Waymo’s Lead and Autonomous Trucking’s Inflection Point

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s undisputed global lead, the growing consumer-driven shift toward supervised ADAS (Level 2++), and autonomous trucking’s inflection point.

After spending the week in Silicon Valley, Walt shared his on the ground observations amidst the backdrop of Waymo’s noisy week where the company paused service in several cities and temporarily shut down highway access. Even though Waymo had a difficult week, the company’s underlying position is unchanged, as they remain the undisputed global leader.

Wayve announced a supervised L2++ point-to-point deal with Stellantis, indicating a potential pivot towards ADAS as a short-term revenue generator. Grayson views the broader growth of ADAS as being consumer-driven, with global OEMs looking to build their own version of Tesla’s FSD.

Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Walt discussed London gearing up for robotaxis and the global growth of Chinese robotaxis.

Episode Chapters

• 00:00 Walt’s Silicon Valley Field Report
• 07:20 Why Tesla Won’t Add LiDAR
• 11:05 Uber’s AV Labs and the Data Question
• 13:13 ADAS Opportunity
• 18:40 Waymo’s Noisy Week
• 23:45 London Further Opens the Door to Robotaxis
• 26:23 Build America 250 Act
• 29:44 Wayve x Stellantis
• 31:34 Foreign Autonomy Desk
• 34:44 Next Week