This Week in The Autonomy Economy™
Truckin’ Autonomously Up to Dallas
This Week in the Autonomy Economy, we witnessed Bot Auto launch fully autonomous commercial operations from Houston to Dallas, miles driven on Tesla FSD Supervised surpassed 10 billion and China suspended the issuance of new autonomous driving licenses.
While Chinese regulators suspended the issuance of new autonomous driving licenses, there appears at this time to be no slowdown in their effort to export autonomy to the world.
Depending on how long China keeps the suspension order in effect, pay close attention to the European and UK markets to see if a politician or a regulator begins to ask questions. Such as your technology is under review at home, why should it not be under review here as well? What are you not telling us? Questions abound.
While questions are all but certain to begin to be asked, we are once again heading on the road to conduct field work. This time our focus is solely on robotaxis, depots and test facilities.
Looking ahead to next week, we will be releasing two Field Reports. On Tuesday, we will be releasing our Bot Auto Field Report followed by a Field Report from our experience riding in FSD Unsupervised in Houston and visiting the depot. Here is a hint, FSD Unsupervised drives differently in Houston than it did in Austin.
All Field Reports will be available here as we publish them. In a few weeks, we will be releasing our Field Report from our visit to the Permian Basin with Kodiak.
📰 Need to Know: This Week in the Autonomy Economy
What is the latest milestone in fully autonomous trucking?
Bot Auto officially launched commercial, fully autonomous operations between Houston and Dallas. The route covers a 231-mile lane and was completed without a human in the cab. During field observations, the truck successfully navigated complex infrastructure like the Beltway 8/I-45 interchange and handled aggressive road actors, including a speeding motorcycle without any human intervention or flinching.
How are the major driver-assistance stats trending for Tesla and GM?
Both companies hit massive data milestones this week, showcasing the scale of their respective fleets as Tesla FSD Supervised surpassed 10 billion miles driven, while GM Super Cruise surpassed 1 billion miles.
Why did China suspend new autonomous driving licenses?
Chinese regulators issued a suspension after a significant technical glitch in Wuhan, where more than 100 Baidu Apollo Go robotaxis simultaneously stopped in the middle of the road. While this halts domestic expansion for the moment, China continues to aggressively export its autonomy technology to international markets, potentially leading to increased scrutiny from European and UK regulators.
What major shifts are occurring in the Uber/Waymo partnership?
The partnership appears to be disintegrating. Industry signals, including social media activity from Uber’s CTO suggest the relationship is nearing an official end. In response, Uber seems to be leaning into their Lucid/Nuro partnership.
What did the California DMV recently announce regarding heavy-duty trucks?
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has officially adopted new regulations that permit the operation of fully autonomous trucks on public roads. This marks a significant policy shift, moving the state from testing small passenger vehicles to allowing heavy-duty autonomous freight.
What’s Moving the Markets
Truckin’ Autonomously Up to Dallas
This week, Bot Auto pulled the driver and launched commercial fully autonomous operations with Ryan Transportation from Houston to Dallas on a 231-mile lane, and we were there to witness the moment firsthand.
Before the truck launched, we took a peek inside to see if there was anyone in the cab, and there was not. Not a single person. Moments later, the truck took off from a dusty truck park in northeast Houston bound for Dallas.
Before the launch, we spent time speaking with the team and traditional truck drivers to get a sense of what the journey would be like, and we have to tell you, being a truck driver is a hard job. We left late in the evening and drove through the night to Dallas with our cameras in tow.
While you might think driving at night is easier with less traffic, it was the complete opposite, even given the fact that traffic was a bit lighter in certain parts of the journey. There were lane closures due to construction, aggressive drivers, and a motorcycle that decided to pass in the breakdown lane as the truck was autonomously driving over a high flyover ramp as part of the Beltway 8 and I-45 North interchange.
The flyover ramps in this interchange are some of the highest and longest in Houston. While the motorcycle drove like a bat out of hell, the Bot Auto truck simply moved over a bit to allow the motorcycle to zoom down the road.
The truck did not flinch and did not get distracted, the same way a human driver might. What we witnessed would have caused us to flinch, as the noise was extremely loud and we had no idea what move the motorcycle would make next or what side of the ramp it would go to next. But the truck kept on autonomously trucking all the way to Dallas without any interventions.
And that is just one of the many interesting driving moments that we witnessed as we followed the truck on its journey from Houston to Dallas.
These moments and more will be released as a Field Report on Tuesday complete with an on-the-ground video from what we experienced as we witnessed Bot Auto make history.
Our Take: Being able to witness moments such as this one is both a privilege and an honor. We are fortunate to have a front-row seat to the emerging autonomy economy and bring it to you each and every week through our platform.
At The Road to Autonomy, we do not regurgitate headlines and talk in PR speak. We give you our honest opinions on what we read and see, and what we witnessed with Bot Auto on that journey was real. No human in the cab, no interventions, just a truck driving fully autonomously up to Dallas.
Piquing Our Interest
Waymo’s Next City, Might Be Portland This week, Waymo started manual driving in Portland to prepare for future commercial service. The launch depends on updated regulations regarding the operation of fully autonomous vehicles. We correctly predicted Portland as Waymo’s next city in March on our Autonomy Markets podcast.
From Surface Streets to Race Tracks This year, Waymo is a sponsor of F1 Miami at Hard Rock Stadium. As we reported in our February 2026 Waymo Miami Field Report, it is only a matter of time until Waymo expands service to the stadium and this is another signal.
GM Super Cruise Surpasses 1 Billion Miles GM customers have collectively driven over 1 billion hands-free miles across a fleet of 750,000 vehicles, averaging roughly 1,333 Super Cruise miles per driver.
Tesla FSD Supervised Surpasses 10 Billion Miles On May 3rd, miles driven with Tesla FSD Supervised engaged have surpassed 10 billion miles.
Nearly 90% of GM’s Autonomy Code is Generated by AI GM is leaning heavily into AI to accelerate its autonomy development. Nearly 90% of the code for the autonomy team is now AI-generated.
Hertz and Uber Partner for Robotaxi Fleet Management Operations Through their newly established Oro Mobility division, Hertz will manage and service fleets of both robotaxis and human-driven vehicles for Uber, with an early emphasis on Nuro/Lucid autonomous vehicles.
California Opens Door to Autonomous Trucking The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has officially adopted new regulations that allow fully autonomous trucks weighing 10,001 pounds or more to operate in the Golden State, as The Teamsters vow to challenge the decision in court.
Bosch Begins Delivery of Specialized Hardware to Kodiak Kodiak has started to receive sensor and actuation hardware from Bosch as the two companies move toward high-volume production of the Kodiak Driver.
Aurora and Hirschbach Expand Partnership Through their expanded partnership, Aurora and Hirschbach have announced a non-binding MOU that paves the way for Hirschbach to own and deploy 500 Aurora-powered autonomous trucks, with deliveries expected to begin in 2027.
Mariana Minerals Opens First Autonomous Copper Mine Located 40 miles southeast of Moab, Utah, Mariana Minerals’ Copper One mine is the world’s first mine designed from the ground up for fully autonomous operations.
Applied Intuition and Heidelberg Materials Partner to Deploy Autonomous Haulage Systems Applied Intuition is collaborating with Heidelberg Materials to deploy an autonomous haulage fleet in Australian quarries.
Chinese Autonomous Trucking Companies Throw Shade There is nothing like a geopolitical rivalry backed by governments that can cause rivals to throw shade with little relevance, and that is what happened this week when several Chinese autonomous trucking companies threw shade at U.S. rivals.
China Suspends Autonomous Driving Permits Chinese regulators have suspended the issuance of new autonomous driving licenses after more than 100 Baidu Apollo Go robotaxis all of a suddenly stopped in the middle of the road in Wuhan.
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Trending on X
The Signals Continue to Emerge
96 hours have passed since Uber’s CTO shared this post on X and it has not been deleted. To us, this is another sign that the relationship between Uber and Waymo is disintegrating and on the verge of officially ending.
We have been following the signals of this partnership unraveling since November. The post staying live is another sign it is only a matter of time until the partnership officially ends.
Perhaps Uber is doubling down on Nuro because they know it’s over. Without a Waymo relationship, Uber will have to rethink their demand generation narrative. Waymo has no problem generating demand without Uber in markets outside of Austin and Atlanta.
Our take: It’s only a matter of time until the partnership officially ends. When it does, expect a barrage of questions.
Uber is currently ranked #1 with a positive outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the personally owned autonomous vehicles category.
Capital Is King: How Wall Street Is Funding the Autonomy Economy
Taylor Brownstein, Director, Technology Investment Banking, TD Cowen joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how Wall Street is funding the autonomy economy.
WeRide and Lenovo, Pronto Does a Deal, Bot Auto Goes Driver Out
This week on Autonomy Signals, Grayson Brulte and Rob Grant discuss the WeRide and Lenovo autonomous vehicle partnership, Pronto’s first deal under Atoms with Mariana Minerals, and Bot Auto’s 231 mile driver out commercial run from Houston to Dallas.
Big Week for U.S. Autonomous Trucks, While China Shuts Down Autonomy
This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Bot Auto’s fully autonomous commercial run from Houston to Dallas, Aurora’s expanded partnership with Hirschbach, and Uber’s CTO publicly criticizing Waymo on X over safety.
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