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The Road to Autonomy

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Apr 17, 2024 • 45min

Episode 192 | Autonomy Economy: From Boring to Billions: How Autonomy Could Transform Insurance Economics

Sergey Litvinenko, Co-Founder & CEO, Koop joined Grayson Brulte on The Autonomy Economy podcast how autonomy could transform insurance economics. As autonomous vehicles and robotic automation spread across industries, a massive new risk ecosystem is emerging that will require innovative insurance solutions. In a fascinating podcast interview, Sergey Litvinenko, co-founder & CEO of insurtech pioneer Koop, provided rare insights into how his company is leading the charge in underwriting this technological transformation.Traditional insurance carriers have been hesitant to dive into insuring autonomy risks like self-driving cars and warehouse robotics due to a lack of data and technical expertise. As Sergey explained, “If you can’t model the risk, you can’t underwrite it profitably.” This knowledge gap has created a massive greenfield opportunity for insurtechs focused specifically on robotics and AI.Koop has developed proprietary systems that ingest and analyze real-world sensor data from robots and autonomous vehicles to precisely model their behavior and safety performance. Using this cutting-edge approach, Koop has achieved stellar underwriting results, with loss ratios under 5% for its robotics book – compared to 70%+ for traditional P&C lines.This lucrative capability is allowing Koop to rapidly scale and cement its position as the dominant player in the burgeoning autonomy insurance market. Sergey believes large incumbents will be forced to partner with or acquire specialist providers like Koop rather than build expertise in-house. He forecasted robotics insurance could be a “tens of billions” dollar market delivering 30%+ underwriting profits.As AI ushers in a “Cambrian explosion” of robotic use cases across industries, demand for intelligently underwritten insurance solutions will skyrocket. Koop is uniquely positioned with the technical foundations, proprietary data, and risk modeling skills to capture this unprecedented opportunity.In Sergey’s words, “When you intersect tens of billions of deployed robots with insurance where you can deliver 30% annual returns…it just makes me very excited about the space.” The autonomy economy is materializing rapidly – don’t be surprised if the pioneering innovators insuring this revolution turn out to be young insurtechs like Koop rather than industry giants.Listen to the full podcast for more fascinating insights from Sergey Kravchenko on the future of autonomy insurance. The robotics risk market is open for disruption – will your company be leading or following?Recorded on Tuesday, March 26, 2024Episode Chapters0:10 2024 Insurance Market Outlook5:14 Cyber Security Insurance9:40 Underwriting Autonomous Vehicles and Trucks35:36 How Companies Should Prepare for Autonomy and Automation 37:44 AI Impact on Insurance 40:26 The Evolving Underwriting Markets for Autonomous Vehicles 42:34 Key Take Aways--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Apr 16, 2024 • 46min

Episode 191 | AI-First Approach: Bringing Silicon Valley’s Leading Edge to Global Automakers

Are you ready to go behind the scenes and uncover the secrets of the company playing a pivotal role in the future of autonomous and electric vehicles? In this riveting episode, we dive deep into the world of Applied Intuition, the Silicon Valley company partnering with automotive giants such as Porsche to develop groundbreaking software that will make self-driving cars a reality.Join us as host Grayson Brulte sits down with Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig, the visionary co-founders who are fusing cutting-edge artificial intelligence with decades of automotive expertise. You'll gain unprecedented insights into their bold mission to accelerate safe autonomy across industries – from transforming in-vehicle experiences to tackling defense applications.But that's not all! Brace yourself for insights into Applied Intuition's pioneering work, including their multi-stack strategy to future-proof technology, ambitious vehicle software platform to revolutionize mobile electronics, and the innovative ways they're empowering automakers to control the consumer experience like never before.Don't miss this opportunity to understand the forces driving autonomy and witness the birth of a new era in intelligent machines. Listen now and immerse yourself in a world where the boundaries of possibility are constantly being redefined.Episode Chapters0:00 The Road to Autonomy Index Introduction0:56 Series E Funding3:44 Applied Intuition AI Roadmap5:58 AV 2.010:00 Insights into the Chip Market11:04 Applied Intuition Trust Layer14:37 Autonomous Driving24:36 Applied Intuition x Porsche27:45 Software Development with OEMs36:54 Applied Intuition Defense Business39:24 Future of Applied IntuitionRecorded on Friday, March 29, 2024 --------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Apr 10, 2024 • 43min

Episode 190 | Autonomy Economy: Tesla’s Data Advantage in the Race to Develop Autonomous Driving

Pete Bigelow, Senior Reporter, Automotive News joined Grayson Brulte on The Autonomy Economy podcast to discuss Tesla’s data advantage and what it means to the development and commercialization of autonomous driving. The conversation begins with Pete and Grayson discussing Tesla FSD (Full Self-Driving) and the advantages Tesla has with their data gathering abilities. Tesla has over 5 million vehicles fitted with FSD hardware and software on the road today, driving an estimated 50 billion miles per year — 100,000 miles per minute. This on-going data collection gives Tesla a massive advantage over competitors developing an end-to-end neural net self-driving stack.Mobileye is taking a similar approach to Tesla by gathering real-world driving data to train their autonomous models. Currently Mobileye has over 26 years of data equaling over 200 petabytes of driving footage, equivalent to 16 million 1-minute driving clips. But is it enough data to train their autonomous driving models and scale a business?It has yet to be determined if there is a business there for Mobileye as year-over-year revenues are expected to be $226.35 million, down 50.6% from the year-ago. To try and accelerate revenue growth, Mobileye is moving the business away from ADAS chips to the autonomous driving sector which has larger margins. [Mobileye is] talking about going from roughly $50 dollars of revenue per unit to $1,500 with Supervision to $3,000 per car with Chauffeur. So I think that the path mobilize sees forward is really ramping up production of those systems, finding buyers for those systems, particularly in China.– Pete BigelowWhile it’s well known that Tesla is gathering driving data, it’s not well known that Mobileye is gathering driving data. Could consumers push back and demand to be paid a fee for gathering data for Mobileye? If consumers demanded to be paid, the Mobileye autonomous driving business model would be at risk. Then there is the political risk. What if a U.S. Congressman or Senator introduced a “Car Owner Bill of Rights”?The data being gathered by vehicles is going to be an asset class at some point in the future. When it becomes an asset class, owners of the vehicle will demand to get paid the same way publishers are demanding to be paid today when their content is used to train large-language models (LLMs). Data is the asset that unlocks future business models. One of the most significant business models that will emerge from the development of autonomous driving is licensing. If FSD use rates pick up and Tesla does indeed license FSD, RBC is projecting that Tesla will generate $35 billion in FSD revenue and $18 billion in licensing a year by 2035 for a total of $53 billion a year in revenue.Then there is Qualcomm. In Q1 FY 2024, Qualcomm reported automotive revenue of $598 million up from $456 million in Q1 FY 2023. An increase of $142 million, year-over-year. Sales were partly driven by the Snapdragon Digital Chassis Solution. Their year-over-year automotive revenue is growing faster than both NVIDIA and Mobileye. With a $30 billion dollar design pipeline and focus on ADAS, Qualcomm is well positioned to enter the autonomous driving market in a big way.Qualcomm has become already the quiet giant of the automotive industry. – Pete BigelowWrapping up the conversation, Pete shares his insights into how he sees autonomous driving market evolving over the next five years.Recorded on Friday, March 8, 2024 Episode Chapters0:10 Tesla FSD5:15 Mobileye19:51 Licensing Autonomous Driving Software 29:10 Qualcomm34:48 Evolving Autonomous Driving Market--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Apr 9, 2024 • 43min

Episode 189 | The Will To Over-Regulate: Inside California Legislators Fight for Local Control over Autonomous Vehicles

Adam Kovacevich, Founder & CEO, Chamber of Progress joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the regulatory environment for autonomous vehicles in California and what impact if passed, local control would have on the deployment on AVs in California.The conversation begins with Adam discussing why autonomous vehicles are so divisive in California. Today, there is a divide between the entrenched “status quo” and the residents of California that are excited to use autonomous vehicles on a daily basis. In someways this is such a threat to the status quo that unfortunately city leaders in both LA and San Francisco have resisted. – Adam Kovacevich, Founder and CEO, Chamber of ProgressPhoenix is taking the opposite approach of both LA and San Francisco. The city and the greater Phoenix metro region have welcomed autonomous vehicles into their communities with great success. Waymo vehicles operating in the region do not get high, they do not get distracted and the do not drive drunk. Yet, when the positive benefits are presented to officials in California, they do not want to hear it.I would like to think that Los Angeles will ultimately be one of the great markets in the world for autonomous vehicles, just because the car is so central to LA. – Adam Kovacevich, Founder and CEO, Chamber of ProgressWhile LA could ultimately be one of the great markets for autonomous vehicles, legislators in the State Assembly and State Senate are actively working to pass regulations that would effectively ban autonomous vehicles in California. If autonomous vehicles are essentially banned in California, the state’s economy would ultimately suffer from an economic downturn.One of the ways that clever legislators are trying to ban autonomous vehicles is by passing legislation that would give local municipalities regulatory control over autonomous vehicles. Each municipality would have its own set of regulations, and perhaps even their own DMV to enforce the regulations. If signed into law, the local control over autonomous vehicles bill would be an effective ban on autonomous vehicles in the State of California. Could you image if this proposed local control law was applied to drivers? If you wanted to drive to the beach from Downtown LA, you would pass through Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica all before ending up in Malibu. Five different cities, five potentially different sets of regulations. What if one of those cities decided they only wanted residents to drive in that city? You could potentially blocked from reaching the beach. Would this violate the California Coastal Act in some form or fashion? What is being proposed is not realistic. It’s being driven by special interests that want to see autonomous vehicles banned in the state. This is not about the citizens of the state or residents of the cities were autonomous vehicles operate, this is about control and appeasing special interests. It’s not practically about local control, it’s really effectively a ban. – Adam Kovacevich, Founder and CEO, Chamber of ProgressIf the local control bill is passed, signed into law and autonomous vehicles are effectively banned in California, the business exodus from the state would further accelerate. Businesses want to operate in a regulatory environment that is predictable, manageable and stable. Wrapping up the conversation, Adam and Grayson discuss what it would look like if autonomous vehicles were regulated at the federal level.Episode Chapters0:11 Why Autonomous Vehicles are so Divisive in California4:20 Benefits of Autonomous Vehicles7:41 Pending Autonomous Vehicle Legislation in California 19:55 Business Exodus from California28:33 Developing Public Trust in Autonomous Vehicles 34:11 Federal Regulation of Autonomous VehiclesRecorded on Friday, March 29, 2024 --------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Apr 3, 2024 • 58min

Episode 188 | Autonomy Economy: Demystifying the Economics of Autonomous Trucking

Brett Suma, Founder & CEO, Loadsmith joined Grayson Brulte on The Autonomy Economy podcast to discuss the unit economics of autonomous trucking and the Loadsmith self-balancing freight network. The conversation begins with Brett discussing the unit economics of traditional trucking.Trucking and the most successful trucking companies look at unit economics. However they are measuring their business, they are going to do it in a very unit way. Whether you are looking at revenue per truck per day, revenue per truck per week, revenue per truck per hour, depending on your business and how your business is operating, revenue per mile obviously. When you start looking at things like fuel surcharge per mile, your deadhead miles, your out of route miles, all of the things that build into those unit economics, that is the basis of trucking. So you have to look at things at a unit economic perspective. – Brett Suma, Founder & CEO, LoadsmithWhen autonomous trucks are introduced into the fleet the economics are going to change. Well, the whole thing is going to change. The entire economics of trucking are going to change and not in every lane on day one, and not even in every lane forever. But the economics of, let’s just call it your 20 most dense lanes in the United States are going to probably change very drastically, very quickly.Then it will continue to expand to the top 100 lanes from a density perspective, and it may settle in somewhere 150 to 250 total lanes that can support autonomous from an economics perspective. – Brett Suma, Founder & CEO, LoadsmithAutonomous trucks are first going to be deployed on over-the-road long haul routes, while the last-mile routes will still be driven by professional drivers. This dichotomy is going to lead to job creation and higher wages because of the demand for for first and last mile drivers. To capitalize on the hybrid network that is going to emerge from the mass deployment of autonomous trucks, Brett founded Loadsmith.Along with the emergence of autonomous trucks, zero-emission trucks are also beginning to come online. However, the unit economics of zero emission trucks do not calculate today due to their higher upfront costs which is 50% more on average than traditional diesel trucks. I’m very, very pro zero emission. I’m very, very pro autonomous. I do not think because of the cost of the truck that you’re going to be able to have zero emission in the middle mile at scale without it being autonomous. – Brett Suma, Founder & CEO, LoadsmithThis is partly because of the infrastructure and the economics to operate the service with a professional driver. Where zero emission trucks could thrive is in the first and last mile. While autonomous trucks will thrive in the middle-mile. To scale up their autonomous freight network, Loadsmith partnered with Kodiak. Wrapping up the conversation, Brett shares his opinion on the future of the freight industry.Episode Chapters0:23 Economics of Trucking3:24 Impact of Insurance Costs on Trucking Economics15:36 Economics of Autonomous Trucks24:56 Building a Hybrid Freight Network31:55 Founding of the Loadsmith Freight Network36:04 Unit Economics of Zero Emissions Trucks39:41 Economic Advantages of the Loadsmith Freight Network 42:20 Freight Balancing 48:24 Partnership with Kodiak51:24 Future of Freight IndustryRecorded on Thursday, February 29, 2024--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Apr 2, 2024 • 29min

Episode 187 | Scania's Customer-Centric Approach to Autonomous Trucking

Peter Hafmar, Vice President & Head of Autonomous Solutions, Scania (part of the TRATON Group) joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Scania’s customer-centric approach to autonomous trucking and their partnership with Plus. The conversation begins with Peter discussing Scania’s autonomy efforts and the four core principles of their approach:Focusing on the customer journey perspective.Concentrating on long-haul transport and confined mining applications.Maintaining control over their systems through strategic partnerships.Coordinating efforts across TRATON’s brands.Strategic partnerships are key to the development and commercialization of autonomous trucks. TRATON recently announced a partnership with Plus for the development and commercialization of SAE Level 4 autonomous trucks. The cultural fit and shared values between the two companies were one of the critical factors in the deal coming to fruition. Even with the Plus partnership, Scania intends to continue developing its own autonomous driving technologies in parallel. If we don’t understand the product, we will not be a good partner for Plus or anyone else either. – Peter Hafmar, Vice President & Head of Autonomous Solutions, ScaniaThis dual-track approach allows Scania to maintain deep technical expertise in autonomous driving. When it comes to commercializing autonomous trucking solutions, Peter details Scania’s “driver-as-a-service” model. Rather than competing directly with customers for transportation services, Scania aims to integrate autonomous driving into their existing operational systems and workflows seamlessly.The initial autonomous lanes will be determined entirely by customer needs and existing transportation routes. These lanes will most likely be long-haul routes due to the economics and acute driver shortages.Throughout the discussion, Peter underscores that partnerships, culture fit, and shared values are critical for scaling autonomous trucks successfully. It’s easy to forget about culture and values when you talk about technology, because it is essential that technology works, but it’s actually people that are developing everything behind. – Peter Hafmar, Vice President & Head of Autonomous Solutions, ScaniaWrapping up the conversation, Peter reaffirms Scania’s customer-first philosophy as the driving force behind their autonomous pursuits, ensuring solutions that unlock tangible value for their transportation partners.Chapters:0:11 Scania's Approach to Autonomous Trucking5:33 Scania's Autonomous Trucking Commercialization Strategy8:18 Autonomous Solutions for Minning11:02 Driver-as-a-Service Lanes13:45 Plus / TRATON Partnership16:06 Scania's History in Autonomous Trucks18:10 Customer Approach to Autonomy21:44 E.U. Autonomous Trucking Policy23:09 Rolling out Autonomous Trucks in the U.S. and E.U.26:34 Key TakeawaysRecorded on Tuesday March 19, 2024--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Mar 27, 2024 • 48min

Episode 186 | Autonomy Economy: The Economic Conditions Impacting the Adoption of Autonomous and Electric Trucks

Mazen Danaf, Senior Economist and Applied Scientist, Uber Freight joined Grayson Brulte on The Autonomy Economy podcast to discuss the economic conditions impacting the adoption of autonomous and electric trucks. In this engaging economic discussion, Mazen provides valuable insights into the forces molding the future of autonomous and electric trucking. With $18 billion of freight under management, Uber Freight has a unique vantage point into wider market dynamics.A key focus of the conversation is the recent rebound in consumer spending on goods, which increased 5% year-over-year in 2023 after a two-year stagnation. This positive demand signal bodes well for increased freight volumes and a potential freight market recovery emerging in Q2 2024, according to Mazen. Other indicators such as improving manufacturing data, reduced truck orders, and employment in long-haul trucking are creating conditions conducive to higher freight demand.However, Mazen cautioned that the $1.13 trillion in U.S. consumer credit card debt, while elevated, has returned to a manageable 5% debt-to-income ratio consistent with pre-pandemic levels. Monitoring factors like unemployment will be crucial to gauge if the consumer remains able to sustain spending.Turning to transformative freight technologies, Mazen emphasized the importance of analyzing autonomous and electric truck adoption through a comprehensive economic lens rather than a tech lens. Long-term, he expects a decades-long transition facilitated by a hybrid approach of both autonomous and professional driver operations.For electric trucks, substantial public and private investment is needed to build out charging infrastructure at scale. Freight-dense interstate corridors like Los Angeles-Inland Empire and Dallas- Houston are prime candidates for targeted electrification efforts to maximize emissions reduction.The overarching theme of the podcast was consumer behavior, market forces, infrastructure, and the regulatory environment will all shape trucking’s autonomous and electric future as much as the technology itself. Mazen stressed, “it’s interesting to look at the broader context…because it will definitely have an effect.” Uber Freight’s vast data intelligence provides a powerful economic prism through which to forecast this transformation.Chapters:0:00 Introduction 0:40 Consumer Spending and The Economy 6:50 Fed Interest Rate Cuts 9:12 Real Estate Markets 11:08 Layoffs 12:50 Decline in Freight Market Job Growth 14:40 Carriers Investing in Autonomous Trucks 21:04 Autonomous Trucks and Intermodal 24:13 Autonomous Trucking in California 27:34 Autonomous and Electric Trucks Impact on Jobs 31:15 Introducing Electric Trucks into Fleets 41:27 Q4 2023 Truck Sales Decline 43:44 Freight Recovery 45:43 Key TakeawaysRecorded on Thursday, February 15, 2024--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Mar 26, 2024 • 35min

Episode 185 | AV 2.0, Wayve's Approach to Autonomous Driving

Alex Kendall, Co-Founder & CEO, Wayve joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Wayve’s AV 2.0 approach to autonomous driving.The conversation begins with Alex discussing the founding of Wayve and how their autonomous driving stack has evolved.Yes, we started with cameras, but a common misconception is that we think camera only is the way to go. Actually I think the sensing stack you need to use should be based on safety, scalability and economics. – Alex KendallWayve’s approach to autonomous driving has attracted world class investors such as Microsoft. Last year, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates visited Wayve and took a ride in their autonomous vehicle through the central London and Soho on an unmapped, un-planned route. The whole thesis behind our approach is to build a system that can learn behavior. – Alex KendallThis approach is called AV 2.0. It is being developed with end-to-end neural networks that are economically scalable. Does this approach end up being the most common approach to solving autonomous driving? Tesla is taking a similar approach with the introduce of FSD 12.0. Could Wayve and Tesla usher in a future with end-to-end neural net autonomous vehicles?As Wayve begins to commercialize their autonomous driving technology, they are first deploying their software as a driving assistance system with OEMs.We don’t need to change any hardware, add-on or retro-fit anything. We can work with production vehicles today and have the neural network deployed. The advantage of this is that we can start to give consumers exposure to embodied AI, rather than dropping in an L4 solution from day zero. We give them an exposure to a companion co-pilot driver assistance system and it can learn overtime quickly developing to a point where it can become L4 and autonomous. – Alex KendallThe advantages of this approach is that it allows Wayve to generate revenue today, gather more data to train the neural nets all while building public trust. The more data, the better the neural nets and there is also the opportunity to license data to other autonomous vehicle developers. It’s a strategic approach with lots of options as Wayve has chosen to partner with OEMs and not build their own vehicle. Wrapping up the conversation, Alex share his thoughts on embodied AI and the future of Wayve.Episode Chapters0:08 Founding of Wayve 5:34 Bill Gates Goes For a Ride6:35 AV 2.019:22 Wayve Commercialization Model24:22 Testing Autonomous Vehicles in London26:02 Data as an Asset Class29:51 Partnership Approach30:59 Future of WayveRecorded on Friday, March 8, 2024--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and analysis on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy podcast and This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Mar 20, 2024 • 42min

Episode 184 | Autonomy Economy: Economic Impact of Autonomous Vehicles on Health Care

Dr. Peter Weiss, Board Certified Physician and Health Care Entrepreneur joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy: Autonomy Economy podcast to discuss the economic impact that autonomous vehicles will have on health care.The conversation begins with Dr. Weiss discussing how he views autonomous vehicles and the delivery of health care complimenting each other in the future.Health care is more then just seeing the physician or a health care provider, it’s about getting from point A to point B to provide that care. – Dr. Peter WeissIn the future autonomous vehicles will have the capability to determine if a passenger is having a heart attack, potentially saving their life. The question of who makes the decision to re-route the autonomous vehicle to a hospital is yet to be determined. The vehicle could ask the passenger for permission, but what if that individual is unconscious? Then what happens? If the passenger is unable to respond to the question, then the car should be able to then directly take the passenger to the hospital and at the same time notify the hospital that we have a patient coming in with certain blood pressure, certain atrial fibrillation. All this information that can could really save a life. – Dr. Peter WeissIs legislation needed to limit the liability of that decision? Most likely, as the decisions made will open a formidable maze of legal liabilities. Then there is the aspect of insurance and what hospital the passenger is rerouted to for medical care. Are those doctors and hospital in-network or out of-network? Who is responsible for the difference in cost?In 2022, hospital expenditures grew 2.2% to $1.35 trillion according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Could rerouting autonomous vehicles with unwell passengers add to the growing hospital expenditures? Yes. When health care is able to be delivered in an autonomous vehicle, there could be cost savings that would offset those growing expenditures.It’s not just hospital expenditures that are growing, it’s the overall cost of delivering health care. In 2022 U.S. consumers spent 8% of their income on health care, only 4.8% less than they spend on food according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Overall health care expenditures grew 4.1% to $4.5 trillion equaling $13,493 per person, accounting for 17.3% of GDP. A percentage of the increasing expenditures could be correlated to motor vehicle crashes. Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in their United States with over 100 people dying everyday. In 2015, more than 2.5 million drivers and passengers were treated in emergency rooms as a result of being injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes. The economic impact of these crashes is notable. For crashes that occurred in 2017, the cost of medical care and productivity losses associated with occupant injuries and deaths from motor vehicle traffic crashes exceeded $75 billion. If autonomous vehicles can eliminate a majority of these crashes, the economic not to mention societal impact could be astronomical. You would save billions of dollars in costs that could be provided for underserved communities that need treatment for asthma, for all of these other things that could be done. There is a greater utilization of the money that could be provided for care. – Dr. Peter WeissAutonomy and autonomous vehicles are good for society and the economy. They will have a positive economic impact on health care while making the roads safer. Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. Weiss share this thoughts on the future of medicine. Episode Chapters0:00 Introduction0:43 Autonomous Vehicles and the Delivery of Health Care6:48 Growing Medical Expenditures17:41 End of Life Medical Care Costs 20:32 Personal and Business Spending on Health Care 27:28 Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes 33:42 Neuralink37:17 Future of MedicineRecorded on Sunday, February 4, 2024--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Mar 19, 2024 • 43min

Episode 183 | The Partner Approach to Developing Autonomous Driving Systems

Steven Jenkins, Vice President of Technology Strategy, Magna joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Magna’s partner approach to developing autonomous driving systems. The conversation begins with Steven discussing how Magna is approaching safety systems. Magna is one of the only real few suppliers that has the entire set of enablers to make it happen and do a complete system. So we are thinking about the whole system as a package rather then individual pieces of the package, and that allows us to develop these market leading products that deliver the enhanced safety and convenience for the driver. – Steven Jenkins The software defined vehicle will unlock continuous updates to the vehicle, unlocking new features and functions. Eventually these software updates will be able to upgrade vehicles to enable autonomous driving functionality depending on their sensor package. As vehicles become more advanced with higher levels of autonomy, the debate around driver monitoring creeps into the conversation and ultimately leads to the question; when is the right time to introduce driver monitoring? That question ultimately comes down to the OEM. While the OEM makes that decision, Magna is working on a series of in-cabin monitoring solutions that benefit the driver and the passengers. This approach will benefit their OEM customers as they introduce higher levels of autonomy. Magna is approaching autonomy as as a step-wise approach.In a kind of autonomous scenario you are really taking a kind of huge leap in terms of what you can do with a vehicle, but you are not taking as big as a leap when it comes to technology. A lot of things are pretty similar. – Steven Jenkins A hybrid market that comprises of both robotaxis and personally owned autonomous vehicles could emerge at some point in the future. How the economics of these models emerge will depend on the companies that make the product available and take the risk from a financing perspective. Either way, Magna will be there from a technological standpoint to help their partners and customers usher in the future of autonomy. Wrapping up the conversation, Steven shares his opinion on the future of mobility. Episode Chapters0:00 The Road to Autonomy Index Introduction0:56 Magna’s Complete Safety System Approach 4:25 Software Defined Vehicles6:07 Neural Network Approach to Autonomous Driving10:28 Driver Monitoring16:31 Magna’s Approach to Autonomous Driving31:09 New and Emerging Technologies37:07 Staying Ahead of the Market38:54 Future of MobilityRecorded on Monday, March 11, 2024Magna International is a The Road to Autonomy Index component company--------About The Road to AutonomyAbout The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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