#367: SpaceX, Waymo, Lucid, and Alex’s Tesla Solar Obsession

In this episode of The Autonocast, Alex Roy, Ed Niedermeyer, and Kirsten Korosec debate the latest wave of autonomous vehicle optimism, sparked by Uber President and COO Andrew Macdonald’s prediction that his young children may never need driver’s licenses. The crew compares today’s robotaxi boom with the AV hype cycle of 2015–2016—and examines what has genuinely changed now that companies like Waymo are operating commercial driverless services at meaningful scale.Alex also puts Waymo’s expanding Phoenix service to a very practical test: could a robotaxi eventually handle the chaos of the school drop-off line? The discussion explores the surprisingly difficult edge cases involved in transporting children autonomously, from human hand gestures and school personnel to pickup placards, freeway access, unaccompanied minors, and the limitations of both Waymo and Tesla FSD.Then the conversation turns to the increasingly important relationship between Uber and Waymo. Does Waymo really need Uber’s enormous ride-hailing marketplace? Or does Uber need Waymo more, at least until partners including AVride, Zoox, Wayve, Pony.ai, Lucid, and Nuro can deliver truly driverless service at scale? The hosts explore whether Uber could ultimately become the Expedia of autonomous transportation, aggregating competing robotaxi brands based on price, ETA, vehicle type, and availability.Finally, the crew tackles the future of human driving and car culture. From Monterey Car Week and Ferrari to manual transmissions, Porsche 928s, and the rise of AI, the hosts ask whether driving will eventually become a niche hobby—or whether the desire for control, agency, and physical experiences will ensure human-driven cars survive well into the autonomous age.

Uber is going all-in on autonomous vehicles, committing roughly $10 billion across more than 30 AV partnerships. But how many of those bets will actually produce commercially viable robotaxis—and does Uber ultimately become the Expedia of autonomous transportation?In this episode of The Autonocast, Alex Roy, Ed Niedermeyer, and Kirsten Korosec break down Uber’s sprawling autonomy strategy and debate which partners have the best chance of reaching meaningful scale. The discussion covers Waymo’s relationship with Uber, Wayve’s prospects in London, the Lucid-Nuro robotaxi program, Rivian’s autonomy ambitions, and whether consumers will ultimately book directly with robotaxi brands or through aggregators like Uber.The crew also examines Lucid’s operational reset, including major cost reductions, leadership changes, its delayed midsize EV, Saudi manufacturing plans, and why the Uber-Nuro robotaxi partnership could become critical to Lucid’s future.Then it’s on to Ford’s proposed $30,000 electric pickup, what it could mean for affordable EV adoption, and whether Ford’s scale and manufacturing experience threaten EV startup Slate. The hosts debate Ford’s opportunity to finally build a profitable mass-market EV platform, the importance of quality and reliability, and whether consumers really want the stripped-down, analog experience Slate is promising.Plus: Joby vs. Archer in the eVTOL race, the Porsche Cayenne EV, Tesla FSD and ADAS as a purchasing decision, Alex’s increasingly eccentric car collection—and what he should buy next.Topics include: Uber robotaxis, autonomous vehicles, Waymo, Wayve, Nuro, Lucid Motors, Rivian, Tesla FSD, Ford EVs, Slate Auto, affordable electric vehicles, Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, eVTOL, robotaxi economics, AV regulation, self-driving cars, EV manufacturing, ADAS, and the future of mobility.

Alex Roy, Ed and Kirsten discuss Mobileye founder Amnon Shashua’s transition from CEO, Tesla’s expanding robotaxi ambitions, Waymo’s latest safety research, and the growing regulatory battle shaping autonomous vehicles. Also, Kirsten presses Alex on his uncharacteristic reticence.

Alex, Ed, and Kirsten sit down with George Kalligeros, CEO and co-founder of Aseon Labs, to explore the overlooked infrastructure required to scale autonomous vehicles and robotaxis. The discussion covers robotic vehicle servicing, decentralized charging, autonomous fleet maintenance, Waymo and Tesla operations, fleet economics, deadheading, EV charging networks, and the future of robotaxi deployment. George explains how Aseon’s mobile robotic service pods could dramatically improve fleet utilization while reducing operating costs, paving the way for scalable autonomous transportation.

Alex goes long SpaceX, Ed goes on even longer, and Kirsten brings the show down to earth to talk Waymo, Uber, Wayve, and Motional…until the boys drag it back to Tesla Solar, Porsche 928s, and much, much more.

Alex offends everyone with his POV on automotive design, Ed wants to talk Tesla, and Kirsten brings it back around to Waymo, Zoox, and actual analysis of the AV/EV business.

Steve Miller, SVP Innovation @ Hub International, explains one of the least understood but most critical aspects of autonomous vehicles: insurance. From the earliest days of self-driving startups like Drive.ai to today’s robotaxi deployments, Steve explains how insurers evaluate risk, liability, safety cases, software updates, and autonomous driving systems. Also: Tesla, Waymo, ADAS, AV legislation, trucking, fraud prevention, and the future economics of self-driving cars.

The gang discuss Alex’s new Tesla solar install, Waymo ops challenges, and Uber’s evolving self-driving strategy. Also, Ed has issues with you-know-whose robotaxi rollout in Austin. Kirsten and Alex then bring it back to an odd Waymo/Uber flareup, whilst Ed pouts.

Did Kirsten enjoy her Lucid Gravity? What’s the Citroen CX of EVs? How’s Waymo Ops doing? Do the CA AV reporting rules make sense? Did Alex enjoy his friend’s use of FSD on a HW 2.5 Model S? Ed & Alex keep it feisty, and Kirsten tries to keep them under control.

Kirsten, Ed & Alex sit down with Tiya Gordon, co-founder and COO of It’s Electric, to explore how curbside EV charging can unlock electric vehicle adoption in dense cities like New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. We discuss why most public EV chargers fail, how It’s Electric uses spare building power to create neighborhood charging without expensive utility trenching, and why better urban charging infrastructure could be essential for the future of EVs, rideshare fleets, and robotaxis.