Episode 283 | Autonomy Markets: Waymo's Big Week and Elon's Promises

This week on Autonomy Markets, Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo’s mapping expansion to San Francisco International Airport (SFO), their continued Bay Area expansion and Tesla’s ambitious plans for launching a FSD Unsupervised. As Waymo begins mapping SFO, there are still hurdles that the company has to overcome before offering commercial service, as their current permit prohibits transporting commercial goods or passengers. When Waymo applies for their ground transportation operating permit, The Teamsters are expected to oppose Waymo’s permit application it in an effort to block the service. Despite this potential challenge, we expect commercial operations at the airport to begin by this summer, as there is a clear economic benefit to San Francisco’s economy. Down at Giga in Austin, Elon Musk held an all-hands meeting where he outlined his bold plans for FSD Unsupervised and the company’s upcoming robotaxi service. At some point, Tesla will “crack” full self-driving and when they do, Waymo will have their first true competitor.Episode Chapters0:00 Waymo Begins Mapping SFO9:14 Waymo Airport Predictions (SFO, SJC, LAX)11:13 Waymo Nashville Prediction13:16 Waymo / Hyundai Prediction14:38 Waymo’s Continued Bay Area Expansion 19:13 Uber, Lyft and the Growth of Waymo21:04 Waymo Zeekr Robotaxis26:43 Waymo on Uber in Austin30:59 Could Waymo be Expanding to the UK?34:16 Tesla Unsupervised 35:43 Tesla All-Hands Meeting37:36 Tesla CPUC Permit38:47 NVIDIA GTC42:04 Truck OEMs46:57 Unforced Error of The Week48:51 Next WeekRecorded on Friday, March 21, 2025--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy® is a leading source of data, insight and commentary on autonomous vehicles/trucks and the emerging autonomy economy™.Autonomy is transforming industries and creating an entirely new economy that we call the autonomy economy™. The Road to Autonomy provides advisory and market intelligence services that helps you better understand the market and stay ahead of what’s coming next. To learn more, say hello (at) roadtoautonomy.com.Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter: https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-economy/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.