GM to Revive Driverless Car Plans After Cruise Shutdown
Tesla hiring robotaxi test operators in New York, Waymo may hit freeways soon, and Uber's CEO on the next decade in autonomous.
This week’s newsletter is brought to you by Terawatt – purpose-built charging for autonomous vehicle fleets.
Top Stories of the Week
GM Plans Renewed Driverless-Car Push After Cruise Debacle (link, no paywall). According to people familiar with the matter, GM is looking to lure back some former employees of their now defunct robotaxi division Cruise, with a new focus on autonomous cars for personal use.
Tesla is willing to pay up to $33.66 an hour for robotaxi test operators in NYC. Here's what the job entails (link). But they haven't applied for permits yet to test AVs on NYC streets (link).
Waymo finally has a music experience worthy of its robotaxi (link). I tried a few times to get music to play via the Google home app, but could never figure it out. Might have been the worst part about taking a Waymo. So I’m glad they are finally adding a Spotify integration :-)
‘Interesting to see cars being used to display marketing and not artwork (link).’ This doesn’t look like advertising to me, but more of an integrated product marketing effort. But over time, I think advertising on Waymo will be a given.
Cool Rides
‘Went from Los Altos to downtown SF via Waymo in under an hour today using 280, 380 and 101 freeways! We Waymonauts have been taking fully autonomous freeway rides in multiple cities, and we can't wait to share it with you’ (link). This post plus a couple others from Waymo employees on Twitter make it seem like freeways are imminent!
‘Is there anything more delightful than working from a Waymo? Smooth ride. No car sickness. Spa music on’ (link). I haven’t actually tried working on a laptop in a Waymo yet, but I do find it enjoyable to take phone calls and browse the internet, even in rush-hour traffic, as long as I don’t have to do it too frequently.
‘Took a Waymo from Los Altos to a working meeting in Mountain View today — just a regular day talking AVs and AI’ (link).
AVs/Humans behaving badly
Baidu robotaxi falls into a construction pit in China, raising safety concerns (link, no paywall). Construction zones are tricky, but if it was clearly marked and barricaded, this should not have happened. Will be interesting if/when there are more details released about this incident so we know what happened.
Man vandalizes Waymo, whacks car with belt in San Francisco (link).
Designing Charging Hubs for Autonomous Fleets
This month, we are excited to partner with Terawatt, one of the leading providers of charging infrastructure. To learn more about Terawatt's network of AV charging hubs and track record of 99%+ uptime, reach out to Logan Szidik at lszidik@terawattinfrastructure.com
Other Stuff
Uber Walks Fine Line to Satisfy Shareholders on Driverless Car Investments (link, no paywall). The Nuro part of this deal makes sense but I still haven't heard a great explanation as to why Uber needs 20,000 high end vehicles when the entire AV industry is focused on lower cost models and Waymo’s current fleet size is just 1,500 vehicles.
Lucid Is In So Much Trouble That Even The Deep-Pocketed Saudis Might Not Be Able To Rescue The Company (link).
Tesla Robotaxi scores permit to run ride-hailing service in Texas (link).
Uber CEO on Tesla Robotaxi (link):
They could be a competitor, they could be a partner. When you're talking about trillion dollar TAMs, there will be no winner take all in this market place. It's great to see Tesla in the market. They're taking their time and making sure they are expanding in a safe way; all of this competition in autonomous is going to create safer streets and we're going to be a big part of that.
Why Self-Driving Cars Are The Perfect Heel In ‘The Naked Gun’ (link).
San Francisco Uber, Lyft and Waymo prices surge to new heights after Outside Lands (link).
Uber CEO on the Next Decade in Autonomous and Why He Isn’t Rushing to Do Big M&A (link).
MKBHD: Investigating the Tesla Robotaxi! (link). Waymo also left a comment on the post (link).
Is Our Tesla Model Y's Full Self-Driving Tech Really Worth $8,000? (link).
Robocar Startup “Tensor” Unveils Luxury Self-Driving Car For 2026 (link).
Uber Freight CEO joins self-driving truck company Waabi, says era of autonomous big rigs on U.S. roads is here (link).
Tesla shows FSD Supervised do 362 mi drive from SF Bay LA hands-free (link).
Setting the standard of liability for self-driving cars (link).
Neat Jobs
Lead Network Infrastructure and Operations at Waymo (link) via Rodney Tabares.
Shout-outs
Big thanks to TDD reader Sam M for referring new subscribers. If there's someone you think would enjoy TDD, just forward this email to them or use the referral button below.
Until next week.
-Harry