Waymo Hits the Highway
Vay could grab up to $410M from Singapore’s Grab, Why NYC's new mayor could be bad news for robotaxis, and F1 but with autonomous racing cars
Top Stories of the Week
Waymo Launches Driverless Robotaxis on Freeways in First for US (link, no paywall). Starting this week, select riders in the Bay Area, Phoenix, and Los Angeles who opt in for freeway access — or who are already part of Waymo’s early-access group — will be able to take 24/7 trips that include freeway segments, with broader access rolling out over time.
This milestone has been a long time coming and should meaningfully improve the experience — both by enabling longer trips and by eliminating the slow, winding detours that came from avoiding freeways. I’m currently on the waitlist for freeway rides in LA, so if you’ve already received access and don’t mind me tagging along, please let me know. And for those in SF, here’s a journalist looking for a ride :)
As part of the announcement, Waymo also revealed its fleet has grown to 2,500 vehicles — up 500 from the 2,000 they reported in August. Elon, of course, thinks these are rookie numbers ;)
Here’s how Waymo’s fleet has grown over the past 6 months:
Waymo also expanded its Bay Area service all the way down to San Jose and added access to San Jose International Airport, where it received operating approval in September.
Other Stuff
Waymo’s Hyundai Ioniq 5 Robotaxis Hit The Road For Testing (link). And folks have already started seeing them in the wild too (link).
Uber’s Robotaxi Status Update: We’re in For a Long Trip (link, no paywall). Here’s a link to the full interview, with Uber’s COO, Andrew Macdonald, where he outlines Uber’s AV strides, lessons learnt so far, and their future plans.
‘Waymo Hotel: for about $200, you can get a clean, safe place to sleep. Drive 3 hours down the peninsula and 3 hours back. It comes directly to you at a moment’s notice’ (link).
Right now Kalshi projects a 9% chance of Tesla removing safety monitors and opening robotaxi to the public by the end of the year (link). Good chance for Tesla fans to put their money where their mouth is. I think 9% is about right though.
‘Self-driving taxi company Waymo is now doing 1 million rides per month in California, a 3x increase over the past year and 26x increase over the past two years’ (link).
‘After a few weeks of intense testing, 3 self-driving electric #OmniVans powered by indiGO Technologies are now delivering happiness to parcel machines in Tallinn and Tartu’ (link).
This new racing league is like F1, except these cars drive themselves (link).
Watch Waymo navigate some tricky highway situations (link).
Self-driving cars could be coming to New York as Waymo showcases vehicle in Geneva (link). I’ve long predicted that Waymo will face stiff resistance from organized labor in NYC — and the shifting political landscape makes this especially interesting. The city’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is a “man of the people,” and I’d expect him to push back on AV expansion to protect jobs for Uber and taxi drivers. In fact, he’s already shown major support for the latter by joining their 2021 hunger strike for medallion debt relief — not about AVs, but a clear signal of where his loyalties lie.
Baidu Apollo’s RT6 was displayed at DRIFTx, an international exhibition of advanced smart and autonomous mobility technologies, from Nov.10-12 at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi as part of Abu Dhabi Autonomous Week (link).
What else we’re reading/listening to
Route Zero newsletter by Patrick George: The Robotaxi Revolution Is Here—But What About The Humans? (link). I was interviewed for this piece and gave some insights on what drivers think about the proliferation of AVs, the impact of AVs on driver earnings, and what the future of AV deployment would look like, among other things.
Curbivore podcast with
and Lyft’s VP of Autonomous, Fleets, and Driver Operations, Stephen Hayes: Lyft’s Not Content With Second Place in the Robotaxi Race (link). Great title!All-In podcast: Pete Buttigieg: The Left’s Identity Crisis, Wealth Tax, 2024 Mistakes, Plans for 2028 (link). You can jump to the 54:07 mark where they dive into self-driving, automation, and job loss. Chamath begins the segment with a question on whether anything needs to be done to promote the safety case of AVs, and from there they get into how quickly self-driving is advancing, how it stacks up against human drivers, the ripple effects on jobs, and what new roles might emerge as automation scales.
Cool Rides
My First Freeway Trip (link).
‘Just rode my first Zoox self-driving car. As an early tester for Waymo, Cruise, and Robotaxi, this felt different’ (link).
Whether you’re taking a ten-minute ride from SJC to Levi’s Stadium or headed up 280 to San Francisco, there couldn’t be a better moment for Waymo’s autonomous vehicles to expand across the Bay Area (link).
‘I found the longest possible Waymo route’ (link).
AVs behaving badly
‘Waymo is out of control. This was in the middle of the night…neighbors could not sleep.’ (link). I don’t normally find myself agreeing with posters on Nextdoor but this does seem pretty hectic for a residential area.
‘FSD clips corner of car when changing lanes’ (link). My only issue with these kinds of videos is that we never actually know whether the car was truly in FSD or not.
Announcements/Partnerships/Fundraising
Remote driving startup Vay could grab up to $410M from Singapore’s Grab (link). You can find my interview with Vay CEO here, and one quote that stood out from the article is:
Vay describes driverless car rental as complementary to robotaxis. As for Grab, it sees Vay as serving “a growing segment of consumers who prefer not to be car owners,” Grab co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan said in a press release.
Waymo announces new CFO Steve Fieler (link).
Teradar raises $150M for a sensor it says beats lidar and radar (link).
Autonomous semi truck brand Einride set to go public in $1.8B SPAC deal (link).
Neat Jobs
Multiple roles in Operations at Waymo, via Leticia Cavalcante.
Safety Strategy Intern at Zoox (link) via Stephen A. Ridella.
Multiple roles in Systems Engineering at Waymo, via Josh Switkes.
Product & Regulatory Counsel at Zoox (link) via Elizabeth Mykytiuk.
You can check out our brand new AV Job board where we’ll posting all of the jobs we feature (link).
AV/Mobility Events
AutoMobility LA is back and better than ever: featuring futuristic vehicle reveals, insightful policy talks and so much more. Taking place in Downtown LA next Thursday, highlights of the event include a talk with California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin (submit your questions for him here) panels featuring top execs from Lucid Motors, LACI, Arc Boats, Zoox, and Kodiak Robotics, plus big announcements from Kia, Hyundai, VW, Scout and many more. Save 50% on tickets with the code CURB50 (Register here).
Shout-outs
Big thanks to TDD readers Geraldine B, Sarfraz M and Gianmarco 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