Episode 315 | Autonomy Markets: We Rode in Tesla’s Robotaxi, Here’s Our Experience

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk headed to Austin, Texas to experience Robotaxi firsthand.

After spending the week in Austin and experiencing Robotaxi firsthand, we came away truly impressed. Tesla did it, they cracked full self-driving with a vision-only system. From our very first ride we noticed how the autonomous driving system was confident, yet not risky. It performed at a high-level and even out performed Waymo in several instances when we tested both autonomous driving systems side by side in a variety of real-world scenarios.

Over dozens of fully autonomous rides, Robotaxi navigated city streets, handled tricky parking situations, and adapted seamlessly without a single intervention. The experience exceeded our expectations, and further validated that Tesla’s vision-only approach is not just a technical milestone, but it is the future of autonomy.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Robotaxi Special Edition

1:29 First Robotaxi Ride and Our Impressions

7:47 Robotaxi Learnings

11:33 Expanding Austin ODD

14:46 Robotaxi, Waymo on Uber

20:44 Grocery Stores

25:24 Austin, Safety Attendants, & Maintenance

29:53 Blending In

Recorded the Week of July 7, 2025

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