AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD – July 2025 Update
July 27, 2025
This Week in The Autonomy Economy is presented by Koop, a specialist insurance provider focused on robotics and autonomous vehicles.
This Week in the Autonomy Economy, we published the July 2025 update to the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD, Tesla is actively working to scale robotaxi across multiple states and VW is exploring raising outside capital for ADMT, its autonomous driving subsidiary.
As we prepare to turn the calendar to August, the final official month of summer in North America, the autonomy economy continues to gain momentum. This summer, Tesla successfully launched robotaxi in Austin, Uber announced an important strategic deal with Nuro and Lucid, and Waymo has continued to scale operations.
There’s been no summer slowdown in autonomy. In fact, the fall is shaping up to be even more active, with Kodiak and Plus both preparing to go public. Enjoy the last month of summer, because the fall is shaping up to be a busy time in the autonomy economy.
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What’s Moving the Markets
AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD – July 2025 Update
July 2025 AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD Rankings
Each quarter, we provide a quarterly update to the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD, our proprietary ranking of the companies shaping the autonomy economy. In previous editions of this newsletter, we’ve shared in-depth explanations of our methodology and the reasoning behind our rankings. That analysis is now exclusively available to clients of The Road to Autonomy.
Below are the key updates across each category for July 2025:
Autonomous Vehicles
A lot has changed since our last update in April. Tesla has since officially launched a robotaxi service in Austin, and we had the opportunity to meet with AVride and experience a driver-out ride in one of their robotaxis.
July 2025 Autonomous Vehicle Leaderboard Updates:
- Waymo retains the #1 rank with a bullish outlook as the company continues to scale operations with Alphabet’s financial support.
- New: Tesla enters the autonomous vehicle leaderboard for the first time at #2 with a bullish outlook, reflecting the company’s launch of robotaxi in Austin and their scaling plans.
- Downgrade: Zoox has fallen to #3 with a neutral outlook. We continue to question the long-term viability of its business model and the costs associated with scaling its unique service.
- Wayve maintains a bullish outlook for the sixth consecutive quarter, as we patiently await the launch of its Uber robotaxi service.
- New: Avride has been added for the first time, as we came away impressed with our driver-out ride and the company’s approach to building and scaling robotaxis.
- May Mobility retains a positive outlook, and we look forward to further detail on their upcoming deployments with Uber and Lyft.
Personally Owned Autonomous Vehicles
Tesla continues to lead this category, holding its #1 ranking and a bullish outlook for the fifth consecutive quarter, as it advances both development and commercialization of robotaxis and personally-owned autonomous vehicles.
Licensing
Licensing remains one of the most intriguing areas in autonomy in our opinion. This
July 2025 Licensing Leaderboard Updates:
- Wayve retains the #1 rank with a bullish outlook for the third consecutive quarter.
- Upgrade: Nuro has been upgraded from positive to bullish, maintaining the #2 ranking following its licensing deal with Uber and Lucid, which validated its strategic pivot.
Autonomous Trucks
Aurora had a major milestone over the last quarter, one that was unfortunately not able to scale at this time due to concerns from PACCAR. Despite the concerns from PACCAR, we continue to believe that the Aurora driver is safe and it is only a matter of time until Aurora once again begins driver-out commercial operations. This time, perhaps with a different OEM partner.
July 2025 Autonomous Trucking Leaderboard Updates:
- Aurora retains a T-1 ranking with a bullish outlook following its successful driver-out commercial operations milestone.
- Kodiak retains a T-1 ranking and a bullish outlook, as the company continues to ramp up their driver-out Permian Basin commercial operations.
- Torc remains at #2 with a positive outlook, though we remain cautious on Daimler Truck’s cost strategy.
- Upgrade: Despite all the noise that surrounds Bot Auto, the company continues to impress from a technical and business perspective. This quarter we are upgrading Bot Auto to #2, while retaining their positive outlook.
- Upgrade: Plus has been upgraded to #3 with a positive outlook, boosted by its partnership with International, which we view as a long-term positive catalyst.
- Waabi retains a neutral outlook, as we remain unclear on the company’s strategic direction.
- Stack AV remains stuck in neutral as the company shares no public information, has no communication and continues to remain in stealth, offering little for the market to analyze and evaluate.
The Emerging Autonomous Trucking Leadership Pack: Aurora, Kodiak, Torc, Bot Auto, and Plus are forming a clear leadership pack in autonomous trucking. We look forward to spending more time with their management teams in the coming quarters and getting in their trucks to get a better understanding of how their technology and business models are evolving.
Software Platforms
When it comes to enabling autonomy at scale, Uber remains the platform.
- Downgrade: Lyft has been downgraded to a neutral outlook, as their autonomous vehicle strategy lacks clarity and seems increasingly distant from the path to profitability, especially as Uber autonomously drives away with the market.
These are the major changes to this quarter’s AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD. Full analysis and methodology are now available exclusively to clients. If you are interested in becoming a client, please send an email to hello@roadtoautonomy.com.
The next update will be published on October 25, 2025.
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Piquing Our Interest
VW Explores Raising Capital for ADMT Unit Once again, Volkswagen finds itself at a critical juncture in autonomous driving, grappling with declining revenues and a growing need to raise external capital to support its AV subsidiary, ADMT. VW is negotiating from a position of weakness, and investors know it. The question now is whether the company can secure a deal despite its long history of false starts, stalled efforts, and setbacks in autonomy.
Tesla to Launch Robotaxi Service the Bay Area Tesla is planning to launch a robotaxi service in the Bay Area this weekend. The non-commercial service will operate with safety drivers and a limited number of riders in order to comply with current California regulations.
Tesla Eyes Nevada Robotaxi Expansion Tesla is in talks with officials to deploy robotaxis in the Silver State.
Bot Auto Launches Autonomous Trucking Pilot with Steves & Sons Bot Auto is ramping up their commercial operations through a newly announced partnership with Steves & Sons, facilitated by its managed logistics provider, J.B. Hunt Transport.
Former Cruise President and CTO Joins Kodiak Board As Kodiak prepares to become a publicly traded company, the company recently appointed Mohamed Elshenawy, former President and Chief Technology Officer of Cruise to the board.
Saudi Arabia is Emerging as an Autonomous Vehicle Hub The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is emerging as an autonomous vehicle hub with the launch of the first phase of the Kingdom’s autonomous vehicle deployment strategy.
đź“° Before these stories were featured here, they were available on X. Follow @RoadToAutonomy today to stay up-to-date on the latest news and developments shaping the autonomy economy.
Social Buzz
Zoox Opens Limited Early Rider Program in Vegas
This week, Zoox opened its Explorers program to the public in Las Vegas, and the experience is more like a Disneyland attraction than a robotaxi service. Riders check in at a concierge desk before boarding the vehicle for a 45-minute round trip to the Luxor and back. There’s no option to choose your destination, just a highly controlled journey straight down the Strip and back, just a slower version of Space Mountain without the fun.
Our take: After six years of testing in Las Vegas, all Zoox has to show is a glorified “Disneyland attraction”, one that shut down Friday night because it couldn’t handle the traffic and chaos surrounding the Beyoncé concert. What happens during a major convention or a Raiders game? Will the service shut down again? This isn’t a launch, this is a malfunctioning theme park ride.
Zoox is currently ranked #3 with a neutral outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the autonomous vehicle category.
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