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 Enchanced 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

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™.

The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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

LightShed Partners is a leading independent research firm focused on the convergence of technology, media, and telecommunications. Known for its forward-thinking insights, LightShed Partners provides in-depth analysis on trends, disruptions, and innovations shaping these industries, offering clients data-driven research to inform investment decisions.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for research here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The LightShed Podcast, released every Friday, delivers cutting-edge insights into the world of technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT), focusing on key trends and disruptions shaping the future of these industries. Each episode explores topics like streaming services, social media, digital transformation, and the future of entertainment technology.

Closely followed by key decision-makers in the TMT industries, this podcast provides actionable analysis for investors, industry professionals, and tech enthusiasts. Subscribe to the LightShed Podcast for expert commentary on market trends, investment opportunities, and insights driving the TMT sector forward. For access to this paywalled podcast email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠team@lightshedtmt.com⁠⁠

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 Chapters0:00 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 Markets28:33 Vandalizing Waymo's32:20 Serve Robotics Acquires Diligent Robotics36:41 Foreign Autonomy Desk 39:21 Next Week

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™.

The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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

LightShed Partners is a leading independent research firm focused on the convergence of technology, media, and telecommunications. Known for its forward-thinking insights, LightShed Partners provides in-depth analysis on trends, disruptions, and innovations shaping these industries, offering clients data-driven research to inform investment decisions.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for research here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The LightShed Podcast, released every Friday, delivers cutting-edge insights into the world of technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT), focusing on key trends and disruptions shaping the future of these industries. Each episode explores topics like streaming services, social media, digital transformation, and the future of entertainment technology.

Closely followed by key decision-makers in the TMT industries, this podcast provides actionable analysis for investors, industry professionals, and tech enthusiasts. Subscribe to the LightShed Podcast for expert commentary on market trends, investment opportunities, and insights driving the TMT sector forward. For access to this paywalled podcast email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠team@lightshedtmt.com⁠⁠

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

Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™.

The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

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

LightShed Partners is a leading independent research firm focused on the convergence of technology, media, and telecommunications. Known for its forward-thinking insights, LightShed Partners provides in-depth analysis on trends, disruptions, and innovations shaping these industries, offering clients data-driven research to inform investment decisions.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for research here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The LightShed Podcast, released every Friday, delivers cutting-edge insights into the world of technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT), focusing on key trends and disruptions shaping the future of these industries. Each episode explores topics like streaming services, social media, digital transformation, and the future of entertainment technology.

Closely followed by key decision-makers in the TMT industries, this podcast provides actionable analysis for investors, industry professionals, and tech enthusiasts. Subscribe to the LightShed Podcast for expert commentary on market trends, investment opportunities, and insights driving the TMT sector forward. For access to this paywalled podcast email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠team@lightshedtmt.com⁠⁠