Waymo Redraws the Map, Aurora Goes Driverless, Uber Backs May Mobility to Challenge the Autonomy Duopoly

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo's potential new partnership with Toyota, the launch of Aurora's driver-out commercial operations and Uber's continued effort to challenge the autonomy duopoly.

On Tuesday, Waymo announced a potential partnership with Toyota to develop personally-owned autonomous vehicles, confirming a business pivot in an effort to counter Tesla’s upcoming robotaxi launch in Austin. Wile Waymo signals a shift in strategy, Aurora launched fully autonomous commercial operations in partnership with Uber Freight.

As Uber became Aurora's first commercial customer, the rideshare side of their business continued to double-down on autonomy, as they further fragmented the autonomy market when they announced a strategic partnership with May Mobility to deploy AVs on the platform.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Every Week

1:06 Waymo / Toyota Partnership 

13:14 Managing Personally-Owned Autonomous Vehicles

15:20 Is Waymo Eyeing More Deals?

17:09 GM Blinked

18:55 Aurora Goes Driver-Out

22:05 Uber Freight 

23:31 Autonomous Trucking Market

25:37 Uber /May Mobility Partnership 

32:03 Uber/Lyft and Autonomy Competition 

32:58 The Great Freeway Unlock

37:02 Next Week

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