The Road to Autonomy

Hosted by Grayson Brulte | AUTNMY AI

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Oct 2026

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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. ]]>

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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 .

October 16, 20261 hr 5 min

Episode 460 | Autonomy Signals: XPENG Introduces YOYO Robotaxi Service

This week on Autonomy Signals presented by KPMG , Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant discuss NHTSA opening a safety inquiry into Tesla robotaxis speeding in active school zones, XPENG launching its XPENG YOYO robotaxi service, and a Danish supermarket testing humanoid robots on the night shift. NHTSA opened a safety inquiry into Tesla’s 2026 Model Y and Cybercab robotaxis after receiving public reports and video evidence of the vehicles speeding in active school zones. The inquiry covers an estimated 1,000 vehicles operating in Texas, Florida, and the Bay Area. No crashes, injuries, or citations were recorded in the submitted evidence. The inquiry adds to mounting federal pressure as NHTSA audits whether the Cybercab, built without a steering wheel or pedals, meets federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS). With both timelines converging around December and January, Tesla faces the potential risk of a software recall or of operating conditions, such as school zone restrictions, attached to any potential approval. XPENG announced the name its new robotaxi service called XPENG YOYO and opened public registration in China with international commercial service targeted for 2027. In a strategic move, XPENG will not operate fleets. Instead, it will act as a technology provider, earning revenue from hardware sales, software services, and commission sharing with local fleet operators globally. A Føtex supermarket near Copenhagen is testing Unitree G1 humanoid robots to stock shelves and handle repetitive tasks during night shifts. The robots run the Heimdall intelligence platform from Danish startup Hive Robots. They work more slowly than human employees, need close supervision, and under Danish regulations cannot operate autonomously around shoppers. The goal is independent overnight restocking with the store closed by early 2027. Hardware costs just over $50,000 and the first year total cost of ownership exceeds $100,000, so the trial is aimed at learning rather than near term economics. Føtex is owned by the Salling Group, Denmark’s largest retailer with more than 2,000 stores across six countries, which gives the program a path to scale. Episode Chapters 0:00 KPMG Sponsor Introduction 2:44 Signal 1: Tesla Robotaxi NHTSA School Zone Safety Inquiry 27:00 Signal 2: XPENG Introduces its YOYO Robotaxi Service 49:50 Signal 3: Supermarket Humanoids Hit The Night Shift In Denmark -------- 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 13, 202649 min

Episode 459 | Powering Precise Location for Physical AI

Aaron Nathan , Founder and CEO of Point One Navigation , joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss powering precise location for physical AI. Since his last appearance on the podcast two years ago, Point One has expanded beyond autonomous vehicles into the broader physical AI sector, including autonomous mowers, agriculture, last-mile delivery, humanoids, and drones. At Point One’s core is one of the world’s largest professionally owned RTK networks, which refines standard GPS accuracy from roughly five meters down to two centimeters. Point One delivers its network, corrections, and software as a utility that customers can build on, much like a traditional wireless carrier. The company’s next frontier focuses on consistency over simply chasing millimeter-level precision, ensuring robots hit two-centimeter accuracy as reliably as possible and recognize when they fall short. In agriculture, Point One’s technology allows customers to record the exact location of every seed planted, reducing water, fertilizer, and pesticide use by up to 80% while maintaining or improving yields. In drone delivery, greater accuracy minimizes required drone spacing, enabling higher fleet density and increased delivery capacity. Episode Chapters 0:00 Point One Two Years Later 01:43 New Applications for Precise Location 06:58 Point One, A Location Company 11:24 Location for Last Mile Delivery 14:23 How RTK Delivers Two Centimeter Accuracy 19:30 Precision Location in Agriculture 22:45 Location for Humanoids 31:00 Location for Aerial Drones 37:35 GPS Denied Environments 39:17 $35 Million Series C 41:02 Fuse Conference 43:47 Future of Location Services 47:20 AUTNMY AI Attend the FUSE conference on November 19th in San Francisco and get a 30% discount code by using the code: FUSERTA Signup here: is https://fuse.pointonenav.com/sf -------- 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 10, 202647 min

Episode 458 | Autonomy Markets: Waymo Goes to Wall Street

This week on Autonomy Markets , Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s first ever debt raise, the latest The Road to Autonomy Field Reports and the emergence of London as an autonomy capital. Grayson views the debt raise as a clear signal of aggressive expansion, while Walt sees securing access to capital markets as a crucial strategic advantage as competition heats up. As Waymo continues to expand, the company launched fully autonomous operations in Detroit, with both Grayson and Walt agreeing that commercial service will commence before the end of the year. In Las Vegas, Zoox continues to deploy the Zoox way. Special Field Correspondent David Moss headed to Las Vegas to try out Zoox’s new drop-off location at the T-Mobile Arena. The ride from Resorts World cost $42.26 and took 28 minutes, including extra loops around the Excalibur parking lot compared to $18.68 for a Waymo Ojai ride. Across the Atlantic, London is emerging as a premier autonomy capital, with the guessing game heating up over whether Uber or its autonomous driving partners will secure the Automated Passenger Services (APS) permit. As Uber and its partners debate who gets the permit, Waymo is ramping up operations, preparing for what Grayson predicts will be a launch in London. On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, XPeng formally named its new robotaxi service YoYo, while Stellantis selected Momenta to power autonomous capabilities for its Peugeot and Jeep brands in mainland China. Episode Chapters 0:00 Atoms and Zoox Field Reports 05:15 Autonomy Roulette on Uber in Las Vegas 08:20 Waymo Raises $5 Billion in Debt 12:20 Waymo Launches Unsupervised Testing in Detroit 14:53 Tesla Robotaxi 24/7 Timeline in Austin 18:33 Uber and Pony.ai Head to London 25:12 How Long Until Wayve Goes Unsupervised? 33:21 Minneapolis Mayor Vetoes Driver-In Mandate as California Mandates U.S. Remote Operations 37:30 Autonomous Trucking, Cleared for Take-Off 42:36 Foreign Autonomy Desk 44:34 Next Week 📄 Follow Waymo on The Road to Autonomy Indices 📄 Follow Wayve 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 9, 20261 hr 18 min

Episode 457 | Autonomy Signals: Minneapolis Mayor Vetoes Driver-In Mandate

This week on Autonomy Signals presented by KPMG , Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant discuss Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vetoing a city council ordinance that would have required human safety monitors in robotaxis, California requiring remote operators of autonomous vehicles to be physically located in the United States, and the U.S. Army creating the Futures and Autonomous Systems Command. The Minneapolis City Council voted 7 to 4 to require robotaxi operators to keep a human safety monitor earning the local minimum wage in every vehicle at all times. Mayor Frey vetoed the ordinance, calling it a backdoor ban. The council currently lacks the nine votes needed to override the veto. The veto keeps Waymo on its path to commercial deployment in Minneapolis. However, organized labor and safety advocates who secured the council majority can bring the measure back or push for legislation at the state level. In states lacking preemption, the ordinance serves as a template for driver mandates across the Midwest and Northeast that threaten to hold operators at the testing stage. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1246, requiring remote operators who take direct control of an autonomous vehicle to be physically located in the United States and hold a valid California driver’s license. The law also mandates that operators dispatch local incident technicians when requested by emergency services, institutes fines for blocking first responders, and requires notification of local authorities during fleetwide outages. The requirements do not take effect until 2028, and the California DMV has yet to define the staffing ratios that will determine compliance costs. Whether offshore support teams must be relocated depends on how final rules distinguish remote assistance from direct remote driving. Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Martell signed a memorandum establishing the Futures and Autonomous Systems Command (FASCOM). FASCOM features a dedicated portfolio acquisition executive for autonomy to prioritize autonomous ground vehicles, watercraft, resupply, and breaching systems by fiscal year 2028. The Army is also expanding its 15X Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems Specialist and 390A Robotics Technician roles to integrate autonomy experts directly into tactical units. FASCOM’s modular open systems approach provides emerging autonomy companies such as Anduril, Shield AI , and Applied Intuition direct prototype lanes into operational formations, while traditional defense primes retain their roles as open system integrators. Episode Chapters 0:00 KPMG Sponsor Introduction 01:27 Signal 1: Minneapolis Mayor Vetoes Driver-In Mandate 29:37 Signal 2: California Mandates U.S. Remote Support for Autonomous Fleets 59:01 Signal 3: Army Builds a New Command for Robots -------- 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 6, 202648 min

Episode 456 | From 50 Brands to 5,000+, Scaling Coco Robotics

Zach Rash , Co-Founder and CEO of Coco Robotics joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss scaling Coco from 50 brands to more than 5,000 globally. Over the past two years, Coco has expanded its merchant network from 50 brands to over 5,000 across QSR, grocery, and retail. Growth has been fueled by a frictionless merchant onboarding workflow, as well as rising consumer tip fatigue. To accelerate their growth, Coco is upgrading its initial fleet of roughly 1,000 sidewalk-only Coco One robots to its next-generation vehicle, Coco Two. Capable of speeds up to 15 mph, Coco Two features a hybrid design that can transition from sidewalks to bike lanes and roadways, significantly increasing delivery distance and speed. Internationally, Coco is expanding across Europe, operating in the Finnish cities Helsinki and Turku alongside Wolt and Uber Eats. High urban density combined with severe winter weather creates acute courier supply shortages in European markets, making autonomous robot delivery a natural fit. With unit economics operating well below the cost of human couriers, Coco is targeting mass production of Coco Two to scale the fleet into the tens of thousands by 2027. Episode Chapters 0:00 Growth of Coco Robotics 05:48 Out-of-Home Advertising (OOH) 08:30 DoorDash and Uber Eats Partnerships 13:15 Scaling from 50 to 5,000+ Brands 21:07 International Expansion into Finland 26:51 Coco Two 31:45 Ralf Wenzel Joins the Board 39:23 Infrastructure Data 43:34 Unit Economics & Cost Efficiency 46:29 AUTNMY AI 📄 Follow Coco Robotics 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 3, 202652 min

Episode 455 | Autonomy Markets: We Found Atoms, Rode Wayve and Watched Uber’s Autonomy Clock Speed Up

This week on Autonomy Markets , Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Grayson’s San Francisco Field Work where he rode in a Wayve vehicle on the freeway, compared Waymo’s Jaguar I-PACE and Ojai robotaxis back to back, attended DoorDash’s Dash Forward event, and found Travis Kalanick’s Atoms autonomous vehicle on the streets of San Francisco. Grayson’s verdict on Wayve is clear. With zero interventions in dense San Francisco traffic, the ride felt very similar to Tesla’s Robotaxi. Grayson believes Wayve has the world’s best competitor to FSD today, is 12 to 16 months from an L2+ product in market, and roughly 36 months from going fully unsupervised, most likely first in London. Waymo’s Ojai is still teething but dramatically better than three weeks ago, and while the driving felt identical to Texas, the San Francisco vehicles were spotless while Austin remains the dirtiest Waymo market Grayson has ridden in. After months of searching, Grayson found the Atoms autonomous vehicle near Golden Gate Park, located its depot through OMEGA, and will release an Atoms Field Report on Monday. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi rode unsupervised in a Pony.ai powered Verne robotaxi in Zagreb, while speculation builds that Mobileye might not have a future in robotaxis. On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, Dubai opened the Dubai Autonomous Mobility Lab as it prepares for 25% fully autonomous operations, with WeRide already operating fully autonomously in the Emirate. Episode Chapters 0:00 Waymo SFO Pickup Experience 04:38 Wayve San Francisco and Freeway Ride 08:58 Wayve Timeline to Unsupervised 10:13 233,000 Mile Waymo I-PACE 13:23 Waymo's Avomo Problem 16:23 Atoms Autonomous Vehicle 20:08 Mysterious BMW Testing in San Francisco and Mountain View 22:08 DoorDash Dash Forward Event 25:39 Dara Khosrowshahi Rides Unsupervised in Zagreb 27:02 Where's Mobileye? 30:05 Lyft Expands Brand to Europe 33:15 Who Jumps from Uber to Lyft First? 36:49 When Does Uber Vertically Integrate Robotaxis? 43:24 Zoox Perceived Intersection Problems 45:18 Kodiak Announces IKEA as Unsupervised Over-the-Road Partner 49:05 Foreign Autonomy Desk 49:30 Next Week 📄 Follow Waymo on The Road to Autonomy Indices 📄 Follow Wayve on The Road to Autonomy Indices 📄 Follow DoorDash Dot 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 .

September 26, 202652 min

Episode 454 | Autonomy Markets: The Robotaxi Reality Check You Won't Get From an Investor Deck

This week on Autonomy Markets , Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss their Texas Field Work where they rode in Cybercab, Waymo, Avride, May Mobility robotaxis, Kodiak and Aurora autonomous trucks, and inspected depots across Austin and Dallas. Grayson’s verdict on Tesla’s Cybercab is simple. Once you go Cybercab, you don’t go back. In Austin, wait times averaged two to five minutes across dozens of rides, and from a software perspective Grayson found no material difference between Cybercab and the Model Y Robotaxi in terms of performance. In Austin, Grayson counted roighly 200 to 300 vehicles at Avride’s upfitting facility, a presence he believes the market is overlooking, and views Hyundai as a quiet winner of the robotaxi buildout with the IONIQ 5 powering Waymo, Avride and Motional. The Zoox depot in Dallas was under construction with no visible charging infrastructure, and Grayson estimates it is 12 to 18 months from being operational. Both Walt and Grayson rode in a Kodiak autonomous truck and Walt noted clear improvement ahead of Kodiak’s driver-out target on the Dallas to Houston lane by year-end. Additionally, Walt rode in an unsupervised Aurora autonomous truck at their Investor Day. On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, Baidu is ramping supervised robotaxi testing in London with Lyft, Mercedes-Benz signed a licensing deal with Wayve , and Tensor Auto is preparing to deploy robotaxis with Volt Premium Taxi in Bulgaria. Episode Chapters 0:00 Once You Go Cybercab, You Don't Go Back 03:56 Robotaxi in Dallas 09:01 Cybercab Wait Times, Pickups and Routing in Austin 12:10 Austin Robotaxi Depots 13:45 Avride's Austin Depot 16:02 Zoox's Dallas Depot 17:22 May Mobility in Arlington 20:17 Kodiak Targets Driver-Out on Dallas to Houston by Year-End 24:19 Avride in Dallas and the Uber Partner Math 26:46 Hyundai Is the Quiet Winner in Robotaxis 27:30 Walt Amends His View on Upfitting 30:57 Tesla's Vertical Integration and Supercharger Advantage 33:06 Aurora Investor Day and the 1,000 Truck Target 40:22 President Xi's Visit and a Wake-Up Call for Detroit 47:01 Foreign Autonomy Desk 49:33 Next Week 📄 Follow Waymo on The Road to Autonomy Indices 📄 Follow Tesla on The Road to Autonomy Indices 📄 Follow Avride on The Road to Autonomy Indices 📄 Follow May Mobility on The Road to Autonomy Indices -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy is the leading applied intelligence platform covering the convergence of automation, autonomy, and the Autonomy Economy.™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary applied 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. 📬 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 .

September 25, 20261 hr 11 min

Episode 453 | Autonomy Signals: May Mobility's SPAC and the $93 Million Question

This week on Autonomy Signals presented by KPMG , Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant discuss May Mobility filing to go public through a SPAC merger with an estimated $93 million annual cash burn, Mercedes-Benz adding Wayve as its third automated driving software partner, and Figure AI’s Helix 2.5 taking on household chores across 30 homes it had never seen before. May Mobility is merging with ACP Holdings Acquisition Corp at a $1.4 billion valuation and will trade under the ticker MAY upon completion of the transaction. Of the up to $337 million in proceeds, only the $120 million PIPE is committed. At the company’s current burn rate, the PIPE covers about 1.3 years of operations against roughly $10 million in 2025 revenue. The remaining $217 million depends on the redemption rate. Mercedes-Benz signed with Wayve for point-to-point Level 2 driving assistance within two years. Wayve joins NVIDIA and Momenta as Mercedes retreats from L3 Drive Pilot and focuses on L2 driving assistance partnerships. Figure AI’s Helix 2.5 raised zero-shot success from 9% to 56% by pre-training on human behavior data, using half the task-specific data. That still leaves a 44% failure rate in curated homes, with no independent replication and no commercial contracts. The result supports a learning strategy, not a dependable, unsupervised home humanoid. Episode Chapters 0:00 KPMG Sponsor Introduction 01:45 Signal 1: May Mobility's SPAC 27:52 Signal 2: Mercedes Partners Wayve on Autonomous Driving 47:07 Signal 3: Figure AI Introduces Helix 2.5 Follow May Mobility on the Robotaxi Index Follow Wayve on the Autonomous Driving Licensing Index -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy is the leading applied intelligence platform covering the convergence of automation, autonomy, and the Autonomy Economy.™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary applied 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. 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 .

September 23, 202645 min

Episode 452 | Solving the Last 50 Feet of Package Delivery With Legged Robots

Lee Redden , Founder of LastFeet joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss solving the last 50 feet of package delivery with a custom-built legged robot designed to ride in the jump seat of a delivery van and carry packages from the curb to the doorstep. After co-founding Blue River Technology and selling it to Deere, Lee returned to building because he believes this is one of the best times ever to build robots. LastFeet’s robot walks on four legs with wheels on its feet, so it can climb the high step out of a box truck and then roll quickly and steadily to the door. It learns to walk entirely in simulation, a big change from the hand-calculated kinematics Lee learned in grad school. The inspiration came from delivery drivers. Lee interviewed dozens of drivers and shadowed their routes, then modeled his robot on the runner, the second person who rides in the passenger seat on busy days and carries packages to the door while the driver keeps driving. On day one, the robot sits in the jump seat with no change to how the back of the van is loaded. The driver loads a package, the robot bows at the door to set it on the step, and if it runs into something it can’t handle, it asks a remote human for help. The first robot carries 15 pounds, which covers most packages, and runs on an NVIDIA Orin AGX with two-hour hot-swappable batteries. When it’s unsure what to do, its safety response is to freeze in place and turn into a table. Episode Chapters 0:00 Why Lee Redden Is Building Again 02:41 How the LastFeet Robot Works 04:56 How to Build a Robot in 2026 07:27 Testing in Snow and Ice 10:00 How the Robot Delivers to Every Doorstep 12:43 Riding in the Jump Seat of a Delivery Van 15:00 Manufacturing at Scale 18:46 Building for Rugged Delivery Vans 22:54 LastFeet Business Model 29:32 Battery Life and Charging in the Van 32:11 What Lee Learned Shadowing 50 Delivery Drivers 37:28 Safety and Building Trust With the Public 40:18 The Future of LastFeet 43:11 AUTNMY AI Follow The Road to Autonomy Indices -------- About The Road to Autonomy The Road to Autonomy is the leading applied intelligence platform covering the convergence of automation, autonomy, and the Autonomy Economy.™. Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary applied 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. 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 .