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
The future is bright. The future is autonomous. The future is The Road to Autonomy.
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