The Road to Autonomy

Tim Kentley Klay, CEO & co-founder of HYPRLABS, joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how the company is achieving autonomous driving in downtown San Francisco using just 33 watts of compute and zero simulation or HD maps. By prioritizing "learning velocity," HYPR utilizes an end-to-end neural network that learns continuously from real-world driving data, avoiding the structural noise injected by classical simulation and hand-coded heuristics.While the industry often relies on massive engineering teams and brute-force compute, HYPRLABS is executing a high-efficiency strategy with a team of just four engineers and a foundational model trained for only $850. Drawing inspiration from DeepMind’s AlphaZero, the company allows the AI to model the environment without predefined rules, using their autonomous vehicle fleet as a validation platform for a new category of robots launching next year.Episode Chapters0:00 Introduction to HYPRDRIVE1:30 HYPRDRIVE5:40 Learning Velocity 8:10 Building HYPR12:23 Training the System 18:55 The Origins of the HYPR Approach 21:36 Building Trust23:35 Simulation 27:07 $850 to Train the Model30:44 HYPR Robots33:22 Cameras35:16 What's Next Recorded on Sunday, December 14, 2025--------About The Road to AutonomyThe 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.

Rivian is making waves with its decision to build its own chips and lidar, moving away from NVIDIA. The introduction of a subscription service raises questions about distractions versus strategic moves. Wayve celebrates a significant partnership with Nissan for a rollout in North America and Japan starting 2027. Meanwhile, Uber grapples with its autonomy narrative as it gets overshadowed by competitors. The episode wraps up with insights into global autonomy trends and how various companies are adapting to the evolving landscape.

Ed Olson, Founder and CEO of May Mobility, dives into the transformative power of robotaxis in the rideshare realm. He explains how these autonomous vehicles can eliminate the frustrating 'rideshare lottery' by offering consistent, premium services. Olson discusses May's innovative partnerships with giants like Toyota and Uber, prioritizing hybrids for efficiency. He also highlights the importance of adaptable world models for various driving cultures and the social benefits of autonomy, especially for enhancing mobility for the elderly.

A thrilling showdown occurs in Dallas as Waymo outshines Uber with a surprise driverless announcement. The hosts dissect Uber's marketing missteps, highlighting an attendant spotted in promotional footage, raising questions about public perception. They also analyze the implications of Avride's limited launch area and debate what constitutes true commercial scaling. As Waymo expands into new cities, the race intensifies, stirring discussions on safety messaging and the autonomous trucking market heating up.

Hugh Nguyen, Partner, Automotive Technology & Mobility, KPMG and Lerrel Pinto, Co-Founder, Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI) joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss why the immediate future of humanoid robotics lies in enterprise applications, rather than consumer homes.Powering the humanoids is the software "brain" and system integration, which are becoming the primary differentiators over commoditized hardware. As humanoids scale, the timeline for adoption is accelerating; Lerrel predicts the deployment of one million robots by 2030, driven by acute labor shortages and the economic practicality of enterprise use cases compared to the regulatory hurdles of the consumer market.Episode Chapters0:00 Humanoid Robot Market6:44 Humanoid Due Diligence9:40 Humanoid Value Chain12:08 Humanoids Size and Hands16:52 Building Humanoids18:52 Humanoid Personalities20:24 Managing Humanoid Risk22:24 Humanoid Fleets25:36 Humanoid Use Cases29:58 China33:20 Humanoid Policy38:42 Chips45:44 Deploying Humanoids in the Workplace49:28 Future of HumanoidsRecorded on Thursday, November 6, 2025--------About The Road to AutonomyThe 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.

Walter Piecyk, an industry analyst known for his insights on transportation and autonomous vehicles, joins the conversation to discuss the launch of fully autonomous robotaxis by Uber and WeRide in Abu Dhabi. They explore WeRide’s ambitious fleet expansion and compare it to Pony.ai's growth strategy. The dialogue shifts to Waymo’s recent DMV approval in California, highlighting infrastructure challenges. Walter shares his firsthand experience with Tesla's FSD 14.2 in NYC, raising intriguing questions about driving behavior in an autonomous future.

Mark Seeger, Founder and Co-CEO of Glydways, explores innovative solutions for urban congestion with on-demand autonomous pods. He discusses how traditional taxi models can exacerbate traffic issues. Instead of expensive rail systems, Glydways offers a lightweight infrastructure costing only $20M per mile. Mark highlights the potential for scaling in global markets and the need for governments to embrace this disaggregated transit model. He emphasizes affordability, safety, and the importance of transparent collaborations for future deployments.

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s accelerated nationwide expansion with new markets, Minneapolis, Tampa, New Orleans, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando getting ready to come online, while breaking down and coin Waymo’s Six Stages of Autonomy.As Waymo expands, competition is brewing in Dallas where Avride in partnership with Uber and Lyft in partnership with Mobileye will begin to operate commercial robotaxi services later this year and into next year, as Dallas begins to emerge as a major robotaxi market.Beyond Waymo, the episode explores broader industry signals, from sidewalk delivery robots that are scaling, to Zoox’s extremely limited San Francisco deployment despite Amazon resources, and the accelerating Chinese robotaxi expansion into Europe.Episode Chapters0:00 Waymo’s On-Going Expansion 2:21 Waymo’s Disney World Opportunity 8:04 Waymo’s Six Stages of Autonomy 14:45 Waymo’s Upcoming Dallas Launch 18:08 Dallas Robotaxi Competition 20:36 Waymo’s Current Political Issues 25:09 Scaling Delivery Robots 28:41 Zoox Has Scale Ambitions 32:34 Foreign Autonomy Desk 33:21 Next WeekRecorded on Thursday, November 21, 2025--------About The Road to AutonomyThe 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.

Hugh Nguyen, Partner, Automotive Technology & Mobility, KPMG joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the emerging wave of autonomous vehicle partnerships, the hidden value in fleet operations, and the coming M&A consolidation that will reshape the industry.As the autonomous vehicle ecosystem accelerates through a phase of rapid partnership formation, the real value lies “below the line” with fleet operations, depot management, safety protocols, and operational expertise that rarely makes headlines. While the market fixates on vehicle counts and technology partnerships, the proprietary knowledge of how to actually deploy and scale robotaxi operations at profitable unit economics represents the true competitive moat. Hugh predicts the next 18-24 months will see continued partnership proliferation across global markets, followed by strategic consolidation driven not by headline M&A deals, but by precision talent acquisition and operational capability roll-ups. The winners will be those who control fleet operations, understand regulatory navigation, and can scale profitably. Capabilities that are increasingly attracting investor interest as the industry matures beyond the cult of the founder and towards operational excellence.Episode Chapters0:00 KPMG's Thoughts on Autonomous Vehicles 6:04 Autonomous Vehicle Partnerships 15:31 Emerging M&A Activity 23:48 What Happens When a Partnership Doesn't Work?25:47 Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Management 31:45 Autonomous Vehicle Asset Rollup 40:10 The "Passport" Model 47:17 Cult of The Founder48:54 M&A OutlookRecorded on Thursday, November 6, 2025--------About The Road to AutonomyThe 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 Waymo’s great highway unlock, their Bay Area expansion to 260 square miles and the launch of commercial service at the San Jose Airport.Despite the expansion, Waymo remains sharply vehicle-constrained. Bloomberg reported this week that the company is operating roughly 1,000 vehicles in the Bay Area, 700 in Los Angeles, 500 in Phoenix, 200 in Austin, and just 100 in Atlanta, for a total fleet of approximately 2,500 vehicles spread across all markets.In the autonomous trucking market, Kodiak continues to demonstrate that the economics work. With 10 fully driverless trucks generating revenue in the Permian Basin, the company logged 5,200 paid hours last quarter, up 166% from Q2, a meaningful validation of the model.Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Walt examine why technology leadership means nothing without scalable manufacturing partnerships and now how autonomous trucking is pulling ahead of robotaxis on business model execution, and what global expansion in Abu Dhabi and Singapore signals about the global competitive landscape.Episode Chapters0:00 Waymo Expands to Highways3:58 Vehicle Supply16:56 California Airports19:28 Tesla FSD Update21:42 Uber Ski25:21 Kodiak29:40 Foreign Autonomy Desk30:40 Next WeekRecorded on Thursday, November 13, 2025--------About The Road to AutonomyThe 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.