#359: Waabi w/Founder + CEO Raquel Urtasun

Fresh off a $1B Series C, Waabi Founder/CEO Raquel Urtasun joins us to answer key questions: Is $1B enough to develop both robotaxis and autonomous trucks? Who is building Waabi's robotaxi vehicle? What's behind Waabi's claim of extraordinary capital efficiency? And what can Waabi do that others can't?

This week we break down Wayve’s massive $1.2 billion round, Uber’s plan to become the global operations layer for autonomy, followed by a punchy debate over remote ops, including congressional scrutiny of Waymo’s overseas remote assistants, and what actually counts as “driving” in an autonomous system. Also, Ed has lots to say about NVIDIA investments.

Nexar CEO Zach Greenberger joins Alex, Kirsten and Ed to explain why Autonomous Vehicles need real world data, how Nexar built one of the world’s largest driving datasets, the Uber Labs announcement, and much, much more. Also, the hosts critique each other’s fashion choices.

Alex recounts his latest cross-country Tesla Full Self-Driving (FSD) attempt and explains why “zero-disengagement” claims often hide major differences in what counts as an intervention—plus an unforgettable moment where the car nearly strands a co-driver at a sub-zero truck stop. Kirsten, Ed & Alex then dig into Tesla’s decision to end Model S and Model X production, the company’s escalating bet on Optimus humanoid robots, and growing signals of deeper alignment with xAI (and even potential mega-merger vibes with SpaceX). Plus the latest Waymo controversy after a robotaxi struck a child in Santa Monica, the investigations and media narrative battle, and what these incidents mean for public trust in autonomous vehicles.

Alex has a shocker for Ed, and the gang debriefs on CES and the mobility party of the year. Plus, a riff on auto shows and our experience in the Motional robotaxi in Vegas.

David Moss joins Alex Roy and Ed Niedermeyer to discuss his zero intervention coast-to-coast Tesla FSD drive. Alex is excited. Ed less so, until the end.

Avery Ash, CEO of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) joins to discuss what we got right & wrong 12 months ago, and weighs in with predictions for 2026. Also, CES party updates, and a special shout-out to an old friend.

As Waymo scales, so do the edge cases the world's biggest robotaxi fleet will encounter. Also, Ed wants to talk about Tesla, Alex doesn't, and Kirsten keeps it cool.

Sleepy safety drivers, scaling robotaxis, Alex thanks the Autonocast party sponsors, Ed thanks Elon for giving him something to complain about, and Kirsten thanks us for letting her be the adult in the room.

When is self-driving not self-driving? How do the words we use for autonomous vehicles affect safety? Professor Bryant Walker Smith talks about how the SAE levels came to be, how he hopes to improve them, and his latest paper "Self-Driving Means Self-Driving."