This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Grayson’s San Francisco Field Work where he rode in a Wayve vehicle on the freeway, compared Waymo’s Jaguar I-PACE and Ojai robotaxis back to back, attended DoorDash’s Dash Forward event, and found Travis Kalanick’s Atoms autonomous vehicle on the streets of San Francisco.
Grayson’s verdict on Wayve is clear. With zero interventions in dense San Francisco traffic, the ride felt very similar to Tesla’s Robotaxi. Grayson believes Wayve has the world’s best competitor to FSD today, is 12 to 16 months from an L2+ product in market, and roughly 36 months from going fully unsupervised, most likely first in London.
Waymo’s Ojai is still teething but dramatically better than three weeks ago, and while the driving felt identical to Texas, the San Francisco vehicles were spotless while Austin remains the dirtiest Waymo market Grayson has ridden in. After months of searching, Grayson found the Atoms autonomous vehicle near Golden Gate Park, located its depot through OMEGA, and will release an Atoms Field Report on Monday.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi rode unsupervised in a Pony.ai powered Verne robotaxi in Zagreb, while speculation builds that Mobileye might not have a future in robotaxis.
On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, Dubai opened the Dubai Autonomous Mobility Lab as it prepares for 25% fully autonomous operations, with WeRide already operating fully autonomously in the Emirate.
Episode Chapters
0:00 Waymo SFO Pickup Experience
04:38 Wayve San Francisco and Freeway Ride
08:58 Wayve Timeline to Unsupervised
10:13 233,000 Mile Waymo I-PACE
13:23 Waymo's Avomo Problem
16:23 Atoms Autonomous Vehicle
20:08 Mysterious BMW Testing in San Francisco and Mountain View
22:08 DoorDash Dash Forward Event
25:39 Dara Khosrowshahi Rides Unsupervised in Zagreb
27:02 Where's Mobileye?
30:05 Lyft Expands Brand to Europe
33:15 Who Jumps from Uber to Lyft First?
36:49 When Does Uber Vertically Integrate Robotaxis?
43:24 Zoox Perceived Intersection Problems
45:18 Kodiak Announces IKEA as Unsupervised Over-the-Road Partner
49:05 Foreign Autonomy Desk
49:30 Next Week
📄 Follow Waymo on The Road to Autonomy Indices
📄 Follow Wayve on The Road to Autonomy Indices
📄 Follow DoorDash Dot on The Road to Autonomy Indices
--------
About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy provides institutional intelligence for the Autonomy Economy, powered by AUTNMY AI. We built the indices, set the benchmarks, and execute the fieldwork to put decision-ready physical AI intelligence directly into your workflows with OMEGA.
Join institutional investors and industry leaders who read This Week in The Autonomy Economy every Sunday. Each edition delivers exclusive insight and commentary on the autonomy economy, helping you stay ahead of what's next.
📬 Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
