The Road to Autonomy

Earl Adams Jr., Vice President for Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Plus joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how autonomous trucking is poised to transform local communities, economically, socially, and operationally. 

In Texas, Plus is actively working to deploy fully autonomous trucks in partnership with International by 2027. As part of the preparation for launch, Earl ...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s potential new partnership with Toyota, the launch of Aurora’s driver-out commercial operations and Uber’s continued effort to challenge the autonomy duopoly. 

On Tuesday, Waymo announced a potential partnership with Toyota to develop personally-owned autonomous vehicles, confirming a business pivot in...

Sergey Litvinenko, Co-Founder & CEO, Koop joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the emergence of autonomous vehicle fleets and why the fleet model is becoming the model for scaling autonomous vehicles globally. 

In the autonomous vehicle market there are new emerging business models for owning and operating the fleets from leasing to REIT-like structures to vertically ...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo's potential pivot away from HD maps, their 250,000 fully autonomous rides per week milestone, Tesla's pending robotaxi launch and Aurora's long-promised driver-out launch.

In a post announcing the milestone on X, Waymo used the term "generalizable Waymo Driver”, potentially hinting that the company may move away from HD maps. Could Waymo be m...

Christian John, President, TIER IV North America joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how TIER IV is scaling open-source autonomous driving platform software globally. 

Tier IV is using the foundational elements of Autoware, an open-source autonomous driving software stack to build scalable, modular reference platforms for everything from robotaxis to autonomous buse...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Kodiak starting the process to become a publicly traded company, the anxiety leading up to Aurora’s driver-out commercial launch and Lyft’s expansion into Europe through the acquisition of FREENOW.

Kodiak has officially filed to go public in a $2.5 billion SPAC deal, backed by a $100 million PIPE and a 100-truck order&...

Jim Liefer, CEO, Ambi Robotics joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how physical AI is transforming warehouse automation and redefining global supply chain efficiency. 

Ambi Robotics systems have logged over 200,000 hours of real-world autonomous operations, equivalent to 22 years of experience. As the foundation models powering these systems continue to ingest more data,...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Wayve’s OEM partnership with Nissan, Nuro’s Series E capital raise and why the Uber/Waymo partnership in Austin does not guarantee future deployments. 

Wayve is going to power Nissan’s next-generation ProPILOT technology starting in fiscal year 2027. The deal with Nissan validates Wayve’s business model of licensi...

Pete Bigelow, Senior Reporter, Automotive News joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how Detroit is handing tariffs, the slow adoption of electric vehicles and consumers increasing interest in autonomous vehicles. 

Detroit’s automakers are grappling with a future that is no longer electric, it’s autonomous. After racing full steam ahead towards electric vehicles, the momentum h...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s unforced error with the Zeekr RT robotaxi, Uber’s future with autonomous vehicles and the winners and losers from the latest round of tariffs. 

Waymo’s Zeekr RT robotaxi has seen its price double due to a 100% tariff on Chinese-made vehicles, igniting a debate over whether Waymo made an unforced error with thei...

Jeremy Bird, EVP, Driver Experience, Lyft joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Lyft’s approach to autonomous vehicles and why Lyft is embracing a hybrid network strategy. 

As part of their autonomous vehicle strategy, Lyft is developing partnerships with autonomous vehicle developers and vehicle manufacturers that will enable them to put their AVs on the Lyft network. Lyf...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss their road trip to Forward Forth Worth, Waymo’s expansion to Washington, D.C. and the emerging opportunity in autonomous trucking.

Texas is thriving capital of autonomous trucking with Aurora, Bot Auto, Kodiak, Torc and Waabi all having a presence in the state. Now autonomous vehicle companies are flocking to the state with Avride, May Mobility, Waymo a...

Nat Beuse, Chief Safety Officer, Aurora joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the development of Aurora’s Safety Case Framework and how the company is preparing to safely launch fully autonomous commercial trucks.

Aurora’s rigorous safety case framework is built around trust, transparency and continuous improvement. From fostering a deeply ingrained safety culture to ...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s mapping expansion to San Francisco International Airport (SFO), their continued Bay Area expansion and Tesla’s ambitious plans for launching a FSD Unsupervised. 

As Waymo begins mapping SFO, there are still hurdles that the company has to overcome before offering commercial service, as their current permit proh...

Adrienne Gildea, Deputy Executive Director, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how CVSA developed enhanced inspections and the positive impact that they will have on roadway safety. 

CVSA is preparing for autonomous trucks to scale by working with the autonomous trucking industry, law enforcement and various stakeholders to d...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s Bay Area expansion and what it means for the great highway and airport unlocks, our visit to May Mobility in Ann Arbor and Amazon’s struggles with Zoox. 

Waymo has expanded its service area in the Bay Area by 50%, adding 27 square miles in Silicon Valley, for residents only at this time. Is this restriction due...

Peter Ludwig, CTO & Co-Founder and Jason Brown, General Manager-Government, Applied Intuition joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the company’s acquisition of EpiSci and how they are developing all-domain autonomy solutions for defense applications.

In December 2024, Applied Intuition acquired EpiSci to accelerate the growth of its defense business. The acq...

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discus Waymo’s launch in Austin, Alphabet’s strong commitment to Waymo and Hyundai’s robotaxi ambitions. 

On March 5, Waymo launched exclusively on the Uber app in Austin. However, riders cannot guarantee a Waymo vehicle, as there is no dedicated Waymo tier in the app. This lack of certainty could dilute the premium Waymo experience, as...

Dean Foreman, Chief Economist, Texas Oil & Gas Association joined Grayson Brulte on The Autonomy Economy podcast to discuss the current state the U.S. economy and the global oil and natural gas markets.

Consumer debt in the U.S. is rising and that could have potential impacts on GDP. While the economic picture in the U.S. is uncertain at the moment, global oil demand is projected to reach 104.1 milli...