Robotaxis Go Curbside at Airports as Uber’s Robotaxi Boss Heads for the Exit

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss new field reports from San Antonio and Dallas, management turnover at Uber, Tesla’s Cybercab progress in Austin and upcoming Dallas expansion, regulatory shifts across the US and Europe, and Wayve’s momentum in securing major OEM partnerships.

Grayson shares his experience taking a Waymo ride to the San Antonio International Airport (SAT), highlighting the seamless curbside drop-off that took under four minutes to reach security, while contrasting it with his SFO experience. With more field reports on the way, Grayson and Walt discuss key executive departures at Uber and what it might be signaling to the market.

In Austin, Tesla reportedly surpassed 300 Cybercabs as they prepare to expand Cybercab to Dallas. Across the pond in London, the politics around deploying robotaxis are heating up as Tesla rebrands FSD in Europe to Assisted Driving.

Episode Chapters

• 0:00 Waymo San Antonio Airport Experience
• 05:57 Motional’s Las Vegas Technical Center & Hyundai IONIQ 5 Upfitting
• 08:33 Private Ownership vs. Robotaxi Fleets
• 12:58 Human Factors and SAE Level 4
• 14:27 Autonomy Subscriptions
• 16:04 Dallas and Europe Field Reports
• 18:03 Uber’s Management Turmoil
• 21:21 Uber’s Lofty 15 City Robotaxi Goal
• 23:29 Growing Number of Cybercabs in Austin
• 28:01 Cybercab’s Pending Dallas Launch
• 32:01 Waymo Opens Nashville Airport (BNA) Service
• 36:11 Zoox’s NHTSA Authorization for Hayward, California
• 38:17 Wayve’s Potential Volkswagen Deal
• 41:18 Applied Intuition
• 43:29 Red Tape and Regulations
• 56:48 Verne’s Shift Towards Fleet Management
• 59:25 Next Week