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Autonomy Signals
Autonomy x Intelligence
Autonomy Signals is a weekly podcast co-hosted by Grayson Brulte, Founder of The Road to Autonomy and Co-Founder and Co-CEO of AUTNMY AI, and Rob Grant, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of AUTNMY AI. Powered by the AUTNMY AI platform, each episode translates quantitative signals, market data, and proprietary intelligence into actionable analysis on the companies, trends, and capital flows shaping the Autonomy Economy.
Latest Episode
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Each week, Grayson and Rob cut through the noise to deliver the true signal on the Autonomy Economy, combining original field intelligence with quantitative analysis to reveal what actually matters.
Where data meets the autonomy economy.
Co-Host
Grayson Brulte
Founder, The Road to Autonomy & Co-Founder & Co-CEO, AUTNMY AI
Grayson Brulte is a visionary strategist and one of the foremost authorities on autonomy, automation, and the emerging Autonomy Economy™. Widely recognized for anticipating what's next, his work sits at the intersection of innovation, policy, and emerging technology, where he serves as a trusted advisor to executive teams throughout the autonomy landscape.
Co-Host
Rob Grant
Co-Founder & Co-CEO AUTNMY AI
Rob Grant is Co-Founder & Co-CEO of AUTNMY AI and brings deep operational experience from across the autonomy industry, including time at Cruise, Aurora, and Lyft, as well as experience at the U.S. Senate. Rob's background spanning engineering, policy, and market intelligence gives Autonomy Signals its data-driven edge, translating complex quantitative signals into actionable intelligence.
Recent Episodes
New episodes every Friday. Watch on YouTube and listen on your favorite podcast platform.
May 1, 2026
WeRide and Lenovo, Pronto Does a Deal, Bot Auto Goes Driver Out
WeRide and Lenovo announced a non-binding partnership to deploy 200,000 autonomous vehicles over five years using Lenovo's HPC 3.0 compute platform, representing a 200x scale from WeRide's current 1,023-vehicle fleet with estimated costs of $10-20 billion. Pronto secured its first post-Atoms acquisition deal with Mariana Minerals to deploy autonomous haulage trucks at a Utah copper mine, while Bot Auto completed a 231-mile driverless commercial run from Houston to Dallas.
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April 24, 2026
When a Military Signal Isn’t Necessarily a Commercial One
The episode examines Airbus's successful fourth flight test of the MQ-72C autonomous cargo helicopter for the U.S. Marine Corps, warning that investors are incorrectly conflating the 2028 military deployment target with commercial market entry, which AUTNMY AI's analysis suggests won't occur until 2031 due to regulatory and certification constraints. Caterpillar's acquisition of Monarch Tractor represents a strategic data play rather than an agriculture investment, as the company gains access to eight years of field data, millions of labeled frames across 40,000 acres, and critical patents for autonomous vehicle systems.
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April 17, 2026
Ukraine Exports Autonomy as Combat Data Fuels Growth of Physical AI
Ukraine's combat deployment of autonomous systems across 22,000+ missions has generated battlefield data that AUTNMY AI considers the most underpriced asset in the global autonomy economy, with Ukraine now sharing this data with allied governments and tech startups. The current macroeconomic environment for Physical AI shows stronger fundamentals than the 2017-2018 cycle, with companies achieving 18-month payback periods by deploying $250,000 autonomous systems to replace $180,000 annual skilled labor costs.
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April 9, 2026
Self-Driving Cars on the Moon Before New York City?
Amazon's coordinated acquisitions of Fauna Robotics and RIVR represent a strategic play to capture physical AI interaction data during a period of scarcity in this data type, while BMW has already deployed Hexagon wheeled humanoids on German production lines. NASA's Artemis missions highlight how regulatory constraints rather than technological limitations may cause autonomous vehicles to operate on the moon before achieving full deployment in major cities like New York.
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April 2, 2026
China’s $400 Billion Investment in Robotics Accelerates Autonomous Belt and Road Initiative
China's $400 billion robotics investment and shared EV-humanoid manufacturing lines could accelerate Chinese robotics commercialization 24-36 months ahead of US competitors, potentially triggering a mass extinction event for standalone US robotics startups by 2028. Simultaneously, Chinese automakers exported a record 7.1 million vehicles in 2025 with nearly 50% featuring advanced autonomous driving systems, indicating China's expanding global influence in autonomous technologies.
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March 26, 2026
Tesla Optimus Delayed as China Holds the Magnets
Tesla's Optimus robot faces production delays and potential cost increases from $46,000 to $133,000 per unit due to China's new export controls on rare earth magnets used in humanoid robot actuators, with China controlling 90% of the specialized magnet supply needed for the robot's hand dexterity. The delays are compounded by China's requirement for foreign manufacturers to share technical specifications for export licenses and new regulations prioritizing domestic Chinese robotics companies over international competitors.
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The Future is Bright. The Future is Autonomous. The Future is Autonomy Signals.