Autonocast: Recent Episodes
Autonocast
A weekly show discussing the future of transportation Alex Roy, Edward Niedermeyer, and Kirsten Korosec
The summer heat is getting to the gang, as they discuss Tesla's attempt to go driverless in Austin and engage in the burning Waymo discourse that has been roiling the internet.
After a brief update about their old, unreliable cars, the gang dives into the latest effort to pre-empt local regulation of AVs, and its many implications.
Spring has sprung, and the AV sector is full of happenings. From Sterling Anderson's surprise move from Aurora to GM, to a series of recalls at Waymo and Zoox, the gang discusses the AV sector's busy spring.
This week: Aurora goes driverless, Waymo hooks up with Toyota, Uber hooks up with everyone, and the gang gathers to piece together what it all means.
Before co-founding the medium duty electric truck startup Harbinger, John Harris lived through some of the wildest highs and lows of the post-Tesla EV startup bubble. On this week's episode, he explains how lessons learned from those experiences shaped Harbinger, why medium-duty trucks are so ripe for electrification, how tariffs are creating new challenges, and much more.
The gang comes together to chat about Wayve's deal with Nissan, Kodiak's decision to SPAC, China's ban on "self-driving" terminology — and of course Tesla. Plus, Alex and Kirsten commiserate on their increasingly expensive classic cars.
Reilly Brennan, the godfather of the Autonocast and Trucks VC general partner, returns to the pod for a wide-ranging discussion on the business of robotaxis, how AVs have evolved in the past decade, his latest fund, and some surprising insights into Tesla.
Forterra has been around the defense and driving automation sectors for years, under names like Robotic Research. Now the firm's VP of Commercial Growth Gabe Sganga joins the show to explain Forterra's new name, new ambitions, and work bringing together new opportunities in defense and logistics.
Kirsten rides Waymos in Austin, Alex valet parks a Citroen, and Ed stops protesting Tesla for long enough to find Alex's newest eBike.
Raquel Urtasun came to the AV sector from academia, first leading research for Uber's Advanced Technology Group, and for the last four years with her own startup Waabi. She joins the show to cast light on Waabi's unique approach to Level 4 trucking, some of the differences between so-called "AV 2.0" approaches, and where AI breakthroughs are poised to change AV development.
With Kirsten traveling for work, Ed and Alex get back to the topic that they've been tussling over since this podcast began: Tesla and Elon Musk. Of course, that topic has evolved considerably lately, so buckle up.
Alex shares the struggle of fixing a vintage Citroen SM and what it means for software defined vehicles, the whole gang discusses the unique vehicles in their garages, and sneak in a little discussion of BYD's God's Eye news, just so the whole episode isn't one big digression.
Aircraft design may be a mature space, but Mark Groden sees the entire control scheme for aircraft as an opportunity for transformative change, from the cockpit to the electronic architecture to actuators. He joins the gang to explain Skyryse's work on this opportunity, and where it's taking aviation.
Ed and Kirsten kick off the latest episode with a discussion of Tesla's latest earnings report, and are joined by Alex as the conversation turns to a pair of stories out of San Francisco, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's recent comments about AV safety in Davos.
With another CES in the books, the gang gathers to discuss the highs and lows of the show, the annual Autonocast CES party, and the long-overdue debut of the Autonocast merch shop. Surf over to autonocast dot com and click on the store link to buy shirts, mugs, stickers and support the show.
After years of intense effort and turmoil, Zoox is nearing the finish line in its pioneering ground-up robotaxi, possibly the most ambitiously novel vehicle of our time. Ed and Kirsten join Zoox CTO Jesse Levinson for a ride along the famous Las Vegas strip, taking in and discussing this unique new autonomous experience.
With the annual CES party looming, it's time once again for the gang to review last year's predictions and try to make a few about 2025. But first, the gang discusses Alex's latest cross-country exploits.
General Motors has pulled the plug on Cruise, one of the Level 4 AV developers who defined the space... for better and worse. The gang gathers to discuss GM's decision, Cruise's history, and broader lessons about the last decade of driving automation development.
The gang gathers around the metaphorical festive table to discuss such hot-button issues as the complicated future of EVs and AVs under a new Trump administration and the Jaguar rebrand.
With some automakers moving away from touchscreens and back toward physical controls, and others pushing forward toward ever more minimalist user interfaces, the debate around controls in cars has never been more interesting. To help provide some historical context for this fascinating issue, Alex and Ed are joined by Dr Rachel Plotnick, the author of "Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing."
Xiaodi Hou was one of the earlier guests on the Autonocast, when he joined to discuss the autonomous trucking company TuSimple that he founded and helped run. He returns to the show to reflect on the tumultuous journey that saw him ousted from TuSimple and then starting a new, leaner autonomous truck company called Bot Auto. His lessons learned provide a unique glimpse of the evolving driving automation landscape.
With Kirsten wrapped up in the Disrupt event, Alex and Ed get together to discuss the thrills and chills of this fall's mobility tech news. From eBikes to the first driverless cannonball race, from Waymo and Wayve to Tesla's narrative command, this spooky discussion is sure to provoke and inspire.
Is the future of the Cannonball Run human-driven or autonomous? George Hotz hasn't won self-driving yet, but Cannonballer Jay Roberts just used a Comma Three and a Toyota Pruis to shatter Alex Roy's 55 hour Autopilot record in 43 hours, 18 minutes. What's the difference between a semi-automated and driverless Cannonball record? Is Comma AI's technology better than Tesla's Full Self-Driving? What did the police think? Why are records being shattered in every category this year? Will Alex go again? All this and more on one of our most technology-packed episodes of all time!
Alex and Ed go to war over the Tesla Cybercab reveal, the CyberBus, and Elon Musk's concept of a plan. Can Joel Johnson, polymath and automotive CEO whisperer, bring sanity back to the show in Kirsten's absence?
The immense potential of micromobility is matched only by the challenges of building profitable brands, and Chris Nolte has experienced them firsthand. Along with cofounder Justin Kosmides, Nolte is now building Bloom into a platform that leverages their collective experience into efficiencies to give micromobility startups a fighting edge, and he joins this week's episode to explain how.
How fast can a solar-powered car cross the United States? The Cannonball Run goes solar as Will Jones explains how he, Kyle Samluk and Danny Ezzo built a race car from scratch to make science fiction racing fact. Was it safe? Was it legal? Did they get pulled over? Was it air conditioned? What about bathroom stops? Will Alex Roy try to break their record?
What could go wrong when Alex gets a new Tesla? Did Elon intervene to help him? Why didn't Alex choose something else? What will Ed say? Can Kirsten keep the peace? How long before the gang settles down to get to the news? All this and much, much more on one of the feistiest Autonocast episodes in a long time.
Ever since 2016, when the first Autopilot crashes were reported, Tesla has been claiming that its Level 2 ADAS is safer than a human driver. Noah Goodall is a traffic safety researcher who has published some of the only peer-reviewed work on Tesla's safety claims, and he joins the show to discuss his work on this and other important road safety topics.
It's been more than a year since we spoke with Don Burnette, founder and CEO of Kodiak Robotics and Google Self-Driving Car program veteran, and a lot has changed in the world of autonomous trucking since then. Don joins the show for a wide-ranging discussion of the state of play in self-driving trucks, and how Kodiak has thrived through sectorwide challenges.
It's a make or break summer for robotaxis, as GM cancels Cruise's Origin, Waymo's new Zeekr-supplied model hits the streets, and Tesla delays the reveal of its alleged robotaxi. Alex, Kirsten and Ed gather to digest all the latest news in the latest discussion episode, joined discreetly at times by friend of the show former Rivian strategy boss Patrick Hunt.
After many discussions about the divide between Level 4 robotaxis/trucks and "AI first" general solutions for automotive use cases, The Autonocast finally welcomes one of the leaders in the latter approach to the show. Alex Kendall is the founder and CEO of the UK-based startup Wayve, which just raised a billion dollars to continue developing its unique approach to driving automation. He joins the gang to discuss Wayve's technology, go to market strategy, safety philosophy, and much more.
Ted Ryan spent more than 20 years as an archivist for Coca-Cola, and is currently the brand manager for archives and heritage at Ford, giving him unique insights into the history of fueling in the US. With EV charging emerging as one of the major challenges to adoption, the gang sat down with Ted to find out what lessons we might learn from history. Turns out there are a lot, you don't want to miss this episode!
With Kirsten taking a well-deserved vacation, Alex and Ed run wild, discussing a wide variety of recent news. From Ed's recent OpEd on Tesla in the Washington Post to GM's new cash injection into Cruise, and from "AI first" automated trucking company Waabi's new funding round to questions around transparency in China's AV development, and much more, the lads have their hands full this week.
Former fighter pilot and NHTSA consultant, now professor at George Mason University, the one and only Missy Cummings returns to The Autonocast to discuss the latest issues in driver assistance and autonomous driving safety, including her work at the auto safety regulator.
From Elon Musk's decision to fire the entire Supercharging team as part of Tesla's "pivot to self-driving," to recent fundraising rounds by Motional and Wayve, the entire mobility tech space is caught between the hard work of growing up and doubling down on the AI hype fundraising game. Not everyone can be choosing wisely.
Electrification and automation collide in this week's episode, as the gang sits down with Crijn Bouman, EV charging veteran and founder of the automated charger company ROCSYS. From the early days of EV charging, to robotaxi service strategies, to the rise of the North American Charging Standard, this conversation spans a wide variety of fascinating topics.
With Tesla's core EV business losing all growth momentum, Elon Musk once again appears to be gambling the most valuable automaker in the world on a driving automation tech play that is clearly not viable. The gang chews on this meaty topic, after a round of AV appetizers featuring the return of Cruise and the death of Ghost.
These are rough times for the once-hot world of EV startups, as the hype fades and reality sets in. On this week's episode the gang sifts through the rubble, finding a little good news (Lucid raised cash!) but a lot of challenges for everyone from Fisker to Tesla.
Incubated inside Google's X project and now deploying in the real world, Wing is an aerial drone delivery company with some interesting parallels to another of Alphabet's "other bets" the gang regularly discuses: Waymo. But, as CEO Adam Woodworth explains, Wing also provides a very different look at how one engineers automated mobility services at a system level, focused more on creating "lego pieces" than specific vehicles. He joins the show to explain Wing's strategy, the unique challenges it faces, and lessons learned along the way.
For our 300th episode, the gang sorts through the highs and lows of some of the recent mobility tech news. Rivian's reveal of two new forthcoming models shows that there's still a lot of excitement in EVs, even as tough challenges remain on the path to financial viability. Meanwhile, the decade-long $10 billion Apple Car saga is officially over, taking the dream of a self-driving car with it, but Waymo's robotaxi service continues to expand proving driving automation is still very real.
Though the flood of EV startups may have receded, the Volkswagen-backed Scout electric truck and SUV startup is as bullish about the opportunity to start a new automaker as ever. Scout CEO Scott Keogh joins the show to explain the opportunity Scout is pursuing, and how the firm plans to stand out in a competitive EV market and rebuild an iconic American brand.
Ed's recent misadventure renting an electric car prompts the gang to share similar experiences, and consider what they might mean for EV adoption. Plus: discussion of Ford's new affordable EV skunkworks, Cruise's CPUC penalty hearing and Waymo's cyclist collision in San Francisco.
After another epic CES party, The Autonocats nurse their hangovers and discuss the show's big trends and buzzwords. Join the first discussion episode of 2024, as the gang puzzles through mysteries like why CES is less consumer-facing than ever, what a "software defined vehicle" is, and why Large Language Models are so promising and yet so disappointing in the automotive space.
With another year coming to a close and another world famous Autonocast CES Party looming, the gang gathers for the annual tradition of exchanging predictions about mobility tech in the new year. Grab a holiday beverage, pull out your crystal ball and enjoy an Autonocast tradition like no other.
With all the furor over the state of electric vehicle sales in the US, Ed and Kirsten called on Tyson Jominy, VP of data and analytics for JD Power, to find out what exactly is happening with the US auto market. The resulting conversation covers the state of EV sales, the role of charging, the profits that are paying for it all, the not-unrelated disappearance of affordable cars, and more.
With Cruise founder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigning, the gang gathers to hash out what it means for the Level 4 robotaxi company, its corporate parent General Motors, and the sector at large.
Can you name an EV maker with rock-solid profits and consistent self-funded growth that has never taken a dollar of VC investment? If you've never heard of Lectric eBikes you're probably struggling to answer that question, but with founder and CEO Levi Conlow joining this week's show for an illuminating discussion, that struggle is now over.
The gang gathers to have a few laughs about the Tesla Cybertruck, before digging into the more serious topic of the situation at Cruise and the issues it has created for the entire autonomous vehicle sector.
With Cruise banned from testing and rides in the state of California following new revelations that the firm hid details of a pedestrian crash from the DMV, the gang huddles with Trucks VC partner and the godfather of The Autonocast Reilly Brennan to talk through the issues, impacts and path forward from another sector-defining incident. Plus, Reilly opens his mobility jobs board to startups in the sector.
With Cruise under NHTSA investigation and a new survey showing lower than ever public confidence in AVs, the gang discusses AV skepticism, its causes, cures, and the (not coincidental?) resurgence of the UAW, among other topics.
Alex and Kirsten riff on the most recent robotaxi news before they head off to the Up Summit in Dallas. With Ed gone this week, the duo turned to CMU professor, engineer and autonomous vehicle safety expert Philip Koopman swung by to discuss the hands-off, eyes-off Mercedes Drive Pilot system and whether it's really Level 3 automation.
The gang catches up after a variety of trips, including to the Florida AV Summit. We take a final look back at summer (and some mobility shenanigans and news) now that fall is here.
The long-simmering culture war between the high tech sector and the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area erupted around the issue of AVs in recent weeks, as the CPUC voted to expand robotaxi operations in the city. The gang gathers this week to discuss the public outcry, the CPUC hearing, the subsequent crashes and other issues, and where it all fits into the AV sector's big picture.
With Alex and Kirsten sweating it out in Arizona (and Ed staying smugly cool in Oregon), a conversation about cars and air conditioning leads the gang across a wide range of mobility topics. From the upcoming AV showdown at California's CPUC and Tesla's Rangegate scandal to ChargePoint's decision to actually monitor EV chargers (imagine!), stay cool by staying on top of the hottest issues in mobility tech.
With Alex off on a secret mobility mission, Kirsten and Ed sit down with Matt Markel of the up-and-coming sensing startup Spartan Radar. The ensuing discussion covers the evolving automotive sensor market, the relationship between radar hardware and software, the unique needs of commercial vehicles, and much more.
There's been a whole lot of news since the gang last gathered to discuss the latest in mobility tech, so this week's episode is jam packed with topics. From the AV STEP program, Robotaxi PR and the evolution of the autonomous trucking space to the death of VanMoof, the renewal of the Chevy Bolt and the mystery of who might license Tesla's FSD, you'll find it all in the latest Autonocast discussion.
Lightship co-founders Toby Kraus and Ben Parker join part of our Autonocast crew to talk RVs and road trippin', EVs and how their experiences at Tesla influenced their new adventure.
After visiting Teleo's headquarters, Alex Roy insisted co-founder and CEO Romain Clement come on the show. And our conversation, which covers the highs and lows of the AV industry and Clement's new startup, doesn't disappoint.
With Ed's take on the future of Tesla's North American Charging Standard from the last discussion episode aging extremely poorly, the gang reopens the discussion about EV charging. Plus, Kirsten's participation in a new show on MAX, Alex's visit to a carless community, an odd automated driving survey and much more.
San Francisco is ground zero for a lot of the conflicts between the tech sector and society at large, and increasingly that conflict is centering on AVs. This week the gang discusses the technical and social factors at play, and how some AV developer strategies are shifting. Plus, a discussion of Ford's new deal to use Tesla Superchargers.
Trucking has emerged as one of the most interesting and important areas for electrification, and Google/Tesla/Zoox veteran (and all-round car nut) Ali Javidan is in the thick of things with his startup Range Energy. Ali joins the show to explain Range's electrified trailer concept and discuss his wide-ranging and, frankly, incredibly cool experiences at the intersection of mobility and technology.
With the Shanghai auto show underway, Alex, Kirsten and Ed get together to discuss the latest developments and couldn't help but notice some contrasts. In another classic discussion episode the gang breaks down contrasts in EV affordability and the role of driving automation in private vehicles.
The transition to electric vehicles isn't simply a matter of technology, education and communication are critical aspects of developing new markets for all kinds of mobility. This week Matt Teske of Chargeway joins the show to discuss how his company is solving the communication challenges in EV charging, and share his thoughts on the other challenges in the space.
Ed, Kirsten and Alex recently attended the South By Southwest festival, and though the event itself is recovering nicely from the pandemic, the tech sector presence is remarkably dialed back. This is especially noticeable in mobility tech, where the almost nonexistent presence of big future-focused vehicle and technology plays reflects broader challenges in the sector. The gang breaks down some of these issues and the possible roads ahead in another classic discussion episode.
Don Burnette comes back to The Autonocast to give the gang an update on autonomous trucking, the broader AV industry and where his startup fits in.
The gang chats with Cyrus Sigari, whose VC firm Up Partners recently released its first Moving World Report that dissects the macro and micro trends in mobility. The conversation goes far beyond the report though. Learn how up Partners got its start, where Cyrus is investing and what Up Partners-backed startup impressed Alex.
Mobileye founder, president and CEO Amnon Shashua has proposed a new way to describe automated driving. Alex, Ed and Kirsten dig into the topic and make a few new discoveries along the way.
Consumer Reports vehicle technology maven and friend of the show Kelly Funkhouser returns to discuss CR's new rankings for active driver assistance systems, the class of systems pioneered by Tesla Autopilot. Kelly explains why the ranking emphasizes collaborative and driver monitoring features over automation, how critical these elements are to the safety of such systems, where her work ranking them will go from here, and much more.
For CES this year, Ed decided to do something a little different, and invited two science fiction authors to check out the show, attend the infamous Autonocast party, and get an up-close look at the world of mobility tech. In this very special episode, Ed is joined by Patrick McGinty and Joanne McNeil for a lively and wide-ranging discussion of two SciFi authors' impressions from the heart of darkness of the mobility technology hype machine.
The story of automated driving often starts with the DARPA Challenges of 2004-07, but for Jan Becker the story starts well before then. On this week's episode, the AV pioneer and founder of Apex AI describes his own path through a tumultuous decade for the technology, and how the class he teaches at Stanford has evolved to include a variety of critical non-technical lessons.
The gang makes its annual trek to Las Vegas to check out and experience all of the mobility wonders at CES 2023. Does it impress? Blow our minds? Find out in this next episode when Alex, Ed and Kirsten rehash the highs and lows of the world's biggest auto, I mean, tech trade show.
How has emerging driving automation technology been developed and tested on public roads with such a relatively strong safety record? As Waymo's Francesca Favarò explains on this week's episode it has everything to do with the humans behind the wheel. On this week's episode we dive into how Waymo manages fatigue risk among safety operators, why it's so important, and where the landscape of safety standards has room to improve.
The crew was just back together for a week of car shows and conferences in Los Angeles, where they witnessed and discussed the very latest in mobility technology. On this week's episode they discuss it all, from the new Waymo/Zeekr robotaxi and Toyota's sleek new Prius to a retrofuturist Hyundai concept, an electric Fiat and much more.
The gang is back to discuss some big changes in the AV world. Argo AI has shut down and Alex Roy is now adjusting back to life out of the corporate lane. Is the AV industry dead as some suggest? Is ADAS the future worth betting on? Find out on this spicy episode of the Autonocast.
Ever been pulled over by police and wish you had a dashcam and a lawyer in the passenger seat? Ever been in a car crash and wondered what to do? Meet TurnSignl - a new app that provides attorneys-on-demand via live video. Co-Founder Jazz Hampton joins Kirsten and Alex to discuss de-escalation, and how TurnSignl helps make drivers, passengers and law enforcement safer.
Paris Marx is the host of the popular tech-critical podcast Tech Won't Save Us, and the author of a new book called Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation. On this week's episode, Paris joins Kirsten and Ed for a wide-ranging look at his left-of-center critiques of the mobility technology sector and his arguments for a less "solutionist" approach to our mobility challenges.
Jessie Singer's new book There Are No Accidents has made a big splash in the road safety community and far beyond, by interrogating a word that makes most people nod and move on: "accident." On this week's episode, Singer joins Alex, Kirsten and Ed to discuss how she became fascinated with the word, the realities she discovered behind its bland façade, and what it all means.
Ed's latest essay in the New York Times, calling into question the big batteries that have made EVs so popular among American consumers (who can afford them), sparks a wide-ranging discussion in this week's episode. From battery supply chains to American consumer preferences, and from road trips to home charging, almost every aspect of electrification comes together in this fascinating conversation.
Sometimes you just need to let it out and rant a bit, and this week Alex, Kirsten and Ed are each feeling the need to screed. Unsurprisingly a lot of this week's ranting is about Tesla, but the gang also found room in their harts to get ranty about other topics as well. So skip the blood pressure medication, eat something spicy and get ready to breath a little fire as we get fed up with things that really need to change in the mobility tech space.
The gang is back with another classic discussion episode, riffing on the latest and most important news from the mobility technology space. There's just one rule this time: no talking about Tesla. We'll be focusing on that topic next time around.
With the AV sector entering another round of turmoil, we are joined by two founders who lost their startups during previous periods of turmoil but have come back to the driving automation space. Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, who previously appeared on The Autonocast following the failure of Starsky Robotics is back to discuss Polymath Robotics, his new "plug and play" off-road autonomy company. He is joined by Josh Hartung, formerly of Polysync and now the founder of Sygnal, which is Polymath's partner on the hardware side. Together they provide unique perspective on the ever-evolving driving automation space.
Safety is one of the words that comes up most often in discussions about autonomous vehicles, but not many people really understand what the word even means in this complex context. Nat Beuse, VP of Safety at Aurora not only has "the s word" in his job title, its a topic he's thought about and worked on for decades. He joins this week's show for a wide-ranging discussion of safety, public trust, and autonomous vehicles.
Sam Anthony made his first appearance on The Autonocast in 2018, when we discussed his pedestrian intent/prediction startup Perceptive Automata in episode #98. He returns to the show for his first interview since the collapse of that company to reflect on his experience as a founder in the space, his concerns about the sector more broadly, and much more.
Bibhrajit Halder has been a part of the autonomous driving technology space since the days of the DARPA Challenges, working on Caterpillar's early automated mining trucks before working at Ford, Apple and elsewhere. Now the founder and CEO of SafeAI, Halder is back in the mining and heavy construction space and he joins the show to share his perspective on the state of autonomous heavy equipment and its similarities and differences with the more widely-followed robotaxi space.
The gang is back together, and finally has the time to discuss NHTSA's release of ADAS and ADS crash data. We discuss the data, what it does and doesn't mean, and explore the challenges and paths forward for automated driving regulation.
With the internet abuzz over the firing of a Google engineer who came to believe that a company chatbot is sentient, AI expert and deep learning skeptic Gary Marcus joins Alex and Ed to discuss the state of artificial intelligence. From LaMDA's alleged sentience and the problems with the Turing Test to Gary's proposed bet with Elon Musk and AI's role in autonomous driving, this wide-ranging conversation explores some of the most interesting topics in technology.
Arrival is a fascinating company on the brink of putting its bold vision of "microfactory"-made vans, busses and ridehailing vehicles into production. President Avinash Rugoobur joins the show to explain how its 10,000 unit/year microfactories upend the established rules of automaking, how the products enable these dramatic changes and where the whole thing is headed.
The Autonocast gang were all together at Kirsten's TechCrunch Mobility Sessions event recently, where they finally met Taylor Ogan of Snowbull Capital in person. On this week's episode Taylor joins Alex, Kirsten and Ed to discuss the event, the autonomous vehicle renaissance in San Francisco, Snowbull's unique engagement in the online Tesla discussions and more.
With "growth tech" stocks falling generally, and mobility tech companies like Tesla, Lyft and Rivian specifically down since the start of the year, the gang discusses the changing economic conditions for the sector. Plus, everyone is excited to get back together in person and Ed (and only Ed) is excited about nomenclature standardization.
The ability to drive in Manhattan has long been an informal benchmark for autonomous driving. But as the first AVs begin testing in the Big Apple they face an even bigger challenge: proving that they genuinely enhance mobility for everyone. This week Sarah Kaufman of NYU's Rudin Center for Transportation joins the show to discuss her work to ensure that AVs are good citizens of this great city.
Given the technology's transformative potential, there is a surprising dearth of quality Science Fiction written about autonomous vehicles. Into that breach steps Patrick McGinty, whose upcoming novel "Test Drive" explores important themes related to AVs as it follows the lives of three test drivers in a climate crisis-stricken Pittsburgh of the near future. McGinty joins the gang to discuss his excellent new fiction, discuss a wide variety of topics, and make the case for renaissance in AV-related SciFi.
Jason Torchinsky is a true auto media Renaissance Man, covering everything from the weirdest cars you've never heard of to human factors in driving automation and the cosmology of the Pixar Cars franchise cinematic universe. Jason joins the gang this week to discuss all of these things and much more, including his incredibly exciting new website The Autopian (www.theautopian.com).
Friend of the show and mobility pundit David Zipper makes his third appearance on The Autonocast to discuss his recent Washington Post OpEd on self-driving cars (see episode #245 for previous discussion). From there the conversation goes into hype cycles, economic development, the cause(s) of rising road deaths, the lack of results from "Vision Zero" plans in the US and more.
Rafaela Vasquez, the woman behind the wheel during the 2018 crash of an Uber autonomous vehicle prototype, is facing criminal charges for her role in the industry-shaking incident. As we approach the 4-year anniversary of the event and restart of Vasquez's trial, Alex, Kirsten and Ed discuss WIRED's new reporting on the story, and why it is one of the most important stories in AVs and technology more broadly.
The one and only Alex Roy was fired up this week, leading the latest discussion episode through a whirlwind of meaty topics. From Kyle Vogt's return as Cruise CEO to the importance of community engagement for AV companies, and even the question of whether we should be developing driving automation technology at all, there is plenty to sink your teeth into this week.
The asinine "camera vs lidar" debates are blown apart into several, far more interesting pieces in this week's episode, as the gang is joined by longtime friend of the show Tarani Duncan and Jason Devitt, co-founder and CEO of Compound Eye. Discussion covers the multiple approaches to camera-based depth perception, the evolutionary vs ground-up approaches to autonomous vehicles, and a little lidar shade as a treat.
On this week's episode The Autonocats dig into topics so meaty that even a dog shows up! From Cruise opening driverless operations in San Francisco and what that means for the sector's business prospects to Waymo's lawsuit against the DMV to protect trade secrets and what that means for the sector's pursuit of public trust, there's a lot to bark at here... and that's before we even get to Tesla programming FSD to run stop signs!
The Autonocats did not make it to CES in person this year, and were forced to cancel the triumphant return of their annual party there, but they still have hot takes a-plenty! Alex, Kirsten and Ed chop up the big news from the big show, and then dive into their traditional annual predictions.
Anna Haupt is a mobility tech renaissance woman, having worked in everything from the development of the Hövding inflatable bike helmet to the transition at NEVs toward a robotaxi strategy. Now a venture capitalist at Industriefonden, she joins The Autonocast to discuss her wide range of interests, with a special focus on robotaxi design and strategy.
Automotive enthusiasm was once thought to be on the glidepath to extinction, but in recent years the automotive internet has enjoyed a renaissance of car appreciation. Brad Brownell has been at the center of much of that resurgence, helping found paradigm-shifting events and communities like Radwood and now Autopia. Brad joins the show to talk cars, the reinvention of what it means to be a car fan, and the core value of inclusion that ties it all together.
For years there have been complaints about misuse of a statistic showing that humans error is the last link in an often-complex causal chain in fatal crashes. Those complaints have risen to a crescendo in recent weeks, as more prominent voices have risen to denounce the number as a distraction from solutions beyond automation. On this week's episode, the gang discusses the infamous statistic, why it's so divisive, what it says about the sector's relationship with other road safety movements, and how to move forward in a positive direction.
Tesla's confrontation with US auto safety regulators continues to ratchet up, as the automaker pulled a stealth OTA recall of an Autopilot issue that was under active NHTSA investigation. Meanwhile, the respected and outspoken critic of Autopilot safety (among many other topics) Missy Cummings was announced as special safety advisor to NHTSA, prompting an online harassment campaign by Tesla fans. The gang sorts through these developments, while leaving a little time for Alex to report on the annual Self Racing Cars trackday and for Ed to share an NTSB job listing.
The gang is getting back out from behind their computer screens, bringing back tales of test drives and conferences for the latest discussion episode. Kirsten has been the busiest of the bunch, as her first drives of the hot new EVs from RIvian and Lucid (and a factory tour of the latter startup) prompt discussion of their execution and manufacturing. Ed's also just back from Micromobility America, where he notes on some of the changes in that scene, and Alex would tell you what he's been up to but then he'd have to kill you.
When the recently-confirmed NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy tweeted about listening to The Autonocast, the gang had to reach out and ask if she would be willing to make time for her own appearance on the show. Having responded in the affirmative, Chair Homendy has now become the first sitting auto safety official to appear on The Autonocast. From NTSB's evolving mission in the driving automation era to the board's findings in a series of Tesla Autopilot crashes, this sweeping conversation introduces one of the most engaged and forward-thinking auto safety officials working in the field today.
Cars and mobility might not be the first thing you think about when you hear the name Qualcomm, but like other high tech titans the chip maker is betting big on the automotive market. Nakul Duggal is Qualcomm's Senior Vice President and General Manager of Automotive, and he joins the show to discuss his strategy to put the firm's technology at the foundation of next generation vehicles. From the differences between smartphones and cars to Qualcomm's bid for the supplier Veoneer, this week's Duggal explains his approach and ambitions in the automotive sector.
In only its second year of existence, Autonowashing continues to make inroads on the public consciousness in part due to the work of people like Mahmood Hikmet. The Kiwi AV engineer made an incredible Youtube video breaking down the complex issues around partial automation and autonowashing like nobody had before, and he joins the show to discuss his work, and what he's trying to accomplish with it.
flight attendant: is there a doctor on this flight?
dad: that should have been you
me: not now dad
dad: not asking for a meme plagiarist are they
me: dad, Elon Musk plagiarizes memes and he saved those cave kids and ventilator patients
dad: wow this meme format is hilarious
If the last decade or so of mobility technology tells us anything, it's that putting a camera on a vehicle unlocks a whole world of new opportunities. Our guest this week, Drover AI co-founder and Chief Business Officer Alex Nesic, did precisely that with on-demand scooters and he joins the show to explain the new possibilities his company has unleashed. From regulatory compliance to safety-enhancing ADAS-like features, we discuss the ways that a camera can address some of the biggest challenges that shared scooters present.
Big moves raise strategic questions this week, as Mobileye starts testing in New York, Aurora heads to Wall Street by way of Reid Hoffman's SPAC, and a Financial Times trend piece raises questions about the relationship of ADAS to AV strategy. From the traffic impact of privately-owned AVs to the public's ability to invest in the technology and the wisdom of calling automated driving systems a "driver," Alex, Kirsten and Ed chew through some of the sector's biggest questions in another classic discussion episode.
Public perceptions of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems have been dominated by Tesla's Autopilot, which presents itself as the most advanced Level 2 system by virtue of being more automated than others. But is more automation always better for driver assistance? Seeking answers, Alex and Ed sit down with Nick Sitarski and Derek Caveney of Toyota Motor North America, to understand how Toyota's long-standing principle of jidoka, or human-centered automation, has taken its Teammate ADAS design in a different direction.
With Kirsten out exploring the western wilds, Alex and Ed run amok and revert to their old habits of spending way too much time discussing Tesla. First up, the lads review the latest NHTSA order to report all ADAS and AV-involved crashes, which doesn't mention Tesla specifically but is clearly very much aimed at that company. Further discussion ensues about Andrej Karpathy's recent CVPR talk, the new Plaid Model S's absurd performance and even more absurd user interface.
Everyone has a strategy for the electric, autonomous mobility era, and the gang regularly discusses private sector strategies, but what about nation state competition for the future of transportation? Alex, Kirsten and Ed are joined by Nathan Picarsic of Horizon Advisory to dissect the evolution of China's industrial strategy, from traditional automotive to EVs to AVs and beyond. From Tesla's unique factory deal and recent publicity issues to China's domination of the EV supply chain, geopolitical competition meets mobility technology in this wide-ranging discussion.
The gang discusses a couple of Kirsten's recent scoops that speak to the complex business challenges the autonomous vehicle space is currently negotiating. From Raquel Urtasun's new startup to Aurora (and others) plans to go public, the big players are making some very high-stakes bets about how the sector will shake out. Plus: Tesla loses a top executive, Alex is fair and balanced, and everyone hates the phrase "solving autonomy."
Transit advocates have made autonomous vehicles something of a boogeyman lately, framing the emerging technology as a way to perpetuate the car's mobility monopoly and starve public transit of funding. In reality, transit is one of the most compelling applications and automation is a huge opportunity to dramatically improve public transit. To help explain this opportunity, Nathaniel Horadam of the Center for Transportation and the Environment joins the show to discuss a light-rail style automated bus rapid transit project he's been working on, and the automated transit opportunity more broadly.
Joel Ricks Johnson (aka JJRicks) had already gained a sizable audience for his regular videos of Waymo rides when he took a ride that would capture the public's attention. Joel joins the show to walk the gang through that memorable ride, what went wrong, and how it compares to the more than 1,000 miles of Waymo rides he has experienced so far. If you'd like to check out more of Joel's videos for yourself, just surf over to jjricks.com for links to all of his content.
Even as more misuse of driver assistance systems, and the subsequent crashes and deaths are reported we still see Autonowashing popping up everywhere. From Tesla to TikTok, and from Elon Musk to the mainstream media, people continue to ignore the tragic cost of overstating the capabilities of automated assistance systems. This week the gang discusses a few of the most recent examples, explores a misperception at the heart of some more innocent autonowashing, talks Elon Musk on SNL and pitches a few new ideas for future shows.
By selling its "Level 5" AV development operations to Toyota's Woven Planet Holdings, Lyft has followed its ride-hailing rival Uber out of the AV development business. Founder John Zimmer joins the show to explain the move and what it means for Lyft's evolving relationship with self-driving vehicles.
The internet is in an uproar about the latest fatal Tesla crash, in which two men were found burned alive with nobody in the driver's seat. Though the investigation has only just begun, the evidence available suggests a troubling new twist on past Autopilot crashes. As the gang sorts through the available facts, they attempt to answer the bizarre question at the heart of this case: what would make someone operate a driver assistance system as if it were fully driverless?
The gang has discussed driver monitoring on many past shows, but like much of the mobility tech media we don't always give this topic the attention it deserves. That changes this week, as Ed and Alex welcome Colin Barnden of Semicast Research to the show and grill him with questions about the technology that keeps drivers in the loop. Whether you're curious about where camera DMS comes from, how it works, who develops it or where it's going as a business, Barnden (and this episode) has the answers you seek.
Tesla's "Full Self-Driving Beta" is in the news again, as correspondence between the automaker and the California DMV stating that the current "Full Self-Driving Beta" is Level 2 driver assistance and always will be. Alex, Ed and yes, even Kirsten, break down what it means and where it leaves Tesla, before discussing Luminar's plan to bring lidar to production cars, the Lordstown Motors expose and more.
Lidar and autonomous vehicles have gone hand-in-hand since the DARPA Grand Challenges, propelling the self-driving stack into the modern era. But turning a new kind of sensor into an automotive-grade qualified component that can hold up to real-world road conditions and be made at scale is an entirely different challenge than inventing something new. This week the gang dives into the nature of that challenge with help from Omer Keilaf, CEO of the lidar maker Innoviz Technologies, who explains how this controversial sensor is going from the bleeding edge to a real business.
The gang dips back into micromobility this week, welcoming Spin's Chief Business Officer Ben Bear to the show. Ben explains Spin's exciting new developments in teleoperation and even driver assistance systems for its scooters, and how these new technologies are impacting the business. Plus: the importance of city relationships, how Spin has benefitted from being part of Ford, the seasonal nature of micromobility, and the direction that long-term new product planning is headed in.
We've been so busy with big guests so far in 2021 that we've barely had time to sit down and discuss the news of the day in a trademark Autonocast discussion episode. We're making up for that with our latest episode, which is even more stream-of-consciousness than usual. From Super Bowl ads to driver monitoring, from disengagement reports to the Apple Car, this is the rambling Autonocast discussion episode you’ve been waiting for.
With so much focus on the technical progress of autonomous vehicle technology, it's easy to miss an important truth: the AV's slower-than-expected maturation is an opportunity to prepare our society for the transformative potential this technology holds. That opportunity is where Selika Talbott hopes to make a difference: in her teaching at American University and her writing at Forbes, Talbott examines the political economy, regulation and equity issues around AV technology. In her first full Autonocast conversation, Talbott shares her thoughts on these and other important topics.
Don Burnett has followed a familiar path into autonomous vehicles, as an early member of Google's self-driving car program and the Otto trucking startup that formed the core of Uber's early foray into the technology. Now, as the founder of the autonomous trucking startup Kodiak he's up against some of the biggest names in the business as competition converges on the promising but challenging trucking business. Burnett joins this week's Autonocast episode to discuss what he's learned about the AV space, why he's focused on trucking, Kodiak's "middle mile" strategy, sensors and much more.
Every year at CES, the Autonocats invite hundreds of their closest friends in the AV and mobility tech world to a party of epic proportions. Since a party wasn't in the cards this year (thanks for everything, COVID!) we went for the next best thing: a live recording session for our annual predictions episode. If you missed it, don't worry: here, with minimal editing, is that "live" episode featuring a review of last year's predictions and a heaping serving of new predictions for 2021.
Zoox's 2020 journey embodied the recent highs and lows of the AV space, entering the year under a cloud and hunting for cash but ending the year revealing an amazing AV under the protection of Amazon's ownership. We were joined by both Zoox's CEO Aicha Evans and CTO Jesse Levinson for a full hour discussion, looking back at Zoox's wild ride, reflecting on the the AV space's tumultuous past few years and looking ahead as Zoox starts rolling out rides. You won't want to miss this fascinating discussion with one of the most underrated players in AVs.
2020 saw the launch of the Aptiv-Hyundai joint venture Motional, and the announcement of its plans to start a driverless service in Las Vegas. To discuss these happenings and more, we are joined by one of the most thoughtful CTOs in the space: Motional's Laura Major. The author of "What To Expect When You're Expecting Robots," and the only female CTO of a major AV player, Major's reflections on her career, AV development and the technology that holds it all together make for an episode you won't want to miss.
First up in our series of new year conversations with select leaders in the AV space, Austin Russell of the lidar company Luminar. In a year full of challenges, Luminar cemented its status as a major player by securing production contracts for its advanced sensors, went public using a SPAC reverse merger, and inked a major deal with Intel. Alex, Kirsten and Ed sit down with Russell, the latest AV-sector billionaire, and reflected on a wild year and the road ahead.
2020 is closing out with one of the biggest AV business stories of the year, first broken by our very own Kirsten Korosec: Aurora is buying Uber's ATG operations, ending the ride-hailing giant's tragic development effort. The gang discusses what this consolidation means for the sector, and looks back at some of the biggest AV-related trends of 2020.
David Zipper set out to understand what areas of automated driving were most in need of regulation under the new Biden administration, and his research led him to a single answer: Tesla. Zipper joins the show to discuss why Tesla's approach to automated driving is so aberrant, why it should be regulated and how the Bident could rein it in. If you want to go deeper into Zipper's popular Slate piece on this topic, you'll want to listen to this episode.
It's rare for Alex, Kirsten and Ed to agree on anything, but they're unanimous on one point: Anthony Townsend's Ghost Road: Beyond the Driverless Car was the best AV book of 2020. This week Townsend joins the show to discuss his book, which looks at how urban, economic and political development could be transformed by autonomous drive technology. If any of these topics interest you even a little bit, you'll want to make sure to catch this episode and pick up a copy of Ghost Road.
At a time when the auto industry is seeing an influx of new startups like it hasn't seen in a century, one of the most interesting companies to watch is Magna International. Not only does Magna supply everything from an in-house EV platform and ADAS to body-in-white and drivetrains, they also provide the engineering and validation expertise to turn startup dreams into reality... and they can even contract manufacture the final result. To understand how a "full-stack" automotive startup enabler like Magna is approaching this unique moment in history, we sat down with Swamy Kotagiri, a 21-year veteran at Magna, currently serving as President and soon to be the firm's next CEO.
In the wake of the election, the gang discusses the potential implications of the newest Massachusetts "Right To Repair" law, the return of successful funding rounds to the AV space, and the rising importance of the safety case.
Tesla's deployment of a "limited beta" version of its "Full Self-Driving" software to public roads raises a number of important issues around how and why AV developers test safely on public roads. With Kirsten just getting back from vacation, Alex and Ed walk her through the most immediate concerns... plus, Alex shares what it's like to be trained as a professional AV safety driver.
With competition in autonomous trucking heating up we speak with two of the top leaders at Ike, a startup that brings a unique development approach to this exciting space. Co-founder and Chief Engineer Nancy Sun and Head of Systems Randol Aikin oversee Ike's work transforming core technology licensed from Nuro into an autonomous trucking solution, and they explain how their strategy turns some popular perceptions about AV development on their head. Learn why they see AVs as a systems engineering problem rather than an AI problem, how they get away with a tiny 6-truck test fleet, why they are sticklers about using the right language for this technology and much more.
Recently Ed had been noticing some negativity about AVs in tweets by friend of the show and brilliant technology analyst Horace Dediu. He challenged Horace to debate the prospects for autonomous drive technology, and what resulted was a fascinating conversation that proves there is more consensus about AVs than it sometimes seems. Though the resulting episode was less of a debate than originally imagined, it is still an in-depth exploration of the past and future of AVs as they struggle out of "the trough of disillusionment."
The gang struggles to make sense of Tesla's sprawling "Battery Day" presentation, which they contrast to Geely's very different strategy for EV dominance through a shared flexible architecture. We also look at Mobileye's new camera-only Level 2+ ADAS and discuss a couple of recent news items involving the autonomous trucking company TuSimple, making this week's discussion as diverse as the future of mobility itself.
The gang is back with another discussion episode covering a diverse range of topics, from the new Mercedes S Class and Polestar 2 and the struggle to create good modern user interfaces, to the GM-Honda Alliance and another look at the SPACmania that is inflating EV startup valuations while looking past AVs almost entirely.
Mapping continues to be one of the more misunderstood aspects of AV development, so to help clear up the confusion we spoke with one of the godfathers of modern mapping tech. Mark Wheeler is the co-founder and CTO of DeepMap, a company that's been working on onboard HD mapping for AVs since 2016. He explains why mapping matters, how DeepMap builds its HD maps, and how he ended up working in this fascinating space.
Lyft is one of the few mobility platforms where you can hail a ride in an autonomous vehicle, at least in Las Vegas and Chandler, Arizona where it partners with Aptiv and Waymo respectively. But Lyft is also developing its own autonomous driving technology, at its Level 5 organization in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lyft's Jody Kelman joins the show to explain this dual-track approach, lay out her vision for autonomous ride hailing and explain where the "Level 5" name came from.
Every once in a while, someone coins a word that takes a huge and complex concept and makes it comprehensible to the general public. That's exactly what Liza Dixon did one day, when she responded to one of Alex Roy's tweets with a brand-new neologism: Autonowashing. We caught up with the doctoral candidate, human-automation interaction expert and all-around badass to discuss Autonowashing, her research, human factors and much more.
Listen in on this rousing discussion about meme markets and the whackadoodle world of EVs. Plus, the gang weighs in on an unfortunate product being marketed to Tesla owners.
Two major developments in the autonomous vehicle world captured our attention in this week's discussion episode: Waymo's deal with Volvo, and Amazon's purchase of Zoox. We discuss the deals, what they might mean, and how they affect the rest of the alliances... but more importantly, how we should mash up the names into catchy portemanteau.
The gang has a lot of news to discuss this week, with an NVIDIA-Mercedes partnership, BMW and Daimler's "conscious uncoupling," Apple Maps' mobility features, and Lyft's recent moves in mapping and electrification. Still, in spite of all this meaty news, Alex only wants to discuss one thing: blenders. Welcome, friends, to the Blendercast.
The gang spends this week's discussion talking about fiction, specifically the new Amazon Prime show "Upload." This is a bit of a change of pace, as The Autonocast has always tried to keep its discussions firmly rooted in the real-world, but there's a good reason for this switch-up. For one thing, it's just plain fun at a time when we could all use a little escapism, but according to Ed it's actually educational too... or is he just kidding himself?
With everything going on right now, mobility can seem like a frivolous thing to be focused on but as the gang discusses in today's episode it's actually more important than ever. New technology allows us to build new ways of getting around, and to ensure that these new systems serve everyone it's critical that we understand how our past systems failed to do so. Plus, what's the deal with that study saying AVs will only solve 34% of road crashes?
We've talked a lot about the importance of picking the right domain in early applications of autonomous drive technology, but one rarely gets discussed: the parking lot. Anuja Sonalker is taking on that challenge at her company STEER, which is developing autonomous parking functionality for both the direct-to-consumer retrofit and OEM option markets. She joins the show to explain how STEER hopes to address that market, discuss her background in cybersecurity, and explain some important AV safety concepts.
With the timelines for fully autonomous vehicle deployments stretching out, much of the automated driving technology space is pivoting toward the booming advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) market. To help us understand what's driving that market and how it's developing, we are joined by Aine Denari, the SVP of ADAS at the giant Tier One supplier ZF.
Those of us who follow and/or report on autonomous vehicles often struggle to find the right way to frame competition in the space. Is it a horse race, only everyone is headed for a different finish line? Is it the Hunger Games, only not boring and stupid? Deep thoughts abound as the gang discusses the recent news.
With conferences being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Autonocast is proud to host important discussions that were planned for IRL events. On today's episode: Women In Autonomy presents a discussion of AI bias in autonomous vehicle development, featuring Aptiv's Nandita Mangal, Aeye's Indu Vijayan, and NVIDIA's Neda Cvijetic and moderated by Genevieve Smith of the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership.
With its robotaxis already on the road in Arizona, Waymo has been quietly moving toward the autonomous trucking space for some time. To find out more of why the original AV developer is looking at the opportunities in logistics, we spoke with Head of Trucking Boris Sofman. In today's episode, Boris explains how Waymo's two main programs relate to each other, reveals that the safety case is critical intellectual property and briefly discusses his past life building entertainment-focused robots as founder and CEO of Anki.
If we've missed a huge topic within the sprawling world of autonomous drive technology, it's what is happening in China. China is making a huge push into self-driving vehicles, and it's doing so in a very different context from the US, Europe and other markets. On this week's show, we are joined by Jewel Li of the Chinese-based company AutoX, to discuss the differences and similarities between the US and China in terms of both autonomous mobility and new mobility more generally, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Will autonomous vehicles save us from COVID-19? You may have seen some stories that seem to imply that they will, but which fall apart if you poke at them a little. Kirsten, Damon and Ed figure that this is just another part of the broader problems with autonomous drive technology PR, and that how we think and talk about self-driving vehicles need to change. Plus, the Honda-GM EV tie-up occasions the opportunity to discuss what does and doesn't work in auto industry relationships.
On this week's Autonocast discussion episode: Alex denies responsibility for the crash of a tuned supercar in Manhattan, Kirsten reports on mobility tech company layoffs, Ed wonders how many cities are taking this opportunity to reboot their relationships with mobility providers, and Damon maintains his unflappably bemused demeanor.
Because mobility is so foundational to society, rethinking it requires a broad, multidisciplinary approach. As a former EV engineer at GM, a former investor for GM Ventures and the founder and former COO of the autonomous shuttle startup May Mobility, Alisyn Malek has precisely that kind of big-picture perspective. She joins the show to discuss the state of mobility tech, alternatives to VC funding for startups in the space, the challenge of matching product and infrastructure "clock speed" with rapid software innovation and much more.
COVID-19 continues to take its toll, as the gang is a little extra quarantine-drunk in this discussion episode. Alex, Kirsten, Damon and Ed jump around between topics as diverse as: Cannonball Runs in the time of COVID, self-disinfecting bikes, the anti-touchscreens-in-cars backlash, cringey Model Y "off-roading" videos, and the emissions standard rollback. Buckle up!
With so much pessimism in the world of autonomous drive technology, we thought we'd highlight a company that has built a solid, customer-focused business around automated vehicles. Nancy Post is the Director of John Deere's Intelligent Solutions Group, and has been working on the agricultural machinery giant's automation systems for decades. She explains how John Deere's automation efforts started, how they have evolved, and where they are going now.
The collapse of Starsky Robotics has been the subject of rumor and speculation in the autonomous drive technology world for months, but now founder Stefan Seltz-Axmacher is ready to set the record straight. He joins The Autonocast to discuss his recent blog post on The Fall of Starsky, the lessons learned from his time running a startup, where the autonomy and trucking spaces are going, and what he's doing next.
Founding Autonocast co-host Damon Lavrinc is back from a stint working at a variety of mobility companies, and he's come at a time when there is so much to think about and discuss. On this classic wide-ranging discussion episode, the gang considers the seismic shocks running through the mobility tech world, which companies are surprisingly well-positioned, which need to rethink things, where they can pivot to, and how long some can survive. Plus: what happens to urbanism in a pandemic, how design will evolve, why Waymo's fundraising round matters, what killed Starsky and much more.
Every year, the Navigant Research Autonomous Leaderboard report ranks the various players in the autonomous mobility space and every year it prompts much wailing and gnashing of teeth from fans of companies who trail in the rankings. To help explain the factors that go into these rankings and the methodologies used measure them, we are joined by the report's author Sam Abuelsamid. A widely-respected analyst covering autos and autonomy, Sam was last on The Autonocast back in January of 2018 when he explained that year's Leaderboard in episode #47.
With COVID-19 bringing any sense of normalcy to an abrupt end, the gang pauses their recent parade of high-profile guests in favor of an old-fashioned discussion episode. Between some of the big recent headlines in mobility and the still-evolving impact of certain novel viruses, there's a lot to discuss in this week's wide-ranging conversation. Ed explains how EV technology allows GM to revisit the brand brand strategy that built (and nearly destroyed) its US-market dominance, Kirsten shares her reflections on post-coronavirus "design for operations" for autonomous vehicles, and Alex rants from an undisclosed location, where he is currently in full-blown prepper mode.
For much of the last few years, autonomous robotaxis were simply presumed to be a technological problem whose economics would be easily competitive. Now, with human-driven ridehailing still struggling to turn a profit, more and more companies are realizing that the robotaxi business won't necessarily be an easy one. Perhaps the best view of the robotaxi's economic challenge comes from Ashley Nunes, a Harvard researcher whose study of autonomous taxi economics in San Francisco revealed that the massive margins once anticipated will be tough to deliver on, and that maximizing utilization will be the key to a viable business. Nunes joins the show to explain his research, explore the underlying assumptions and discuss the business case challenges ahead for autonomous ride hailing.
Joshua Schachter is well-known in the mobility tech world as a savvy angel and venture capitalist, but not everyone knows that he (more specifically, his "Self-Racing Cars" event) played a major role in making The Autonocast happen. On today's episode, we discuss the mobility tech investing environment, how Joshua analyzes potential investments and how Self-Racing Cars came to be the AV sector's punk rock event. For more information on how to attend this year's Self Racing Cars, check out selfracingcars.com.
Teleoperation used to be seen as the autonomous drive sector's dirty little secret, the kind of capability that stoked suspicion about the readiness of the technology. Ironically, as AVs get closer and closer to maturity the need for teleoperation capabilities is becoming increasingly normalized as a fundamental part of the stack. At this year's CES, Ed spoke with the leadership of Phantom Auto, a leader in the teleoperation and remote guidance space, to find out how their business is evolving.
Fresh off the heels of tumultuous hype cycles in both shared electric scooters and autonomous vehicles, the idea of "riderless scooters" can seem like the immaculate hypeball. But, as today's episode shows, the ability to move shared scooters remotely is actually a meaningful potential solution to the operational challenges facing shared scooter companies. Dmitry Shevelenko of the scooter teleoperations company Tortoise joins the crew to explain the economic and technological opportunity underlying his vision of riderless scooters.
David Estrada has been on the cutting edge of new mobility tech regulation for years, handling legal and government affairs duties at companies like the Google Chauffeur project, Lyft, Bird and now the autonomous delivery company Nuro. Estrada joins the show this week to discuss his history in the space, where autonomous drive regulation is headed and his latest achievement: an FMVSS waiver for Nuro's R2 delivery bot.
During a recent trip to the Bay Area, Ed got a ride in a Zoox development vehicle and came away surprisingly impressed with its autonomous driving capabilities in a tough domain. Immediately following the ride he recorded a conversation with Zoox CTO Jesse Levinson about the challenges of developing an AV in San Francisco, the technology that enables his stack's impressive performance and his improvisational piano skills. Alex and Kirsten also grill Ed about his Zoox ride and the gang discusses the challenges Zoox faces despite all its technical prowess.
If you know anything about autonomous drive technology, you probably know the name Chris Urmson. From Carnegie Mellon's DARPA Grand and Urban Challenge teams to head of Google's Chauffeur program (now Waymo) and now as co-founder and CEO of Aurora, Urmson has been in the thick of AV development since its earliest days. He joins The Autonocast for the first time, recorded live as the annual CES party gathered steam, to discuss what he's learned at the forefront of this new technology and where he sees it going.
Cruise's mysterious "Beyond The Car" event turns out to have been the reveal of its first dedicated robotaxi, the Origin. Both Ed and Kirsten were on hand for the reveal, and share their impressions and analysis of the first production-intent autonomous mobility device by a major Level 4 AV developer. Alex provides the critical perspective (disclosure: he works for a competitor), prompting a lively debate about AV strategy, positioning and communication.
As Aptiv's President of Autonomous Mobility, Karl Iagnemma now finds himself at the head of a massive $4 billion joint venture with Hyundai Motor Company. The former NuTonomy founder is one of the quiet heroes of self-driving, having spearheaded the first AV deployment in Singapore and led Aptiv into an industry-leading position. Joining the show from the Autonocast suite prior to their CES 2020 party, Iagnemma discusses everything from AV development to his turn as an author and novelist.
Having worked in everything from manufacturing and engineering to marketing, John Krafcik saw the auto industry from almost every possible angle before becoming the CEO of Alphabet's Waymo division. Now, as head of one of the leading self-driving technology outfits, he's taking on a whole new set of challenges. In an extended conversation recorded just before The Autonocast's 2020 CES party, Krafcik talks moonshots, business models, partnerships and much, much more.
With a new year upon us, Alex, Kirsten and Ed pull out their crystal balls and try to predict what might play out during 2020. From the continued rise of ADAS and commercial applications of autonomous drive technology to potential acquisitions, a deployment "land grab" and yes, the "million robotaxis" thing, the gang maps out what they see coming in the world of automated driving. Get your timestamps out, and we'll see you back here next year to see how many of these predictions actually panned out.
With another year coming to a close, Alex, Kirsten and Ed look back at some of their big takeaways from 2019. Technical progress has continued, as Ed's driverless Waymo ride proved, but new technologies alone don't create viable business models or solve product-market fit. ADAS also made a comeback over the last year, with lots of OEMs announcing new plans to make up for delayed autonomy plans, but will safety considerations spoil the party? It seems that for every new opportunity, 2019 managed to create a corresponding challenge.
What do Ed's recent driverless Waymo ride, simulation, trust and the NTSB's investigation into a fatal Uber crash have in common? More than you might think. Alex, Kirsten and Ed weave these and other issues together in the latest discussion episode of The Autonocast. If you enjoy conversations like this one, please take a moment to fill out The Autonocast's first-ever listener survey at autonocast.com/survey.
Delivery bots were one of the big topics of 2019, attracting huge amounts of hype and venture capital but also generating a good deal of backlash and mockery. Much of that backlash centered on San Francisco, which banned sidewalk-based delivery bots only to provide a single company the necessary permit to test there: the delivery company Postmates. The company's VP of Special Projects Ali Kashani joins The Autonocast to explain what makes their approach different, and what kinds of design considerations and technology went into building a bot that could be a better citizen of the sidewalk.
Dizzying progress in computer vision is one of the factors that has brought autonomous driving within reach, but as self-driving cars get closer to reality the probabilistic nature of machine learning inference is creating challenges due to the need for extremely high levels of safety. One possible approach to providing a more deterministic "safety checker" in future autonomous drive stacks comes from a company called Outsight, which is developing an active hyperspectral imaging sensor which it calls a "3D Semantic Camera" that holds the promise of (among other things) rapidly classifying objects based on spectral measurements of their material composition... without inference. Outsight co-founder Raul Bravo joins the show to explain how this sensor could be used to solve some of the trickiest perception-level challenges in autonomy, and potentially offer a powerful new tool to autonomous drive system developers.
The Autonocast is just back from LA, where they saw the future of mobility in all its forms... from the ridiculous to the sublime. First up Ed and Alex ask Kirsten for her in-person account of the infamous Tesla Cybertruck reveal, where she battled Youtube influencers for the weirdest new car launch story of the year. Then the gang discusses some of the vehicles they saw at the LA show, wrapping up with an interview Ed and Kirsten did with Ford's Mark Kaufman from the back seat of the Mustang Mach E.
When Intel bought the Israeli computer vision and ADAS company Mobileye for $15 billion, it was a message that the computing and data giant didn't want to miss automated driving the way they'd missed mobile. With over a decade of experience with camera-based automated driving, a leading position in the effort to articulate autonomous vehicle safety and contracts with some of the biggest automakers in the business, Mobileye got Intel into the ADAS and autonomy business in a big way. Intel's Senior Principle Engineer Jack Weast joins the show to explain Intel's approach to integrating the two companies, the relationship between its ADAS and autonomy businesses, the firm's growing safety philosophy and much more.
It's fun to imagine how emerging innovations might shape the future of mobility, but if you want to know how the rubber hits the road you should probably talk to someone in the insurance business. From big data and connected vehicles to managing shared mobility services and understanding autonomous vehicle safety, insurance companies have to turn "the vision thing" into models, predictions and ultimately dollars and cents. To better understand how the insurance business is managing all of these fascinating challenges Alex, Kirsten and Ed sat down with Grady Irey, the Senior Vice President of Data Science and Analytics for the insurance technology company Arity for a fascinating conversation about risk, data, and the future.
With the Autonocast gang in Tel Aviv to moderate and MC the 7th Annual Smart Mobility Summit, they check in with the woman behind the event. Chairman and Director of the Fuel Choices and Smart Mobility Initiative of the Israeli Prime Minister's Office Dr. Anat Lea Bonshtien joins the show to explain what the Smart Mobility Summit is and how it became a must-attend mobility conference.
Alex, Kirsten and Ed ran into Horace Dediu while moderating the 7th Annual Smart Mobility Summit in Tel Aviv, and of course they got to talking. What they managed to actually record includes discussion of the "Galapagos" micromobility market in Israel, the still far-off potential of true mobility as a service, and the boundary between mobility as infrastructure and more premium markets.
With the television debut of Alex's new film APEX: The Secret Race Across America, chronicling his cross-country record-setting run and the history of such automotive insanity, the gang discusses the relevance of high-speed cross country records to emerging technologies. Then the conversation shifts to the emerging "Techlash" which now seems to be breeding enmity for autonomous vehicles, among critics of the high tech sector as well as urbanists and transit advocates. Are these critics right to be suspicious of Silicon Valley's autonomous vehicle development practices? Will AVs help or hurt the causes of urbanism and transit? These questions and many more take center stage as Alex, Kirsten and Ed take on the growing critiques of self-driving technology.
The gang dives back into the world of sensors this week, with a conversation about lidar, autonomous vehicles and surviving the "trough of disappointment" with Angus Pacala of Ouster Lidar. Unlike some other lidar companies, which are a bet on the market for autonomous vehicles, Ouster has taken a diversified approach to the business and now has hundreds of customers in a wide variety of fields. We discuss why that strategy has paid off, how Ouster is validating its sensors, why autonomous vehicles will likely always have lidar, and where the sensor business is headed.
Alex had such a good time talking about his favorite topics with Kelly Funkhouser of Consumer Reports that they almost immediately sat back down and started recording more. Here, for your listening pleasure, is that roughly half-hour of bonus conversation covering a wide range of topics related to human machine interaction in automated driving.
What is Tesla Autopilot missing? Can Driver Monitoring Systems work? What are the best and worst driver assistance systems? How can we improve the SAE automation levels? In this episode recorded live at the Pennsylvania Autonomous Vehicle Summit, Alex (and Ed, before he had to take off to promote his book) gets schooled by Kelly Funkhauser, Consumer Reports' Head of Connected & Automated Vehicles, a rare voice of reason in a sector full of "experts" spouting BS.
While some states scramble to get a handle on the sudden appearance of autonomous vehicles on their roads, Pennsylvania's had time to think about the challenge. Thanks to the Pittsburgh robotics hub around Carnegie Mellon University, robocars have been plying the Keystone State's roads since at least a 2013 demonstration drive. Recorded live at the state's annual Autonomous Vehicle Summit, Ed moderates a discussion about the lessons learned with state Secretary of Transportation Leslie Richards and Ehrlichman Group CEO and returning Autonocast guest Courtney Ehrlichman.
This week, the entire automotive world has been obsessed with a single vehicle: Porsche's new electric sportscar, the Taycan. Alex and Kirsten were among those invited to the Taycan's official reveal, and share their thoughts on its price, positioning, performance and (most importantly) pronunciation. Meanwhile, Ed wonders if it even matters quite as much as the Tesla-dominated EV discourse makes it out to be.
To celebrate the launch of Ed's new book LUDICROUS: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, Alex and Kirsten put his mantra that "critical coverage is a sign of love and support, not hate" to the test. Leveraging their respective experience as a Tesla fan and a tough journalist, Alex and Kirsten grill Ed on the positions, principles and journalistic practices behind LUDICROUS and his Tesla coverage more generally. What follows is something of a throwback to the intense Tesla debates of the Autonocast's earliest episodes, and a spirited discussion about one of the most interesting and important stories in the world of mobility.
There is no more important question int he world of autonomous vehicle development than the one that has become something of a conference panel cliche: "how safe is safe enough?" The Israeli startup Foretellix isn't trying to answer that question themselves, but they are developing the tools with which companies and regulators may someday verify the safety of autonomous vehicles. Co-founder and CEO Ziv Binyamini explains why this task is so challenging, how Foretellix is developing a testing and measurement paradigm using techniques pioneered in chip design and who might adopt it as autonomous vehicles come closer to reality.
The Foretellix blog mentioned in this episode can be found here.
With GM's Cruise autonomous division backing away from its goal of deploying robotaxis in San Francisco this year, the gang discusses the pros and cons of different approaches to this unique moment in the autonomous drive space. Cruise's pivot from overambitious goal-setting represents one approach, Tesla's continued bluster and trend-defying confidence is another, while Navya's woes show that even seemingly more-pragmatic strategies can lead to overblown expectations and financial and technical challenges. These three case studies anchor a wide-ranging discussion about the expectations and realities of self-driving vehicles, how the hype got so out of control and how to start to bring it back down to earth.
After a few chaotic weeks that have seen Kirsten putting on a wildly successful mobility conference for TechCrunch, Alex's employer Argo AI signing a hugely impactful deal with Volkswagen and Ed preparing to launch his book, the gang gets back together for the first time in a while. After catching up on some of the recent news, the show cuts to Kirsten and Ed's conversation with Zoox co-founder and CTO Jesse Levinson from the Renovo minivan outside the TC Mobility Session conference. Having long awaited the chance to learn more about the ambitious and sometimes-enigmatic startup, Ed and Kirsten pepper Levinson with questions about Zoox's plans, partners and self-driving system in a relatively brief but packed conversation about a company that is rethinking the car from the ground up.
With Alex off on a mysterious "special operation" South of the border, Kirsten and Ed turn to the whirlwind of partnerships and acquisitions that has made the autonomous vehicle space so interesting of late. Sifting through each recent deal, interpreting its meaning and connecting the dots, this search for broader meaning in a complex and interconnected sector yields provocative insights and possibilities. Looking forward, the question becomes: who will be the next automaker or AV developer to make a move that shakes up the space all over again? Plus, Kirsten previews her upcoming TechCrunch Mobility Session, which will be held on July 10 in San Jose and will include the Autonocast.
With fully autonomous cars taking longer to develop than some had hoped, partial automation and driver assistance is coming back into focus and with it all the thorny problems of human machine interfaces. Carl Pickering, the former head of Autonomous Technology Strategy and Global HMI Manager at Jaguar Land Rover has a new startup called ADAM Cogtec that he thinks could provide a breakthrough in attention management. Using technology derived from techniques used to measure cognition levels in coma patients, ADAM is taking an entirely new approach that could change how the relationship between man and machine is managed.
There's a war quietly raging right now, over something you probably never guessed people would get worked up over: an open data standard that allows cities to manage shared mobility services. Launched by two-time Autonocast guest and LA DOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds, the Mobility Data Standard is tipping the balance of power away from well-funded startup invaders and towards city officials... and startups are fighting back. David Zipper of the German Marshall Fund, Citylab, The Atlantic and more has been covering this conflict better and for longer than anyone, and he joins the show to help Alex, Kirsten and Ed make sense of it.
The Autonocast's partnership with Siemens and the AutoSens conference rolls on from Detroit, with a conversation about how cities can prepare for autonomous vehicles. Joining the conversation are Ed Olson of May Mobility, Marcus Welz of Siemens Intelligent Traffic Systems and Ed Bernardon of Siemens Strategic Automotive Initiatives, who combine their various areas of focus in a lively conversation about the promises and challenges of urban AVs. With May's autonomous shuttles and Siemens' smart city infrastructure systems already deployed in real cities, the lessons learned are already reshaping perspectives on this complex and evolving topic.