Tesla FSD Goes Coast to Coast Without Intervention
CES AV Guide, How much Waymo pays people to close stuck doors, and Can AVs handle British weather?
Join us in San Francisco on January 28, 2026 for the next Urban Autonomy Summit, presented by Nexar. Spots are limited, so apply to attend here. We will be announcing speakers soon, and have an excellent lineup planned.
Top Story of the Week
Tesla’s FSD V14.2 Handles Entire 2,700-Mile Coast-to-Coast US Roadtrip (link). David Moss completed the drive using a 2025 Model 3 Premium Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive and claims there were no disengagements over the entire trip, even while supercharging.
I have heard consistently strong feedback about Tesla’s V14 software, though I have not been able to try it myself since trading in my Tesla for a Rivian. I have seen people argue that feats like this show that Waymo is behind, but the two companies are solving different problems.
Tesla is effectively trying to make autonomy work across almost all drivable geography. Waymo, by contrast, only needs to be exceptional in a small, highly concentrated portion of the map where dense cities and the majority of ridehail demand actually exist. Tesla’s Full Self-Driving may shine on long, continuous drives like this, but those same characteristics also help explain why robotaxi deployment is a harder problem for Tesla. Solving autonomy everywhere is fundamentally different from solving autonomy where demand is concentrated.
Related: Two Tesla Cybercabs testing in the South Congress/Downtown Austin, TX area! Keep an eye on how they look next to the Waymos around (link).
Other Stuff
Waymo Did Badly In A Big Power Outage. Where Was The Simulator? (link, no paywall). Excellent article by Brad Templeton. Waymo knows how to handle an isolated dead traffic light. The real surprise was likely the second order effects. After navigating a few dead lights, human drivers become impatient and more aggressive, abandoning informal rules of the road. That kind of behavior is difficult to model and likely made other drivers less willing to yield to a Waymo vehicle.
I will be speaking with Brad about this on Monday’s podcast, so stay tuned.
Related: Lessons from the Great Waymo Outage of 2025 (link).
Driverless cars promise a revolution. But can they handle the British weather? (link, no paywall).
‘Interesting Waymo problem. I wonder how they’ll deal with [gated communities]’ (link). This is a long-standing issue for rideshare and delivery drivers, but it has less to do with gate access and more to do with locating the correct unit within large, maze-like developments. Some communities have hundreds, if not thousands, of units. A few startups tried, and failed, to solve this in the past but it might be time for a comeback 🙂.
Who will recharge all those robotaxis? More robots, one CEO says (link). An interesting interview with Rocsys CEO, Crijn Bouman on Business Insider. We’ll have an executive from Rocsys on a panel at our Urban Autonomy Summit, in San Francisco to discuss automated charging for AVs and more.
Baltimore should welcome Waymo’s robotaxis | EDITORIAL (link, no paywall).
Waymo receives authorization to begin testing in Nevada (link).
🌆 🚘 Every AV-curious urbanist should listen to this podcast (link).
CES AV Guide
With CES 2026 coming up next week, January 6 through 9, in Las Vegas, we have compiled a list of interesting companies, events, and people to check out if you are attending. I will not be there, as I will be taking the kids to Park City ❄️🏂, but there is still a lot of cool stuff going on:
Waymo will be showcasing at Booth 4600 in the LVCC West Hall (link).
Zoox will display their robotaxi at Booth 3519 in the LVCC West Hall (link).
Mobileye Annual Address from its CEO Prof. Amnon Shashua (link).
Nexar will be bringing BADAS to CES (link).
Voltera will take the CES stage for Getting Real About EVs and also participate in Silicon Dragon, an invite-only CES-adjacent event hosted by Rebecca Fannin (CNBC, Newsweek)
HUB Insurance’s Edward Walker (and my official AV insurance partner) will be in attendance - you can reach out to him to arrange a time to meet.
Terawatt VP of Autonomy and Rideshare, Peter Cohen will be at CES, and is looking forward to meeting with partners to discuss the future of AV / EV charging infrastructure (link).
Lyft’s Christian Delgado will be at CES, feel free to reach out and arrange a meet (link).
Nuro will be showcasing their Lucid-Uber robotaxi at the Nvidia showcase at the Fontainebleau from January 6-8 (link).
Motional will be there - keep an eye out for their robotaxi (link).
Year 9 of the Autonocast CES party will be held on Tuesday, Jan 6. You can join the waitlist here.
Rocsys will be at Venetian Expo, Hall G - 62100 - Eureka Park, via Erin Galiger.
Serve Robotics’ Michele Lee will be speaking on the “Accessibility: Co-Designing Beyond Compliance” panel (link).
Beep CRO, Toby McGraw will be there (link).
Virewirx CEO and VP of Business Development are open to meeting up at CES. You can reach out to them via LinkedIn to arrange a meetup.
What else we’re reading/listening to
Junko’s Tech Probe by Junko Yoshida: Behind Waymo’s ‘Independently Audited’ Robotaxi Teleoperation (link).
Why Waymo Replaces Nannies and Parents, Not Uber Drivers - Sam Lessin (link). My latest podcast episode with Sam Lessin, an early VP of Product at Facebook and currently co-founder and GP at Slow Ventures. We discussed how AVs are already changing everyday life in San Francisco, and why Sam believes their biggest impact may be on families. We also touch on Sam’s observations about Waymo’s progress over the years and why kids and childcare could be the real unlock for autonomy.
AVs/Humans behaving badly
Confused Zoox robotaxi in Las Vegas (link). Lol this is pretty funny.
Waymo freezes while trying to navigate around fire scene in Los Angeles (link). At least it didn’t drive through this time :) Getting better!
‘Waymo WHY??? 😭’ (link). This is similar to my Waymo freeway issue and it would be nice if Waymo let riders know why it was taking a particular route.
Neat Jobs
Multiple UX research roles at Waymo, via Andy Su (link).
Sr. Manufacturing Engineer, Body at Tesla (link) via Prasun C.
Program Manager, Mapping Delivery at Waymo (link) via Gabe Nelson.
You can check out our new AV job board where we post all of the roles we feature (link). If people like it, I will find a way to turn it into something a bit prettier.
Cool Rides
‘Finally had a chance to ride in the all-electric autonomous vehicle offered by Zoox in Las Vegas’ (link).
‘On a trip to the US, I saw Waymo self-driving cars! 🚙 I’ve read about them. I’ve debated them in product discussions. But actually sitting in one casually driving on a regular street? That hits differently’ (link).
Shout-outs
Big thanks to TDD reader Agosta R 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