Robotaxis, Energy Storage, OEM Strategies and The Future of Mobility
Pete Bigelow, Senior Reporter, Automotive News joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Alphabet’s additional $5 billion investment into Waymo, energy storage and traditional automakers autonomy strategies.
The conversation begins with Grayson and Pete analyzing Waymo’s progress, highlighting its growing revenue potential in cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. The $5 billion investment from Alphabet into Waymo, signals confidence in the robotaxi business model.
While Waymo has a proven model with economics that pan out, others do not. Zoox has not only an economic model issues, but a vehicle design problem. Society has shifted from everything being shared to personal mobility. This is one of the main reasons in our opinion why GM indefinitely delayed the Cruise Origin.
Then there is Tesla which is pursuing a personally-owned approach to autonomous vehicles with a keen sight on licensing its Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology to other automakers. Grayson and Pete discuss who those automakers could be and why it could potentially be Ford or Volkswagen (VW).
The discussion broadens to encompass the struggles of traditional automakers and how they are adapting to the changing automotive landscape. They explore potential strategies for Ford, including focusing on its profitable Ford Pro division or entering the energy storage market.
Energy storage emerges as a key topic, with both Grayson and Pete highlighting its growing importance in the automotive and technology sectors. They note Tesla’s success in this area and discuss how other automakers might capitalize on this trend.
Throughout the conversation, Grayson and Pete emphasize the rapid pace of innovation in the industry, the importance of making strategic decisions, and the potential for new technologies to reshape the automotive market.
Recorded on Friday, July 26 2024
Episode Chapters
- 0:00 Alphabet Goes All In on Waymo
- 7:17 Waymo compared to Uber in San Francisco
- 10:21 Waymo’s Pending Vehicle Problem
- 12:49 Zoox
- 23:21 Cruise
- 25:38 Licensing Tesla FSD
- 33:04 Ford
- 40:03 Trends
- 42:08 Key Takeaways
