Travis Kalanick

I mean, look, it's funny because, as you guys know, back in the day, 2015, 16, 17, we had our own autonomous vehicles out there. And I remember the first one of ours that I took. And I got in the back and all I had was a stop button, a big red stop button that I could push if things got weird. And I remember this was in Pittsburgh where we had our robotics division and autonomy division at Uber.

And I got out of that car and literally it's like I got off a roller coaster ride. Like my legs were, I could not stand straight. Like I was like a little wobbly because I was so freaked out and the adrenaline was pumping. you get in a Waymo today and it's like, you're not even thinking twice. You're just like, it's all good. You just get in, you get out. Now part of it's just the normalization.

And I got out of that car and literally it's like I got off a roller coaster ride. Like my legs were, I could not stand straight. Like I was like a little wobbly because I was so freaked out and the adrenaline was pumping. you get in a Waymo today and it's like, you're not even thinking twice. You're just like, it's all good. You just get in, you get out. Now part of it's just the normalization.

It's like, It's just working and that normalizing matters in terms of the psychology around it. We're just there. So it just works. Now, is it an optimized experience for ride sharing? No. Like the cyber cab is sort of the ultra sort of destination for what it means to get transported across a city in a vehicle that is not meant for a human to drive.

It's like, It's just working and that normalizing matters in terms of the psychology around it. We're just there. So it just works. Now, is it an optimized experience for ride sharing? No. Like the cyber cab is sort of the ultra sort of destination for what it means to get transported across a city in a vehicle that is not meant for a human to drive.

No steering wheel, folks potentially even facing each other, just a whole bunch of different formats. The technology works. We know that. There are different ways to get to the technology. I think that probably the most interesting thing that we should be – or one of the most interesting things to be thinking about, maybe there's a few. First is cheap AI makes cheap autonomy.

No steering wheel, folks potentially even facing each other, just a whole bunch of different formats. The technology works. We know that. There are different ways to get to the technology. I think that probably the most interesting thing that we should be – or one of the most interesting things to be thinking about, maybe there's a few. First is cheap AI makes cheap autonomy.

Okay, so if as cheap AI gets out there and proliferates and gets broadly distributed, we should expect autonomy gets easier and easier and easier. And you see some of the stuff that's happening with Tesla and FSD, their new models are like, I think in a three month period, they went up like 10x in terms of performance, meaning A number of miles per human intervention.

Okay, so if as cheap AI gets out there and proliferates and gets broadly distributed, we should expect autonomy gets easier and easier and easier. And you see some of the stuff that's happening with Tesla and FSD, their new models are like, I think in a three month period, they went up like 10x in terms of performance, meaning A number of miles per human intervention.

That's the thing that Elon's seeing right now because cheap AI, cheap good AI makes cheap good autonomy. And that's a thing we need to connect the dots on. I think the thing then you go one level past that, you're like, okay, there's the possibility literally that autonomy just gets easy and commoditized similar to what's happening to AI. The next part is, okay, you get the hardware.

That's the thing that Elon's seeing right now because cheap AI, cheap good AI makes cheap good autonomy. And that's a thing we need to connect the dots on. I think the thing then you go one level past that, you're like, okay, there's the possibility literally that autonomy just gets easy and commoditized similar to what's happening to AI. The next part is, okay, you get the hardware.

You're like, okay, manufacturing's hard. That's interesting. That could be a long pull in the tent. I think that could be a place where Tesla, of course, has huge advantage. You then look at who are Waymo's partners. Are they getting set up to do the right kind of manufacturing and get scale of cars out there?

You're like, okay, manufacturing's hard. That's interesting. That could be a long pull in the tent. I think that could be a place where Tesla, of course, has huge advantage. You then look at who are Waymo's partners. Are they getting set up to do the right kind of manufacturing and get scale of cars out there?

But then there's like this dark horse that nobody's talking about, which is it's called electricity. It's called power. And all these vehicles are electric vehicles. And if you said, yeah, I just did some like quick back of the envelope calcs. If all of the miles in California went EV ride sharing, you would need to double the energy capacity of California. Right.

But then there's like this dark horse that nobody's talking about, which is it's called electricity. It's called power. And all these vehicles are electric vehicles. And if you said, yeah, I just did some like quick back of the envelope calcs. If all of the miles in California went EV ride sharing, you would need to double the energy capacity of California. Right.

Let's not even talk about what it would take to double the energy capacity in the grid and things like that in California. Let's not even go there. Even getting 20% more, 10% more is going to be a gargantuan five to 10 year exercise. Look, I live in LA.

Let's not even talk about what it would take to double the energy capacity in the grid and things like that in California. Let's not even go there. Even getting 20% more, 10% more is going to be a gargantuan five to 10 year exercise. Look, I live in LA.

It's a nice area in LA and we have power outages all the freaking time because the grid is effed up and they're sort of upgrading it as things break. That's literally where we're at in LA, one of the most affluent neighborhoods in LA. That's just where we are. So I think the sort of the dark horse kind of hot take is combustion engine AVs.

It's a nice area in LA and we have power outages all the freaking time because the grid is effed up and they're sort of upgrading it as things break. That's literally where we're at in LA, one of the most affluent neighborhoods in LA. That's just where we are. So I think the sort of the dark horse kind of hot take is combustion engine AVs.

Because I don't know how you can go fast getting AV out there really, really, really massive with the electric grid as it is.