The Road to Autonomy

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s LiDAR controversy following an incident in a Santa Monica school zone, the potential of a mega merger between Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, and Waabi’s $750 million capital raise to pivot into robotaxis.
The conversation heats up as Walt and Grayson debate the efficacy of LiDAR versus camera-only approaches, questioning if sensor fusion latency contributed to the Waymo incident where a child ran out from behind a vehicle.
While Waymo handles the incident in Santa Monica, Tesla is further accelerating their shift to an autonomy/robotics company by shutting down Model S and Model X lines for Optimus Gen 3 humanoids.
Looking at the broader market, Grayson and Walt analyze Waabi’s strategic expansion from trucking into robotaxis, with Walt drawing parallels to early industry pivots and Grayson questioning the viability of managing two distinct autonomy programs.
On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, they highlight Waymo’s recent launch party in London, noting the imported vehicles still feature American driving configurations, and discuss Pony.ai’s partnership to deploy 3,000 robotaxis in mainland China.

Episode Chapters
0:00 Waymo Opens SFO Airport Access
5:45 Waymo’s Santa Monica Incident
16:27 Tesla Earnings and New Robotaxi Markets
22:04 David Moss’ Austin Robotaxi Adventures
24:12 Robotaxi’s Enhanced Camera Cleaning System
26:38 Inspector Uncovers, Walt Warns
27:43 The Potential Great Elon Merger
30:35 Waabi Raises $750m, Pivots to Robotaxis
39:27 Does Uber Reboot ATG?
42:55 Plus AI Analyst Day
50:01 Foreign Autonomy Desk
53:18 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, January 30, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy provides market intelligence and strategic advisory services to institutional investors and companies, delivering insights needed to stay ahead of emerging trends in the autonomy economy™. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Liu, CEO of PlusAI joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discus taking the company public and their strategic roadmap for commercializing autonomous trucking.
As Plus AI prepares to complete their merger with Churchill Capital Corp IX in early February, the conversation explores the shift from fleet trials to an asset-light software model that empowers Traton to build factory-integrated autonomous trucks powered by the Plus virtual driver.
By training a single AI driver on a vast, globally diverse dataset, encompassing conditions from snowy Sweden to the Texas Triangle, Plus AI is developing a scalable technology stack designed to safely automate the global freight industry, as the company targets a 2027 commercial launch.

Episode Chapters
0:00 Going Public
1:33 Fleet Trials
6:01 Driver-Out Decision
7:56 Traton Partnership
11:27 Redundant Chassis
14:01 Public Milestones
16:43 Asset Ownership
18:14 Expanding in Spain and Japan
23:00 Real-world Driving Data
26:16 Simulation
27:43 Alpha Data
29:02 Traton R&D Investment
33:01 What to Watch For as PlusAI Goes Public

Recorded on Friday, January 23, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy provides market intelligence and strategic advisory services to institutional investors and companies, delivering insights needed to stay ahead of emerging trends in the autonomy economy™. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Tesla officially removing safety attendants from Robotaxis in Austin, Waymo’s commercial launch in Miami, and Serve Robotics’ strategic acquisition of Diligent Robotics.
It finally happened. Tesla has removed safety attendants from a select group of vehicles in Austin. While this initial fleet is limited and operating in a specific geofence and utilizing chase cars, Grayson and Walt view this as a critical validation of the technology.
Looking ahead, Grayson predicts the operational domain will expand significantly in Austin over the next 60 days, with the Phoenix metro region slated as the next target market for deployment. As Tesla went safety attendant-out, Waymoopened the Miami market for limited commercial service within a 60-square-mile area, with one major caveat, no Miami Beach.
On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, Grayson and Walt discuss Geely’s plan to deploy 100,000 methanol-powered robotaxis in China and the South Korean government’s selection of Gwangju as the nation’s first dedicated autonomous vehicle testing zone.

Episode Chapters
0:00 Tesla Removes Safety Attendant in Austin
9:19 Operational Efficiency
10:33 Alex Roy Goes Coast-to-Coast with Zero FSD Interventions
14:15 Drive on FSD, Get a Discount
18:25 FSD is Expanding as Prices are Increasing
23:31 New Robotaxi Markets
24:53 Waymo Launches Miami Markets
28:33 Vandalizing Waymo's
32:20 Serve Robotics Acquires Diligent Robotics
36:41 Foreign Autonomy Desk
39:21 Next Week

Recorded on Friday, January 23, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy provides market intelligence and strategic advisory services to institutional investors and companies, delivering insights needed to stay ahead of emerging trends in the autonomy economy™. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sergey Litvinenko, Co-Founder & CEO of Koop, joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the financial and operational structures required to insure fleets of personally owned autonomous vehicles.
As Tesla prepares to scale the Cybercab in 2026, the conversation explores the shift from personal ownership to personally owned fleets, where individuals form companies to own and operate commercial robotaxi businesses.
During the episode, Sergey explains how the insurance P&L for a fleet owner is transformed by real-world behavior data, which serves as a more accurate risk predictor than traditional human-centric metrics. By leveraging high-fidelity data and specialized subrogation models, Koop is developing a framework that manages liability between the fleet owner and the vehicle manufacturer, clearing the path for the Autonomy Economy to scale through third-party ownership.

Episode Chapters
0:00 The Emergence of the Tesla Network
3:07 Insuring Cybercab and Personally-Owned Teslas
8:59 Insuring and Deploying Personally-Owned Autonomous Vehicle Fleets
22:50 Insurance Underwriting Capacity
25:22 Insurance Products
27:50 Changing Driving Habits
31:14 Reinsurance
32:30 Liability with No Pedals and Steering Wheel
38:38 Fleet Management
41:55 Future of Insuring Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Operations

Recorded on Friday, January 16, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy provides market intelligence and strategic advisory services to institutional investors and companies, delivering insights needed to stay ahead of emerging trends in the autonomy economy™. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss New York Governor Hochul’s bill to legalize autonomous vehicles in New York, with New York City notably carved out, Uber’s changing Waymopartnership language and Waymo’s upcoming expansion to Sydney.
In New York, autonomous vehicles could be coming to state roads, but not New York City, as Mayor Mamdani is prioritizing taxi drivers over robotaxi deployment. Down in Texas, where autonomous vehicles can operate anywhere, Waymo has expanded their service area in Austin as Uber has changed their promotional language from “exclusively available on Uber” to simply “available on Uber” when promoting Waymo rides.
On the international front, Waymo is actively planning to expand to Sydney following meetings with Australian Transport Minister Catherine King. In China, WeRide robotaxis are now available in the WeChat super app, enabling riders in Beijing to order autonomous rides directly through the platform.

Episode Chapters
0:00 Verizon Outage
1:45 New York’s Unkind Welcome to Autonomous Vehicles
9:19 Robotaxi and Waymo Face-off in Austin
12:47 Autonomy Markets Merch
14:15 FSD Goes Subscription Only on Valentine’s Day
17:18 Waymo Eyes Australian Expansion
21:03 Tensor Auto
24:06 Stack AV
26:14 Plus AI Expands to Japan
28:33 Foreign Autonomy Desk
30:33 Next Week

Recorded on Thursday, January 15, 2026

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About The Road to Autonomy
The Road to Autonomy provides market intelligence and strategic advisory services to institutional investors and companies, delivering insights needed to stay ahead of emerging trends in the autonomy economy™. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.

Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/ae/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.