIER IV

Recorded on Friday, April 18, 2025

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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™.

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™. The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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.

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 million PIPE and a 100-truck order from Atlas Energy that signals strong market confidence. Aurora’s long-anticipated driver-out commercial launch is drawing closer, with industry watchers counting the days and parsing every signal for an indication of launch. 

On the platform side of autonomy, Lyft is expanding to the UK and Europe through a $197 million acquisition of FREENOW. Now that Lyft has European operations, there is a path for the company to scale robotaxis on two continents.

It appears that Lyft is gearing up to compete with Uber more aggressively, while in the U.S., Waymo continues to grow their Waymo One service which overtime will capture marketshare from both Uber and Lyft. Meanwhile, Walt headed out to LA to get an on the ground understanding of how Waymo is scaling in the City of Angles and how Angelenos are currently thinking about autonomous vehicles. 

Episode Chapters

0:00 Walt’s LA Adventure

2:08 Waymos in LA

9:40 Kodiak Files to Go Public

17:10 HD Maps

20:41 Aurora’s Driver-Out Moment

24:22 Lyft Acquires FREENOW, Expands to Europe

30:00 Nuro Expands to Japan

31:10 Sidewalk Delivery Bots

35:10 Tesla FSD

38:27 Waymo’s Upcoming Atlanta Launch on Uber

41:04 Next Week

Recorded on Thursday, April 17, 2025

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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™.

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™. The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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.

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 systems continue to ingest more data, their performance and accuracy will only improve with time.

While scaling its autonomous systems, Ambi Robotics remains focused on human-robot collaboration rather than full automation. The company is actively working to transform physically demanding warehouse roles into higher-paying robot operator positions that require minimal training.

Despite all of the current economic uncertainties, large logistics companies are continuing to invest in automation, recognizing it as an essential tool for managing the ever-increasing volume of goods moving through global supply chains.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Future of Robotics 

1:56 Training Data

3:50 AmbiSort

6:42 Unlocking Efficiencies

7:58 Deploying an Ambi System

10:06 Customer Data

13:13 Fully Automated Warehouses and Jobs 

18:33 Humans in the Loop

22:46 Packaging 

25:50 Warehouse Trends

27:58 Investing in Automation & Autonomy

29:54 Business of Ambi Robotics

34:48 Future of Ambi Robotics

Recorded on Monday, April 7, 2025

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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™.

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™. The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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.

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 Wayve’s business model of licensing and raises the question of is Nuro next in line to secure a major OEM partnership? As the autonomy economy evolves, licensing autonomous driving systems is going to accelerate fragmentation, potentially benefitting both Uber and Lyft. 

In Austin, Waymo is available exclusively through Uber. While early signs point to success, it’s far from guaranteed that the partnership will scale beyond Austin and Atlanta, especially as Waymo continues to expand on it’s own with Waymo One.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Wayve Partners with Nissan 

3:12 Autonomous Driving OEM Partnerships 

5:24 Nuro Series E

7:12 Autonomous Driving Partnerships Ecosystem 

13:01 Could Tesla xAI Swap Assets?

17:19 Zoox Expands Testing to LA

18:27 Will Zoox Launch Commercial Service in 2025?

20:25 Waymo Needs More OEM Partnerships 

23:40 U.S. / China Policy 

28:00 Europe / China Policy 

31:19 Uber / Waymo Austin Data 

36:49 Unforced Error of The Week

38:52 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, April 11, 2025

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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™.

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™. The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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.

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 electric vehicles, the momentum has stalled as consumers are opting for hybrids. Even as consumers opt for hybrids, they are increasingly interested in autonomy and the emergence of personally-owned autonomous vehicles. 

However, the question still remains whether traditional OEMs have the will or the ability to develop in-house and commercialize an autonomous driving system that is reelable and scaleable. If they can not develop it in-house, they will have to license the technology with the risk of becoming a contract manufacturer for the autonomy industry. 

Episode Chapters

0:00 The Mood in Detroit

4:17 Tariffs / Exporting Detroit 

6:54 Electrification

9:30 Will Economic Uncertainty Lead to the Rise of Personally-Owned Autonomous Vehicles?

15:03 Jeep, an Autonomy Brand

17:26 GM & Ford’s Fully Autonomous Aspirations 

19:55 Rising Road Fatalities 

26:59 Tesla Will Drive Me Home Trend

28:49 No Steering Wheel, No Pedals

30:58 Waymo Hyundai Robotaxis are Made in America 

31:45 Factories of The Future

35:19 Scaling Waymo

40:56 Tesla’s June Robotaxi Launch

43:20 Aurora Driver-Out in Texas

48:51 What To Look for in The Markets 

Recorded on Monday, April 7, 2025

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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™.

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™. The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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.

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 made an unforced error with their Zeekr partnership. Could tariffs either accelerate a new OEM partnership for Waymo or see them abandon it all together?

Meanwhile, Uber’s autonomy ambitions are accelerating and gaining momentum globally. This week, Uber announced a partnership with WeRide and the Dubai Road and Transport Authority to deploy robotaxis in Dubai. Could Uber’s largest autonomy market end up being outside the U.S.? Grayson and Walter debate the issue, while exploring the implications that tariffs will have on the autonomy ecosystem.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Tariffs 

1:05 Impact of Tariffs on Waymo

6:26 Does Waymo Need to Slim Down?

9:10 Tesla FSD Unsupervised Launch

11:41 Tariffs and The Trucking Industry 

13:57 May Mobility 

14:27 LiDAR Market

18:25 Energy

22:46 Uber’s Global Ambitions 

25:15 Scaling Waymo

31:00 Uber App

37:23 Waymo Messaging 

40:17 Zoox

41:23 Lyft

46:37 Personally-Owned Autonomous Vehicles 

49:58 Next Week

Recorded on Thursday, April 3, 2025

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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™.

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™. The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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.

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 their AVs on the Lyft network. Lyft envisions a hybrid network, one where autonomous vehicle fleets, individually owned autonomous vehicle, and human drivers are all utilizing the and profiting from the Lyft network. 

Episode Chapters

0:00 Lyft’s Current Thinking on Autonomy 

1:42 ETAs

2:46 Airports

6:43 Personally-Owned Autonomous Vehicles

9:31 Autonomous Vehicle Fleets

11:16 Lyft Ready Autonomous Vehicles

12:43 Hybrid Network Operations 

18:12 May Mobility 

23:31 Waymo

24:32 J.P. Morgan Partnership 

26:08 Lyft AV Tier

27:18 Motoring Down the AV Superhighway 

30:17 Tesla

31:31 Insurance 

35:53 Lyft Culture

39:11 Future of Lyft

Recorded on Wednesday, March 5, 2025

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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™.

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™. The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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.

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 Avride, May Mobility, Waymo and Zoox all having a presence in the state.

While Texas emerges as the capital of autonomy, Waymo continues to solidify its lead as the world leader in robotaxis. With their lead in tact and the demand for their service growing, Waymo announced this week that they are expanding service to Washington, D.C. in 2026. As both Waymo continues to grow and expand, the economic impact of autonomy is only just beginning to be felt.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Waymo Subreddit

01:17 Forward Fort Worth

03:10 Insurance

06:55 Investing in Autonomous Trucking

11:56 May Mobility Arlington Deployment

13:56 Autonomy Markets on the Road

17:28 Waymo Announces Service is Coming to D.C. in 2026

21:41 Waymo / Uber Relationship

26:50 Waymo Testing Zeekr Robotaxis on I-85 in Atlanta

27:44 Waymo, The World Leader in Robotaxis

30:46 London

31:56 New York

33:34 Autonomy Markets Confessions

34:34 Waymo Scheduled Rides

38:05 Waymo Pricing

41:08 Tesla’s June Robotaxi Launch

48:03 Next Week

Recorded on Tuesday, March 25, 2025

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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™.

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™. The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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.