Waymo’s Moove Away from Fleet Ownership, Ford Makes Wayve’s on LiDAR

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s gradual move away from owning and operate a fleet of robotaxis, Moove’s growing fleet ownership ambitions and Ford’s LiDAR demands.

Moove, a company backed by Uber, is in the process of raising $1.2 billion in debt to purchase Waymo vehicles. Is this yet another signal that Waymo is preparing to shift away from operating a capital-intensive robotaxi business and instead focusing on licensing the Waymo Driver? If this is indeed a signal, what impact will this have on the rideshare industry?

As Waymo business appears to be evolving, Ford CEO Jim Farley has publicly declared that any autonomous driving system Ford licenses must use LiDAR. Is this bravado aimed at Tesla, or a genuine strategy?

Closing out the episode, Grayson and Walt discuss the failure of the AI preemption clause in the Big Beautiful Bill.

Episode Chapters

• 0:00 Moove’s $1.2 Billion Dollar Debt Raise
• 4:30 Rideshare Usage in 20 Years
• 12:55 Breaking Down AVOMO and Moove
• 16:45 Uber’s Growing Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Asset Ambitions
• 20:38 Ford’s LiDAR Demands
• 22:32 Is Ford Talking to Waymo Again?
• 24:50 Wayve Drive in The Big Apple
• 27:56 Big Beautiful Bill
• 30:29 Next Week