The Road to Autonomy

Damien Scott, Director of EV Product Strategy, BrightDrop joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss energy and the role that managing energy usage in real-time will play in a future with electrified transportation. The conversation begins with Damien discussing growing up in Botswana, flying around the country with his father who was a medical doctor and why his parents made the decision to homeschool him and his sisters. One of the amazing things about living on a remote game farm in Botswana is you have to become incredibly practical fixing vehicles, borehole pumps, electricity frequently goes down, and so there is a lot of direct exposure to the fundamental things that we use in our life. – Damien ScottHaving been exposed to medicine and aviation at an early age, Damien made the decision to go into technology after being inspired by science fiction. He wanted to work on technology that would bring about some of the more positive visions of the future that involved energy and transportation. While living on the farm, Damien’s father installed their first solar powered borehole pump, which reduced the families dependence on diesel. This was the first time that Damien was exposed to solar and the true benefits of the technology. Having experienced solar energy in a remote part of the world first-hand, Damien discusses the opportunities that he sees for solar energy. The market for renewable energy such as solar continues to grow and is projected to make up 27% of the world’s energy by 2050, coal still accounts for 27% of the world’s primary energy, roughly the same level as 50 years ago. In 50 years from now, how will the world’s mix of energy sources change?This is the big question. I think it boils down to a set of actions that technology companies will take, the policy makers will take. It’s not determined what this mix is going to look like, it is really ours as a species to make these decisions. – Damien ScottEnergy demand is growing globally and The US Energy Information Administration is projecting that the global energy demand will grow by 47% by 2050. To be prepared to handle this increase in demand, we have to start paying attention to energy demand and its impact on the energy grid. One of the first things to look at is, can we optimize what we have already and take the assets that we have — the electricity grid we have today and the one that we expect to evolve in the short to medium term and just use it more efficiently. – Damien ScottWhat happens when you electrify large fleets of commercial vehicles? What will their impact be on the energy grid? How do you manage the energy usage. This is the problem that Marain set out to fix and they are now doing it as part of BrightDrop.In order to create the future that we want, we have to simulate it. It’s really expensive to make the wrong decisions in our infrastructure buildout with the electricity grid. – Damien ScottThis approach will ensure that commercial EV fleet owners are properly prepared and not caught flat footed as they scale up their global electric vehicle fleets. As we are still early in the adoption of electric vehicles, the future is yet to be written in terms of how fleet operators will manage their fleets. Wrapping up the conversation, Damien shares his thoughts on the future of global energy consumption. The next decade leading up to 2030 is going to be the most important for energy and transportation across all areas, technology, business models, policy. – Damien ScottRecorded on Tuesday August 9, 2022--------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.

David Welch, Detroit Bureau Chief, Bloomberg and Author of Charging Ahead, General Motors, Mary Bara, and the Reinvention of an American Icon joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss market consolidation in the electric and autonomous vehicle markets along with his new book.The conversation begins with David sharing his thoughts on market consolidation in the autonomous vehicle market and who he thinks could potentially be acquired.Not all of these companies have to sell right now, but if capital markets stay as tight as they are, I think you are going to see a lot of action there. – David WelchOn the electric vehicle side of the equation, EV start-ups are having a hard time raising cash and when they successful raise capital, the capital is expensive. Some of the EV companies are spreading themselves too thin by focusing on multiple markets instead of having a a singular focus on developing a great electric vehicle. A subset of the electric vehicle market that is becoming over saturated is the last-mile electric van delivery market as GM scales BrightDrop and Ford scales their E-Transit van.Anyone trying to get into this business, including Rivian, they are going to have a tough time because Ford and GM not only have vans that are already being built, they have the industrial prowess and the factories to make a big go of it. – David WelchOutside of the electrification of vans, GM has made several savvy moves by acquiring Cruise and Marain among other all the while preparing for the future of mobility which will be on-demand, electric and autonomous. From an economics standpoint, GM is funding Cruise to the tune of $1 billion a year and Ford and VW are investing significant funds into Argo each and every year. The big question is, how long will GM continue to fund Cruise and how long will Ford/VW continue to fund Argo? David shares his thoughts on what the future could hold for Cruise and Argo and when GM and Ford will further tap outside investors and/or spin out the divisions once they start generating significant revenue. Waymo similar to Cruise is generating revenue from their robo-taxi business in addition to their Waymo Via trucking logistics business. Grayson asks David: what will it take and when does he think Alphabet will have their Amazon AWS moment and breakout Waymo earnings for the first time? I do not know if it’s monetary or has a number on it, I think it’s more a strategic thing. – David WelchWhile this will be a strategic decision, the bigger question at present time, do the autonomous vehicle companies have the right executive leadership to commercialize, scale and eventually run a profitable business? Grayson and David discuss the current state of management talent and why Cruise’s competitive commercial advantage could be the executives who joined from Delta and Southwest.Commercializing an AV company to running a profitable AV company requires a different set of management skills. While management will play a key role, a larger question is; will the robo-taxi business ever be profitable in it’s current state? This is not a high-margin business. It’s just one that they can do and has the potential to get very big in terms of revenue. – David WelchLooking at different commercial models, do we get to the point where one of the large AV developers pivots from operating a robo-taxi business to operating a licensing business? Possibly. I think there is a business there. – David WelchBased on the way Waymo is currently structured and being owned by a large technology company instead of an auto manufacturer, it’s a possibility. Grayson offers that the service could be called Waymo Drive and offered as a monthly add-on option for JLR vehicles. The core software would run on Google Cloud, leading to increased revenue in a division that is under Wall Street pressure to gain more marketshare. Or there is Walmart which is currently battling high-inflation make a move to acquire an autonomous trucking company with the long-term goal of lowering operating expenses? Grayson and David discuss as Walmart kicked the tires on acquiring Zoox prior to Amazon buying the company. Would Walmart consider acquiring Gatik?I do not think they are going to want to necessarily own these assets if they do not have to, they just need the benefits of it. – David WelchStaying on the topic of Wall Street, could SoftBank which is the second largest shareholder of Aurora with an 11.8% stake, force the company to split in two by merging the trucking side of the business with Uber Freight of which they are a 3.18% owner (of Uber) and possibly selling the car side of the business to Toyota which owns 6.72% of Aurora? Grayson and David discuss if this is possible and would it create long-term shareholder value?Or could a U.S. Class 1 Railroad make a move and look to acquire an autonomous trucking to expand their railroad operations by connecting the trains to autonomous trucks? The big question again is, does a U.S. Class 1 Railroad they have to own the company?The only reason railroad or anybody buys this is if It looks like they can no longer get access to the technology they need to work this into some sort of intermodal system. – David WelchWrapping up the conversation, David discusses his new book Charging Ahead, General Motors, Mary Bara, and the Reinvention of an American Icon.Recorded on Thursday, August 11, 2022--------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.

Bibhrajit Halder, Founder & CEO, SafeAI joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss autonomous mining and construction operations. The conversation begins with Bibhrajit discussing why in 2017 when the market was full of hype and investment dollars for passenger autonomous vehicles, that he bucked the trend and made the strategic decision to focus on the heavy equipment industry. Bibhrajit’s strategic decision is paying dividends today as the global mining industry is a $2 trillion dollar market with accelerating growth thanks in part to the growth of the electric vehicle market. The heavy equipment industry is a key supplier to this market, setting SafeAI up with the perfect scenario for growth, all the while helping to improve safety and increase operational efficiency through autonomy.This industry is also not the most safest industry. This industry also wants to run more efficiently. – Bibhrajit HalderThe largest deployment of heavy equipment autonomous vehicles is located in Australia where there are over 1,000 actively heavy equipment autonomous vehicles in operation today. The thousand autonomous trucks that have been running for seven or eight years, and they have moved about 4 to 5 billion tons of material over 24/7 operations without a single fatal accident. – Bibhrajit HalderMines in Australia are capitalizing on the efficiencies unlocked by autonomy and the positive benefits that this technology has on society. In Western Australia, SafeAI has a partnership with MACA to retrofit 100 heavy equipment trucks for autonomy. While Australia is a booming market for heavy equipment autonomous vehicles, the markets of Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Japan are emerging markets with growth potential. With autonomy scaling in the mining industry, Grayson compares the mining industry to the agricultural industry and asks Bibhrajit if he sees a global miner making autonomy acquisitions similar to the way John Deere has done to grow their business.If you look at in general, any industry this kind of fundamental technology, there will be consolidation. No doubt about it. There will be consolidation and that consolidation happens naturally as different players come up and show their strengths and weaknesses. – Bibhrajit HalderWhile consolidation will happen at some point in the global mining industry, Bibhrajit is laser focused on serving his customers for the long-term. That is both in the mining industry and the construction industry where SafeAI is actively expanding their business through a partnership with the Obayashi Corporation in Japan.This is the first step of our way to expand autonomous construction in Japan, and we are working hand-in-hand with Obayashi. – Bibhrajit HalderWrapping up the conversation, Bibhrajit explains how autonomy compliments the mining and construction industries.Recorded on Tuesday, August 2, 2022--------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.

John Rossant, Founder & CEO, CoMotion and Advisory Board Member, NEOM joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss the changing landscape of cities. The conversation begins with John discussing the vision for the futuristic region of NEOM which is roughly the size of Massachusetts located in the Northwest of Saudi Arabia. 95% of the NEOM region will be preserved in it’s natural state and there will be no highways or carbon emissions. Sustainability is at the core of NEOM.NEOM is a very big bet on hydrogen. The core energy of NEOM is hydrogen. – John RossantThe heart of NEOM should be THE LINE development which is a 75-mile long and 1,600 foot skyscraper which is connected by a high-speed train.The world does needs a radical experiment like this. We can not continue urbanizing as we have been, we are ruining the planet. If we can think of a way to do this in a sustainable way using renewable energy, that could be pretty interesting. – John RossantIn the United States, the City of Miami is growing and changing as new individuals move into the region from around the world. However the issue facing Miami today is the city’s all-in approach to cryptocurrency without diversification. Could the lack of the City’s diversification lead to another classic Miami boom and bust cycle? Grayson and John discuss the current state of Miami’s economy, while offering their unique opinions on the future of Miami. Miami, it’s a much much much bigger story than just crypto. – John RossantOne of the stories emerging in Miami is the focus on decarbonizing ocean transport. Over in NEOM, there is a a mixed-use urban development called OXAGON located in the Red Sea which when completed will be the largest floating structure in the world. In time, I think the Red Sea will become the new Mediterranean in terms of kind of yachting in paradise, boating, etc. – John RossantThe story emerging in Dubai is Cruise preparing to deploy the fully autonomous Cruise Origin in 2023 on public roads. With the advancement of NEOM and the emerging Cruise deployment in Dubai, the Middle East is beginning to emerge as a growing market for autonomy. While the Middle East is a growing market for autonomy, New York City is a shrinking market for mass-transit.Mass-transit and public transportation have to be made fun and seamless. – John RossantThis is where multi-modal and on-demand mobility is thriving as consumers want what they want, when they want it without friction. Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and John discuss why the future of mobility is choice. Recorded on Tuesday, July 26, 2022--------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.

Sonca Nguyen, Product Manager, Waymo joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss Waymo’s rider-only experience. The conversation begins with Sonca comparing and contrasting her first Waymo rider-only ride in Chandler, Arizona in 2019 to her first rider-only experience in San Francisco in 2022. From 2019 to 2022, the Waymo driver has matured and is now capable of handling even more demanding situations. The maturing of the driver was cultivated with the introduction of the 5th-generation Waymo Driver.The maturing of the Waymo driver really allowed us to expand our Waymo One service. – Sonca NguyenThe technical advancements and the maturing of the autonomous driving system has allowed Waymo to expand to downtown Phoenix and the Sky Harbor International Airport. With the resort town of Scottsdale being located 8.4 miles from the Sky Harbor Airport and 11 million tourists visiting Scottsdale each year, Grayson asks Sonca if there are plans to eventually offer a Waymo Sky Harbor to Scottsdale service. Waymo is fully committed to expanding our service there. – Sonca NguyenThe vehicles operating at Sky Harbor will be the Jaguar I-PACEs which have 25.3 cubic feet of cargo space. This space can hold 5 roller carry-on bags and will be available for travelers to store their bags on the journey to their destination, as the Waymo compute stack has gotten significantly smaller and more efficient over the years. Could Waymo’s airport expansion come to other cities such as San Francisco? It’s a possibility, but nothing is confirmed yet. However today in San Francisco, Waymo is operating a trusted-tester program for members of the public and is operating rider-only for employees. During this time Waymo has a learned how to improve the product, scale operations and operate a service with passengers. As the service opens up to members of the public, Waymo will continue to gather feedback which will further help to improve the product. As the service opens to the public in San Francisco, Sonca walks listeners through what the Waymo rider-only experience will be like in San Fransisco. One of the interesting things that Waymo has learned from passengers in San Francisco is that they prefer to be picked up in parking lots as opposed to the street. Wrapping up the conversation, Sonca shares her thoughts on how she sees autonomous driving technology evolving over the next decade. Recorded on Friday, July 1, 2022--------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.

Manju Hegde, CEO, Uhnder, joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss why 4D Digital Imaging Radar will enhance ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) safety. The conversation begins with Manju discussing why he gave a talk at the Univeristy of Michigan College of Engineering called; “When We Should Trust Self-Driving Cars” on July 28, 2016. The talk revolved around the topic of trust and the critical role it will play in the adoption of autonomous vehicles. Trust is important. Trust is in fact, critical. – Manju HegdeWithout trust, there will not be autonomous vehicles. Consumers have to trust that the autonomous vehicle will get them to and from their destination, safely and on-time. Trust is a thing that you have to earn slowly. It cannot be accelerated. – Manju HegdeTo build and maintain trust in autonomous vehicles, the proper exceptions have to be set. To properly set exceptions with the market and investors, Uhnder has focused on the ADAS market because as Manju says; “as a start-up revenue rules”. This philosophy was adapted and implemented because Uhnder is a semiconductor company which by definition is capital intensive. Radar which first got its start in World War II has traditionally been a capital intensive business, but it has been a business that has saved millions of lives around the world. Building upon the first radar systems which were produced in 1935 by Sir Robert Watson-Watt, Grayson asks Manju how radar has evolved since World War II. It’s the progress in electronics, because remember in the Second World War, the integrated circuit was not there yet. So that was a huge advance. Then the progress in communications, that’s more recent. I would say that from 1940’s to say the 1990’s, it was a tremendous increase in electronics. – Manju HegdeToday, a majority of vehicles on the road have radar. Radar on vehicles increases safety due to their ability to detect objects on the road. The next evolution of radar is 4D Digital Imaging Radar. 4D Digital Imaging Radar has advantages over analog radar such as increased resolution.The first vehicle that the Uhnder 4D Digital Imaging Radar will be available on will be the Fisker Ocean. Manju goes onto share the following about Henrik Fisker: He is kind of the like the Frank Lloyd Wright of automotive design. – Manju HegdeAs the market for 4D Digital Imaging Radar evolves, Manju shares his thoughts on how he sees the market maturing. Wrapping up the conversation, Manju highlights the benefits of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems).We should have better ADAS right now. – Manju HegdeRecorded on Friday, June 17, 2022--------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.

Peter Virk, Vice President, IVY Product & Ecosystem, Blackberry joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss how the connected car ecosystem is reducing friction and enabling new experiences for both drivers and passengers. The conversation begins with Peter discussing how his passion for cars first began and the summer holidays he spent repairing vehicles with his Uncle who worked at Ford.The passion first began with the toy cars that my parents bought me. That is where the obsession started. – Peter VirkFrom playing with toy cars as a child to repairing vehicles in the summer with his Uncle, Peter followed his passion and joined the Rover Group for a 25 year run. With 25 years of experience building and developing new technologies for Range Rovers, Grayson asks Peter how he thinks about the future of mobility.The future, if we were to really push the boundaries is, it should be, you should not have to think about it. You shouldn’t have to plan. My life, my schedule, will be planned. It’s got to know I have to get on the Eurostar tomorrow, and a vehicle will just turn up for me. – Peter VirkThe future of mobility is a frictionless experience that is always on-demand and always available. It’s a future that involves a lot less planning and a lot more enjoyment of moving from point A to point B. Connecting the dots and enabling this frictionless future is where the Blackberry IVY platform comes into the picture. The way that you reduce friction is, you make things happen. You make it easy. – Peter VirkAs we look into the future, the car of tomorrow will be connected and act as an IoT device which will unlock new features and experiences.The car of tomorrow with IVY will adapt. It will adapt to you. It will know your preferences. It will change. We’ve got software over-the-air around us now. So there will be new features. There will be ecosystem partners that we can allow to come in and work. These are not new innovations, these are expectations from consumers. – Peter VirkThese features will be platform agnostic and part of the connected car ecosystem. This ecosystem will be maintained and highly scalable. Consumers will demand that the ecosystem is always up to date and new features are added on a regular basis as they are accustomed to this from their smartphone and connected devices at home. It’s a term that I have used for many years, the always on, always connected, maybe even always listening and always available. These are foundational pieces that we expect, because that is what we got used to in our lives. Our smartphone may look like the screen is off, but it is actually on. It’s available, it’s listening, it’s giving me alerts when I need them. Why wouldn’t I not expect the same from my vehicle? – Peter VirkThe consumer expectation is coming to the vehicle and Blackberry IVY is the platform that will enable consumer expectations to be met in the vehicle. Blackberry’s heritage of encryption and security are translated into the IVY platform. It’s a pillar of strength for IVY.As consumers shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, the health of the battery is starting to become a hot topic. How will the health of the battery be monitored and how will the data be shared and with whom? IVY can solve this problem as it’s a scaleable platform built on encryption and security that developers can develop apps for the ecosystem. A software defined platform is the future.Wrapping up the conversation, Peter and Grayson discuss how automation can improve the user experience in the vehicle. Recorded on Tuesday, June 14, 2022--------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.

Greg Hrebek, President, Railspire joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss autonomous trains and their impact on the economy. The conversation begins with Grayson and Greg discussing the first partially automated train which debuted on London’s Victoria Line in 1967 and how train automation has evolved over the last 55 years. Looking to the future of autonomous trains, Greg shares the following insight:Where autonomy comes in is when you start treating autonomy as a tool, rather than the goal. If you have autonomy, you can then start doing more complex interactive interactions, we call that orchestration. – Greg HrebekOrchestration will lead to the growth of intermodal as shippers look to develop infrastructure as-a-service model when large logistics companies begin to leverage autonomous trucks and autonomous rail due to efficiencies. Today there are a lot of inefficiencies in the rail industry that can be solved with autonomy. Today, when a train comes into a yard with a crew, there is the chance that the crew could have to stay on the locomotive for 4 to five hours due to yard traffic. With autonomy, the wait is eliminated as the crew can disembark, while the locomotive waits and eventually drives itself into yard.It increases the efficiency of the network in the sense that you are not waiting on that crew to timeout. – Greg HrebekIn the rail industry there is a current lack of workers as railroads are struggling to hire. Jim Foote, CEO of CSX stated the following publicly at a 2022 AllianceBernstein Holdings conference: “CSX is turning away freight from customers, ceding cargo business to truckers as the railroad struggles to hire workers.” Technology is now a conversation of growth, not about labor savings. – Greg HrebekAs autonomy is introduced into the rail industry, it will help railroads grow and expand, which will have a positive impact on the economy. The technology will create new jobs various facets around the industry including maintenance as autonomous trains drive the track the same exact way each and every single journey. When you remove variants and variability out of something, things tend to break the same way over and over again. – Greg HrebekTaking a global approach, Greg shares his thoughts on autonomous train technology being exported to the world and where the technology will first be implemented. Grayson then asks Greg what role he wants Railspire to play as autonomous train technology scales.We want to be the folks that one enable yard operation, yard throughput. We really want to fundamentally get folks thinking around that orchestration layer. What is the next step beyond autonomy? Autonomy now we know how to do it. I call it an exercise in engineering, there is still a lot to figure out, there is a lot of logistics, but we see that we have proven it out. What is next? Once we have autonomous trains, what are the things we need to focus on? What are the things we have not thought about? Our goal is to help highlight those things. – Greg HrebekWrapping up the conversation, Greg shares is thoughts on how the freight rail market will change when autonomous locomotives scale. Recorded on Tuesday, June 7, 2022--------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.

Ted Tewksbury, CEO, Velodyne Lidar joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss Velodyne’s path to profitable LiDAR. The conversation begins with Ted discussing why he joined Velodyne now. I joined the company for three very simple reasons, first of all, I believe passionately that LiDAR is going to be an enormous market and it’s going to transform virtually every industry as we know it. Second, I believe that Velodyne has the right technologies at the right time to really capitalize on that opportunity. And, thirdly I knew that I had the right set of skills and expertise and grey hair to really help parlay the company’s technologies strengths into revenue growth, profitability and shareholder value. – Ted TewksburyIn 2021, Velodyne put in place a strong foundation for growth, including new executives and an upgraded Board of Directors. Now that the foundation has been laid, the company’s top priority for 2022 is to accelerate the company’s path to profitability. We are doing that by rationalizing our cost structure, while at the same time driving deployments of LiDAR at scale into a wide range of industries. – Ted TewksburyTaking a look at the current state of markets, Velodyne is prioritizing the industrial robotics and the intelligent infrastructure markets as the company focuses on generating profitable revenue today. Overlapping this market is the rapid growth of e-commerce fulfillment centers which inherently relay on industrial robots to move goods from the shelfs to the shipping line. It’s not just about sensors. At the end of the day, our customers are solving a business level problem, so we offer the full stack solution, software plus sensors. – Ted TewksburyUnder Ted’s leadership as CEO, the company is taking steps to lower the cost of LiDAR to sub $500 by offshoring manufacturing to Thailand. When the sub $500 LiDAR sensor is achieved, growth will be accelerated, especially in the automotive market. The biggest single challenge that faces not only Velodyne, but the entire LiDAR industry is cost. Because the competition is very inexpensive. The competition is radar and camera. – Ted TewksburyIn order to achieve cost reduction, the company has implemented a platform based design (MLA – Micro Lidar Array) strategy. With the company’s manufacturing occurring in Thailand and the current delay of 111 days for foods shipped from Asian Ports to the United States, Grayson asks Ted how he is managing the business for supply chain delays. We’re taking very proactive steps to alleviate bottlenecks. We are not just sitting idly by and waiting for the macro crisis to subside. First of all, we have lined up multiple sources for critical components, which gives us more flexibility. Second, we have redesigned some of our sensors to use more readily available components.Third, we’re judiciously building inventory on long lead-time components. Under those circumstances, that’s risky, and so we are requiring non-cancelable, non-returnable purchase orders from our customers. – Ted TewksburyBehind this strategy is Ted’s goal of Velodyne becoming the world’s first profitable LiDAR company. To achieve this goal, risk has to be managed and this is where the non-cancelable, non-returnable purchase orders strategy into comes into play. Velodyne is showing shrewd business acumen.Wrapping up the conversation, Ted shares his outlook on the economy. Recorded on Monday, June 6, 2022--------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.

Harry Campbell, The Rideshare Guy joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss the current state of the rideshare industry from the drivers’ perspective. The conversation begins with Harry sharing his thoughts on the current state of the rideshare business. One thing that has defined the rideshare is the shortage of drivers. The shortage on the supply side, and this extends to the macro environment too. Many industries across the board have kind of reported for various reasons that they cannot hire enough workers, and Uber and Lyft have been no stranger to that. – Harry CampbellA shortage of drivers is leading to steadily increasing rates for passenger rides. With inflation currently at 8.3% and the average gallon of gas being $4.60 in the United States, the question now becomes is it even profitable for rideshare drivers to drive for Uber and Lyft in this economic environment? For sure, it’s definitely profitable. – Harry CampbellHarry goes onto to break down the economic data that encompasses a rideshare ride for the listeners from both his personal experience and data released by Uber. To achieve profitability, it all comes down to the rideshare drivers’ strategy.With a potential recession on the horizon, Grayson asks Harry if rideshare drivers are currently preparing for an economic downturn and the impact it could have on their earnings. Unfortunately, not. – Harry CampbellUnfortunately this common throughout the rideshare industry as one of the most popular Uber features for Uber Drivers is Instant Pay. The popularity of the Instant Pay feature is inherently part of a larger overall socioeconomic trend. Planning for a rainy day or building savings is not top of mind for a majority of drivers as they are focused on day-to-day finances. This trend carries over to insurance requirements as certain rideshare drivers do not carry the proper insurance. If you are interested in learning more about all the facets of the Rideshare business, Harry authored the The Rideshare Guide: Everything You Need to Know about Driving for Uber, Lyft, and Other Ridesharing Companies book which breaks down the rideshare business in great detail. The business of ridesharing is not currently profitable for operators such as Uber and Lyft. Grayson poses the question to Harry: “Can Uber and Lyft ever become profitable based on the current ways the businesses are structured?” Grayson then asks Harry whether Uber Eats is weighing down the company’s opportunity to achieve profitability. On a unit economics basis, Uber Eats is dragging down Uber the ride side of the business. – Harry CampbellWith Uber constantly doubling down on their Eats business, does DoorDash with $4.2 billion of cash on their balance sheet and a market cap of $27 billion make a run and try to acquire Lyft which has a market cap of $6.1 billion to try and compete with Uber? Grayson and Harry discuss the potential for an M&A transaction. I wouldn’t be shocked if something like that happened in the future. – Harry CampbellIf this transaction were to happen, how would Uber react? Would this further Uber’s super app push? Harry shares his thoughts on how Uber could potentially counter the move. Could Uber look to sell Uber Freight which currently operates at a 1% margin to shore up their balance sheet and focus on their core business of rides and delivery?Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Harry discuss the future of the rideshare business and what happens when autonomous vehicles scale globally. Recorded on Tuesday, May 31, 2022--------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.