In this episode of Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss the Waymo’s public launch in LA, Zoox’s debut in San Francisco and the emergence of Bot Auto. 

This week Waymo removed the waitlist and opened the service to the public in Los Angeles in an 80 square mile area. Even though the public can now ride in the vehicles, there are extended wait times (up to 40 minutes) and the inability to use freeways, increasing the average ride time. 

Without freeways, the Waymo service is limited in major markets such as LA and San Francisco because of the increased travel time. While Waymo is working on highway driving, the service is not available to members of the public, yet.

In autonomous trucking, we are on the precipice of the emergence of the “big three”: Aurora, Kodiak, and Bot Auto. Each company has distinct advantages—Aurora’s partnership with Uber Freight, Kodiak’s diversified business model and capital efficiency, and Bot Auto’s plan to operate their own trucking service. 

Episode Chapters

0:00 Waymo’s Los Angeles Public Launch 

4:10 Autonomous Vehicles on Freeways 

9:54 Zoox Hits The Road in San Francisco

18:27 Bot Auto

21:12 Autonomous Trucking Market

25:48 Highway Driving 

28:16 Instacart 

31:47 Off-Road Autonomy Market 

33:38 Next Week

Recorded on November 13, 2024

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