Bryan Hurd, Vice President, Chief of Office, Aon Cyber Solutions (Stroz Friedberg) joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss the current state of cybersecurity and why cyber intelligence is critically important for Governments and Publicly Traded Companies.The conversation begins with Bryan discussing the founding of the U.S. Navy’s First Cyber-Counterintelligence Program at Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Expanding upon the founding of the program, Bryan goes onto discuss Cliff Stoll, “Hanover hackers” and nation-state cyber attacks.Then there is the emerging threat of the non-nation state of hackers which are having an impact on society.Popular culture makes it cool to be a hacker. – Bryan HurdGrayson asks Bryan what assets hackers are looking to steal and compromise. International organized crime is focused on ransomware and IP Theft, while nation-state hackers are focused on gathering intel and plans on how the military develops planes and sensitive military assets.The dwell times for these bad actors vary depending on the sophistication of the organization and what they are looking to achieve. At times international organized crime will gather all of the data they want, then lock the data and demand a ransom that is paid in crypto coin.Ransomware is a clear and present danger to the United States. – Bryan HurdWith ransom being paid in crypto coin, Grayson and Bryan go onto discuss the potential regulation of Bitcoin and the impact it would have on the market if a “know your customer” regulation would be put into place. Shifting the conversation to transportation, Bryan discusses the founding of the No Fly List and how it was developed using machine learning.As society beings to shift towards electric vehicles, Grayson asks Bryan why there is not a larger conversation taking place on how you secure the energy grid from a potential cyber attack. Securing the energy grid is critically important as millions of consumers begin to drive charge their electric vehicles.Securing intellectual property (IP) for large knowledge-based companies is also critical as the valuations of those companies are partly based on their IP portfolios. Using the Waymo vs. Uber lawsuit as an example, Grayson brings up Exhibit 22 from the trial as an example of why cyber intelligence and on-the-ground intelligence is critically important for companies developing new technologies.If your entire company’s net worth is based on intellectual property (IP), a formula for a soft drink, a vaccine formulation, or intellectual property on how to make the next driverless automobile, then that is information that needs to be protected from an IT and tagging/data loss prevention and employee contracts for the level that is appropriate to your company. – Bryan HurdThis raises the question of how connected should the Board of Directors be to the industry of the company of the board that they are sitting on?Just the right bit of intel at the right time can either save you billions in research and development or get you there faster than the people who actually founded it. – Bryan HurdLooking at the current state of the world and events shaping the global economy, Grayson asks if bad actors are looking at the economic and supply-chain damage that the Ever Given container ship caused when it blocked the Suez Canal as an idea for a possible cyber attack. What if cyber terrorists could take control of container ships to cause economic harm globally?Bryan talks about the current state of cyber terrorism, what bad actors are targeting and what the response could look like in the future. As society becomes more and more connected, it will be inherently important for companies to build trust around their products and services.Trust is not only to the brand. It is to the uptick of any new technology or service. Spending a little bit more at the beginning to ensure that trust has a good foundation is going to be a more central discussion. – Bryan HurdWrapping up the conversation, Bryan discusses what we can do as a society to stay pro-active and why cyber intelligence will continue to be top of mind for Government, companies and individuals.Recorded on Tuesday, April 6, 2021--------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.

Jeremy Bezdek, Managing Director, Strategic Platforms, Koch Industries (KSP), and Kristof Vereenooghe, CEO of EVBox Group join Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss scaling electric vehicle charging globally through strategic partnerships.The conversation begins with Jeremy sharing a high-level overview of Koch Strategic Platforms and the company’s mandate.Koch Strategic Platforms mandate is to look for companies to invest in tail-wind industries and companies looking for growth equity. Either as public companies or late-stage private companies, maybe soon to be public companies. We invest in key verticals, specifically industry 4.0, connectivity, healthcare technology, and energy transformation. – Jeremy BezdekTaking a look at the EV charging industry, Kristof discusses fragmented markets and how EVBox’s market share in Europe combined with their open-architecture platform gives the company a strategic advantage.We are headquartered in what I call the Silicon Valley of EV charging. – Kristof VereenoogheAs EVBox begins to scale in the United States, Koch Strategic Platforms is actively collaborating with EVBox to assist the company with scaling the business in the U.S. In addition to the strategic capital relationship with Koch Strategic Platforms, EVBox has a partnership with TPG.With the partnership with TPG and going public, it will give us the capital and the resources to scale. Most importantly, many competitors in the U.S. are closed systems and do not provide the same benefits as EVBox. There is a real need for our model and our software here in the U.S. market. – Kristof VereenoogheKoch’s has a long-term relationship with TPG. It is through this relationship that Koch first developed a relationship with EVBox, and later invested.With their footprint, their European leadership position, and quite frankly our energy transformation vertical it made sense. It was a perfect fit for what we were looking for. With the vision that Kristof had to do a U.S. rollout, we felt that our capability could be applied to help them. It was a perfect fit for us to invest. – Jeremy BezdekShifting the conversation to strategy, Grayson asks Kristof to discuss the EVBox strategy and the company’s relationship with three out of the four largest European automakers. EVBox’s competitive advantage is the company’s open-architecture platform.With the competitive advantage of the open-architecture platform secured, EVBox is focused on developing a world-class brand that will have a positive impact on society.We are planting a tree for every charging station that we ship. – Kristof VereenoogheOperating in over 70 countries presents opportunities and challenges. The brand has to be adapted to local customs, habits, and languages. Today, EVBox software is running software in over 21 languages.With Koch being a global company with over 130,000 employees there are a lot of opportunities inside of Koch Industries. Jeremy goes onto to explain how Koch Industries and EVBox are collaborating on opportunities from installing charging stations to helping with the supply chain for materials.Wrapping up the conversation, Jeremy and Kristof explain the opportunity for electrifying fleets.Recorded on Thursday, March 18, 2021--------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.

Chen-Ping Yu, Co-Founder & CEO, Phiar joins Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss why augmented reality is the window to the world.The conversation begins with Chen-Ping discussing his time at Stony Brook University followed by Harvard. At Harvard, Chen-Ping was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Cognitive and Neural Lab where he studied the brain.I had the pleasure to work with a group of cognitive and neural scientists to combine what they have learned about the brain with deep-learning computer vision. – Chen-Ping YuIt was during his time driving in Boston, that Chen-Ping had an “ah-ha” moment that would lead to the founding of Phiar.Why couldn’t someone show me my route by overlaying that to the actual camera feed instead of drawing it on a map? – Chen-Ping YuSince no one was doing it, Chen-Ping decided to go for it and solve the problem that he experienced driving in Boston. He set out to build AR navigation.Phiar was founded in 2017 when VR (virtual reality) was dominating headlines and film studios were building labs to better understand the technology. Consumers were associating Google Glass with AR (augmented reality) leading to a general misunderstanding in the marketplace about what is AR.Today, a lot has changed. Studios are no longer investing in VR (virtual reality) and companies such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google are all rumored to be working on AR products.Chen-Ping goes onto share his thoughts on the current state of AR and why software combined with hardware is the path forward.AR is absolutely exciting. – Chen-Ping YuWith a clear understanding of software integrated with hardware being the path forward, Chen-Ping decided to focus on the automotive market. Software integrated with hardware is the Apple model.Grayson asks Chen-Ping what his thoughts are on a possible AR automotive services business for Apple.People are looking at automotive vehicles as the next big platform for software. Even automotive players are trying to redesign and upgrade their whole architecture into a more software-driven [approach]. – Chen-Ping YuLooking to the future, Grayson asks Chen-Ping if Phiar will stay platform-agnostic and what his thoughts are on a potential Phiar App Store. It is possible, but only time will tell.Shifting the conversation back to services, Grayson talks about why Airbnb will be one of the biggest benefactors of augmented reality in vehicles. In a post-COVID world, there will be a huge demand for experiences. AR will be able to unlock digital experiences that are not possible today. This will create massive new revenue opportunities for companies such as Airbnb.Wrapping up the conversation, Chen-Ping and Grayson discuss how to make an augmented reality map without pre-mapping and the role that AI plays in enabling AR.Recorded on Friday, March 12, 2021--------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.

Chris Ballinger, Founder & CEO, MOBI (Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative) joins Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss the new economy of movement.The conversation begins with Chris discussing international economics, monetary economics, and private money.Marginalism. The idea that prices are determined on the margin. That it is the margin that matters. It’s the marginal transaction that determines the cost, the opportunity, the opportunity cost. – Chris BallingerWith over 28 years of experience in the finance industry, Chris shares his thoughts on digital currency and the potential impact of regulation on digital currencies.Touching on Facebook’s Libra digital currency, Chris explains why Government policy and Government opposition can change the path and plans of an organization as large as Facebook. Breaking this down further, Chris lays out the reasons why Government’s around the world opposed the new digital currency.The plan was to hold reserves in relativity safe sovereign and bank assets. Well, the problem is if you are running a reserve and your revenue source is carried on that reserve, then there is a strong temptation to stretch a little bit, to take a little more risk to increase the return.That works out great in most environments, but as soon as you have a shock, then the additional risk, the additional leverage that has been put in can cause problems.If you have a breakdown or a sudden failure of trust in a global world currently that is out of Government control, then you have a real problem. – Chris BallingerWith the crypto market becoming extremely heated, Grayson asks Chris about financial bubbles and what patterns he saw during his years on trading floors. After Chris’ insight, Grayson asks how those patterns might apply to today’s low-rate environment.The underlying technology of cryptocurrency is blockchain. With a strong foundation laid in financial markets, Grayson shifts the conversation to discuss what is possible when applying blockchain to mobility.You can link the vehicle’s digital twin (decentralized digital identifier) to location. If you can link location and the vehicle’s trusted identity, then you can create a trusted trip.If you can create a trusted trip, you can pay as you go for things. You can do micro-tolling, you can do road usage charge, you can do usage-based insurance, there are all kinds of things that now become possible. – Chris BallingerGrayson expands the conversation into in-vehicle commerce and what is possible when the vehicle has a trusted identity. Chris discusses the digital VIN and the role it will play in the future of digital commerce.A digital VIN in the future will be a “living birth certificate” which helps to eliminate fraud such as lemons and increase trust in the chain of custody.[With blockchain] you can trace the chain of custody of data back to the original source. – Chris BallingerTelematics combined with a digital VIN opens the opportunity to fund infrastructure development in new ways such as micro-tolling. Doing this digitally will save tax-payers money as Governments will not have to build-out physical tolling infrastructure. This is all possible with an in-vehicle digital wallet.With everything being connected and tracked, privacy concerns are being raised by consumers. Chris explains why the data belongs to the customer and what is being done to protect consumer privacy using mobility services with blockchain.On March 8, 2021, The MOBI Connected Mobility Data Marketplace (CMDM) Working Group released standards to enable a marketplace that could securely commodify mobility data and ensure data privacy for mobility users.Standards will play a large role in the future of mobility. Standards will enable the future of autonomy. Grayson asks Chris if standards are needed to enable secure in-vehicle commerce.Money is a standard. Driving on the left or right side of the road in different countries in a standard. – Chris BallingerIndeed they are needed. Chris goes onto explain coordinated autonomy and why standards are needed to make this a reality.Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Chris discuss digital IDs and how they will enable in-vehicle commerce. Chris explains how digital IDs can enable autonomous organizations. These organizations will be autonomous vehicles that will be able to conduct commerce autonomously on the edge and buy other less profitable autonomous vehicles.Recorded on Friday, March 5, 2021--------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.

Dr. Jerry Parrish, Chief Economist and Director of Research, Florida Chamber Foundation joins Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss the diverse and growing economy of Florida.The conversation begins with Dr. Parrish discussing the current state of the Florida economy and The Florida Scorecard. Expanding upon the conversation about the economy, Dr. Parrish talks about The Florida 2030 Blueprint and what the Florida Chamber is doing to prepare for the continued growth of the Florida population.Before COVID, Florida since 2015 was creating 1 out of every 11 jobs in this county. – Dr. Jerry ParrishToday 800 net new individuals a day are moving to Florida.Because of COVID, you will see more and more people move to Florida. – Dr. Jerry ParrishIndividuals are moving to Florida for the quality of life, job opportunities, and the #1 Higher Education System in the United States.The State also has a vast hospitality and tourism industry that employs hundreds of thousands of individuals in the State.Our tourism industry has been the trainer of people for all industries in the State of Florida and has been for a long time. – Dr. Jerry ParrishIndividuals working in these jobs understand people skills and how to deal with conflicts without escalating the situation. This is an incredible skill that is tremendously valuable for any industry. Dr. Parrish goes onto discuss why these skills are so important.The Space Coast is back and operating at full capacity once again with the average manufacturing job in Brevard County paying $90,000 a year.Over the past few years, Florida has been growing manufacturing jobs at 3 times the U.S. rate. – Dr. Jerry ParrishFlorida also has a thriving agricultural business with over 47,000 commercial farms and ranches using over 9.45 million acres in the States to farm and raise livestock.Palm Beach County is the #1 agricultural county in the State of Florida. – Dr. Jerry ParrishThe agricultural industry in Florida employs over a million individuals and contributes more than $131 billion to the state’s economy each year.With an influx of tech companies relocating to Florida and creating new high-paying jobs, Grayson asks Dr. Parrish what new businesses might be founded in Florida over the next 10 years.Florida has a booming autonomous vehicle industry with Argo AI operating and expanding in Miami-Dade County. With the signing of HB 311 by Governor DeSantis, Florida became the most AV-friendly State in the country. With great weather, an incredible talent pool and some of the best universities in the world, the future of the autonomous vehicle industry is being developed in Florida.With the Florida 2030 Blueprint, we are setting the stage for by 2030, we can have an economy that nobody will want to leave. There won’t be any reason why somebody wouldn’t want to come to Florida to do business.Florida will be a business-friendly State. We will have the technology that we need. We will have the talent that we need. Talent is the key to economic development. – Dr. Jerry ParrishWrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Dr. Parrish discuss Mayor Suarez‘s savvy use of Twitter to recruit tech companies to Miami and what Florida’s economy will look like in the future.Recorded on Tuesday, February 23, 2021--------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.

Florida State Senator Jeff Brandes joins Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss the big idea and why Florida is the perfect environment to operate autonomous vehicles.The conversation begins with Senator Brandes discussing his experience serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom as a transportation officer. During his time in Iraq, Senator Brandes read Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman. This book had a profound effect on him and changed the way he sees the world, chooses to govern, and propose legislation.Operating convoys in Iraq also had a tremendous impact on Senator Brandes. One that would lead to one Senator Brandes Big Ideas a Florida State Legislator.It would be a lot safer if I did not have to have soldiers in these convoys and they could operate autonomously. – Florida State Senator BrandesAs an incoming State Senator in 2012, Senator Brandes wanted to distinguish himself from a great class of legislators. To do this, he reached into his past experience and embraced a Big Idea – Autonomous Vehicles after watching Sebastian Thrun‘s Google’s driverless car TED Talk over a dozen times.There is one big idea in every area of public policy. – Florida State Senator BrandesTo make this Big Idea a reality, Senator Brandes reached out to Google and sought their assistance. The legislation which made testing autonomous vehicles on public roads legal passed unanimously and HB 1207 was signed by Governor Rick Scott in 2012.HB 1207 laid the groundwork for what Florida has become today, the Capital of Autonomous Vehicle deployments and commercialization in North America.Florida has the best laws on the books as it relates to self-driving. We have the best laws on the books as it relates to ride-sharing. – Florida State Senator BrandesInnovative companies have a long history of moving and expanding their operations to Florida from California partly due to regulation. This trend started in earnest when Walt Disney began acquiring land in the 1960’s to develop Walt Disney World.Today, history is repeating itself as innovative autonomous vehicle companies such as Argo AI and Luminar are operating in the State. They are creating high-paying jobs and having a positive impact on the economy.You have to be competitive globally, not just amongst the States. What can we do to remove the barriers? Florida has the perfect environment to operate these types of vehicles. – Florida State Senator BrandesWhen you combine Florida’s tourism industry with frictionless mobility services, magic happens.Florida is a mobility story as much as it is anything else. Whether it be Henry Flagler or Walt Disney. These are all mobility stories. – Florida State Senator BrandesFrom autonomous mobility to space flights, Florida is leading on innovation. Florida is also leading on issues such as criminal justice reform. It is an issue that Senator Brandes has championed as it is a big idea.Senator Brandes shares the story of how he first became interested in criminal justice reform. It’s a powerful heart-wrenching story. A story that leads Senator Brandes to take a leadership position working on solutions that will have a positive impact on society.Another issue that is impacting businesses and schools today is COVID-19. Senator Brandes has filed legislation to protect health care providers, businesses, and schools from COVID-19 liabilities. The conversation evolves into a discussion about Governor Ron DeSantis’ decision to open schools and the long-term positive impact on children in Florida.It was the best decision [Governor Ron DeSantis] made since the beginning of COVID. – Florida State Senator BrandesWith schools open, businesses open, companies are flocking to Florida in droves. The trend did not just start with COVID, it just accelerated. The trend began when Argo AI chose Miami as one of the autonomous vehicle test cities in 2018.We have created this environment where technology can thrive and where the taxes are of a lower nature. Where it’s a strong incentive to consider relocating here. – Florida State Senator BrandesWrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Senator Brandes discuss the major mobility changes they see happening in Florida over the next ten years. Including how the State is preparing for the transition to electric vehicles and how safely evacuate individuals’ electric vehicles during a hurricane.Recorded on Friday, February 19, 2021--------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.

James Gowers, Vice President of Strategy & Business Development, Perceptive Automata joins Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss developing human intuition for autonomous vehicles.The conversation begins with James talking about leading the Harvard Business School soccer team to two National Championships and what he learned about teamwork as an Army Ranger in the German Federal Armed Forces.Being part of a team, being a leader does not mean that you are autocratic. The more important way to lead is by influencing. Being a solid part of the team, carrying your weight, and leading by example. – James GowersWith a clear understanding of the rigors of leadership and a background in business from the Harvard Business School, Grayson asks James how he first joined the autonomous vehicle industry.James shares a wonderful story of how a friendship with Mark Wheeler, Co-Founder & CTO of DeepMap led to him joining the industry. After a successful run at DeepMap, James joined Perceptive Automata to help them successfully raise their Series A round.Getting from Series A to Series B is hard work. – James GowersPerceptive Automata is working on developing human-like intuition for autonomous vehicles as driving is inherently a social activity. James goes onto explain how Perceptive Automata is developing machine-learning models that can glance at a human and make powerful predictions on their intent to cross the road.Grayson asks James if the machine-learning models can learn situational awareness. For example, can the models learn if an individual is walking, wearing headphones to staring at their phones, and generally not paying attention to the surroundings? Yes. James explains how the models capture behavior.Perceptive Automata’s approach to situational awareness caught the attention of Jim Adler, Founding Managing Director of Toyota AI Ventures which invested in the company’s Series A $16m round.Along with the investment, Jim wrote a Medium blog post titled: “Predicting the World Around Autonomous Vehicles: Our Investment in Perceptive Automata” about “theory of mind” and why Toyota AI Ventures invested in Perceptive Automata.In the Medium blog post, Jim wrote the following:As I’ve said before, cars are “social.” They exist alongside other human-operated vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians. When we’re behind the wheel, we constantly survey the roads looking for clues to help predict what other people will do. Will that teenage skateboarder jaywalk? Will the minivan driver speed up as I try to make an unprotected left-hand turn? Who goes first at a four-way stop if we all arrive at the same time?People use a “theory of mind” to face those kind of split-second decisions all of the time. However, what comes relatively easily to us humans is incredibly difficult for autonomous vehicles. To improve safety for passengers and pedestrians alike, it is so important to have an intuitive self-driving system that is able to recognize, understand, and predict human behavior.– Jim Adler, Founding Managing Director of Toyota AI VenturesJim’s Medium blog post summed up Perceptive Automata’s approach to situational awareness brilliantly. This approach is critical for autonomous vehicles which are deployed in dense urban environments.Grayson and James go onto discuss prediction models and planning for scenarios such as a baseball game a European football game getting out. Creating a situation where large groups of individuals are pouring out on the sidewalks and the roadway.Autonomous vehicles have to learn and be prepared for all situations. From large groups of individuals at sporting events to first-responder vehicles traveling down the road at high-speeds. Driving is unpredictable and human intuition is a critical part of driving safely.Perceptive Automata is developing human intuition for autonomous vehicles to make the roads safer for both passengers in autonomous vehicles and pedestrians walking or riding bicycles.Humans have this unique ability to glance at pedestrians and make, immediate, effortless predictions about someone’s intent based on social cues, body language, etc. – James GowersThis is exactly what Perceptive Automata is developing for autonomous vehicles. Grayson asks James if this technology could be deployed into the security industry to spot potential bad actors through behavior.James explains how this technology can be applied to the security industry and the potential applications. Not only can Perceptive Automata’s technology be applied for security applications, but it can also be used in the retail business to predict intent. Will the consumer purchase this product? Do they like the color of the product? The potential applications for predicting human intuition are endless.Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and James discuss the current state of the autonomous vehicle industry and what happens if and when Apple unveils an electric autonomous vehicle with an AR (Augmented Reality) app store.Recorded on Friday, February 12, 2021See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pradeep Elankumaran, Co-Founder & CEO of Farmstead joins Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss automating grocery delivery.The conversation begins with Pradeep sharing how bad experiences with grocery delivery led to the founding of Farmstead. Armed with an idea, Pradeep posted the idea on Nextdoor Mountain View to see if there was a demand for his idea of a better grocery delivery experience. Indeed there was a demand. In 2 days, 200 new potential customers expressed interest in the idea.One of the key selling points to those potential Farmstead customers the substitution policy.We told customers that we would guarantee the item. – Pradeep ElankumaranNo longer would items that you did not order show up on your doorstep. This eliminates stress for parents who would no longer have to worry if their child’s favorite milk or ice cream will arrive instead of a substitute.Our approach is software and a lot of prediction and a lot of very precise control of the data that is inserted into our system which makes the software better.As the software gets better, prediction gets better. As the prediction gets better, your experience gets better. – Pradeep ElankumaranOne of the other elements of the Farmstead business model is that the company does not pick items from a supermarket, instead, they operate out of dedicated 15,000 – 25,000 square foot warehouses.Supermarkets are not great places to fulfill online grocery orders. – Pradeep ElankumaranFarmstead is able to operate this model because of its prediction software. As the Farmstead expands to cities around the United States, the company is using a demand model to gauge interest in the market. One of those markets is Miami.As Farmstead scales, Grayson asks if Amazon and their growing grocery ambitions are a threat to Farmstead. Pradeep shares an interesting thesis on the grocery market comparing Amazon to Walmart and how Farmstead is well-positioned to gain market share in the online grocery market.One of the key differences between Amazon and Farmstead is that the company uses reusable packaging. Grayson and Pradeep have an in-depth conversation about packaging and why it is so important for grocery delivery.The crux of the market of the packaging should really be: is it recyclable? Is it returnable? – Pradeep ElankumaranFrom packaging to the current in-store experience, Grayson and Pradeep have a long conversation about consumer habits and their shopping experiences.Selection no longer matters, curation matters a lot more. – Pradeep ElankumaranFarmstead is saving consumers time by curating groceries from specialty retailers all within the app. As Farmstead onboards new customers, they are adding new products that appeal to their customers' needs and wants. All the items that are stocked and the quantity of those products are chosen by Farmstead’s predictive software.With an incredible software solution that is creating massive efficiencies for the company and its customers, Grayson asks Pradeep if Farmstead will adapt its model for autonomous vehicle delivery services.It all comes down to the customer experience. It’s not about the shiny technology. – Pradeep ElankumaranWhen automation can increase the customer experience, Farmstead will go all in.Wrapping up the conversation, Pradeep shares his vision for the future of Farmstead.Recorded on Thursday, February 11, 2021--------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.

Çetin Meriçli, Co-Founder & CEO of Locomation joins Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss what he saw in the market when he launched Locomation into a maturing autonomous trucking market in 2018.The conversation begins with Çetin discussing growing up in Istanbul, Turkey, and how his family encouraged curiosity and asking questions to learn.Curious to us was something that was particularly promoted in our family. – Çetin MeriçliWith unlimited curiosity and an always learning philosophy, Çetin taught himself computer programing when his Uncle gifted him a small home computer.I started learning computer programing. Very quickly I ran out of the idea of just getting the computer to do what I wanted it to do. Then I started exploring the idea of what if the computer can make the decisions? What if it can surprise me? – Çetin MeriçliAfter several years of hard work, Çetin moved to America to study robotics at Carnegie Mellon in 2009 and be part of the history.CMU (Carnegie Mellon University) was equal to Top Gun for me. I wanted to come here, I wanted to learn from the Red Whittaker’s, Al Kelly’s, Tony Stentz’s of the world. – Çetin MeriçliWhile a Senior Robotics Engineer at the National Robotics Engineering Center at Carnegie Mellon, Çetin co-authored the Slip-aware Model Predictive Optimal Control for Path Following paper which was published by IEEE. This paper heavily influenced the founding of Locomation as several of the co-founders were authors.Locomation was founded in 2018 just as the autonomous trucking market was starting to mature. Grayson asks Çetin what he saw when he made the decision to join a maturing market.We were not deterred, but we were actually nervous. We were scared to death. That is just normal because you are about to enter into a race where there are quote on quote more established players.– Çetin MeriçliKnow-how is very valuable. With a history in robotics and automation, the team at Locomation sat back and watched as the market matured. They were learning the market and discovering opportunities based on their technical backgrounds. While others made mistakes, Çetin learned and studied until the time was right.Being fashionably late to the party we did not lose the entire window of opportunity. We got our feet into the game at the right time. We got to observe what others were going after. – Çetin MeriçliSitting back and observing the market, Çetin was able to develop an autonomous trucking business model that would resonate with the market.The business model resonated with Wilson Logistics after a chance meeting at a conference. Then in September 2020, the companies announced a deal where 1,120 Wilson Logistics trucks will be equipped with Locomation’s autonomous relay convoy technology.Currently, Locomation has tested trucks in Pittsburgh, Ohio, Michigan, Oregon, Idaho, Texas, and Louisiana. Grayson goes onto asks Çetin what the company is learning from testing in different environments with different climates and driving habits.Not all tests are created equal. – Çetin MeriçliGrayson shifts the conversation to commercialization and asks Çetin when the company plans to start deploying trucks for customers and when the company will become profitable.In late 2022, Locomation trucks will start operating commercially and by 2023, the company will be cash-flow profitable optionally.Wrapping up the conversation, Çetin shares his thoughts on the current state of the autonomous trucking industry.Recorded on Tuesday, February 2, 2021--------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.

Sahas Katta, Founder & CEO of Smartcar joins Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss the building blocks of mobility – standardized APIs (Application Programming Interface).The conversation begins with Sahas discussing the founding of Smartcar and growing up in Silicon Valley. Growing up in Silicon Valley has its advantages as one is able to build and develop a network early in life.This network becomes extremely valuable as one is exposed to new and emerging technologies prior to individuals located in other geographical regions. Expanding upon this, Grayson asks Sahas when the automotive industry first turned its attention to Silicon Valley.Automotive has always had a heart in Silicon Valley. – Sahas KattaThe trend began to take hold in 2015 with the adoption of connected cars. Capitalizing on this trend, Sahas and his brother Sanketh secured a pitch meeting (view the Smartcar pitch deck here) at Andreessen Horowitz which led to $2m in venture capital funding.With funding secured, Sahas and Sanketh got to work developing a standardized API for connected cars to solve the connected car problem.If you are a mobility company trying to bring your product or service to the market, you may today have to do proprietary integrations with a dozen or two dozen different car brands. Each integration might take 6, 9, or 12 months to get through that process.The end result in the world pre-Smartcar, companies decided not to even do it. It was too much work, too expensive, and too time-consuming. – Sahas KattaToday with a standardized API for connected cars, companies and developers can build new products and services without having to dedicate an immense amount of resources.As connected cars become autonomous, Smartcar’s platform will be the plumbing that enables the “non-sexy” parts of the business to function at full capacity.From unlocking doors to ensuring the vehicle is fully charged to making certain that the vehicle is properly cleaned. This is all possible with Smartcar’s platform.Staying on the theme of what is possible with Smartcar’s platform, Grayson and Sahas discuss vehicle miles traveled (VMT). How does VMT work and what has Smartcar learned from its pilots in California and Oregon?With California’s plan to phase out gasoline-powered cars by 2035, Grayson shifts the conversation to focus on electric vehicles. Sahas explains how the Smartcar platform can be used to optimize vehicle charging and monitor the health of EV car batteries.We are not the innovators coming up with these ideas to solve these problems. We provide the building blocks for incredible entrepreneurs to build really amazing applications which create a lot of value for both consumers and businesses. – Sahas KattaOne of the applications that uses Smartcar’s platform is Turo. Smartcar’s platform has enabled Turo to digitize their business all the while eliminating consumer friction. This same approach can be applied to fleet operators.With Smartcar operating in the United States, Europe, and Canada, the company takes the time to understand the culture and localizes its product to comply with local rules and regulations.Wrapping up the conversation, Sahas shares his thoughts on what mobility will look like in the United States over the next four years.Recorded on Thursday, January 21, 2021--------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.