#364: Alex Got Solar, Uber’s AV Future, Waymo Ops, Gossip, Ed’s Fave Robotaxis

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.

In this episode of Autonocast, Alex Roy, Kirsten Korosec, and Ed Niedermeyer talk with Foxglove founder Adrian Macneil about how lessons from Cruise and the autonomous vehicle boom are now fueling a broader robotics revolution. Macneil explains why Foxglove is building the infrastructure layer for “physical AI,” helping robotics companies capture and learn from real-world machine data, and why today may be the best moment yet to launch a robotics startup.

What’s the optimal form factor for a delivery bot, and why? Doordash VP of Autonomy Ashu Rege joins us to talk BTS @ DoorDash labs, why build rather than buy, why he left robotaxis to work on delivery, and why he drives an old Tesla. Also, Alex admires Ashu’s taste in interior design.

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.