Uber Partners With Hertz for Robotaxi Fleet Management
California launches new AV regulations, Waymo called Austin 911 almost 100 times for people passed out, and Rocsys unveils hands-free charging solution for robotaxis
This week’s edition is brought to you by Virewirx. Enable full autonomy with Virewirx’s VX60, a high-performance 60 GHz wireless system for fast and scalable robotaxi data movement.
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Top Stories of the Week
Uber taps Hertz to clean, charge, and fix its Lucid Motors robotaxis (link). Hertz has had a few forays into the world of new mobility but this one seems a lot closer to its core competency of renting, cleaning and charging cars.
Uber’s forthcoming luxury robotaxi service with Lucid Motors and Nuro is getting a fourth partner: Hertz. The companies announced Thursday that Hertz will provide “day-to-day vehicle asset management, including charging, maintenance, repairs, cleaning, and depot staffing”. Hertz is handling this work through a newly established affiliate it’s calling Oro Mobility.
Other Stuff
China Suspends Autonomous Driving Permits After Baidu Outage (link, no paywall). We hold Waymo to a high standard here in the United States but it’s curious that Baidu has yet to comment on this situation.
The suspension of new licenses prevents self-driving companies from adding new robotaxis to their fleets, starting a new test project or expanding to a new city, the people said. It’s not clear how long the suspension will last, the people said.
California: New Autonomous Vehicle Regulations Strengthen Oversight and Enforcement, Authorize Trucks and Transit (link) via Emily Warren. California is rolling out what officials are calling the most comprehensive AV rules in the U.S., opening the door for testing and deployment of heavy duty autonomous trucks for the first time.
The rules also expand safety and oversight requirements across all AVs, allowing law enforcement to cite companies for violations, requiring a response to first responders within 30 seconds, and giving emergency officials the ability to geofence and clear AVs from active scenes.
Related: Gatik CEO - The business of autonomous freight is coming home (link).
Emergency First Responders Say Waymos Are Getting Worse (link, no paywall) via Jeffrey Tumlin.
“I believe the technology was deployed too quickly in too vast amounts, with hundreds of vehicles, when it wasn’t really ready,” one police official told federal regulators last month.
Rocsys unveils world’s first multi-bay hands-free charging solution to help robotaxi fleets scale, and raises $13M Series A extension (link) via Jonah Bliss.
Rocsys M1 enables hands-free, multi-bay charging for robotaxi fleets… The overhead rail-mounted system works across mixed EV fleets and any charger type, maximizing parking space and enabling uninterrupted, safe operation with up to 75% productivity increase from existing staff.
Autonomous Delivery Moves Into the Mainstream as Starship Technologies Passes 10 Million Deliveries (link).
What Waymo’s future in Austin may look like (link), an interview with Waymo’s senior director of product management, Shweta Shrivastava.
300 vehicles make up Waymo's Austin fleet, and they've traveled 10.7 million fully autonomous miles throughout the city.
MOIA America to expand into new US markets through strategic partnership with Beep, starting in Orlando (link).
Self-driving car service Waymo says it’s coming to Portland (link). They’ll begin manually driving in the city as they lay the groundwork for their future service.
Faster Data Off the Vehicle—Faster AI on the Road
Virewirx’s VX60 High Performance Wireless System has piqued our interest—that’s why we’re partnering with them this week to share their unique millimeter wave system built to move massive AV fleet data quickly and reliably. Reach out to Brian Lee at info@virewirx.com to learn more.
Musk sounds cautious tone on robotaxis amid slower-than-expected rollout (link).
Related: ‘At Tesla, rapid robotaxi scaling is always just around the corner’ (link).
Zoox starts first phase of Las Vegas airport rides (link).
The company says that during the initial phase, only Zoox employees will be able to take rides to and from the airport while it assesses safety and performance in the high-traffic transportation hub.
Why Cities Shouldn’t Fall For the Robotaxi Hype (link, no paywall).
Waymo still shut down in San Antonio a week after floodwaters swept robotaxi away (link, no paywall). Flooding is still a clear edge case for Waymo, but the bigger question is reliability. What happens when a city starts to rely on AVs and service can be paused for days or weeks at a time?
Waymo service was still unavailable in San Antonio on Tuesday afternoon in what appears to be the company’s longest service pause to date. It’s previously halted operations for up to a few days for Phoenix floods, Los Angeles protests and a San Francisco power outage.
A self-driving car is still a car (link).
Welcome our new robotaxi overlords (link, no paywall).
Robotaxi Services Put the ‘Auto’ in Autonomous (link). Cool deep dive on Zoox with CTO Jesse Levinson.
‘I visited Nashville earlier this month to tour our [Lyft’s] first purpose-built AV depot with local economic development leaders and colleagues from Lyft and Waymo’ (link). Lyft deserves credit here for leaning into the workforce transition, creating real roles for drivers in depot operations and fleet support as AVs scale, something competitors have been far less proactive about.
Tesla tries to throw Waymo under the bus (link).
This Is The Waymo IONIQ 5! Full Tour Of The New 6th Generation Robotaxi (link).
‘Very excited about our new campaign that recently launched in LA to promote the new Foo Fighters album. Honored that they are using Serve Robotics to get the word out and promote great music’ (link).
‘The most autonomous corner in Austin today lol’ (link).
Waymo called Austin 911 almost 100 times for people passed out in their vehicles (link).
ACT EXPO AV Guide
With ACT Expo 2026 coming up May 4–7, we’ve put together a list of interesting companies, events, and people to check out if you’re attending. I won’t be there this year, but there’s still a lot of cool stuff happening across the AV space.
🔌 Voltera will be at Booth 3717 and Meeting Room 4220 in the West Hall. Their CEO, Brett Hauser will be giving a keynote speech at the EV Charging Workshop on May 4, and their VP of Government and Utility Relations, Thomas Ashley, will also be speaking at the Automation in Action Workshop Pt. 2 on May 5 (link).
🔋 Rocsys will be displaying a visualization of their M1 charging system at Booth 3401 (link), and their Director of North American Markets, Erin Galiger will be speaking at the Automation in Action Workshop Pt. 2 on May 5 (link).
🚘 indiGOtech CEO, Will Graylin will be on stage at Expo Hall Theater South on May 6, and they will be showcasing at Booth 3109 (link).
⚡ Peter Cohen, VP and General Manager, AV and Rideshare at Terawatt will be speaking at the Automation in Action Workshop Pt. 2 on May 5, and they’ll also be exhibiting at Booth 4245, reach out to them on Linkedin to schedule a time to meet (link).
🤖 Doug Gould, Director, Operations Infrastructure and Strategic Partnerships at Zoox, will be speaking at the Expo Hall Theatre North on May 4.
Aurora, Kodiak Robotics, and Volvo Autonomous Solutions will be exhibiting in West Hall, Booths 2717, 1743, and 2937D respectively.
On the mainstage (May 5), there will be a host of speakers across the autonomous trucking and deployment space:
Ossa Fisher, President at Aurora.
Raquel Urtasun, Founder and CEO at Waabi. They’d also be showcasing the Volvo VNL Autonomous powered by the Waabi Driver on the main stage (link).
Don Burnette, CEO and Founder at Kodiak Robotics.
David Liu, CEO and Cofounder at PlusAI.
Peter Vaughan Schmidt, CEO at TORC Robotics.
At the Automation in Action workshops (May 4–5), there will also be an impressive lineup of AV speakers:
Sasko Cuklev, Head of On-Road Solutions at Volvo Autonomous Solutions.
Lior Ron, COO at Waabi.
Paul DiLaura, Chief Commercial Officer at Gatik.
Frank Fratrik, Director of Safety at Kodiak Robotics.
Lauren Isaac, Head of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Infrastructure at Waymo.
Presto’s Head of Fleet Partnerships, Madeline Zhu will be there (link).
Monta’s Senior Demand Strategy Lead, Kevin Spangenberg will be attending (link). Darts sounds fun!
What else we’re reading/listening to
Energy Gang by Wood Mackenzie: Uber’s electric bet on electric vehicles. What does the rise of EVs and autonomous vehicles mean for the future of mobility? (link).
Why Are We Still Driving? (link, no paywall).
Curves Ahead by Matthew Raifman, PhD, MPP: We talked about it at Ford; Waymo did it (link). Congrats on the new Substack Matt!
Related: A Deep Dive into Waymo’s CPUC Data with Dr. Matthew Raifman (link).
AutoMarketplace: We Took a Waymo: The Financial Disruption Matches the Technological One - Part 1 (link).
AVs/Humans behaving badly
‘Scary Waymo moment in SF today - it overtook a Muni bus in the wrong lane at a signal, didn’t stop, and aggressively tried to squeeze between me and the bus’ (link) via Ethan McKanna. Notably, this tweet came from Uber’s CTO, and frankly, I'm surprised the post is still up. Public criticism like this is not a good look in the context of an active partnership and can signal some underlying tension.
Coincidentally, I’ll be speaking with Ethan on Monday’s TDD podcast for a broader discussion on the Uber x Waymo product and how it’s playing out in Austin.
Ran into an interesting issue with Waymo the other night (link).
‘SF rider presumably opened door while bus was passing by’ (link). Waymo should lock the door if it sees an oncoming vehicle that would make contact with an open door.
‘Waymo testing in London almost goes through police closed road’ (link).
‘Is this Mario Kart?’ (link).
Neat Jobs
Public Affairs Manager, Texas at Waymo (link) via Amanda Ventura.
Senior/Staff Software Engineer, ML Performance Optimization at Zoox (link) via Yuchuan Gou.
Field Engineer at Wayve (link) via Fuzail Ismail.
Lead Product Manager, Autonomy at Waabi (link) via Joseph Sunga.
Senior Program Manager, Autonomous Vehicles at Lyft/Flexdrive (link) via John Parks.
Job Moves
Julianne McGoldrick: Redwood Materials -> Wayve (link).
Garrett Brinker: Via -> Waymo (link).
Jess Ackerman: Voltera -> Zoox (link).
Garrett Blizzard: Tesla -> Waymo (link).
Tamsen Drew: SPUR -> Terawatt (link).
Shout-outs
Big thanks to TDD readers at City of Sacramento, and to Adam G for referring new subscribers. If there’s someone you think would enjoy TDD, feel free to forward this email or use the referral button below, and we’ll make sure to shout out your company.
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Until next week :)
-Harry