Autonocast

As another year winds to a close, we look back not just on the last year but on the changes that have swept the autonomous drive technology space from 2016 through 2018. Two years ago, self-driving cars were at the peak of their hype and as we examine the past we discuss what we've learned along the way. Plus, the one and only George Hotz joins in to discuss the return of Mr 2016 himself, Anthony Levandowski, who is back with another autonomous drive startup apparently built (at least in part) on Hotz's open-source technology.

It's not often that the entire Autonocast crew gets fanboyish, but when it comes to Voyage we tend to lose our cool a little. That's because Voyage has built a business that takes into account both autonomy's greatest opportunities to help people and a realistic view of its limitations. By deploying autonomous vehicles in retirement communities, Voyage keeps its system operating in a limited domain while helping people who aren't well-served by cars be more mobile. On this week's show, we are joined by Voyage co-founder and CEO Oliver Cameron, who explains how Voyage grew out of the online university Udacity, how it identified retirement homes as an ideal domain for AVs and where the company is headed.

After catching up on their latest travels and briefly discussing the launch of Waymo One and the release of some intriguing new Waymo research, Ed and Kirsten are joined by Nathaniel Horadam of the Center for Transportation and the Environment to discuss his perspective on the upcoming Uber and Lyft IPOs. A lot is riding on these public offerings, which could be some of the biggest ever seen in the technology world (let alone mobility technology) but which also face some tough questions. Nathaniel walks us through some of his questions about their business model, in particular the issues related to a tightening labor market and rising interest rates, as we try to anticipate the issues that these highly-anticipated IPOs could raise.

Buckle up, kids! We're about to go on an educational journey through an autonomous drive software stack, with a little help from Argo AI. We talk to members of each of Argo's major teams—Mapping, Perception, Prediction, Planning—and learn about how each of them contribute to the autonomous drive system. Along the way we'll learn a little bit about some of the people who are making self-driving cars happen, and what it's like working on this fascinating problem.

On our recent field trip to Pittsburgh's Robocar Row, we were welcomed into the inner sanctum at Argo AI (which is still redolent of "new startup smell") for a frank discussion with the up-and-coming full-stack developer's top brass. CEO Bryan Salesky, President Peter Rander and VP of Robotics Brett Browning took time from their busy schedules to discuss their development and testing regime, building a workplace culture that keeps complex development work moving together, the challenges and opportunities of testing in Pittsburgh and Miami, their conversations with potential partners and much more. Enjoy this exclusive look inside the nuts and bolts of robocar development and stay tuned for an upcoming episode in which Argo takes us on a tour through its stack, from mapping to perception to prediction to planning.

On the latest episode of The Autonocast: Ed is back from his around-the-world car factory tour, Kirsten is about to head to Berlin and Alex is busy reading... Business Insider? The crew gathers around the table for a feast of discussion, ranging from the state of automation in modern car factories to Uber Advanced Technology Group's apparent dysfunction and Elon Musk's new brick business. Plus we preview an upcoming conversation about what's changed in the AV space over the last two years and our visit to Argo AI in Pittsburgh.

Ed, Alex and Kirsten sit down with four engineers at Aurora Innovation, who give us (and you) an inside view at the startup's culture, what they're working on and how they shut out all the distractions and noise while they try to solve and ultimately deploy self-driving vehicles.

The Autonocast heads to Pittsburgh to get a first-hand look at robot city — the home of Carnegie Mellon University and numerous autonomous vehicle test programs, including Aptiv, Argo AI Aurora and Uber ATG. In the first in a series of episodes on Pittsburgh, Ed, Alex and Kirsten recount their impressions and their first ride on public streets in Argo AI's autonomous vehicles.

The Autonocast was recently asked by our friends at Securing America's Future Energy to participate in their Innovation Summit on Autonomous Vehicles and Next Generation Transportation in Miami, Florida. The event, which SAFE put on in collaboration with Nexus Global, was a whirlwind tour of the most important issues surrounding autonomous vehicles and the future of mobility featuring a wide variety of voices including Uber, Voyage, Cruise Automation, Ford, the Department of Labor, the World Institute on Disability, transportation managers from Seattle and Long Beach, a pollster from the Mellman Group and more. At the end of a full day of insight and conversation, we recorded a discussion that opened with SAFE founder and CEO Robby Diamond and then brought in a variety of the people we'd heard from to summarize the most important issues that had surfaced throughout the summit. The result is a very special episode, covering a wide range of voices and ideas, that we hope brings you a taste of what was a very special event.

Arming cities with the data they need to make informed policy decisions around the waves of new mobility options has become a topic we've discussed a lot recently on The Autonocast, and joining us to take that conversation to the next level is Dr Regina Clewow, Founder and CEO of Populus. With degrees from Stanford and MIT, research experience at Tsinghua, UC Berkeley, and the Union of Concerned Scientists as well as stints at RideScout and Moovel, Dr Clewow has been diving deep into the world of mobility technology and its effects on society for years. Now she's bringing that experience to a new startup called Populus, that gives cities the tools to shape policy and infrastructure around fast-moving new mobility technologies and today she shares her vision for the future of cities and mobility with The Autonocast.

One year ago today, the one and only Kirsten Korosec made her Autonocast debut and we finally became the podcast you know and love/tolerate today. The gang celebrates the occasion, discusses the latest Anthony Levandowski-related revelations, and welcomes Mike Granoff of Maniv Mobility to the show to debate Alex about the convenience of electric vehicles.

Deloitte brought The Autonocast to the latest Dreamforce Convention to hear a panel they put on about the future of mobility and cities, and the discussion was so good we recorded an episode with two of the standout participants. Joining Alex, Kirsten and Ed are Scott Corwin, Managing Director and head of Deloitte's Future Mobility practice and Seleta Reynolds, General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Together, these guests discuss and debate the synergies and tensions between public and private interests as the cities and mobility modes of the future shift from dreams to reality.

On the latest episode of the Autonocast: Ed gets kicked out of a Tesla delivery center, Alex calls Ed a hater and Kirsten wishes we could discuss something other than Tesla.

A few years back, when electric and autonomous cars were seen as the next (and possibly last) great mobility revolution, Horace Dedieu was already thinking ahead. What he found is what the rest of the mobility technology world (and venture capital community) has been realizing for the last year or so: micromobility is the more classical (and immediate) disruption of the car. The Clayton Christensen acolyte and famed Apple analyst finally joins the Autonocast to explain what micromobility is, why everyone's talking about it, and how rapidly it's changing how we think about mombility. Plus, he and Ed preview the upcoming Magical Mystery Plant Tour that will take them and ten other analysts and investors to car factories around the world this November.

As wave after wave of new mobility modes invade cities, city planners and transportation agencies have struggled to maintain a sense of control over what was once a sleepy bureaucratic endeavor. Now a host of new platforms and tools are being offered to cities that want to manage the chaos, bring modes together, offer a single payment platform, plan for the future and more. But, as Alex, Kirsten and Ed discuss, empowering transit agencies trades off with the opportunities for private companies that are trying to position themselves as one-stop mobility apps. Begun, the mobility platform wars have.