No Wheel, No Pedals, No Driver, Cybercab Launch Is Imminent

This week on Autonomy Signals presented by KPMG, Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant discuss Tesla preparing to launch the steering wheel-free and pedal-free Cybercab in Austin, Waymo unlocking commercial driverless service across 18 California counties, and SoftBank leading a $200 million Series A in Gravis Robotics that values the company at $1 billion.

As Tesla prepares for the commercial launch of Cybercab in Austin, the company will most likely self-certify the Cybercab to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, a path that carries no caps on production volume and, if NHTSA does not intervene, clears the way for Gigafactory Texas to produce more than 125,000 Cybercabs a year, creating a manufacturing moat no competitor can currently match.

While Tesla readies the Cybercab, the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) approved Waymo’s Tier 2 advice letter authorizing paid driverless rides across 18 California counties from Sacramento to San Diego, covering roughly two-thirds of the state’s population.

With Waymo currently operating 100% of the 1.4 million monthly driverless rides in the state and no other operator holding a driverless deployment permit, Waymo’s regulatory lead in California is measured in years, though the CPUC’s phased rollout framework may open a door for Zoox or Tesla to apply for the entire state at once.

As Waymo consolidates the Golden State, SoftBank led a $200 million Series A in ETH Zurich spin-out Gravis Robotics, the largest Series A in construction robotics history, valuing the company at approximately $1 billion. Gravis’ retrofit system bolts onto legacy excavators from Caterpillar, Komatsu, Volvo and John Deere, and SoftBank is betting that monetizing the existing $1 trillion install base of heavy machinery through rental companies, rather than requiring fleet replacement, is a software-multiple opportunity and not an industrial hardware play.

Episode Chapters

• 0:00 KPMG Sponsor Introduction
• 01:50 Signal 1: Cybercab Launch is on the Horizon
• 39:06 Signal 2: Waymo’s Golden State Robotaxi Monopoly
• 1:11:11 Signal 3: SoftBank’s $200M Bet on Gravis Robotics

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