Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Road to Autonomy

Martyn Briggs, Director, Thematic Investing Strategy, Bank of America joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss why Physical AI is no longer a concept on the horizon but an era that continues to emerge across humanoids, autonomous vehicles, drones, and industrial robotics.

AI has left the chat, and is moving from digital text-based intelligence to the physical world. Last year, 20,000 humanoids were manufactured, 80 percent of which were in China. The market for humanoids is projected to grow exponentially to 1.2 million by 2030 and 10 million by 2035, driven by falling component costs, simulation-to-real transfer breakthroughs, and the convergence of generative AI with robotics.

Across the autonomous vehicle landscape, L2+ advanced driver assistance is emerging as the trust gateway to full L4 autonomy. As consumers grow comfortable with supervised automation on highways, the path to trusting robotaxis becomes shorter and shorter. The physical AI opportunity extends well beyond the United States, with Europe and the UK positioned to deploy robotaxis as an economic driver across dense urban corridors.

Episode Chapters

0:00 AUTNMY AI

00:24 Physical AI Primer

07:51 Open Source Physical AI Models

12:46 The ChatGPT Moment for Robotics

15:56 Scaling Humanoids

27:17 Capital Flowing to Embodied AI

29:28 Fleet Infrastructure, Real Estate & Charging

31:43 OEM Struggles, Consumer Demand for L4

42:08 Waymo in London & Europe's Robotaxi Opportunity

49:16 UAE as a Global Autonomy Market

52:14 Autonomous Trucking

57:30 Drones and Scaling Physical AI

59:53 The Future of Physical AI

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Join institutional investors and industry leaders who read This Week in The Autonomy Economy every Sunday. Each edition delivers exclusive insight and commentary on the autonomy economy, helping you stay ahead of what's next.

Subscribe today for free: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

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 headed to Dallas to attend Forward Fort Worth. While in town, they rode in several Waymos and in Uber’s autonomous vehicle partners Avride and May Mobility, and discovered two Waymo depots in Dallas.

The Waymo driver in Dallas was noticeably more cautious than in the Bay Area or Miami, but overall a great experience. While riding around in Waymos, Grayson discovered two depots on opposite ends of downtown Dallas. One appeared to be a temporary depot with portable charging, while the other was not yet operational but had charging infrastructure built out with a design matching Waymo’s Santa Monica and Miami depots.

While Grayson rode around in Waymos, Walt headed to Arlington for an update on May Mobility’s progress. He noticed a smoother ride than his prior experience last year, though he still encountered heavy braking. Last but not least, both Grayson and Walt successfully ordered Avride robotaxis on the Uber X tier after a Dallas police officer pointed Grayson to the best spot to get matched with an AV on the Uber platform.

Closing out the show, Grayson and Walt discuss Nissan’s autonomous vehicle strategy through its Wayve partnership and Zoox’s upcoming Miami and Atlanta launches, while reigniting the LiDAR versus vision debate.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Forward Fort Worth

02:47 Waymo in Dallas: Ride Experience and Depot Discoveries

12:25 May Mobility in Arlington: Ride Experience & Uber Launch Timeline

16:45 Avride in Dallas: Ride Experience

21:49 Uber's Multi-Partner Strategy

30:27 Nissan's Autonomous Vehicle Strategy

33:18 Zoox's Pending Miami & Atlanta Launches

36:11 LiDAR vs. Vision Debate

41:50 Tesla Robotaxis in Dallas

43:28 Foreign Autonomy Desk

48:36 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, March 27, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

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 Signals, Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant discuss Tesla Optimus delays driven by China’s rare earth export controls, the EU’s push to slow AI regulation and what it means for autonomous vehicles, and Waymo’s potential expansion into Canada.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has classified humanoid robot actuator components as dual-use technology, requiring foreign manufacturers to share technical specifications to obtain export licenses. Tesla relies on Chinese suppliers for the specialized rare earth magnets that give Optimus its 22-degree hand dexterity, and with China controlling 90% of that supply, delays could persist.

AUTNMY AI’s proprietary AI algorithm, OMEGA, analyzed the impact of a potential export ban, which could increase the price from $46,000 to produce Optimus parts in China to $133,000 if all production moves to America. If this were to happen, it would lead to a delay in Optimus, and this is further compounded by an FTC investigation into whether over 60% Chinese component content disqualifies Tesla’s made-in-America branding.

Then there is the MIIT’s March 2nd humanoid robot standardization directive, which requires Chinese suppliers to prioritize domestic manufacturers such as Unitree and Xiaomi over foreign customers including Tesla, which creates an additional supplier prioritization risk on top of the export control risk.

Closing out the show, Grayson and Rob discuss Waymo’s potential Canadian expansion, examining lobbying records that show Waymo Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana met with Toronto council staff to discuss ride-hail, goods delivery, and commercial operating authorizations. OMEGA also discovered lobbying records showing Waymo has been lobbying British Columbia to change the laws to allow L4 autonomous vehicles, pointing to a potential Vancouver expansion.

Episode Chapters

00:00 AUTNMY AI

00:24 Signal 1: Potenial Tesla Optimus Gen 3 Delay

23:35 Signal 2: Europe Delays Classifying L4 Autonomous Vehicles as High Risk

48:45 Signal 3: Waymo Eyes Canadian Expansion

51:29 Closing

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Join institutional investors and industry leaders who read This Week in The Autonomy Economy every Sunday. Each edition delivers exclusive insight and commentary on the autonomy economy, helping you stay ahead of what's next.

Subscribe today for free: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tete Xiao, VP of Engineering and AI, Bot Auto joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy to discuss the fundamental shift from virtual AI to the physical AI required for commercial autonomous trucking.

Tete co-authored Segment Anything, the landmark paper that ushered in the era of specific models to an era of foundation models that generalize across large segments of data. This approach which he is implementing at Bot Auto, enables the company to move beyond the limitations of previous technology, treating autonomous trucking as a compute-driven challenge where the system learns to navigate the complex physics of driving a truck.

To ensure safety, Bot Auto is utilizing a top-down redundancy architecture that mirrors aviation’s triple autopilot systems. Including dual onboard computers and independent software stacks running parallel algorithms with deliberately different logic to prevent a single failure from propagating through the system.

This spring, Bot Auto is planning to launch fully autonomous commercial operations with Ryan Transportation on the Houston to Dallas corridor. No safety driver. No safety observer. No human in the cab.

Episode Chapters

00:00 AUTNMY AI

00:25 Segment Anything

05:04 Virtual AI to Physical AI

09:08 Redundancy and Aviation-Inspired Architecture

13:40 Hardware and Software

17:00 Launching Fully Autonomous Operations

20:00 Foundation Models and Reinforcement Learning

27:52 Compute Infrastructure

35:22 Staying Ahead

42:30 Building a Virtual Driver

47:06 AGI48:36 Transportation Company

53:59 Future of Bot Auto

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Join institutional investors and industry leaders who read This Week in The Autonomy Economy every Sunday. Each edition delivers exclusive insight and commentary on the autonomy economy, helping you stay ahead of what's next.

Subscribe today for free: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

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 NVIDIAs autonomous driving ambitions, Uber's Rivian robotaxi deal, and what all of these deals will eventually mean for the robotaxi market.

It appears that NVIDIA is aiming to become the Android of autonomous driving, signing up OEMs and positioning itself as a platform provider while insisting it is not the solutions provider. Uber, which has a deal with NVIDIA, clearly wants to be a robotaxi solutions partner, as yhey are actively preparing to deploy NVIDIA-powered robotaxis in 28 cities by 2028 across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

Then there is the surprise Uber/Rivian deal, which will see Uber invest up to $1.25 billion into Rivian with $300 million upfront and four milestone payments based on undisclosed achievements of certain autonomous milestones by specific dates.

Closing out the show, Grayson and Walt discuss Waymo's milestone of surpassing 170 million fully autonomous miles with no safety drivers, Nuro's growing robotaxi test fleet, and the Foreign Autonomy Desk.

Episode Chapters

00:00 NVIDIA GTC

04:06 Jensen Huang; NVIDIA is Not a Solutions Provider

11:23 Uber/NVIDIA Partnership

25:52 Uber/Rivian Robotaxi Deal

32:02 Waymo: 170m+ Autonomous Miles and Counting

33:01 Foreign Autonomy Desk

34:44 Next Week 

Recorded on Friday, March 20, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Danny Bernstein, Founder & CEO, Reservoir joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Physical AI and the growing role it is playing in agriculture.

Currently, less than 2% of this high-value agricultural sector is automated, creating a significant growth opportunity that Reservoir is positioned to capture through a startup incubator specifically designed for Physical AI and specialty crops.

By utilizing a 40-acre farm in Salinas paired with an adjacent 6,000-square-foot prototyping studio, Reservoir offers startups immediate access to a commercial testing ground. This infrastructure eliminates the traditional six-to-nine-month delay between raising venture capital and deploying on a real farm, allowing founders to roll their machines directly into the field.

Reservoir’s methodology emphasizes deep rural integration to solve complex labor and economic challenges. By encouraging founders to immerse themselves in local farming communities, Reservoir helps startups build trust and fit their solutions into existing agricultural cost structures. This approach has enabled successful innovations ranging from AI-powered drones for bird mitigation to specialized disease detection for vineyards.

Reservoir’s Physical AI ecosystem functions as the Olympic Village of Ag Tech, hosting dense cohorts of international and domestic startups working side by side. This collaborative environment enables companies to share foundational technologies while gaining direct access to major agricultural incumbents and corporate partners.

To further fuel this ecosystem, Reservoir operates a $50 million early-stage venture fund dedicated to ag tech and Physical AI applications.

Looking ahead, Danny envisions Reservoir expanding to five or six locations across the American West, with active and planned sites in Sonoma County, the Central Valley, Washington State, and Arizona.

By elevating ag tech’s position within the global autonomy economy, Reservoir aims to drive double-digit automation adoption within five years, fundamentally transforming rural workforce development and securing the global food supply.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Less than 2% of Specialty Crop Agriculture is Automated

07:32 Physical AI on Farms

13:35 The Six to Nine Month Farm Access Problem

18:49 Inside Reservoir Farms

26:01 The Olympic Village of Ag Tech

32:29 Building Trust with Farmers

43:19 The Growth of Automation and Autonomy on Farms

47:50 The Future of Automation and Autonomy on Farms

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Join institutional investors and industry leaders who read This Week in The Autonomy Economy every Sunday. Each edition delivers exclusive insight and commentary on the autonomy economy, helping you stay ahead of what's next.

Subscribe today for free: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

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 field work in Austin, Texas, where they rode in a Tesla Unsupervised Robotaxi and walked the Cybercab production line at Giga Texas.

Together they experienced Tesla's unsupervised roboataxi operations in Austin, specifically the moment they hailed and rode in a fully unsupervised Tesla Robotaxi with no safety attendant and no chase car. Grayson and Walt noted the vehicle's smooth performance, its routing differences versus supervised rides, and the absence of Mad Max or Hurry driving modes in unsupervised operation.

his led to a broader discussion on Tesla's Cybercab production readiness, with both noting that Tesla appears prepared to scale. The conversation then shifts to the competitive landscape, examining Uber's big week of autonomous vehicle partnership announcements and the company's positioning relative to Tesla, Waymo, and the broader autonomy economy.

Closing out the conversation, Grayson and Walt discuss Waymo's expanding footprint, the structural advantages Tesla holds through its charging infrastructure and factory integration, and what the Cybercab ramp means for the autonomy economy.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Riding in a Tesla Unsupervised Robotaxi

5:45 Robotaxi Ride Experiences (Both Supervised and Unsupervised)

11:25 Tesla's Austin Depot

19:58 Walking the Cybercab Production Line at Giga Texas

26:43 Waymo in Austin

29:24 Uber Needs an Autonomous Vehicle Tier

31:07 Uber's Big Week of Partnership Announcements

42:52 Zoox's Sudden Change in Narrative

51:53 Wayve Partners with Qualcomm

53:34 U.S. DOT is Embracing Autonomy

56:44 Autonomous Trucking

1:02:00 Foreign Autonomy Desk

1:02:43 Next week 

Recorded on Friday, March 13, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Matthew Carey, Co-Founder & CEO, Teradar, joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the company's emergence from stealth with $150 million in funding and the creation of a brand-new category of terahertz (THz) sensors.

The operational backbone of Teradar’s strategy is a Terahertz Detection and Ranging (Rad-AR) approach that fills the gap between LiDAR and radar on the electromagnetic spectrum. By utilizing a modular architecture of Lego-like transmitter and receiver chips, the system provides the high-resolution point cloud typically associated with lidar while maintaining the all-weather robustness and velocity-sensing Doppler capabilities of radar. This solid-state design allows the sensor to be hidden behind vehicle bumpers or polymers, eliminating the need for bulky roof-mounted hardware.

In the field, Teradar is rigorously applying its technology to solve the weather casino problem, proving the system's robustness in the heavy rain, snow, and dense fog of Boston. Unlike traditional vision or LiDAR systems that struggle with atmospheric particulates, Teradar's longer wavelengths can bend around rain and dust, ensuring consistent performance in environments where humans or other sensors might fail.

Teradar’s Physical AI ecosystem also includes a defense-grade application that provides situational awareness in combat environments without being easily detected. The atmosphere effectively blocks the sensor’s signal beyond its intended range, allowing it to operate in dense traffic or military zones without jamming other sensors or revealing a vehicle's position to hostile actors.

Looking ahead, Matt envisions a future where high-performance sensing reaches a mass-market inflection point by becoming affordable enough for every vehicle, from a Mercedes S-Class to a Ford Focus. By partnering with Tier 1 suppliers rather than vertically integrating, Teradar aims to scale to millions of units, fundamentally transforming the industry by delivering a sensor stack that costs hundreds, not thousands of dollars.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Teradar Emerges from Stealth

03:01 Limitations of Existing Sensor Technologies

05:54 Introducing Terahertz Sensing

08:00 Defense and Battlefield Applications

11:11 Modular Sensor Architecture

17:00 Early Development and Startup Challenges

26:54 Why Teradar Chose Boston

36:11 Autonomous Vehicles and Weather

46:06 Scaling Teradar

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Join institutional investors and industry leaders who read This Week in The Autonomy Economy every Sunday. Each edition delivers exclusive insight and commentary on the autonomy economy, helping you stay ahead of what's next.

Subscribe today for free: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

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 Walt Piecyk discuss Grayson’s recent field work in Silicon Valley and Walt’s observations in London.

Together they examine Waymo’s technical milestones, specifically Grayson’s first-hand experience on the highway and at SFO. During Grayson’s ride from SFO to Mountain View, he noted the vehicle’s smooth performance across three lanes, its strict adherence to speed limits, and a rare instance of Waymo using its horn when it was cut off.

This leads to a broader discussion on Waymo’s rapid Miami expansion and their choice of fleet management partners. The conversation then shifts towards the competitive landscape and Grayson’s attempt to use the Tesla’s robotaxi app in the Valley, which was hampered by wait times exceeding 25 minutes.

Over in London, Walt reported on the skepticism of London’s black taxi drivers regarding Waymo’s efforts in the UK. Closing out the conversation they discussed Glydways expansion in Atlanta and Newark.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Silicon Valley and London Field Work

18:40 Google Gemini

20:59 Waymo in London

25:27 Waymo's Miami Beach Expansion

29:16 Waymo's Fleet Management Strategy

31:55 Autonomous Vehicles in Virginia, Not This Year

34:56 Waabi's Robotaxi Messaging

39:06 Glydways Expansion

42:47 Foreign Autonomy Desk

43:26 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, March 6, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Igal Raichelgauz, Founder & CEO, Autobrains joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the company's strategic partnership with VinFast and the development of an affordable, scalable robo-car.

The operational backbone of Autobrains’ strategy is a Thinking AI approach that utilizes an agentic architecture rather than traditional monolithic models. By using a library of specific skills that can be added incrementally, the system scales from basic safety features to full autonomy without requiring massive data retraining or excessive computational power.

In the field, Autobrains is rigorously applying its technology to the VinFast VF 8 and VF 9 models, proving the system's robustness in some of the world's most complex driving environments, such as the congested streets of Hanoi, Vietnam. Autobrains utilizes a vision-only approach that mimics human perception to navigate urban traffic, heavy rain, and high-speed highways.

Autobrains’ Physical AI ecosystem also includes an air to road localization system, which uses compressed satellite imagery signatures to provide 10-centimeter positioning accuracy. Allowing the vehicle to localize itself globally and understand lane boundaries or construction sites without relying on expensive, high-maintenance HD maps.

Looking ahead, Igal envisions a future where autonomous driving reaches a mass-market inflection point within the next five years. This evolution aims to fundamentally transform the industry by delivering a fully autonomous robo-car at a $30,000 price point, enabling every vehicle to become a revenue-generating asset that increases safety and gives time back to the consumer.

Episode Chapters

00:00 How the VinFast Deal Came Together

03:16 Skills-Based Agentic AI Architecture

07:16 Six Cameras, 360° Coverage, Low Compute

09:37 Air-to-Road: Satellite Imagery Replaces HD Maps

12:40 Robo-car Vision

15:10 The $30K Fully Autonomous Car

20:20 The Thinking Layer

24:22 20 Teraflops, Sub-20ms Latency, Edge Computing

27:58 No Lidar: The Vision-Only Thesis

28:59 The Future of Autobrains

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Join institutional investors and industry leaders who read This Week in The Autonomy Economy every Sunday. Each edition delivers exclusive insight and commentary on the autonomy economy, helping you stay ahead of what's next. Subscribe today for free: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

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 Uber’s new Autonomous Vehicle Solutions initiative, Waymo’s growing markets, and the growth of Physical AI powered by NVIDIA.

As Uber’s stock languishes in the low seventies due to investor overhang about the future of autonomy, the company announced Uber Autonomous Solutions, a new initiative to support the growth of autonomous vehicles on the Uber platform.

Grayson and Walt break down the initiative point by point, examining Uber’s strategy of providing training data, enriched mapping, venue management, and autonomous vehicle insurance. While Grayson views much of the in-car experience pitch as buzzword Alley, Walt argues that AV mission control and fleet management are the true meat of Uber’s strategy, aiming to provide the critical API for a fragmented market. This sparks a spirited debate on whether Uber is maintaining its asset-light identity or quietly creeping into asset-heavy operations by owning and operating robotaxi assets.

The conversation then shifts to the geopolitical risks of Uber’s international partnerships, as the company recently hosted analysts in Abu Dhabi to meet with Chinese autonomous partners WeRide and Baidu. Grayson warns of the tremendous blowback and political risk this carries back home, especially given the current US administration’s active stance on social media regarding foreign technology.

Walt and Grayson also discuss a recent broker report, shared by Uber CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy on X, that analyzed just 34 trips in Austin and claimed there is no cost advantage to autonomy. They call the sample size too small and the conclusions baffling given the obvious long-term benefits of removing human drivers.

Contrasting Uber’s narrative tour, Waymo is aggressively scaling and growing revenue. This week, Waymo announced they have crossed 1 million fully autonomous freeway miles, expanded into Chicago and Charlotte, and opened up Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando to early riders.

Notably, Uber was absent from these new market announcements, leading Grayson to point out the potentially waning relationship between the two companies. Furthermore, he put on his inspector hat to uncover signs of Waymo’s grand ambitions in the EU, citing meetings with the European Commission and job postings for EU regulatory counsel.

As Waymo scales, the capital markets are flowing for autonomy investments, highlighted by Wayve securing a $1.2 billion check at an $8.6 billion valuation. The round includes investments from SoftBank, NVIDIA, Stellantis, and Nissan, with Uber committing to own and operate the Wayve fleet in 10 upcoming markets, starting with London.

Then there is the growth of physical AI, which NVIDIA announced contributed $6 billion in earnings last quarter, with CFO Colette Kress signaling that robotaxis and humanoids are poised to be major growth markets over the next decade.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Uber's Identity Crisis

1:33 Breaking Down Uber Autonomous Solutions

20:43 Uber's Abu Dhabi Analyst Day & Chinese Tech Risks

35:37 Waymo Announces Chicago & Charlotte as New Markets

40:55 Uber and Waymo's Waning Relationship

42:03 Waymo Surpasses 1 Million Fully Autonomous Freeway Miles

43:56 Waymo Eyes the EU Expansion

46:32 Wayve's $1.2B Funding Round

50:39 NVIDIA, Physical AI, & Humanoids

53:04 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, February 27, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jay Iyengar, EVP, Chief Technology and Strategic Sourcing Officer, Oshkosh joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Oshkosh’s approach to autonomy and the development of physical AI across their diverse industrial technology portfolio.

The operational backbone of Oshkosh’s strategy is a hybrid approach targeted towards moments of autonomy where autonomy adds the most immediate value. By addressing repetitive, hazardous tasks and mitigating driver fatigue, Oshkosh is building purpose-built solutions to increase safety and productivity for the everyday heroes who build, serve, and protect communities.

In the field, Oshkosh is rigorously applying Physical AI across a diverse array of use cases, from automating airport jet bridges that align precisely with aircraft doors to developing automated cargo loaders for complex tarmac operations.

Oshkosh’s Physical AI ecosystem also includes the HARR-E robot for on-demand refuse collection in planned communities, as well as advancing autonomous capabilities for military leader-follower programs and next-generation delivery vehicles.

Looking ahead, Jay envisions a future where Physical AI has its own transformative ChatGPT moment, becoming a ubiquitous and intuitive part of the industrial landscape. This evolution aims to fundamentally transform markets, ensuring that autonomous technology operates so seamlessly that operators can focus entirely on their work, ultimately saving lives, increasing productivity, and unlocking new economic activity.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Moments of Autonomy Philosophy

04:45 The Jet Bridge Bottleneck

07:20 Deploying Physical AI at the Gate

10:45 Navigating Tarmac Chaos and Regulations

14:15 Blueprint for the Airport of the Future

16:05 The Data Moat & Oshkosh's AI Stack

19:30 Weighing Trash with AI Side-Loaders

21:30 Meet HARR-E: The On-Demand Trash Robot

26:30 Revolutionizing the Postal Delivery Fleet

28:15 Why You Shouldn't Over-Engineer Sensors

30:30 The Hidden Power of Strategic Sourcing

32:20 Level 5 Military Learnings

35:10 Waiting for Physical AI’s ChatGPT Moment

36:30 The Next 100 Years of Oshkosh

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Join institutional investors and industry leaders who read This Week in The Autonomy Economy every Sunday. Each edition delivers exclusive insight and commentary on the autonomy economy, helping you stay ahead of what's next. Subscribe today for free: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

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 unpack a wave of developments reshaping the autonomous vehicle landscape. Data surfacing from a follow-up to a recent Senate hearing reveals that Waymo currently operates 3,000 autonomous vehicles supported by only 70 remote assistance agents worldwide.

Grayson calls the ratio definitive proof of Waymo's technology lead, while Walt raises a pointed concern that roughly half of those remote roles are outsourced to the Philippines, creating a political vulnerability that could draw scrutiny as the industry scales.

From there, the conversation turns to infrastructure. Uber is reportedly investing $100 million to build autonomous vehicle fast-charging stations across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Dallas. The move sparks a spirited debate about Uber. Is the company that built its brand on being asset-light now quietly pivoting to an asset-heavy model to stay competitive in the autonomy era?

On the regulatory front, Governor Kathy Hochul shelved a proposal that would have permitted robotaxis outside New York City, reportedly bowing to special interest pressure, a setback Grayson and Walt call deeply disappointing.

Meanwhile, Iowa lawmakers are advancing bills requiring a human driver behind the wheel, creating a strange-bedfellows alliance between pro-autonomy hybrid network advocates and traditional opponents of autonomous driving technology.

Shifting to hardware, Tesla's Cybercab secured an FCC order authorizing ultra-wideband radio technology for wireless charging. Grayson cautions, however, that FCC approval is only one piece of the puzzle, as Tesla still needs NHTSA exemptions to operate vehicles without steering wheels or pedals before any real-world scaling can begin.

Closing out the episode, Aurora opened a new autonomous trucking lane stretching over 1,000 miles from Texas to Arizona, pushing the boundaries of long-haul autonomy. And in a notable signal from the OEM side, Paccar highlighted its partnership with Kodiak in its latest earnings release, underscoring how seriously legacy manufacturers are now starting to take the autonomous freight opportunity.

Episode Chapters

00:00 Waymo: 70 Remote Agents for 3,000 Cars

04:00 The "Unforced Error" of Outsourcing Remote Assistance to the Philippines

08:00 SFO Rideshare Volume and Waymo's Impact on Traditional TNCs

15:00 New York Governor Hochul Pulls Robotaxi Proposal

20:00 Iowa Lawmakers Push a Driver-In Bill

23:00 Will the Real Uber Please Stand Up? The $100M Charging Pivot

29:00 "Take or Pay" Contracts: Is Uber Blocking Competitors?

32:00 Tesla Cybercab Gets FCC Wireless Charging Approval

36:00 Tesla NHTSA Exemption

38:00 Aurora Opens 1,000-Mile Autonomous Trucking Lane

Recorded on Thursday, February 19, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Grayson Brulte went on location to Miami to inspect Waymo's infrastructure buildout across the city, uncovering two depots that reveal the company's ambitious plans to scale to thousands of vehicles in South Florida.

The first depot, located adjacent to Miami International Airport, has not yet broken ground but sits on a large parcel with significant room for expansion. A service road connects the site directly to the airport, without the need to use the highway, positioning Waymo for a seamless airport-to-destination corridor that could be operational within 12 to 18 months.

The second depot, already operational in the Wynwood area near the Design District, is running what we estimate to be 20-plus vehicles with roughly 30-plus chargers situated next to a Florida Power & Light substation. The facility currently operates out of PODS with no covered garage, but vacant parcels on both sides and an adjacent warehouse present a clear path to scale. While we were there on the ground, FPL was on-site micro trenching, a potential signal that additional electrical capacity is being routed to the depot.

Looking ahead, Waymo's ability to service a thousand vehicles between these two depots appears well within reach. The next frontier is the beaches, Surfside, North Beach, South Beach, where a third depot will likely be necessary to navigate Miami's notoriously heavy traffic. With Hard Rock Stadium hosting Dolphins games, F1, and the Super Bowl returning to Miami, the demand signal for robotaxis in this market is unmistakable.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Waymo's "Rat Pack" Ambitions in Miami

1:00 The Airport Depot: Bypassing the Highway

2:00 The Wynwood Depot: 35 Chargers & A Substation

3:00 Miami Depots Compared to the Santa Monica Depot

4:00 From PODS to Warehouses: The Expansion Plan

5:00 The FPL Signal: Micro-Trenching

6:00 Expanding Depots to Surfside & South Beach

7:00 The Super Bowl & Hard Rock Stadium Demand

8:00 The Future Is Bright. The Future Is Autonomous.

Watch the video version of this podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VB2kFhkSDkE

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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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Stuart Young, Program Manager, Tactical Technology Office, DARPA joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss DARPA’s RACER (Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency) Program and the development of high-speed autonomous vehicles capable of navigating unstructured off-road terrain without maps or GPS.

The operational backbone of this program is a departure from the breadcrumb approach of the Grand Challenge, challenging robots to navigate complex, unstructured environments at speeds faster than manned formations. By removing the dependency on pre-existing maps and GPS, DARPA is forcing the autonomous systems to generalize across environments.

In the field, RACER has rigorously tested platforms ranging from modified Polaris RZRs to Textron M5 tracked vehicles across diverse landscapes, including the Mojave Desert, Camp Roberts, and Fort Hood. This ecosystem has not only spurred the creation of companies such as Overland AI and Field AI but also demonstrated tactical relevance, as seen when the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment utilized RACER technology as an opposition force at the National Training Center.

Looking ahead, Stuart envisions a future where autonomy shifts from simple movement to strategic maneuver, enabling a single operator to command platoons of vehicles. This evolution aims to fundamentally change the risk calculus for soldiers while opening new opportunities for dual-use applications in mining, agriculture and search and rescue.

Episode Chapters

0:00 The History of Autonomy at DARPA: From the Grand Challenge to Today

6:54 How RACER Differs from The Grand Challenge

11:59 Operating Without Maps or GPS

14:00 Managing Heat, Acoustic, and Visual Signatures in Autonomy

19:43 Testing in the Mojave, Central California, and Texas

25:11 Building the RACER Brain and Spawning New Companies (Overland AI, Field AI)

27:12 The Rules of RACER: Speed Metrics and “No Maps” Constraints

33:36 The Hardware: Modifying Polaris RZRs and Textron M5 Tanks

37:37 Requirements vs. Possibilities

40:01 Field Testing with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment at the National Training Center

44:43 Deploying RACER in the Field

46:12 The Legacy of RACER: Dual-Use Applications and Saving Lives

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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/ae/

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 whether Waymo has finally solved the supply constraint question following reports of a deal for 50,000 Hyundai vehicles by 2028. They break down the economics, theorizing a $50,000 per-vehicle cost that likely includes line-fit sensors, a price point that Grayson argues destroys the bear case that autonomous vehicles cannot cost-effectively scale.

The conversation then shifts to hardware as Walt puts on his inspector hat, spotting a hidden Class 8 truck graphic in Waymo’s latest blog post. This revelation sparks a debate on if Waymo is planning a return to trucking in 2027 to coincide with the new Daimler Truck’s new Freightliner Cascadia redundant chassis platform. They also analyze Waymo’s 6th Generation Driver, noting the emphasis on custom silicon and aggressive camera cleaning systems seems to mimic Tesla’s approach.

On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, they discuss Lyft’s plan to launch Baidu RT6 robotaxis in London and Uber’s deployment of Chinese robotaxis in Dubai. While Uber touts its partners, Grayson provides ground truth on the Chinese market, arguing that strict geofences and residency restrictions mean the technology is not as far ahead as Western media portrays.

Looking at the broader ecosystem, Grayson and Walt analyze Aurora’s pivot to upfitting International trucks, a strategy shift that mirrors competitor Kodiak, along with Kodiak’s new defense partnership with the United States Marine Corps.

Closing out the show, they discuss the current regulatory environment for autonomous vehicles and NHTSA’s Automated Vehicle Safety Public Meeting upcoming in March and Waymo calling for D.C. residents to advocate for autonomous vehicles.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Waymo’s Reported 50,000 Robotaxi Hyundai Deal

03:26 The $50,000 Robotaxi Economics

06:20 Zeekr & Waymo/Magna Mesa Upfitting Plant

10:11 Scaling to 750,000 Autonomous Vehicles

17:09 Waymo Gen 6: Custom Silicon & Improved Cameras

23:21 Uber’s Narrative vs. Waymo’s Reality

28:09 Lyft’s Flexdrive Advantage

31:52 Inspector Walt: Waymo’s Autonomous Truck Tease

33:41 Aurora’s Pivot & Kodiak’s Marine Corps Deal

41:39 Foreign Autonomy Desk: Lyft in London & Uber in Dubai

45:09 The Regulatory Tide Turns

48:38 Hyundai: The Arms Dealer of Autonomy

Recorded on Friday, February 13, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy

The Road to Autonomy is the definitive media brand covering the Autonomy Economy™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary market intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jeremy Bird, Executive Vice President, Global Growth at Lyft joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the company’s strategic partnership with Waymo in Nashville and the deployment of a hybrid network that integrates human drivers with autonomous vehicles.

The operational backbone of this strategy is FlexDrive. A best-in-class operation that manages depots, charging, and maintenance for robotaxis. FlexDrive gives Lyft the operational rigor needed to scale robotaxis globally.

In Nashville, FlexDrive is supporting the Waymo partnership, while in Europe, Lyft is utilizing FlexDrive to power expansion, including a key partnership with Baidu in the UK and Europe.

Looking ahead, Jeremy envisions a marketplace defined by customer obsession where luxury experiences and robotaxis coexist, utilizing operational excellence to fuel future growth.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Lyft's Partnership with Waymo in Nashville

4:44 Robotaxi Fleets & Depots

8:50 Freenow

11:15 Deploying Robotaxis in the UK and Europe

14:41 Autonomous Vehicle Policy in Europe

17:35 Expanding Robotaxi Deployments in Europe

19:05 Baidu Partnership

23:09 Global Robotaxi Partnerships & Lyft's Marketplace

26:04 Luxury Market

27:53 Future of Lyft

Recorded on Wednesday, January 28, 2026

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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/ae/

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 repricing of the robotaxi market with a $16 billion raise at a $126 billion valuation, Uber’s defensive Myths and Realities earnings supplement, and the launch of a new segment, The Pit Stop.

The conversation heats up as Walt and Grayson debate Uber’s claim that autonomous vehicle growth is not a zero-sum game, with Grayson arguing that personal ownership and dedicated autonomous vehicle networks will eat into Uber’s market share while, Walt defends the narrative of total market expansion.

While Uber attempts to debunk autonomous vehicle myths, Grayson puts on his inspector hat for the inaugural Pit Stop segment, revealing exclusive details about Waymo’s Miami depot infrastructure, including a depot under construction near the airport and the strategic placement of fleet operations near the Design District.

Looking at the broader regulatory landscape, Grayson and Walt analyze recent Senate testimony where Waymo disclosed their use of remote assistance based in the Philippines, a move Walt classifies as an unforced error during a push for a National Autonomous Vehicle Framework.

On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, they highlight the Middle East becoming a beachhead for scale with Baidu going driver-out in Dubai and WeRide partnering with Uber, noting the region is likely the only place where US and Chinese robotaxis will coexist for the time being.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Waymo Raises $16 Billion at a $126bn Valuation

2:35 Waymo World Powered by DeepMind

6:43 Uber's Myths and Realities

29:03 The Pit Stop: The Inspector Goes to Miami

39:02 The Pit Stop: Tesla's San Francisco Robotaxi Depot Gets Blocked

41:38 AVs Need Clear Rules of the Road U.S. Senate Hearing

48:01 Bedrock Robotics Raises $270 million

50:28 Foreign Autonomy Desk

55:04 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, February 6, 2026

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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/ae/

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 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

Recorded on Tuesday, February 3, 2026

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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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dean Foreman, Chief Economist at the Texas Oil and Gas Association joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the evolving landscape of global oil markets and the critical intersection of natural gas and artificial intelligence.

With sanctions lifted on Venezuela, the conversation analyzes the flow of heavy crude to the US Gulf Coast, noting the potential need for over $200 billion in investment to restore Venezuela’s production capacity. Dean explains how US refiners are capitalizing on this heavy feedstock while simultaneously navigating a global market where the US has surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia as a leading energy producer.

Looking toward the future of energy demand, the discussion identifies natural gas as a stabilizing force for the power grid, essential for supporting the exponential growth of data centers and generative AI. By co-locating power generation with data infrastructure in West Texas, the industry is leveraging record efficiencies to fuel The Road to Autonomy and ensure long-term economic resilience.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Venezuela

7:25 Increasing Global Demand for Oil

9:08 Petroleum Byproducts

11:39 Oil and Natural Gas Exports

13:40 Permian Basin

16:11 Infrastructure Buildout

22:11 Oil and Natural Gas Impact on Texas’ Economy

25:01 Automation & AI

27:52 U.S. Consumer

34:00 Next Quarter

Recorded on Tuesday, January 20, 2026

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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/ae/

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 LiDAR controversy following an incident in a Santa Monica school zone, the potential of a mega merger between Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, and Waabi’s $750 million capital raise to pivot into robotaxis.

The conversation heats up as Walt and Grayson debate the efficacy of LiDAR versus camera-only approaches, questioning if sensor fusion latency contributed to the Waymo incident where a child ran out from behind a vehicle.

While Waymo handles the incident in Santa Monica, Tesla is further accelerating their shift to an autonomy/robotics company by shutting down Model S and Model X lines for Optimus Gen 3 humanoids.

Looking at the broader market, Grayson and Walt analyze Waabi’s strategic expansion from trucking into robotaxis, with Walt drawing parallels to early industry pivots and Grayson questioning the viability of managing two distinct autonomy programs.

On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, they highlight Waymo’s recent launch party in London, noting the imported vehicles still feature American driving configurations, and discuss Pony.ai’s partnership to deploy 3,000 robotaxis in mainland China.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Waymo Opens SFO Airport Access

5:45 Waymo’s Santa Monica Incident

16:27 Tesla Earnings and New Robotaxi Markets

22:04 David Moss’ Austin Robotaxi Adventures

24:12 Robotaxi’s Enhanced Camera Cleaning System

26:38 Inspector Uncovers, Walt Warns

27:43 The Potential Great Elon Merger

30:35 Waabi Raises $750m, Pivots to Robotaxis

39:27 Does Uber Reboot ATG?

42:55 Plus AI Analyst Day

50:01 Foreign Autonomy Desk

53:18 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, January 30, 2026

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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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Liu, CEO of PlusAI joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discus taking the company public and their strategic roadmap for commercializing autonomous trucking.

As Plus AI prepares to complete their merger with Churchill Capital Corp IX in early February, the conversation explores the shift from fleet trials to an asset-light software model that empowers Traton to build factory-integrated autonomous trucks powered by the Plus virtual driver. 

By training a single AI driver on a vast, globally diverse dataset, encompassing conditions from snowy Sweden to the Texas Triangle, Plus AI is developing a scalable technology stack designed to safely automate the global freight industry, as the company targets a 2027 commercial launch. 

Episode Chapters

0:00 Going Public

1:33 Fleet Trials

6:01 Driver-Out Decision

7:56 Traton Partnership

11:27 Redundant Chassis

14:01 Public Milestones

16:43 Asset Ownership

18:14 Expanding in Spain and Japan

23:00 Real-world Driving Data

26:16 Simulation

27:43 Alpha Data

29:02 Traton R&D Investment

33:01 What to Watch For as PlusAI Goes Public

Recorded on Friday, January 23, 2026

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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/ae/

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 Tesla officially removing safety attendants from Robotaxis in Austin, Waymo’s commercial launch in Miami, and Serve Robotics’ strategic acquisition of Diligent Robotics.

It finally happened. Tesla has removed safety attendants from a select group of vehicles in Austin. While this initial fleet is limited and operating in a specific geofence and utilizing chase cars, Grayson and Walt view this as a critical validation of the technology. 

Looking ahead, Grayson predicts the operational domain will expand significantly in Austin over the next 60 days, with the Phoenix metro region slated as the next target market for deployment. As Tesla went safety attendant-out, Waymoopened the Miami market for limited commercial service within a 60-square-mile area, with one major caveat, no Miami Beach. 

On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, Grayson and Walt discuss Geely’s plan to deploy 100,000 methanol-powered robotaxis in China and the South Korean government’s selection of Gwangju as the nation’s first dedicated autonomous vehicle testing zone.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Tesla Removes Safety Attendant in Austin

9:19 Operational Efficiency

10:33 Alex Roy Goes Coast-to-Coast with Zero FSD Interventions

14:15 Drive on FSD, Get a Discount

18:25 FSD is Expanding as Prices are Increasing

23:31 New Robotaxi Markets

24:53 Waymo Launches Miami Markets

28:33 Vandalizing Waymo's

32:20 Serve Robotics Acquires Diligent Robotics

36:41 Foreign Autonomy Desk

39:21 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, January 23, 2026

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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/ae/

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 of Koop, joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the financial and operational structures required to insure fleets of personally owned autonomous vehicles.

As Tesla prepares to scale the Cybercab in 2026, the conversation explores the shift from personal ownership to personally owned fleets, where individuals form companies to own and operate commercial robotaxi businesses.

During the episode, Sergey explains how the insurance P&L for a fleet owner is transformed by real-world behavior data, which serves as a more accurate risk predictor than traditional human-centric metrics. By leveraging high-fidelity data and specialized subrogation models, Koop is developing a framework that manages liability between the fleet owner and the vehicle manufacturer, clearing the path for the Autonomy Economy to scale through third-party ownership.

Episode Chapters

0:00 The Emergence of the Tesla Network 

3:07 Insuring Cybercab and Personally-Owned Teslas

8:59 Insuring and Deploying Personally-Owned Autonomous Vehicle Fleets

22:50 Insurance Underwriting Capacity 

25:22 Insurance Products 

27:50 Changing Driving Habits

31:14 Reinsurance

32:30 Liability with No Pedals and Steering Wheel 

38:38 Fleet Management 

41:55 Future of Insuring Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Operations

Recorded on Friday, January 16, 2026

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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/ae/

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 New York Governor Hochul’s bill to legalize autonomous vehicles in New York, with New York City notably carved out, Uber’s changing Waymopartnership language and Waymo’s upcoming expansion to Sydney. 

In New York, autonomous vehicles could be coming to state roads, but not New York City, as Mayor Mamdani is prioritizing taxi drivers over robotaxi deployment. Down in Texas, where autonomous vehicles can operate anywhere, Waymo has expanded their service area in Austin as Uber has changed their promotional language from “exclusively available on Uber” to simply “available on Uber” when promoting Waymo rides.

On the international front, Waymo is actively planning to expand to Sydney following meetings with Australian Transport Minister Catherine King. In China, WeRide robotaxis are now available in the WeChat super app, enabling riders in Beijing to order autonomous rides directly through the platform.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Verizon Outage 

1:45 New York’s Unkind Welcome to Autonomous Vehicles 

9:19 Robotaxi and Waymo Face-off in Austin

12:47 Autonomy Markets Merch

14:15 FSD Goes Subscription Only on Valentine’s Day 

17:18 Waymo Eyes Australian Expansion 

21:03 Tensor Auto

24:06 Stack AV

26:14 Plus AI Expands to Japan

28:33 Foreign Autonomy Desk 

30:33 Next Week

Recorded on Thursday, January 15, 2026

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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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Don Burnette, Founder & CEO, Kodiak joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss taking Kodiak public and why the company's strategy has always been about de-risking autonomy with optionality. 

As part of their de-risking strategy, Kodiak has deployed an asset-light business model where partners including Atlas Energy Solutions own and operate the trucks, allowing Kodiak to focus on the AI software.

During the episode, Grayson and Don discuss the strategic importance of Kodiak’s partnership with Bosch to develop a redundant, OEM-agnostic platform that unlocks scale across multiple OEMs. With their partnerships and business model intact, Kodiak is preparing to launch driver-out commercial over-the-road operations in the second half of the year, setting the stage for a broader expansion into physical AI.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Taking Kodiak Public

3:36 Asset-Light Autonomous Trucking Business 

12:10 Unstructured Driving 

14:31 Kodiak's Platform Agnostic Strategy 

21:45 Bosch Partnership 

27:47 Preparing for Driver-Out Over-The-Road Operations 

34:10 Over-The-Road Business Model

25:38 Future of Kodiak

Recorded on Monday, January 12, 2026

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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/ae/

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 CES 2026, Zoox’s performance on the Las Vegas Strip and Uber’s potential long-term autonomy plans. 

Zoox’s performance was one of those hopefully “only in Las Vegas” moments, as the vehicle was seen stopping in the middle of traffic and blocking entrances on a regular basis. Which raises the question; what is Amazon going to do with Zoox? Do they overhaul management, make an acquisition, or simply shut it down and move on? 

While Zoox struggled, NVIDIA introduced their open-source Alpamayo AI models under an Apache 2.0 license to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles and sell more GPUs. 

Closing out the show, the discussion shifts to hardware and global expansion, contrasting Waymo’s bulky new Ojai vehicle with the well-designed Lucid-Nuro robotaxi.

Episode Chapters

0:00 CES 2026

2:13 Zoox CES Experience 

8:41 NVIDIA’s CES Announcements 

12:45 SAE Level 2

16:59 Waymo Ojai

19:31 Lucid / Nuro Robotaxi

21:29 Does Uber Need to Vertically Integrate Autonomy in the Future?

25:05 Waymo / Uber Relationship

27:37 Tensor Auto 

32:49 Foreign Autonomy Desk

34:35 Disgrace of The Week

38:24 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, January 9, 2026

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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/ae/

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 the fallout from Waymo’s crisis management failure in San Francisco, where a power outage left hundreds of vehicles stranded and blocking intersections throughout the city. 

Waymo’s prolonged silence on the incident and lack of transparency regarding what truly happened could lead to a decline in public trust just as robotaxis begin to scale. Down in Austin, Tesla missed their 2025 driver-out deadline in Austin, prompting Grayson to push his prediction for driver-out/safety attendant out commercial service to late February or early March 2026.

Then there is Uber, a company with an ever-changing narrative around autonomy—shifting from demand-generation to hybrid networks, and now claiming mass adoption is still decades away. What will the next narrative be, and will it change once again post-CES?

Closing out the show, Grayson and Walt discuss how escalating geopolitical tensions in Venezuela and potential political shifts in the UK could force a hard reset for companies relying on Chinese autonomous technology to scale their robotaxi businesses.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Lights Out in San Francisco

2:44 Why Did Waymo’s Freeze When the Power Went Out?

8:34 Remote Drivers

15:00 Robotaxi in Austin

18:33 Scaling Robotaxi 

22:48 Autonomous Vehicle Policy

24:47 Austin Incident Reports 

27:17 Uber’s Ever-Changing Narrative 

30:31 Miami-Dade Sheriff Deploys Autonomous Patrol Vehicles 

32:38 Foreign Autonomy Desk

40:26 CES

Recorded on Sunday, January 4, 2026

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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/ae/

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Pete Bigelow, Public Relations Manager, Kodiak joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss his firsthand experience in the Permian Basin and how the region acts as a "literal and figurative sandbox" for autonomous trucking.

During the episode Grayson and Pete discuss Kodiak's operational partnership with Atlas Energy Solutions, the hardening of technology against extreme weather and road conditions, and how these industrial learnings are accelerating Kodiak’s timeline for driverless highway operations in the second half of 2026.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Permian Pete

3:50 Permian Basin

8:02 Automation in the Permian Basin

11:10 Learnings from the Permian Basin

16:01 Permian Basin Operations

18:49 SensorPods

23:50 Kodiak's Diversified Business Model

27:34 Autonomous Trucking Regulations

30:15 Permian Basin Road and Traffic Conditions

35:49 Permian Pete's Ride Experience

41:31 Autonomy Markets Outlook

Recorded on Friday, December 19, 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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Darin Brannan, CEO & co-founder of Terminal Industries joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss transforming the logistics yard into a fully automated environment using computer vision and agentic AI. 

Unlike legacy approaches that rely on RFID tags or manual "clipboard and radio" processes, Terminal Industries utilizes a proprietary computer vision platform trained on real world data, including weather occlusions, dirt, and glare to achieve high-accuracy tracking without requiring perfect conditions. 

By digitizing the yard through an agentic workflow approach, the company is moving beyond simple point solutions to building a unified operating system that connects the warehouse to transportation, effectively enabling the transition from manual oversight to autonomous execution.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Playing Chess

2:35 Yard Operating Systems

7:15 Yard Bottlenecks

9:33 Traditional Yard and Warehouse Operations

15:15 Computer Vision

19:05 Building LLM Models

24:37 Data Control Centers

27:43 Automating Yards

36:34 Changing Consumer Habits

39:03 Autonomous Trucks and Yards

40:07 Future of Terminal Industries

Recorded on Monday, December 15, 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/ae/

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, Grayson hit the road and met with Tim Kentley-Klay of HYPRLABS in San Francisco, Tesla started removing the safety attendees in Austin and Waymo is reportedly raising another round at a $110 billion valuation.

Grayson shares details from his exclusive first ride in the HYPRDRIVE vehicle in San Francisco and insights from his The Road to Autonomy podcast interview with Tim Kentley Klay. They discuss HYPR’s emergence from stealth and the company’s unique vision-only, self-reinforcement learning approach to autonomy.

As the vision-only modality gains market validation, the conversation shifts to Waymo. Despite generating significant momentum with a sensor suite heavily reliant on LiDAR and radar, the company is reportedly seeking to raise $15 billion in external capital at a $110 billion valuation. Grayson and Walt debate the strategic logic behind the raise and offer predictions on when Waymo will surpass one million paid rides per week.

Closing out the show, they analyze the implications of a recent Bloomberg report suggesting that Sterling Anderson is being groomed to become the next CEO of GM.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Brighter with Herbert

1:32 HYPRDRIVE Ride and Meeting with Tim Kentley Klay

6:50 Waymo From SFO to the City with No Highway

12:28 Tesla Starts Removing Safety Attendants in Austin

18:03 Luminar Files for Chapter 11

22:26 California’s Pending Tesla Ban

25:30 Sterling Anderson’s Growing Role at GM

31:24 Waymo’s Capital Raise 

37:43 Kodiak’s Partnership with Verizon

39:58 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, December 19, 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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tim Kentley Klay, CEO & co-founder of HYPRLABS, joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how the company is achieving autonomous driving in downtown San Francisco using just 33 watts of compute and zero simulation or HD maps. By prioritizing "learning velocity," HYPR utilizes an end-to-end neural network that learns continuously from real-world driving data, avoiding the structural noise injected by classical simulation and hand-coded heuristics.

While the industry often relies on massive engineering teams and brute-force compute, HYPRLABS is executing a high-efficiency strategy with a team of just four engineers and a foundational model trained for only $850. Drawing inspiration from DeepMind’s AlphaZero, the company allows the AI to model the environment without predefined rules, using their autonomous vehicle fleet as a validation platform for a new category of robots launching next year.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Introduction to HYPRDRIVE

1:30 HYPRDRIVE

5:40 Learning Velocity

8:10 Building HYPR

12:23 Training the System

18:55 The Origins of the HYPR Approach

21:36 Building Trust

23:35 Simulation

27:07 $850 to Train the Model

30:44 HYPR Robots

33:22 Cameras

35:16 What's Next

Recorded on Sunday, December 14, 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/ae/

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 Rivian’s bold vertical integration bet as the EV maker announced plans to build their own chips and lidar sensors, effectively moving away from NVIDIA.

Is the introduction of “Autonomy+”, a new software subscription priced to undercut competitors a risky distraction or a necessary move as the company works toward profitability? As Rivian looks inward, Wayve signed a major win, signing a definitive agreement to scale with Nissan in North America and Japan beginning in 2027.

Then there is Uber. Who does Uber want to be when autonomy grows up, and who will their partners ultimately be and what those relationships will look like in the long term? Currently, Uber’s autonomy narrative faces challenges, as the company appears to be playing defense while getting front-run by partners Waymo in the U.S. and Momenta in Abu Dhabi. 

Closing out the show, Grayson and Walt discuss the growing world of international autonomy on the weekly Foreign Autonomy Desk segment, covering updates from Bolt, Stellantis, and Caterpillar.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Rivian’s Autonomy Ambitions 

13:11 Licensing Autonomous Driving Stacks

17:29 Wayve’s Approach to Autonomy 

21:07 Tesla’s Safety Attendant Out in Austin Plans

23:35 Waymo’s Blitz Scaling 

27:37 Waymo’s Growing OOH Ad Business 

32:32 Uber’s Autonomy Narrative 

37:57 Serve Robotics 2,000 Robot Delivery Milestone

39:30 Tensor Auto / Zero Partnership 

42:13 Aurora’s Permian Basin Expansion 

44:47 Foreign Autonomy Desk 

52:16 Next Week 

Recorded on Friday, December 12, 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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ed Olson, Founder & CEO of May Mobility joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how autonomous vehicles can eliminate the "rideshare lottery", the inconsistent, variable experience of traditional rideshare by deploying fleet-managed robotaxis that offer a predictable, premium service.

While the industry often focuses on vertical integration, May Mobility is executing an asset-light strategy focused on partnerships with Toyota, Uber, Lyft, and Grab to augment, rather than replace, existing networks.

To help these networks scale efficiently, May Mobility is prioritizing hybrid vehicles to maximize asset utilization, effectively bypassing the downtime and infrastructure costs associated with EV charging.

Episode Chapters

0:00 May Mobility Expands to Asia with Grab

1:54 May Mobility's Partner & Deployment Strategy

4:43 Weather & Culture

12:48 Service Areas & Vehicles

19:12 The Hybrid Decision

22:15 Vehicle Platforms

25:15 On-Board Compute

29:07 Deploying Robotaxis at Scale

32:23 May Mobility Playbook

38:26 Autonomy is Growing

45:22 Next Year

Recorded on Tuesday, November 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/ae/

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 “Thriller in the Big D” as Waymo upstages Uber’s party in Dallas. The day before Uber was set to announce its commercial launch with Avride in Dallas, Waymo stole the spotlight by announcing they went driver-out in the same city. 

During the episode Grayson and Walt analyzed the fallout from this timing, including Uber’s “marketing fail” where a safety driver was spotted in promotional footage, and debate whether Avride’s limited 9-square-mile launch is a legitimate business move or just another “science project”.

Beyond the drama in Texas, they dove into the broader race to scale, questioning if adding a few hundred cars in new markets Houston, Baltimore, and St. Louis truly counts as commercial scaling. As Waymo announces new markets, Sterling Anderson is aggressively hiring at GM and the autonomous trucking market is beginning to heat up.

Episode Chapters

0:00 The Thriller in Big D featuring Waymo, Avride and Uber

5:17 Autonomous Vehicle Messaging 

7:01 Avride / Uber’s Dallas Service Area 

10:14 No New Waymo/Uber Markets, So Far

13:50 Waymo’s Rapid Expansion 

18:56 Waymo’s Six Stages of Autonomy

20:26 No Waymo Commercial Launch for Art Basel 

21:49 Will Tesla Robotaxis Ever Be Available on Uber?

23:06 FSD Updates

25:00 Sterling Anderson’s Growing Role at GM

29:04 Wayve Acquires Quality Match 

29:41 Foreign Autonomy Desk

30:13 Waymo’s Continuing Zeekr Issue 

32:21 Autonomous Trucking

33:50 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, December 5, 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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hugh Nguyen, Partner, Automotive Technology & Mobility, KPMG and Lerrel Pinto, Co-Founder, Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI) joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss why the immediate future of humanoid robotics lies in enterprise applications, rather than consumer homes.

Powering the humanoids is the software "brain" and system integration, which are becoming the primary differentiators over commoditized hardware.

As humanoids scale, the timeline for adoption is accelerating; Lerrel predicts the deployment of one million robots by 2030, driven by acute labor shortages and the economic practicality of enterprise use cases compared to the regulatory hurdles of the consumer market.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Humanoid Robot Market

6:44 Humanoid Due Diligence

9:40 Humanoid Value Chain

12:08 Humanoids Size and Hands

16:52 Building Humanoids

18:52 Humanoid Personalities

20:24 Managing Humanoid Risk

22:24 Humanoid Fleets

25:36 Humanoid Use Cases

29:58 China

33:20 Humanoid Policy

38:42 Chips

45:44 Deploying Humanoids in the Workplace

49:28 Future of Humanoids

Recorded on Thursday, November 6, 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/ae/

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 Uber and WeRide's fully autonomous launch in Abu Dhabi, marking Uber's first robotaxi deployment without a safety driver outside the United States.

On WeRide's earnings, the company announced a fleet of 1,600 autonomous vehicles with 750 robotaxis, while Pony.ai announced plans to triple its fleet to 3,000 by end of next year through its Bolt partnership. As Chinese robotaxi companies expand globally, the scaling question emerges: who grows the fastest?

It was another big week for Waymo as the California DMV approved a massive service area expansion that will come with infrastructure challenges and a need for thousands of additional vehicles if Waymo decides to ultimately operate in the approved area.

Later the conversation shifts to Tesla, where Walt shares his firsthand experience with FSD 14.2 in Mad Max mode in New York City. Both Grayson and Walt make predictions on Tesla removing the safety attendant in Austin and expanding to new markets including Arizona, Florida, and potentially Las Vegas by end of next year.

Episode Chapters

0:00 WeRide and Uber Go Fully Autonomous in Abu Dhabi

3:08 WeRide Earnings

6:33 Robotaxi Volumes and Business Models

10:13 Waymo's California DMV Expansion Approval

14:01 Waymo's Santa Monica Depot Noise Issues

20:20 Tesla Robotaxi Scale Plans

24:31 Tesla FSD 14.2 Update

27:52 Do We Want to Drive Anymore?

31:25 Next Week

Recorded on Wednesday, November 26, 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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mark Seeger, Founder & Co-CEO, Glydways joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how a mesh network of private, on-demand autonomous pods can solve global urban congestion at a fraction of the cost of traditional transit.

While today’s narrative currently centers around robotaxis, the real breakthrough may come from rethinking the physics and economics of mass transit through disaggregation. Instead of relying on infrastructure-steered legacy rail systems that lose money on every ride, Glydways has developed an autonomous pod system that utilizes lightweight, pedestrian-grade infrastructure at roughly 10% of the cost of light rail. In other words, replacing a $2 billion-per-mile problem with a $20 million-per-mile solution.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Founding Glydways

7:10 Economic Impact of Glydways

12:24 Incumbent Lobbyists 

15:30 Foreign Markets 

18:54 Glydways Infrastructure 

26:43 Trust & Safety 

35:14 Glydways Network

46:09 Glydways Cost Comparison 

49:38 Future of Glydways

Recorded on Tuesday, November 18, 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/ae/

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 accelerated nationwide expansion with new markets, Minneapolis, Tampa, New Orleans, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando getting ready to come online, while breaking down and coin Waymo’s Six Stages of Autonomy.

As Waymo expands, competition is brewing in Dallas where Avride in partnership with Uber and Lyft in partnership with Mobileye will begin to operate commercial robotaxi services later this year and into next year, as Dallas begins to emerge as a major robotaxi market.

Beyond Waymo, the episode explores broader industry signals, from sidewalk delivery robots that are scaling, to Zoox’s extremely limited San Francisco deployment despite Amazon resources, and the accelerating Chinese robotaxi expansion into Europe.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Waymo’s On-Going Expansion 

2:21 Waymo’s Disney World Opportunity 

8:04 Waymo’s Six Stages of Autonomy 

14:45 Waymo’s Upcoming Dallas Launch 

18:08 Dallas Robotaxi Competition 

20:36 Waymo’s Current Political Issues 

25:09 Scaling Delivery Robots 

28:41 Zoox Has Scale Ambitions 

32:34 Foreign Autonomy Desk 

33:21 Next Week

Recorded on Thursday, November 21, 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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hugh Nguyen, Partner, Automotive Technology & Mobility, KPMG joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the emerging wave of autonomous vehicle partnerships, the hidden value in fleet operations, and the coming M&A consolidation that will reshape the industry.

As the autonomous vehicle ecosystem accelerates through a phase of rapid partnership formation, the real value lies “below the line” with fleet operations, depot management, safety protocols, and operational expertise that rarely makes headlines. 

While the market fixates on vehicle counts and technology partnerships, the proprietary knowledge of how to actually deploy and scale robotaxi operations at profitable unit economics represents the true competitive moat. Hugh predicts the next 18-24 months will see continued partnership proliferation across global markets, followed by strategic consolidation driven not by headline M&A deals, but by precision talent acquisition and operational capability roll-ups. 

The winners will be those who control fleet operations, understand regulatory navigation, and can scale profitably. Capabilities that are increasingly attracting investor interest as the industry matures beyond the cult of the founder and towards operational excellence.

Episode Chapters

0:00 KPMG's Thoughts on Autonomous Vehicles

6:04 Autonomous Vehicle Partnerships

15:31 Emerging M&A Activity

23:48 What Happens When a Partnership Doesn't Work?

25:47 Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Management

31:45 Autonomous Vehicle Asset Rollup

40:10 The "Passport" Model

47:17 Cult of The Founder

48:54 M&A Outlook

Recorded on Thursday, November 6, 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/ae/

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 great highway unlock, their Bay Area expansion to 260 square miles and the launch of commercial service at the San Jose Airport.

Despite the expansion, Waymo remains sharply vehicle-constrained. Bloomberg reported this week that the company is operating roughly 1,000 vehicles in the Bay Area, 700 in Los Angeles, 500 in Phoenix, 200 in Austin, and just 100 in Atlanta, for a total fleet of approximately 2,500 vehicles spread across all markets.

In the autonomous trucking market, Kodiak continues to demonstrate that the economics work. With 10 fully driverless trucks generating revenue in the Permian Basin, the company logged 5,200 paid hours last quarter, up 166% from Q2, a meaningful validation of the model.

Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Walt examine why technology leadership means nothing without scalable manufacturing partnerships and now how autonomous trucking is pulling ahead of robotaxis on business model execution, and what global expansion in Abu Dhabi and Singapore signals about the global competitive landscape.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Waymo Expands to Highways

3:58 Vehicle Supply

16:56 California Airports

19:28 Tesla FSD Update

21:42 Uber Ski

25:21 Kodiak

29:40 Foreign Autonomy Desk

30:40 Next Week

Recorded on Thursday, November 13, 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/ae/

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 expansion into three new markets, Uber’s role in autonomy and Lyft’s growing infrastructure ambitions. 

Beneath the headlines, Tesla is aiming to once again reshape the entire autonomous driving industry with their AI5 chip, FSD Unsupervised deployment, and the expansion of their insurance business. As Tesla continues to focus on what’s next, Uber is sending mixed messages to the market while engineers across Silicon Valley begin exploring alternatives to Nvidia’s GPUs. 

Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Walt discuss what happens when the world’s largest autonomy players diverge on strategy and long-standing partnerships begin to falter.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Waymo’s Three City Expansion 

2:11 Waymo & Uber’s Relationship 

4:21 Managing Robotaxi Fleets

14:56 Robotaxis at Airports 

16:40 Uber’s Autonomy Messaging Strategy 

23:12 NVIDIA and the Growing Demand for new Chips

25:45 Applied Intuition 

28:19 Tesla

37:14 Foreign Autonomy Desk

40:02 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, November 7, 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/ae/

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 NVIDIA’s ever expanding autonomy ambitions and the fracturing relationship between Waymo and Uber, which may signal the end of one of the industry’s most-watched partnerships. 

Jensen Huang’s latest GTC announcements further signaled that NVIDIA is moving beyond supplying compute to potentially building their own full autonomy stack and licensing it. Grayson and Walt trace this shift back to the early days NVIDIA’s automotive division and the evolution of its Hyperion platform, which is now positioned not only to power OEMs but also to compete directly with the very companies that rely on its GPUs to enable autonomous driving systems.

While NVIDIA appears poised to compete with its customers, Waymo and Uber’s partnership is showing signs of unraveling after Uber announced plans to deploy Lucid/Nuro autonomous vehicles in San Francisco next year, directly challenging Waymo on in their home market.

Grayson likens the move to “divorce court,” raising questions about how the companies will divide the Austin and Atlanta markets, where Waymo currently operates exclusively on Uber’s platform. The episode closes with updates on Aurora’s strategic pivot and the Foreign Autonomy Desk, covering Baidu’s expansion in Hong Kong, Uber’s European ambitions, and continued progress in Tesla’s FSD rollout.

Episode Chapters

0:00 NVIDIA's Autonomy Ambitions 

7:13 Waymo & Uber's Fracturing Relationship

9:35 Nuro's Upcoming Launch on Uber in San Francisco 

11:51 Gemini is Coming to Waymo

14:05 Boston's Autonomous Vehicle Blunder

15:43 Seattle's Challenging Political Environment 

17:34 Political Coalitions 

19:36 Aurora's Pivot

25:32 Tesla Robotaxi / FSD 14 Updates

30:04 Foreign Autonomy Desk

33:08 Next Week

Recorded on Thursday, October 30, 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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Welch, Detroit Bureau Chief, Bloomberg joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss GM’s return to autonomy and the company’s long-term strategy for personally owned autonomous vehicles.

As GM once again re-enters the autonomous vehicle market, the company is signaling a new chapter, one centered on developing a hands-free, eyes-free driving system under the leadership of Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson, beginning with the 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ.

GM’s evolution from Super Cruise to a fully realized personal autonomy platform represents more than a technological shift; it marks a strategic transformation in how the company approaches safety, profitability, and consumer trust. The automaker is rebuilding its autonomy strategy through a sharp focus on profitability, disciplined execution, and a renewed commitment to integrating autonomy into vehicles that consumers can own and enjoy.

Episode Chapters

0:00 The Road to Autonomy Introduction

0:23 GM's Renewed Autonomy Strategy

7:00 Super Cruise

11:35 Hands-Off, Eyes-Off

16:04 Policy

19:14 China

23:10 Hyundai IONIQ 5 Platform

25:30 Contract Manufacturing and Licensing

32:03 GM's New Computing Platform

40:46 GM in 2030

Recorded on Friday, October 24, 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/ae/

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 Tesla’s Q3 earnings call, NVIDIA’s strategic partnership with Uber, and GM’s surprising return to autonomy under Sterling Anderson’s leadership.

The conversation opens with Walt’s firsthand insights from Tesla’s Q3 2025 earnings call, where the company confirmed plans to remove safety attendants across “large parts” of Austin by year-end after accumulating 250,000 robotaxi miles.

Tesla also announced 8–10 additional markets coming online by year-end, including Florida, Arizona, and Nevada, following the company’s phased rollout playbook: safety-attended operations first, followed by fully autonomous service. Grayson projects more than 300 Model Y Robotaxis operating in Austin by mid-2026, potentially joined by 25–50 Cybercabs pending NHTSA exemptions.

The discussion then turns to NVIDIA’s newly announced partnership with Uber, which Grayson sees as signaling something much bigger than data sharing. He suggests NVIDIA could be positioning to acquire a leading autonomous driving developer such as Wayve, mirroring its CUDA strategy where software dominance separated it from competitors.

His thesis: NVIDIA will ultimately own and license an autonomy stack across the industry, creating existential risk for startups dependent on its compute. Walt explores the market dynamics and potential conflicts that arise when your chip vendor becomes your competitor, while noting that NVIDIA’s brand power could simultaneously validate the entire autonomy market.

The week also brought news from GM, which re-entered the autonomy race by announcing a 2028 “hands-off, eyes-off” system debuting in the Cadillac Escalade IQ. Sterling Anderson confirmed GM’s staged rollout plan: highways first, urban next, then full urban autonomy.

Closing out the episode, Grayson and Walt debut the Foreign Autonomy Desk, covering Baidu Apollo’s partnership with Swiss PostBus, WeRide and Uber’s shuttle launch in Saudi Arabia, May Mobility’s strategic investment from Grab for Southeast Asia expansion, and Waymo’s effort to bring UK safety advocates to California for test rides ahead of its potential London launch.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Tesla Q3 2025 Earnings

14:58 NVIDIA’s Autonomy Ambitions

20:59 Avride & Uber’s Autonomy Investment Strategy

23:09 GM is Back in Autonomy

28:46 Waymo Begins Manually Testing at EWR (Newark Airport)

32:14 Foreign Autonomy Desk

Recorded on Friday October 24, 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/ae/

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 Tesla’s continued FSD 14 updates, Waymo’s expansion to London and the growing political and infrastructure challenges shaping the next phase of robotaxi growth.

Walt shares his latest hands-on experience with FSD 14, including testing the new “Mad Max” mode, featuring more assertive lane changes, higher driving speeds, and improved autonomous parking. As Tesla refines FSD 14 in preparation for a wider release, Waymo continues to expand globally.

This week, Waymo announced plans to launch in London in 2026, marking its second international market and the first where it will compete head-to-head with Uber for robotaxi rides. If an expansion to London was not enough, Waymo also announced a partnership with DoorDash for the Phoenix market, signaling continued momentum in delivery automation.

Every robotaxi market presents unique challenges, and New York City is no exception. Political, regulatory, business, and energy constraints could slow Waymo’s path to launching a commercial service in the Big Apple as Grayson and Walt discuss NYC’s lack of energy infrastructure.

Closing out the conversation, they turn their attention to Europe where Stellantis has partnered with Pony.ai to deploy autonomous Peugeot vans in Luxembourg, a potential sign that Stellantis could perhaps be looking to re-enter the autonomous vehicle market.

Episode Chapters

0:00 FSD 14 Update

6:47 Robotaxi Mode

8:56 Rolling Stops

10:12 Waymo’s London Expansion 

13:10 Wayve

18:13 Waymo/DoorDash Partnership

21:50 NYC’s Energy Infrastructure 

27:08 Stellantis/Pony.ai Partnership

30:06 Waymo Driver

32:11 Next Week

Recorded on Friday October 17, 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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Doria, Director of Engineering – Automated Driving, Magna joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Magna’s approach to developing autonomous driving systems.

As the automotive industry transitions toward software-defined vehicles that will eventually become fully autonomous, the core technologies driving this transformation are being built today.

On the road to autonomy, the evolution from Level 2 ADAS to more advanced autonomous systems is redefining not only how cars drive but also how they are designed, validated, and trusted. David underscores that autonomy will not arrive overnight and that it will scale through innovation, safety, and collaboration, beginning with advanced Level 2+ systems that are already on the roads today.

Episode Chapters

0:00 The Road to Autonomy Introduction

0:23 Changing Automotive Market

4:04 Maps

8:47 Sensors

14:13 Compute

17:07 End-To-End

22:02 Partnerships & Licensing Autonomous Driving Software 

25:16 Software

27:26 Automotive Standards 

32:12 Public Trust

36:28 Scaling Autonomy

Recorded on Friday, October 10, 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/ae/

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 Tesla’s FSD 14 release and Waymo’s potential market expansions. 

The episode begins with Walt sharing his firsthand experience testing FSD 14, showcasing its breakthrough ability to autonomously back out of driveways and park at destinations with a single tap. While impressive, he notes challenges remain with driveway precision and occasional cautious, jerky driving behavior that sets this version apart from previous releases.

As Tesla rolls out FSD 14, NHTSA has launched a preliminary investigation into FSD. Meanwhile, Waymo is looking to potentially expand to Minnesota, after the company hired four lobbyists as part of an effort to changes to state laws that still require human drivers in autonomous vehicles.

Across the Atlantic, Sweden has approved Tesla to test FSD on public roads, a clear signal that countries are beginning to embrace autonomy. Yet, in the U.S., significant opportunities remain untapped. From Chicago to Minneapolis, Charlotte to Tampa, major metro markets still await large-scale robotaxi deployments.

Episode Chapters

0:00 FSD 14

7:30 Preliminary NHTSA Tesla Investigation 

12:50 FSD Approval in Sweden 

14:56 Waymo Eyes Minnesota Expansion 

17:07 Potential Waymo Expansion Markets

22:18 Wayve Correction 

22:47 DoorDash

27:05 Lyft / Tensor Auto Partnership 

31:35 Aurora’s Warning Triangle Waiver

36:12 Next Week

Recorded on Friday October 10, 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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Varun Jain, Of Counsel, K&L Gates joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss why the next 15 months will define autonomous vehicle policy in America. 

With new leadership at NHTSA and growing interest in Congress, Varun outlines why the next 15 months will be pivotal for establishing a national autonomous vehicle framework. From updating outdated FMVSS standards to expanding autonomous vehicle testing authority, and with proposed legislation such as the Self-Drive Act, America Drives Act, and Autonomous Vehicle Acceleration Act, a comprehensive federal framework may finally be within reach.

Throughout the conversation, Varun emphasizes that the momentum for autonomy is shifting from concept to mainstream adoption. He and Grayson explore how public acceptance, economic opportunity, and clear messaging can drive the next wave of policy action, comparing the potential trajectory of autonomous vehicles to the rapid regulatory turnaround that benefited crypto. 

The discussion underscores that safety, job creation, and U.S. competitiveness all hinge on one thing; passing a national autonomous vehicle framework that includes trucks over 10,001 pounds.

Episode Chapters

0:00 The Road to Autonomy Introduction

0:23 Autonomous Vehicle Policy Outlook

12:37 Why is Now the Time for a National Autonomous Vehicle Framework?

17:31 Activating Public Engagement 

23:04 Job Creation 

24:45 Learning from the Crypto Industry 

28:51 Messaging 

31:40 What Will it take to get a National Autonomous Vehicle Framework?

35:56 Managing Regulations 

41:25 When go we get a National Autonomous Vehicle Framework?

Recorded on Friday, September 26, 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/ae/

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 the accelerating global expansion of robotaxis. In London, Wayve is proving its adaptable, AI-powered autonomous system can navigate complex roadways, from double roundabouts to unpredictable pedestrian interactions without reliance on LiDAR.

Wayve’s strategy of working hand-in-hand with OEMs sets it apart from Tesla’s vision-only approach, allowing flexibility depending on manufacturer demands. At the same time, institutional investors are beginning to pay more attention to the autonomous vehicles, particularly focusing not just on the technology, but on broader ecosystem of energy, fleet management, and vehicle depreciation that will define the autonomy economy.

Meanwhile, the Middle East is rapidly positioning itself as an autonomy hub. Dubai has granted Baidu Apollo permits with an eye toward fully driverless operations by 2026, while at the same time Uber introduced an autonomous vehicle tier in Abu Dhabi.

As the U.K., EU, and UAE push ahead on autonomy, the race to define the global robotaxi market is intensifying, reshaping not just mobility, but the economics underpinning the future of global autonomous vehicle fleets.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Live from London

3:02 Wayve in London

10:47 UK & EU Autonomous Vehicle Regulations 

13:20 Moove & the Management of Autonomous Vehicles 

17:44 UK AV Market

18:47 Waymo in New York 

21:29 D.C. Shutdown 

22:48 D.C. Politics of Tesla FSD

26:23 Kodiak

28:21 Mobileye

32:47 EV Sales

34:32 AVs in the UAE

38:11 Next Week

Recorded on Thursday, October 2, 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/ae/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.