Episode 187 | Scania's Customer-Centric Approach to Autonomous Trucking

Finch Fulton, Government Affairs and Policy Advisor, K&L Gates joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the policy and labor challenges currently facing the emerging autonomy economy. As the development of autonomous trucks and vehicles gains momentum, it faces significant policy and labor hurdles. There are complicated policy issues that autonomous trucking and vehicle companies must navigate to ensure that autonomous trucks and vehicles can be deployed on America’s roads.During the conversation Finch provides an insider’s perspective on the pushback against automation, autonomous trucks and autonomous vehicles under the guise of safety concerns. He highlights how overly restrictive policies could cripple innovation and America’s competitiveness, driving commerce and jobs to other countries.The discussion also delves into the role of federal agencies like the FMCSA and NHTSA in establishing a clear regulatory framework for autonomous trucks and autonomous vehicles. Delays in key rule-makings are examined as well as what happens when nothing happens. Along with the economic impact of those non-decisions are and who ultimately benefits. When autonomous trucks are actively hauling freight on the roads of America and autonomous vehicles are common in cities around the country, America wins. The economy becomes stronger, inflation begins to subside and the roads become safer. When this happens we will begin to usher in the autonomy economy. Recorded on Wednesday, April 3, 2024Episode Chapters00:15 Election Season and Policy Implications for Automation01:31 The Electric Vehicle Market and Tesla's Influence04:58 Supply Chain Challenges and National Security Issues08:15 The Future of Autonomous Technologies and Labor20:21 Silicon Valley's Shift Towards Defense Innovation22:35 Policy Prospects for Autonomous Vehicles in Future Administrations28:41 Decoding the Politics of Safety Regulations29:47 The Stalled Progress on Automated Vehicle Safety Standards31:36 The Impact of Rulemaking Delays on Autonomous Vehicle Safety33:05 Exploring the Role of Organized Labor in Autonomous Vehicle Regulation34:01 State vs. Federal: The Battle Over Autonomous Vehicle Legislation36:52 The Future of Autonomous Vehicle Policy and Investment44:46 Navigating the Challenges of Electrification and Autonomous Trucks50:56 A Call for Common Sense in Autonomous Vehicle Policy--------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™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dean Foreman, Chief Economist, Texas Oil & Gas Association joined Grayson Brulte on The Autonomy Economy podcast to discuss the pivotal role the oil and gas plays in the global economy. With a backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, Dean provides an in-depth analysis of how geopolitical factors like the Russia-Ukraine war and tensions with Iran impact oil markets. He examines the increasing demand for natural gas, particularly from Asia and Texas’ position as one of the leading producer and exporters of oil and gas.During the conversation, Dean and Grayson explore the implications of rising interest rates and inflation on the energy sector and the broader economy, including California’s controversial electricity pricing based on household income. Additionally, Grayson and Dean discuss the U.S.’s growing national debt and how it could potentially impact the energy markets as there is an interdependence between economic growth and energy demand. This comprehensive conversation is a must-listen for anyone interested in understanding the intricate dynamics of the global energy landscape and it’s profound influence on economic development.Recorded on Wednesday, April 10, 2024Episode Chapters0:11 The Impact of Geopolitics4:41 Monetary Policy Impact on Oil & Natural Gas Markets13:34 Growing Demand for Natural Gas19:24 California Energy Policy26:40 Oil & Gas Impact on the Global Economy34:02 Impact of the Growing U.S. Debt on the Economy 41:34 China Oil Imports 43:48 Things to Watch in the Oil Markets--------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™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ira Renfrew, Chief Product Officer, Outrider joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss how Outrider is developing autonomous yard operations that improve efficiency, safety, and resiliency for warehouse operations. Outrider has developed an innovative autonomous yard truck system that can connect and disconnect trailers autonomously using their patented Trailer Connect technology. Yard automation is as an untapped opportunity for automation that Outrider correctly identified in 2017 when the company was founded by Andrew Smith.The Outrider stack was designed for mixed traffic environments in warehouse and distribution yards. One of the advancements that has been made since the company was founded is the introduce of their autonomous “glad hand” trailer connection process.By automating the entire process, Outrider is able to achieve human-level throughput for trailer moves while enabling 24/7 operation and optimization across the yard truck fleet, leading to increased efficiency. Closing out the conversation Ira discusses Outrider’s roadmap, scaling plans, the benefits of electrification when combined with autonomy at customer sites, and Outrider’s vision for fully automated supply chains enabled by AI and robotics.Recorded on Tuesday, April 2, 2024Episode Chapters0:09 The Evolving Warehouse Automation Market5:11 Increase Warehouse Efficiency with Autonomous Yard Trucks8:58 Outrider Market Positioning12:47 Outrider Tech Stack22:43 Scaling Outrider26:05 Trailer Connect28:42 Fully Automated Supply Chain--------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™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sergey Litvinenko, Co-Founder & CEO, Koop joined Grayson Brulte on The Autonomy Economy podcast how autonomy could transform insurance economics. As autonomous vehicles and robotic automation spread across industries, a massive new risk ecosystem is emerging that will require innovative insurance solutions. In a fascinating podcast interview, Sergey Litvinenko, co-founder & CEO of insurtech pioneer Koop, provided rare insights into how his company is leading the charge in underwriting this technological transformation.Traditional insurance carriers have been hesitant to dive into insuring autonomy risks like self-driving cars and warehouse robotics due to a lack of data and technical expertise. As Sergey explained, “If you can’t model the risk, you can’t underwrite it profitably.” This knowledge gap has created a massive greenfield opportunity for insurtechs focused specifically on robotics and AI.Koop has developed proprietary systems that ingest and analyze real-world sensor data from robots and autonomous vehicles to precisely model their behavior and safety performance. Using this cutting-edge approach, Koop has achieved stellar underwriting results, with loss ratios under 5% for its robotics book – compared to 70%+ for traditional P&C lines.This lucrative capability is allowing Koop to rapidly scale and cement its position as the dominant player in the burgeoning autonomy insurance market. Sergey believes large incumbents will be forced to partner with or acquire specialist providers like Koop rather than build expertise in-house. He forecasted robotics insurance could be a “tens of billions” dollar market delivering 30%+ underwriting profits.As AI ushers in a “Cambrian explosion” of robotic use cases across industries, demand for intelligently underwritten insurance solutions will skyrocket. Koop is uniquely positioned with the technical foundations, proprietary data, and risk modeling skills to capture this unprecedented opportunity.In Sergey’s words, “When you intersect tens of billions of deployed robots with insurance where you can deliver 30% annual returns…it just makes me very excited about the space.” The autonomy economy is materializing rapidly – don’t be surprised if the pioneering innovators insuring this revolution turn out to be young insurtechs like Koop rather than industry giants.Listen to the full podcast for more fascinating insights from Sergey Kravchenko on the future of autonomy insurance. The robotics risk market is open for disruption – will your company be leading or following?Recorded on Tuesday, March 26, 2024Episode Chapters0:10 2024 Insurance Market Outlook5:14 Cyber Security Insurance9:40 Underwriting Autonomous Vehicles and Trucks35:36 How Companies Should Prepare for Autonomy and Automation 37:44 AI Impact on Insurance 40:26 The Evolving Underwriting Markets for Autonomous Vehicles 42:34 Key Take Aways--------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™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Are you ready to go behind the scenes and uncover the secrets of the company playing a pivotal role in the future of autonomous and electric vehicles? In this riveting episode, we dive deep into the world of Applied Intuition, the Silicon Valley company partnering with automotive giants such as Porsche to develop groundbreaking software that will make self-driving cars a reality.Join us as host Grayson Brulte sits down with Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig, the visionary co-founders who are fusing cutting-edge artificial intelligence with decades of automotive expertise. You'll gain unprecedented insights into their bold mission to accelerate safe autonomy across industries – from transforming in-vehicle experiences to tackling defense applications.But that's not all! Brace yourself for insights into Applied Intuition's pioneering work, including their multi-stack strategy to future-proof technology, ambitious vehicle software platform to revolutionize mobile electronics, and the innovative ways they're empowering automakers to control the consumer experience like never before.Don't miss this opportunity to understand the forces driving autonomy and witness the birth of a new era in intelligent machines. Listen now and immerse yourself in a world where the boundaries of possibility are constantly being redefined.Episode Chapters0:00 The Road to Autonomy Index Introduction0:56 Series E Funding3:44 Applied Intuition AI Roadmap5:58 AV 2.010:00 Insights into the Chip Market11:04 Applied Intuition Trust Layer14:37 Autonomous Driving24:36 Applied Intuition x Porsche27:45 Software Development with OEMs36:54 Applied Intuition Defense Business39:24 Future of Applied IntuitionRecorded on Friday, March 29, 2024 --------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™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pete Bigelow, Senior Reporter, Automotive News joined Grayson Brulte on The Autonomy Economy podcast to discuss Tesla’s data advantage and what it means to the development and commercialization of autonomous driving. The conversation begins with Pete and Grayson discussing Tesla FSD (Full Self-Driving) and the advantages Tesla has with their data gathering abilities. Tesla has over 5 million vehicles fitted with FSD hardware and software on the road today, driving an estimated 50 billion miles per year — 100,000 miles per minute. This on-going data collection gives Tesla a massive advantage over competitors developing an end-to-end neural net self-driving stack.Mobileye is taking a similar approach to Tesla by gathering real-world driving data to train their autonomous models. Currently Mobileye has over 26 years of data equaling over 200 petabytes of driving footage, equivalent to 16 million 1-minute driving clips. But is it enough data to train their autonomous driving models and scale a business?It has yet to be determined if there is a business there for Mobileye as year-over-year revenues are expected to be $226.35 million, down 50.6% from the year-ago. To try and accelerate revenue growth, Mobileye is moving the business away from ADAS chips to the autonomous driving sector which has larger margins. [Mobileye is] talking about going from roughly $50 dollars of revenue per unit to $1,500 with Supervision to $3,000 per car with Chauffeur. So I think that the path mobilize sees forward is really ramping up production of those systems, finding buyers for those systems, particularly in China.– Pete BigelowWhile it’s well known that Tesla is gathering driving data, it’s not well known that Mobileye is gathering driving data. Could consumers push back and demand to be paid a fee for gathering data for Mobileye? If consumers demanded to be paid, the Mobileye autonomous driving business model would be at risk. Then there is the political risk. What if a U.S. Congressman or Senator introduced a “Car Owner Bill of Rights”?The data being gathered by vehicles is going to be an asset class at some point in the future. When it becomes an asset class, owners of the vehicle will demand to get paid the same way publishers are demanding to be paid today when their content is used to train large-language models (LLMs). Data is the asset that unlocks future business models. One of the most significant business models that will emerge from the development of autonomous driving is licensing. If FSD use rates pick up and Tesla does indeed license FSD, RBC is projecting that Tesla will generate $35 billion in FSD revenue and $18 billion in licensing a year by 2035 for a total of $53 billion a year in revenue.Then there is Qualcomm. In Q1 FY 2024, Qualcomm reported automotive revenue of $598 million up from $456 million in Q1 FY 2023. An increase of $142 million, year-over-year. Sales were partly driven by the Snapdragon Digital Chassis Solution. Their year-over-year automotive revenue is growing faster than both NVIDIA and Mobileye. With a $30 billion dollar design pipeline and focus on ADAS, Qualcomm is well positioned to enter the autonomous driving market in a big way.Qualcomm has become already the quiet giant of the automotive industry. – Pete BigelowWrapping up the conversation, Pete shares his insights into how he sees autonomous driving market evolving over the next five years.Recorded on Friday, March 8, 2024 Episode Chapters0:10 Tesla FSD5:15 Mobileye19:51 Licensing Autonomous Driving Software 29:10 Qualcomm34:48 Evolving Autonomous Driving Market--------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™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Adam Kovacevich, Founder & CEO, Chamber of Progress joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss the regulatory environment for autonomous vehicles in California and what impact if passed, local control would have on the deployment on AVs in California.The conversation begins with Adam discussing why autonomous vehicles are so divisive in California. Today, there is a divide between the entrenched “status quo” and the residents of California that are excited to use autonomous vehicles on a daily basis. In someways this is such a threat to the status quo that unfortunately city leaders in both LA and San Francisco have resisted. – Adam Kovacevich, Founder and CEO, Chamber of ProgressPhoenix is taking the opposite approach of both LA and San Francisco. The city and the greater Phoenix metro region have welcomed autonomous vehicles into their communities with great success. Waymo vehicles operating in the region do not get high, they do not get distracted and the do not drive drunk. Yet, when the positive benefits are presented to officials in California, they do not want to hear it.I would like to think that Los Angeles will ultimately be one of the great markets in the world for autonomous vehicles, just because the car is so central to LA. – Adam Kovacevich, Founder and CEO, Chamber of ProgressWhile LA could ultimately be one of the great markets for autonomous vehicles, legislators in the State Assembly and State Senate are actively working to pass regulations that would effectively ban autonomous vehicles in California. If autonomous vehicles are essentially banned in California, the state’s economy would ultimately suffer from an economic downturn.One of the ways that clever legislators are trying to ban autonomous vehicles is by passing legislation that would give local municipalities regulatory control over autonomous vehicles. Each municipality would have its own set of regulations, and perhaps even their own DMV to enforce the regulations. If signed into law, the local control over autonomous vehicles bill would be an effective ban on autonomous vehicles in the State of California. Could you image if this proposed local control law was applied to drivers? If you wanted to drive to the beach from Downtown LA, you would pass through Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica all before ending up in Malibu. Five different cities, five potentially different sets of regulations. What if one of those cities decided they only wanted residents to drive in that city? You could potentially blocked from reaching the beach. Would this violate the California Coastal Act in some form or fashion? What is being proposed is not realistic. It’s being driven by special interests that want to see autonomous vehicles banned in the state. This is not about the citizens of the state or residents of the cities were autonomous vehicles operate, this is about control and appeasing special interests. It’s not practically about local control, it’s really effectively a ban. – Adam Kovacevich, Founder and CEO, Chamber of ProgressIf the local control bill is passed, signed into law and autonomous vehicles are effectively banned in California, the business exodus from the state would further accelerate. Businesses want to operate in a regulatory environment that is predictable, manageable and stable. Wrapping up the conversation, Adam and Grayson discuss what it would look like if autonomous vehicles were regulated at the federal level.Episode Chapters0:11 Why Autonomous Vehicles are so Divisive in California4:20 Benefits of Autonomous Vehicles7:41 Pending Autonomous Vehicle Legislation in California 19:55 Business Exodus from California28:33 Developing Public Trust in Autonomous Vehicles 34:11 Federal Regulation of Autonomous VehiclesRecorded on Friday, March 29, 2024 --------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™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Brett Suma, Founder & CEO, Loadsmith joined Grayson Brulte on The Autonomy Economy podcast to discuss the unit economics of autonomous trucking and the Loadsmith self-balancing freight network. The conversation begins with Brett discussing the unit economics of traditional trucking.Trucking and the most successful trucking companies look at unit economics. However they are measuring their business, they are going to do it in a very unit way. Whether you are looking at revenue per truck per day, revenue per truck per week, revenue per truck per hour, depending on your business and how your business is operating, revenue per mile obviously. When you start looking at things like fuel surcharge per mile, your deadhead miles, your out of route miles, all of the things that build into those unit economics, that is the basis of trucking. So you have to look at things at a unit economic perspective. – Brett Suma, Founder & CEO, LoadsmithWhen autonomous trucks are introduced into the fleet the economics are going to change. Well, the whole thing is going to change. The entire economics of trucking are going to change and not in every lane on day one, and not even in every lane forever. But the economics of, let’s just call it your 20 most dense lanes in the United States are going to probably change very drastically, very quickly.Then it will continue to expand to the top 100 lanes from a density perspective, and it may settle in somewhere 150 to 250 total lanes that can support autonomous from an economics perspective. – Brett Suma, Founder & CEO, LoadsmithAutonomous trucks are first going to be deployed on over-the-road long haul routes, while the last-mile routes will still be driven by professional drivers. This dichotomy is going to lead to job creation and higher wages because of the demand for for first and last mile drivers. To capitalize on the hybrid network that is going to emerge from the mass deployment of autonomous trucks, Brett founded Loadsmith.Along with the emergence of autonomous trucks, zero-emission trucks are also beginning to come online. However, the unit economics of zero emission trucks do not calculate today due to their higher upfront costs which is 50% more on average than traditional diesel trucks. I’m very, very pro zero emission. I’m very, very pro autonomous. I do not think because of the cost of the truck that you’re going to be able to have zero emission in the middle mile at scale without it being autonomous. – Brett Suma, Founder & CEO, LoadsmithThis is partly because of the infrastructure and the economics to operate the service with a professional driver. Where zero emission trucks could thrive is in the first and last mile. While autonomous trucks will thrive in the middle-mile. To scale up their autonomous freight network, Loadsmith partnered with Kodiak. Wrapping up the conversation, Brett shares his opinion on the future of the freight industry.Episode Chapters0:23 Economics of Trucking3:24 Impact of Insurance Costs on Trucking Economics15:36 Economics of Autonomous Trucks24:56 Building a Hybrid Freight Network31:55 Founding of the Loadsmith Freight Network36:04 Unit Economics of Zero Emissions Trucks39:41 Economic Advantages of the Loadsmith Freight Network 42:20 Freight Balancing 48:24 Partnership with Kodiak51:24 Future of Freight IndustryRecorded on Thursday, February 29, 2024--------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™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Peter Hafmar, Vice President & Head of Autonomous Solutions, Scania (part of the TRATON Group) joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss Scania’s customer-centric approach to autonomous trucking and their partnership with Plus. The conversation begins with Peter discussing Scania’s autonomy efforts and the four core principles of their approach:Focusing on the customer journey perspective.Concentrating on long-haul transport and confined mining applications.Maintaining control over their systems through strategic partnerships.Coordinating efforts across TRATON’s brands.Strategic partnerships are key to the development and commercialization of autonomous trucks. TRATON recently announced a partnership with Plus for the development and commercialization of SAE Level 4 autonomous trucks. The cultural fit and shared values between the two companies were one of the critical factors in the deal coming to fruition. Even with the Plus partnership, Scania intends to continue developing its own autonomous driving technologies in parallel. If we don’t understand the product, we will not be a good partner for Plus or anyone else either. – Peter Hafmar, Vice President & Head of Autonomous Solutions, ScaniaThis dual-track approach allows Scania to maintain deep technical expertise in autonomous driving. When it comes to commercializing autonomous trucking solutions, Peter details Scania’s “driver-as-a-service” model. Rather than competing directly with customers for transportation services, Scania aims to integrate autonomous driving into their existing operational systems and workflows seamlessly.The initial autonomous lanes will be determined entirely by customer needs and existing transportation routes. These lanes will most likely be long-haul routes due to the economics and acute driver shortages.Throughout the discussion, Peter underscores that partnerships, culture fit, and shared values are critical for scaling autonomous trucks successfully. It’s easy to forget about culture and values when you talk about technology, because it is essential that technology works, but it’s actually people that are developing everything behind. – Peter Hafmar, Vice President & Head of Autonomous Solutions, ScaniaWrapping up the conversation, Peter reaffirms Scania’s customer-first philosophy as the driving force behind their autonomous pursuits, ensuring solutions that unlock tangible value for their transportation partners.Chapters:0:11 Scania's Approach to Autonomous Trucking5:33 Scania's Autonomous Trucking Commercialization Strategy8:18 Autonomous Solutions for Minning11:02 Driver-as-a-Service Lanes13:45 Plus / TRATON Partnership16:06 Scania's History in Autonomous Trucks18:10 Customer Approach to Autonomy21:44 E.U. Autonomous Trucking Policy23:09 Rolling out Autonomous Trucks in the U.S. and E.U.26:34 Key TakeawaysRecorded on Tuesday March 19, 2024--------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™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mazen Danaf, Senior Economist and Applied Scientist, Uber Freight joined Grayson Brulte on The Autonomy Economy podcast to discuss the economic conditions impacting the adoption of autonomous and electric trucks. In this engaging economic discussion, Mazen provides valuable insights into the forces molding the future of autonomous and electric trucking. With $18 billion of freight under management, Uber Freight has a unique vantage point into wider market dynamics.A key focus of the conversation is the recent rebound in consumer spending on goods, which increased 5% year-over-year in 2023 after a two-year stagnation. This positive demand signal bodes well for increased freight volumes and a potential freight market recovery emerging in Q2 2024, according to Mazen. Other indicators such as improving manufacturing data, reduced truck orders, and employment in long-haul trucking are creating conditions conducive to higher freight demand.However, Mazen cautioned that the $1.13 trillion in U.S. consumer credit card debt, while elevated, has returned to a manageable 5% debt-to-income ratio consistent with pre-pandemic levels. Monitoring factors like unemployment will be crucial to gauge if the consumer remains able to sustain spending.Turning to transformative freight technologies, Mazen emphasized the importance of analyzing autonomous and electric truck adoption through a comprehensive economic lens rather than a tech lens. Long-term, he expects a decades-long transition facilitated by a hybrid approach of both autonomous and professional driver operations.For electric trucks, substantial public and private investment is needed to build out charging infrastructure at scale. Freight-dense interstate corridors like Los Angeles-Inland Empire and Dallas- Houston are prime candidates for targeted electrification efforts to maximize emissions reduction.The overarching theme of the podcast was consumer behavior, market forces, infrastructure, and the regulatory environment will all shape trucking’s autonomous and electric future as much as the technology itself. Mazen stressed, “it’s interesting to look at the broader context…because it will definitely have an effect.” Uber Freight’s vast data intelligence provides a powerful economic prism through which to forecast this transformation.Chapters:0:00 Introduction 0:40 Consumer Spending and The Economy 6:50 Fed Interest Rate Cuts 9:12 Real Estate Markets 11:08 Layoffs 12:50 Decline in Freight Market Job Growth 14:40 Carriers Investing in Autonomous Trucks 21:04 Autonomous Trucks and Intermodal 24:13 Autonomous Trucking in California 27:34 Autonomous and Electric Trucks Impact on Jobs 31:15 Introducing Electric Trucks into Fleets 41:27 Q4 2023 Truck Sales Decline 43:44 Freight Recovery 45:43 Key TakeawaysRecorded on Thursday, February 15, 2024--------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™. The company has two businesses: The Road to Autonomy Indices, with Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones Indices as the custom calculation agent; Media, which includes The Road to Autonomy and Autonomy Economy podcasts as well as This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletter.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.