The Road to Autonomy

Hosted by Grayson Brulte | AUTNMY AI

Business Society Culture

Website RSS feed

Episodes

470

Latest episode

Nov 2026

Language

About the show

Hosted by Grayson Brulte , The Road to Autonomy is Institutional Intelligence for the Autonomy Economy™, powered by AUTNMY AI and OMEGA. Episodes combine field research, proprietary Indices, and conversations with the operators, investors, and policymakers building the Autonomy Economy. Three shows comprise the feed: The Road to Autonomy (Tuesdays): The Road to Autonomy (Tuesdays): Flagship, in-depth conversations and analysis with the architects of The Autonomy Economy. Autonomy Signals, presented by KPMG (Fridays): AUTNMY AI co-founders Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant analyze the underlying technical and regulatory signals moving the market. Autonomy Markets (Saturdays): Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk , Partner and TMT Analyst, LightShed Partners and General Partner, LightShed Ventures, break down the week in autonomy from a Wall Street and investment perspective. With over 450 episodes, The Road to Autonomy is a trusted source for institutional investor, analysts, and executives who need decision-ready intelligence on the Autonomy Economy and physical AI. ]]>

Listen to episodes

60 recent

November 7, 202647 min

Episode 470 | Autonomy Markets: Waymo Just Blew Up Uber’s Robotaxi Growth Story

This week on Autonomy Markets , Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana dropping a Mike Tyson-like right hook on Uber during a Bloomberg interview, exposing the reality of their pending divorce just as Uber reported earnings. With Uber projecting 700 fully driverless vehicles by year-end, Grayson and Walt point out that over 71% of those are Waymo vehicles, making Uber’s climb to its 10,000-vehicle goal by 2028 substantially harder without their top partner. While Uber attempts to shift its narrative toward delivery and highlights alternative partners such as Avride , Motional , and Zoox , Walt questions Uber’s timeline claiming autonomous cost-per-trip parity won’t happen until the end of the decade. Grayson and Walt also analyze the sudden departure of Uber’s President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Jill Hazelbaker, to OpenAI, and Tesla’s pivot to wind down Cybertruck production by the middle of next year to make room for more Cybercab capacity at Giga Texas. Out in the field, Special Field Correspondent Spencer witnessed the birth of a brand-new Waymo depot being loaded with vehicles overnight, while becoming the first person to ride in Robotaxi in Fort Worth. In Orlando, Grayson confirmed Waymo has opened a second depot. In autonomous trucking, Kodiak is at 99% readiness and on track for driver-out operations by year-end. Operating on three different OEM platforms (PACCAR International and Daimler Truck), Kodiak provided clear guidance, projecting five unsupervised trucks over the road by year-end, 200 by 2027, and 5,000 by 2029. Walt highlights Kodiak’s extreme capital efficiency, noting their sub-$40 million cash burn compared to Aurora’s $200 million-plus burn for the same $3 million in quarterly revenue. Daimler Truck’s Torc is also aiming to launch driver-out trucks on public roads before the end of 2026. On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, Baidu Apollo Go is now live in 22 cities doing 250,000 fully driverless rides a week in China, WeRide is preparing to launch in Denmark by the first half of 2027, Wayve and Uber are launching safety-driver testing in Japan by year-end, and Marti Technologies is getting ready to deploy in Turkey. Episode Chapters 0:00 Waymo’s Right Hook to Uber 5:11 Uber’s 700 Robotaxis 14:50 Uber's Narrative Pivot to Delivery 18:31 Uber's Jill Hazelbaker Departs for OpenAI 20:31 Winding Down Cybertruck for Cybercab 23:20 Tesla Robotaxi & Waymo Market Expansions 25:27 Lyft Earnings 28:54 Kodiak Earnings 36:14 Torc Aims for 2026 Driver-Out 37:26 Red Tape Desk: Texas Elections & the Threat of Local Robotaxi Control 39:43 Foreign Autonomy Desk 45:21 Next Week 📄 Follow Waymo on The Road to Autonomy Indices -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy provides institutional intelligence for the Autonomy Economy, powered by AUTNMY AI. We built the indices, set the benchmarks, and execute the fieldwork to put decision-ready physical AI intelligence directly into your workflows with OMEGA. 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. 📬 Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

November 6, 20261 hr 9 min

Episode 469 | Autonomy Signals: U.S. Dark Money Tries to Stop Robotaxis as Japan Says Yes to Full Autonomy

This week on Autonomy Signals presented by KPMG , Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant discuss the dark money campaign trying to stop robotaxis in the United States, Japan’s new certification framework for vehicles without steering wheels or pedals, and Reliable Robotics autonomous regional cargo aircraft. A dark money campaign is working to stop robotaxis before they reach new markets. The Coalition for Accountability in Road Safety (CARS) has spent over $2.6 million on ads opposing autonomous vehicles in DC, outspending the mayoral candidates, raising questions as to who is funding the group. Japan is moving the other way and making autonomy a national priority. Starting in December, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) will introduce a unified certification framework for SAE Level 4 and Level 5 vehicles that no longer need steering wheels, brake pedals or mirrors. Autonomous cargo flight is getting closer. Reliable Robotics completed a flight in Albuquerque where software handled taxiing, takeoff and landing on a Cessna Grand Caravan, supervised by a pilot 700 miles away in California. The company is targeting its first FAA approvals by the end of 2027, though fully uncrewed cargo flights remain years away. Episode Chapters 0:00 KPMG Sponsor Introduction 1:58 Signal 1: Dark-Money Coalitions Are Trying to Stop Robotaxis 37:01 Signal 2: Japan Greenlights Full Autonomy 55:02 Signal 3: Cleared for Autonomous Takeoff -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy provides Institutional Intelligence for the Autonomy Economy, powered by AUTNMY AI. We built the indices, set the benchmarks, and execute the fieldwork to put decision-ready physical AI intelligence directly into your workflows with OMEGA . This Week in The Autonomy Economy is the briefing investors and industry leaders read every Sunday as they prepare for the week ahead. Original insight and commentary on the Autonomy Economy. 📬 Sign up for the newsletter at https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/ Follow The Road to Autonomy Indices at https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

November 3, 202649 min

Episode 468 | Building Türkiye’s Robotaxi Network

Cankut Durgun , Co-Founder, President & COO, Martí , joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss building Türkiye’s robotaxi network. Martí is positioning itself as the demand aggregator and fleet operator for robotaxis in Türkiye, leveraging a ride hailing footprint across 40 cities representing approximately 90% of national GDP. Its micromobility operation, which manages tens of thousands of vehicles through a network of charging, maintenance and parking depots, gives Martí an operational playbook that transfers directly to robotaxi fleets. With a 19x spread between peak and trough hourly demand, Martí envisions a hybrid network where robotaxis serve base load demand and human drivers absorb the peaks. Martí is executing a multi partner strategy, with announced partnerships with Tensor and CalmCar and advanced discussions with providers across the US, China and other markets. The thesis is that the performance gap between autonomous driving stacks is narrowing, pointing to a steady state market of dozens of providers rather than one or two. Türkiye’s National Artificial Intelligence Action Plan, signed into force by President Erdoğan, establishes a regulatory framework, with over a dozen references to autonomous vehicles covering technical parameters, pilot conditions and the path to scale. Today, the unit economics present a structural challenge as ride hailing revenue per kilometer in Türkiye is 3x to 4x lower than in the US, while import taxes can double vehicle costs, requiring an additional 70% to 80% cost reduction beyond US viability before robotaxis become economical in the Turkish market. Over the longer term, Türkiye’s customs union with the EU, its established automotive manufacturing base in Bursa and the national EV brand Togg, with its autonomy arm, could offer a path to domestically produced autonomous vehicles. Episode Chapters 00:00 Martí’s Robotaxi Strategy in Türkiye 07:34 Planning Robotaxi Depots in Istanbul 09:21 Airport Proximity and Energy Access 14:17 CalmCar Testing and Pilot Timelines 17:44 Financing Robotaxi Fleets 19:25 Robotaxi Economics in Türkiye vs the US 22:24 Manufacturing Autonomous Vehicles in Türkiye 28:37 Evaluating Autonomous Driving Partners 31:10 Why Martí Chose a Multi Partner Strategy 35:46 Martí as the Local Partner 36:49 Dedicated vs Mixed Robotaxi Tiers 42:52 Robotaxi Utilization and Ride Share 44:48 The Future of Martí 47:30 AUTNMY AI -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy provides institutional intelligence for the Autonomy Economy, powered by AUTNMY AI. We built the indices, set the benchmarks, and execute the fieldwork to put decision-ready physical AI intelligence directly into your workflows with OMEGA. 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. 📬 Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

October 31, 20261 hr 4 min

Episode 467 | Autonomy Markets: Toyota Gives Waymo Scale and a Path to Your Driveway

This week on Autonomy Markets , Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s expanded partnership with Toyota, bringing factory-line integration to an autonomous bZ4X fleet in Japan by 2027. With the Toyota and Hyundai manufacturing partnerships, Grayson says Waymo now has the manufacturing capacity and capital to dominate the robotaxi market globally, while Walt views the Toyota partnership as a volume ramp heading into 2030 that poses a serious threat to traditional rideshare. Beyond robotaxis, Grayson and Walt analyze the partnership’s potential to introduce personally owned autonomous vehicles, which could accelerate the consumer trend toward one-car households. They also question Alphabet’s decision to omit the landmark Toyota announcement from its earnings report, even as Waymo added 250 square miles of territory across five cities in a single week. In Orlando, Grayson spent five hours riding in Waymo’s around its 120-square-mile territory, observing hundreds of Ojais at a massive depot near the airport. However, access restrictions at Orlando International Airport (MCO) and the Brightline station continue to choke off high-value transit corridors, underscored by a chaotic pickup attempt at a nearby Amazon facility. In Houston, Tesla expanded Robotaxi’s service area to 254-square-miles in the shape of a rocket ship. Over in autonomous trucking Aurora delayed its 200-truck milestone to February due to supply chain issues and reduced guidance, contrasting with Kodiak’s binding 75-truck order and leaner cash burn. On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, XPENG received an SAE Level 4 demonstration permit in Guangzhou, Baidu Apollo Go received a SAE Level 4 special operating permit from Switzerland’s Federal Roads Office and Tesla’s FSD Supervised was granted approval in Latvia. Episode Chapters 0:00 Waymo and Toyota Partnership 06:36 Personally Owned Waymo Toyota Vehicles 09:18 Waymo's Volume Ramp to 2030 and the Impact on Rideshare 11:53 Waymo Expands Service Coverage by 250 Square Miles 13:15 Alphabet Earnings 16:08 Waymo's California Advantage 18:20 Orlando Field Report 31:28 Tesla Robotaxi in Orlando Field Report 33:17 Tesla Robotaxi Houston Expansion 35:47 Tesla Extends Robotaxi Service Hours 37:47 Aurora Delays Its Truck Milestone 41:28 Non Binding vs. Binding Autonomous Trucking Deals 46:13 Gatik Class 7 Truck Spotted in Plano 51:46 Rivian's Autonomy Plans 55:07 Foreign Autonomy Desk 1:00:08 Next Week 📄 Follow Waymo on The Road to Autonomy Indices -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy provides institutional intelligence for the Autonomy Economy, powered by AUTNMY AI. We built the indices, set the benchmarks, and execute the fieldwork to put decision-ready physical AI intelligence directly into your workflows with OMEGA. 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. 📬 Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

October 30, 20261 hr 11 min

Episode 466 | Autonomy Signals: Robotaxis, Autonomous Excavators and Drones That Can Find You

This week on Autonomy Signals presented by KPMG , Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant discuss Tesla’s Texas robotaxi fleet crossing 1,000 vehicles, Bedrock Robotics raising $600 million to automate construction, and Purdue researchers building a drone that can track a person without GPS. Tesla’s registered Texas robotaxi fleet crossed 1,050 vehicles, with Cybercabs now making up more than half the fleet after a tenfold ramp in Austin during October. The surge proves Tesla can build vehicles faster than it can deploy them, but with paid Cybercab rides limited to Austin and highways, rail crossings and 24/7 operation still locked, fleet scale does not establish leadership over Waymo , which logs nearly four million rider only miles a week. Bedrock Robotics raised $600 million in a Series C led by CapitalG and Emergence Capital, valuing the two year old company at $4.1 billion. Retrofit kits that automate existing excavators offer the fastest path to revenue as skilled operators retire, though hidden boulders, wet ground and OEM control over integration could slow the jump from paid projects to repeat orders. Purdue University researchers built a drone that tracks a running person under dense forest canopy with all processing onboard, without GPS or satellite navigation. When a university lab can build this, the algorithm stops being a moat, and the advantage for defense and search and rescue buyers shifts to field validation, manufacturing and accountable operation. Episode Chapters 0:00 KPMG Sponsor Introduction 1:47 Signal 1: Tesla Floods Texas With Cybercabs 27:16 Signal 2: Bedrock Robotics Raises $600 Million 50:35 Signal 3: Purdue Builds a Drone That Can Find You -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy provides Institutional Intelligence for the Autonomy Economy, powered by AUTNMY AI. We built the indices, set the benchmarks, and execute the fieldwork to put decision-ready physical AI intelligence directly into your workflows with OMEGA. This Week in The Autonomy Economy is the briefing investors and industry leaders read every Sunday as they prepare for the week ahead. Original insight and commentary on the Autonomy Economy. 📬 Sign up for the newsletter at https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/ Follow The Road to Autonomy Indices at https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

October 27, 202637 min

Episode 465 | Building the Real World Farm Lab for Physical AI

Danny Bernstein , Founder & CEO, RESERVOIR and Paige Bailey , AI Developer Relations Lead, Google DeepMind joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how rugged Physical AI is moving out of simulation and onto the farm. Simulation alone cannot carry Physical AI into agriculture. Rain, mud, diesel power requirements and extreme heat break systems that perform flawlessly in sim, which is why RESERVOIR built a working farm in Salinas where startups deploy immediately instead of waiting six to nine months after raising capital. Bonsai Robotics, which tested at RESERVOIR has sold more than 400 robots, and its $60,000 autonomous hybrid tractor flexes between strawberries and vineyards because the team understands grower economics as deeply as robotics. The farm itself is being redesigned for autonomy. Bayer is breeding broccoli for automated harvest, orchards are moving to two dimensional trellising, and physics is beginning to replace chemicals as California tightens regulation. Google DeepMind is positioning Gemini and Gemma as the flexible intelligence layer for this shift, from crop vision to on device robotics. Episode Chapters 00:00 Rugged Physical AI Goes Mainstream 01:02 Google DeepMind's Robotics Ambitions 04:11 Bonsai Robotics' $60,000 Autonomous Tractor 06:43 Why Startups Wait Months to Reach a Farm 10:17 Building Trust Between Growers and Engineers 14:45 Physical AI as a Growth Market 16:24 How Robotics Moved to the Center at Google 18:31 Broccoli Bred for Automation 22:44 Gemini Vision for Crop Scanning 24:39 Is Agriculture Ready for Automation? 26:34 Physics Replacing Chemicals 29:57 Weather Next and Google Earth Engine 33:17 The Future of Physical AI 35:19 AUTNMY AI -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy provides institutional intelligence for the Autonomy Economy, powered by AUTNMY AI. We built the indices, set the benchmarks, and execute the fieldwork to put decision-ready physical AI intelligence directly into your workflows with OMEGA. 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. 📬 Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

October 25, 202658 min

Episode 464 | Autonomy Signals: Waymo Scales, Neolix Goes Global, GM Bets Big on 2028

This week on Autonomy Signals presented by KPMG , Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant discuss Waymo scaling its robotaxi fleet fivefold, Neolix closing the largest autonomous driving funding round in China this year, and GM betting big on personally owned autonomous vehicles. Backed by a $5 billion loan and $16 billion in equity, Waymo plans to grow its fleet from roughly 4,000 vehicles to 20,000 by the end of 2027 while expanding into the Madrid and Toronto markets. With capital secured, throughput at its Mesa integration facility is now the binding constraint, and the current pace points closer to 14,000 vehicles. Neolix raised nearly $400 million in a Series E round and signed an agreement with Malaysian conglomerate Sunway Group to deploy its L4 delivery vehicles across Sunway’s properties. The partnership offers a ready distribution channel and a monsoon season stress test, though Malaysia’s pending data protection framework could raise the cost of expanding across Southeast Asia. GM plans to sell personally owned eyes off vehicles by 2028, starting with premium full size models using LiDAR, radar, and cameras powered by a liquid cooled central compute unit built in house. Bringing the technology to both EV and combustion lineups reaches GM’s most profitable buyers, but competing capital priorities and Tesla’s L4 ambitions could make the feature look dated on arrival. Episode Chapters 0:00 KPMG Sponsor Introduction 1:45 Signal 1: Waymo Is Scaling 23:35 Signal 2: Neolix Goes Global 38:37 Signal 3: GM Bets Big on Personal Autonomy -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy provides Institutional Intelligence for the Autonomy Economy, powered by AUTNMY AI. We built the indices, set the benchmarks, and execute the fieldwork to put decision-ready physical AI intelligence directly into your workflows with OMEGA. This Week in The Autonomy Economy is the briefing investors and industry leaders read every Sunday as they prepare for the week ahead. Original insight and commentary on the Autonomy Economy. 📬 Sign up for the newsletter at https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/ Follow The Road to Autonomy Indices at https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

October 24, 202658 min

Episode 463 | Autonomy Markets: Waymo Is Accelerating Robotaxi Deployments. Who's Trying to Stop It?

This week on Autonomy Markets , Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss field reports from Nashville, Dallas and Houston, takeaways from Tesla’s earnings call, Waymo’s accelerating fleet growth, a mysterious effort to stop robotaxis in Washington, D.C. In Nashville, Grayson tours two Waymo depots near Nashville International Airport (BNA), including a hillside facility with an estimated 300-to-500-vehicle capacity that he dubs the most secure depot the show has visited. His 25-minute round of autonomy roulette on the Lyft app yielded zero matches, but the airport walk from the terminal door to the Waymo pickup zone clocked in at a seamless 2 minutes and 20 seconds. In Dallas, which Grayson crowns the robotaxi capital of America, Waymo and Avride continue to scale as hundreds of unbadged Tesla Cybercabs sit in a staging lot near Dallas Love Field. In Houston, at the Uber/ Nuro /Lucid depot, Grayson spotted just six robotaxis and zero unsupervised operations. Turning to the Tesla earnings call, the hosts analyze FSD attach rates hitting 75%, renewed plans allowing owners to loan personal vehicles into the fleet, and the slip of the 24/7 service target to year-end. Grayson also connects the dots on why Tesla announced its four expansion cities (Las Vegas, Jacksonville, Phoenix, and San Antonio) in an order directly tracking physical depot construction. Meanwhile, Walt reacts to a Semafor report projecting Waymo could scale to 20,000 vehicles by the end of next year, surpassing his own 15,000-vehicle estimate, as Waymo launches service at Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) and eyes Madrid (2027) and Toronto (2028). Closing out on the Foreign Autonomy Desk, a VW MOIA van was spotted testing in Europe bearing Wayve decals instead of Mobileye, while France signaled renewed regulatory backing for autonomous fleets. Episode Chapters 0:00 Nashville Field Report 08:38 Dallas Field Report 13:20 Avis Waymo Depot Buildout in Dallas 15:36 Houston Field Report 19:55 NHTSA Administrator Morrison Interview 21:08 Tesla Earnings 25:15 Waymo and Tesla Depot Infrastructure Buildout 27:17 Semafor Report: 20,000 Waymos by End of Next Year 28:43 Tesla Unsupervised Miles and 24/7 Service 31:17 Robotaxi Pricing vs. Rideshare 33:08 Tesla’s Four New Cities and the Depot Ground Truth 33:45 Waymo's Las Vegas Airport, Madrid and Toronto Expansions 35:08 Uber Nears 100 Fully Autonomous WeRide Vehicles in the UAE 37:19 Hertz, Avis and the Depot Market 39:46 GM’s $20 Billion Buyback 45:12 People First Transportation Alliance 51:06 London Driver Protests and TfL Robotaxi Caps 51:56 Santa Monica Leases Lots to Zoox 55:01 Foreign Autonomy Desk 56:08 Next Week 📄 Follow Waymo on The Road to Autonomy Indices -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy provides institutional intelligence for the Autonomy Economy, powered by AUTNMY AI. We built the indices, set the benchmarks, and execute the fieldwork to put decision-ready physical AI intelligence directly into your workflows with OMEGA. 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. 📬 Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

October 20, 202650 min

Episode 462 | Scaling Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles with Arm

Dermot O’Driscoll , Dermot O'Driscoll, Vice President, Go-To-Market, Physical AI, Arm, joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss scaling physical AI across the automotive and robotics markets. Arm is positioning its energy-efficient compute architecture at every layer of Physical AI, leveraging 30 years of automotive IP safety expertise alongside its mobile power-efficiency heritage. With robotics facing strict battery, weight, and thermal constraints, Arm’s low-power compute stack is essential to enabling extended operational runtimes. To solve ecosystem fragmentation and accelerate physical AI toward its ChatGPT moment, Arm recently launched its Robotics Capability Framework , a Level 0–5 framework inspired by SAE Levels of Driving Automation. The initiative aims to standardize capabilities and foster cross-layer collaboration among chipmaker, software, model, and hardware developers, attracting over 80 industry partners within its first month. Across the autonomous vehicle landscape, Arm architecture powers key chipsets in robotaxis, including ADAS controllers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), ECUs, and sensors, while creating new opportunities for immersive in-cabin experiences like 4D gaming. Arm is currently projecting the physical AI compute market to grow from $25 billion today to $200 billion in the early 2030s. This 8x to 10x expansion will be driven by autonomous mobility and AI deployment across physical GDP sectors including agriculture, mining, shipping, and logistics. Episode Chapters 0:00 Growth of Physical AI Explosion 02:33 Arm's Heritage in Automotive & Mobile Compute 06:02 Why Low-Power Architecture Unlocks Robotics 08:00 Scaling Physical AI & Standardizing Capabilities 10:00 Arm's Robotics Capability Framework 13:35 Ecosystem Defragmentation 18:30 High-Performance Compute Constraints 22:00 Standardizing Robotic Architectures 25:19 Arm's Physical AI Business Unit 27:24 Comparing Physical AI Growth to Early Cloud Adoption 31:57 Robotaxi Compute Architecture 35:45 In-Vehicle Infotainmen Experiences 37:56 -$200B Compute Market Opportunity 42:26 Industrial Markets 47:34 5-Year Outlook for Physical AI 49:01 AUTNMY AI -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy provides institutional intelligence for the Autonomy Economy, powered by AUTNMY AI. We built the indices, set the benchmarks, and execute the fieldwork to put decision-ready physical AI intelligence directly into your workflows with OMEGA. 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. 📬 Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

October 17, 20261 hr 1 min

Episode 461 | Autonomy Markets: Robotaxis Go Curbside at Airports as Uber’s Robotaxi Boss Heads for the Exit

This week on Autonomy Markets , Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss new field reports from San Antonio and Dallas, management turnover at Uber, Tesla’s Cybercab progress in Austin and upcoming Dallas expansion, regulatory shifts across the US and Europe, and Wayve’s momentum in securing major OEM partnerships. Grayson shares his experience taking a Waymo ride to the San Antonio International Airport (SAT), highlighting the seamless curbside drop-off that took under four minutes to reach security, while contrasting it with his SFO experience. With more field reports on the way, Grayson and Walt discuss key executive departures at Uber and what it might be signaling to the market. In Austin, Tesla reportedly surpassed 300 Cybercabs as they prepare to expand Cybercab to Dallas. Across the pond in London, the politics around deploying robotaxis are heating up as Tesla rebrands FSD in Europe to Assisted Driving. Episode Chapters 0:00 Waymo San Antonio Airport Experience 05:57 Motional’s Las Vegas Technical Center & Hyundai IONIQ 5 Upfitting 08:33 Private Ownership vs. Robotaxi Fleets 12:58 Human Factors and SAE Level 4 14:27 Autonomy Subscriptions 16:04 Dallas and Europe Field Reports 18:03 Uber's Management Turmoil 21:21 Uber's Lofty 15 City Robotaxi Goal 23:29 Growing Number of Cybercabs in Austin 28:01 Cybercab's Pending Dallas Launch 32:01 Waymo Opens Nashville Airport (BNA) Service 36:11 Zoox’s NHTSA Authorization for Hayward, California 38:17 Wayve's Potential Volkswagen Deal 41:18 Applied Intuition 43:29 Red Tape and Regulations 56:48 Verne's Shift Towards Fleet Management 59:25 Next Week 📄 Follow Waymo on The Road to Autonomy Indices -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy provides institutional intelligence for the Autonomy Economy, powered by AUTNMY AI. We built the indices, set the benchmarks, and execute the fieldwork to put decision-ready physical AI intelligence directly into your workflows with OMEGA. 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. 📬 Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .