This Week in The Autonomy Economy™
Waymo’s Expansive Week: The Playbook Is The Product
This Week in the Autonomy Economy, Waymo had a very big week and WeRide expanded to Switzerland and collected a check.
In 1993, Wu-Tang Clan dropped one of the best most important albums of all time when they took us into the 36 Chambers and forever changed hip-hop, while introducing us to C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me), get the money, dollar dollar bill y’all.
WeRide appears to have deployed the C.R.E.A.M. playbook in Switzerland as the cantons of Zurich and Aargau are contributing CHF 3.8 million and CHF 1.9 million respectively, with Swiss Federal Railways adding CHF 1 million per year for up to five years.
Expand to a new country, and while you’re at it, collect a check. Get the money, dollar dollar bill y’all.
While WeRide is getting the money in Switzerland, back in the United States Waymo is deploying P.R.E.A.M. (Playbook Rules Everything Around Me). License the ops, dollar dollar bill y’all.
As Waymo scales the playbook, they are evolving from a pure-play robotaxi company to a licensing company with margins and profits on their mind. Deploy the playbook, license the Waymo Driver, become the Android of Autonomy.
P.R.E.A.M. License the ops, dollar dollar bill y’all.
📰 Need to Know: This Week in the Autonomy Economy
What is “P.R.E.A.M.” and how does it change Waymo’s business model?
It signifies Waymo’s evolution from a pure robotaxi operator into a licensing powerhouse. Rather than just running their own fleets, Waymo has systematized its operations into a repeatable “playbook” that it can teach to partners. This suggests a strategic pivot toward an asset-light model where the “Waymo Driver” becomes the “Android of Autonomy”, licensing the technology and operational standards while partners handle the heavy lifting of fleet ownership.
How did WeRide apply the Wu-Tang Clan “C.R.E.A.M.” strategy in Switzerland?
Using the Wu-Tang Clan’s “Cash Rules Everything Around Me” approach, WeRide expanded into Switzerland not just with permits, but with significant financial backing. The cantons of Zurich and Aargau are contributing CHF 3.8 million and CHF 1.9 million respectively, while the Swiss Federal Railways is adding CHF 1 million per year for up to five years. They aren’t just entering a market; they are getting paid to be there.
Where is Waymo expanding next, and is the technology ready?
Waymo is launching an 8-city expansion, including Miami, Dallas, and Minneapolis. Following fully autonomous in Miami, Waymo is targeting Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Orlando, Minneapolis, Tampa, and New Orleans, alongside a massive service area expansion in California. Technology is no longer the bottleneck as Waymo has declared these technical feats “routine.” The focus has shifted entirely from “does it work?” to “can we scale operations profitably?”
How does Uber’s strategy currently contrast with Waymo’s?
“Strategic Inversion” is underway: Uber is becoming asset-heavy while Waymo goes asset-light. While Waymo looks to offload vehicle assets to operating partners via licensing (asset-light), Uber appears to be shifting toward an asset-heavy model by putting robotaxis on its own balance sheet to compete. What is the long-term value that Uber brings if Waymo has already solved the demand and routing algorithms and possesses the “definitive playbook” for deployment?
What signals suggest the autonomous vehicle market is consolidating?
Investments and M&A chatter are heating up. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Temasek, has opened new positions in both WeRide and Pony.ai. Meanwhile, The Road to Autonomy podcast highlighted a coming M&A wave starting “below the line,” focusing on partnerships and hidden value in fleet operations. The consensus is that the industry is moving past the R&D phase into a phase of operational scaling and market consolidation.
What’s Moving the Markets
Waymo’s Expansive Week: The Playbook Is The Product
The week before Thanksgiving belonged to Alphabet. First came Gemini 3 Pro. Then Waymo made three major announcements:
- Fully Autonomous in Miami followed by Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando.
- Expansions to Minneapolis, Tampa and New Orleans
- Expanded California DMV Service Area
Behind the headlines there is a playbook. Waymo detailed it out in a November 18th blog post:
We haven’t just built the technology; we’ve developed the definitive playbook for operating autonomous fleets, across dozens of sites, and industry-leading end-to-end rider support. And we’re teaching our partners how to operate autonomous fleets at scale, creating new economic opportunities while bringing the safety benefits of Waymo to more people.
Raising the real questions: What’s in that playbook? Who actually built it? And if Waymo has solved deployment, what value does Uber truly bring?
Uber would argue demand and routing algorithms. We’d argue not so fast. Waymo is a brand with access to elite engineering talent and Alphabet’s balance sheet. If they’ve cracked deployment at scale, they can build or acquire anything the company would need to scale commercial operations.
Waymo’s emphasis on “teaching partners” hints at a strategic pivot, off-loading vehicle assets to operating partners who must run fleets according to the Waymo playbook and we would assume be subject to audit requirements.
If this strategic move happens, Waymo’s economics shift dramatically as the company becomes a global licensing business and the product is now the Waymo Driver, not a robotaxi service. If this happens, Waymo becomes the Android of Autonomy.
While Waymo hints at this new strategic move, Uber is shifting to an asset-heavy model, putting robotaxis on their balance sheet in an effort to compete with Waymo. The strategic inversion is underway.
Then there is the market that is still debating LiDAR vs. camera, rules-based vs. end-to-end, while the market debates autonomous driving is solved. It’s no longer a technology problem, it’s a profitable scaling problem.
Waymo even said it outright: what was once a technical feat is now “routine.” If launching new markets is routine, then the competitive frontier shifts entirely: Who can profitably operate autonomous fleets at scale?
That’s not a technology question. That’s an operational question. And operations is precisely what Waymo claims it has systematized into a teachable, repeatable playbook.
Their 8-city expansion isn’t about proving autonomy works. It’s about proving the playbook scales, and setting the stage for what comes next.
Our take: Alphabet deserves a lot of credit for giving Waymo the resources they needed to build a business.
Waymo is currently ranked #1 with a bullish outlook on the AUTONOMY LEADERBOARD in the autonomous vehicle category.
Piquing Our Interest
Up Close with Waymo’s Chinese-Built Zeekr Robotaxi InsideEVs got an up close look at Waymo’s Chinese-built Zeekr robotaxi in San Diego.
Zoox Opens Limited Free Service in San Francisco Zoox continued its slow rollout this week with a free service operating in a limited area roughly 22 blocks long and 15 blocks wide.
Temasek Invests in WeRide and Pony.ai Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund continues to make investments in the autonomy economy as the fund opened new positions in both WeRide and Pony.ai.
WeRide Secures Zurich Robotaxi Deployment WeRide secured another robotaxi deployment permit this week, and several million Swiss francs to go along with it. The cantons of Zurich and Aargau are contributing CHF 3.8 million and CHF 1.9 million respectively, with Swiss Federal Railways adding CHF 1 million per year for up to five years.
Social Buzz
Waymo’s Fleet Keeps on Growing
Waymo has a great hand of cards to play now, but they still need more vehicles, more OEM partnerships and a non-Chinese manufactured contract-manufactured vehicle. If Waymo can grow their fleet and maintain the company’s current pace of scale, Alphabet will have another major business on its hands.
Our take: Alphabet had a very good week with the introduction of Gemini 3 and Waymo’s continued East Coast expansion and their massive California expansion authorization.
Latest The Road to Autonomy Podcast
The Next Autonomous Vehicle M&A Wave Starts Below the Line
Hugh Nguyen, Partner, Automotive Technology & Mobility, KPMG joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the emerging wave of autonomous vehicle partnerships, the hidden value in fleet operations, and the coming M&A consolidation that will reshape the industry.
Watch on YouTube | Spotify | X
Listen on Apple Podcasts
November 18, 2025
Latest Autonomy Markets Podcast
Waymo’s Six Stages of Autonomy
This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s accelerated nationwide expansion with new markets, Minneapolis, Tampa, New Orleans, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando getting ready to come online, while breaking down and coining the term Waymo’s Six Stages of Autonomy.
Watch on YouTube | Spotify | X
Listen on Apple Podcasts
November 22, 2025