Waymo Upstages Uber’s Party: Avride’s Debut & The Reality of Scaling

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss "Thriller in the Big D" as Waymo upstages Uber’s party in Dallas. The day before Uber was set to announce its commercial launch with Avride in Dallas, Waymo stole the spotlight by announcing they went driver-out in the same city. 

During the episode Grayson and Walt analyzed the fallout from this timing, including Uber’s "marketing fail" where a safety driver was spotted in promotional footage, and debate whether Avride’s limited 9-square-mile launch is a legitimate business move or just another "science project".

Beyond the drama in Texas, they dove into the broader race to scale, questioning if adding a few hundred cars in new markets Houston, Baltimore, and St. Louis truly counts as commercial scaling. As Waymo announces new markets, Sterling Anderson is aggressively hiring at GM and the autonomous trucking market is beginning to heat up. 

Episode Chapters

0:00 The Thriller in Big D featuring Waymo, Avride and Uber

5:17 Autonomous Vehicle Messaging 

7:01 Avride / Uber's Dallas Service Area 

10:14 No New Waymo/Uber Markets, So Far

13:50 Waymo's Rapid Expansion 

18:56 Waymo's Six Stages of Autonomy

20:26 No Waymo Commercial Launch for Art Basel 

21:49 Will Tesla Robotaxis Ever Be Available on Uber?

23:06 FSD Updates

25:00 Sterling Anderson's Growing Role at GM

29:04 Wayve Acquires Quality Match 

29:41 Foreign Autonomy Desk

30:13 Waymo's Continuing Zeekr Issue 

32:21 Autonomous Trucking

33:50 Next Week 

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