This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss “Thriller in the Big D” as Waymo upstages Uber’s party in Dallas. The day before Uber was set to announce its commercial launch with Avride in Dallas, Waymo stole the spotlight by announcing they went driver-out in the same city.
During the episode Grayson and Walt analyzed the fallout from this timing, including Uber’s “marketing fail” where a safety driver was spotted in promotional footage, and debate whether Avride’s limited 9-square-mile launch is a legitimate business move or just another “science project”.
Beyond the drama in Texas, they dove into the broader race to scale, questioning if adding a few hundred cars in new markets Houston, Baltimore, and St. Louis truly counts as commercial scaling. As Waymo announces new markets, Sterling Anderson is aggressively hiring at GM and the autonomous trucking market is beginning to heat up.
Episode Chapters
0:00 The Thriller in Big D featuring Waymo, Avride and Uber
5:17 Autonomous Vehicle Messaging
7:01 Avride / Uber’s Dallas Service Area
10:14 No New Waymo/Uber Markets, So Far
13:50 Waymo’s Rapid Expansion
18:56 Waymo’s Six Stages of Autonomy
20:26 No Waymo Commercial Launch for Art Basel
21:49 Will Tesla Robotaxis Ever Be Available on Uber?
23:06 FSD Updates
25:00 Sterling Anderson’s Growing Role at GM
29:04 Wayve Acquires Quality Match
29:41 Foreign Autonomy Desk
30:13 Waymo’s Continuing Zeekr Issue
32:21 Autonomous Trucking
33:50 Next Week
Recorded on Friday, December 5, 2025
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