Autonocast
Episodes
#352: Waymo...With Great Scale Comes Great Responsibility.
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#351: Feisty Thanksgiving Discussion
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sleepy safety drivers, scaling robotaxis, Alex thanks the Autonocast party sponsors, Ed thanks Elon for giving him something to complain about, and K...
#350: How To Fix The SAE Levels w/Bryant Walker Smith
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
#349: How To Make AI Useful w/MIT's Bryan Reimer
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How to cut through the BS of AI hype? What is the optimal integration of AI into work? What is the best application of AI in human driven vehicles? MI...
#348: Also Bikes, Tesla HW3, Ghosts
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Will Rivian bicycle spinoff Also become the iPhone/Tesla Model S of bikes? Why is it called Also? How much was the branding agency paid? Why did a Tes...
#347: Waymo DDOS Attack, Tesla Door Handles, Wayve, 2026 CES Party Info
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Should Waymo pranksters be permabanned from the service? Will Tesla survive Ed's door handle obsession? What makes Kirsten a real journalist? Will A...
#346: Alex Pulled Over, Sperm Racing, Waymo Rain
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alex gets pulled over for the first time in 15 years, Ed is more interested in the wild Silicon Valley Sperm Racing story, and Kirsten brings it back ...
#345: Alex Haag of Futurail
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does an ex-Tesla, VW, and Argo AI executive do next? Take the lessons of autonomy to railroads. Futurail CEO/co-founder Alex Haag explains why ra...
#344: Billy Thalheimer of Regent
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Regent CEO Billy Thalheimer explains why the only thing more awesome than a Lun-Class Ekranoplan is a wing-in-ground-effect vehicle that actually WO...
#343: Tesla's Autopilot Court Loss, AVs in The Naked Gun, A Little Zoox
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alex reviews The Naked Gun's depiction of self-driving cars, Ed puts on his big boy shoes to explain Tesla's big loss in court, and Kirsten rolls her ...
#342: Dave Ferguson of Nuro
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How does a multi-billion dollar self-driving startup pivot from custom autonomous delivery vehicles to L4 software licensing? Nuro co-founder/Presiden...
#341: Boris Sofman of Bedrock Robotics
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Former Waymo self-driving truck lead and Anki co-founder Boris Sofman joins The Autonocast to talk about his new company, Bedrock Robotics, and why au...
#340: On The Ground In Austin
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Austin Texas was already one of the hot spots of AV activity, even before Tesla's robotaxi deployment ratched up the hype. With Ed back from a week on...
#339: Flamin' Hot Waymos and other Hot Summer Takes
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The summer heat is getting to the gang, as they discuss Tesla's attempt to go driverless in Austin and engage in the burning Waymo discourse that has ...
#338: The Big, Beautiful Regulatory Hack
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After a brief update about their old, unreliable cars, the gang dives into the latest effort to pre-empt local regulation of AVs, and its many implica...
#337: Spring Cleaning
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Spring has sprung, and the AV sector is full of happenings. From Sterling Anderson's surprise move from Aurora to GM, to a series of recalls at Waymo ...
#336: AVs Are So Back
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week: Aurora goes driverless, Waymo hooks up with Toyota, Uber hooks up with everyone, and the gang gathers to piece together what it all means.
#335: John Harris of Harbinger
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Before co-founding the medium duty electric truck startup Harbinger, John Harris lived through some of the wildest highs and lows of the post-Tesla EV...
#334: Normal Talk For Normal Times
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The gang comes together to chat about Wayve's deal with Nissan, Kodiak's decision to SPAC, China's ban on "self-driving" terminology — and of course...
#333 Reilly Brennan Returns
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Reilly Brennan, the godfather of the Autonocast and Trucks VC general partner, returns to the pod for a wide-ranging discussion on the business of rob...
#332: Gabe Sganga of Forterra
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Forterra has been around the defense and driving automation sectors for years, under names like Robotic Research. Now the firm's VP of Commercial Grow...
#331: We Are So Back
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kirsten rides Waymos in Austin, Alex valet parks a Citroen, and Ed stops protesting Tesla for long enough to find Alex's newest eBike.
#330: Raquel Urtasun of Waabi
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Raquel Urtasun came to the AV sector from academia, first leading research for Uber's Advanced Technology Group, and for the last four years with her ...
#329: Ed and Alex Touch The Third Rail
27 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With Kirsten traveling for work, Ed and Alex get back to the topic that they've been tussling over since this podcast began: Tesla and Elon Musk. Of c...
#328: Citroen S&M, Garage Check, God's Eye and more
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alex shares the struggle of fixing a vintage Citroen SM and what it means for software defined vehicles, the whole gang discusses the unique vehicles ...
#327: Mark Groden of Skyryse
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Aircraft design may be a mature space, but Mark Groden sees the entire control scheme for aircraft as an opportunity for transformative change, from t...
#326: Tesla Earnings, Yellow AV Journalism, and The Social Contract
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ed and Kirsten kick off the latest episode with a discussion of Tesla's latest earnings report, and are joined by Alex as the conversation turns to a ...
#325: CES 2025 Roundup
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With another CES in the books, the gang gathers to discuss the highs and lows of the show, the annual Autonocast CES party, and the long-overdue debut...
#324: Riding with Zoox on the Vegas Strip, featuring Jesse Levinson
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After years of intense effort and turmoil, Zoox is nearing the finish line in its pioneering ground-up robotaxi, possibly the most ambitiously novel v...
#323: The Annual Prediction Episode 2024
02 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With the annual CES party looming, it's time once again for the gang to review last year's predictions and try to make a few about 2025. But first, th...
#322: Fall Of The House of Cruise
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
General Motors has pulled the plug on Cruise, one of the Level 4 AV developers who defined the space... for better and worse. The gang gathers to disc...
#321: Thanksgiving Discussion
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The gang gathers around the metaphorical festive table to discuss such hot-button issues as the complicated future of EVs and AVs under a new Trump ad...
#320: Pushing Buttons with Dr Rachel Plotnick
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With some automakers moving away from touchscreens and back toward physical controls, and others pushing forward toward ever more minimalist user inte...
#319: Xiaodi Hou is getting scrappy
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Xiaodi Hou was one of the earlier guests on the Autonocast, when he joined to discuss the autonomous trucking company TuSimple that he founded and hel...
#318: Spooky Seasonal Discussion
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With Kirsten wrapped up in the Disrupt event, Alex and Ed get together to discuss the thrills and chills of this fall's mobility tech news. From eBike...
#317: How The Tesla Autopilot Cannonball Run Record Was Broken
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
George Hotz hasn't won self-driving yet, but Cannonballer Jay Roberts just used a Comma Three and a Toyota Pruis to shatter Alex Roy's 55 hour Autopil...
#316: That Insane Tesla Cybercab Event
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alex and Ed go to war over the Tesla Cybercab reveal, the CyberBus, and Elon Musk's concept of a plan. Can Joel Johnson, polymath and automotive CEO w...
#315: Chris Nolte of Bloom
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The immense potential of micromobility is matched only by the challenges of building profitable brands, and Chris Nolte has experienced them firsthand...
#314: Will Jones of The Cannonball Sun
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Cannonball Run goes solar as Will Jones explains how he, Kyle Samluk and Danny Ezzo built a race car from scratch to make science fiction racing f...
#313: Alex Roy Gets A New Tesla, Ed is Upset, Kirsten Discusses The News
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What could go wrong when Alex gets a new Tesla? Did Elon intervene to help him? Why didn't Alex choose something else? What will Ed say? Can Kirsten k...
#312: Noah Goodall on Measuring ADAS Safety
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ever since 2016, when the first Autopilot crashes were reported, Tesla has been claiming that its Level 2 ADAS is safer than a human driver. Noah Good...
#311: Don Burnette of Kodiak
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's been more than a year since we spoke with Don Burnette, founder and CEO of Kodiak Robotics and Google Self-Driving Car program veteran, and a lot...
#310: The Summer Of The Robotaxi
07 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's a make or break summer for robotaxis, as GM cancels Cruise's Origin, Waymo's new Zeekr-supplied model hits the streets, and Tesla delays the reve...
#309: Alex Kendall of Wayve
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After many discussions about the divide between Level 4 robotaxis/trucks and "AI first" general solutions for automotive use cases, The Autonocast fin...
#308: The History of Fueling, With Ted Ryan
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ted Ryan spent more than 20 years as an archivist for Coca-Cola, and is currently the brand manager for archives and heritage at Ford, giving him uniq...
#307: Ed and Alex's News Digest
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With Kirsten taking a well-deserved vacation, Alex and Ed run wild, discussing a wide variety of recent news. From Ed's recent OpEd on Tesla in the Wa...
#306: Missy Cummings Returns
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Former fighter pilot and NHTSA consultant, now professor at George Mason University, the one and only Missy Cummings returns to The Autonocast to disc...
#305: AI Hype vs Hard Reality
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From Elon Musk's decision to fire the entire Supercharging team as part of Tesla's "pivot to self-driving," to recent fundraising rounds by Motional a...
#304: Crijn Bouman of ROCSYS
26 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Electrification and automation collide in this week's episode, as the gang sits down with Crijn Bouman, EV charging veteran and founder of the automat...
#303: The Robotaxi Gambit
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With Tesla's core EV business losing all growth momentum, Elon Musk once again appears to be gambling the most valuable automaker in the world on a dr...
#302: Picking Through The EV Startup Dumpster Fire
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
These are rough times for the once-hot world of EV startups, as the hype fades and reality sets in. On this week's episode the gang sifts through the ...
#301: Adam Woodworth of Wing
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Incubated inside Google's X project and now deploying in the real world, Wing is an aerial drone delivery company with some interesting parallels to a...
#300: The Best of Times, and The Worst of Times
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For our 300th episode, the gang sorts through the highs and lows of some of the recent mobility tech news. Rivian's reveal of two new forthcoming mode...
#299: Scott Keogh of Scout
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Though the flood of EV startups may have receded, the Volkswagen-backed Scout electric truck and SUV startup is as bullish about the opportunity to st...
#298: Talkin' EV Rental Blues
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ed's recent misadventure renting an electric car prompts the gang to share similar experiences, and consider what they might mean for EV adoption. Plu...
#297: Post-CES Recovery
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After another epic CES party, The Autonocats nurse their hangovers and discuss the show's big trends and buzzwords. Join the first discussion episode ...
#296: Year End Predictions
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With another year coming to a close and another world famous Autonocast CES Party looming, the gang gathers for the annual tradition of exchanging pre...
#295: Confessions of a Car Market Data Nerd with Tyson Jominy
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With all the furor over the state of electric vehicle sales in the US, Ed and Kirsten called on Tyson Jominy, VP of data and analytics for JD Power, t...
#294: Cruise After Kyle
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With Cruise founder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigning, the gang gathers to hash out what it means for the Level 4 robotaxi company, its corporate parent Gen...
#293: Levi Conlow of Lectric eBikes
24 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Can you name an EV maker with rock-solid profits and consistent self-funded growth that has never taken a dollar of VC investment? If you've never hea...
#292: Cybertruck Yuks and Cruise Blues
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The gang gathers to have a few laughs about the Tesla Cybertruck, before digging into the more serious topic of the situation at Cruise and the issues...
#291: Cruise In Crisis
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With Cruise banned from testing and rides in the state of California following new revelations that the firm hid details of a pedestrian crash from th...
#290: Labor On Strike, Automation Under Fire
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With Cruise under NHTSA investigation and a new survey showing lower than ever public confidence in AVs, the gang discusses AV skepticism, its causes,...
#289: Way Mo Cruise news and is the Mercedes L2 or L3, w/Philip Koopman?
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Alex and Kirsten riff on the most recent robotaxi news before they head off to the Up Summit in Dallas. With Ed gone this week, the duo turned to CMU ...
#288 Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The gang catches up after a variety of trips, including to the Florida AV Summit. We take a final look back at summer (and some mobility shenanigans a...
#287: The Battle of San Francisco
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The long-simmering culture war between the high tech sector and the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area erupted around the issue of AVs in recent weeks...
#286: It's Not The Heat, It's The Mobility
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With Alex and Kirsten sweating it out in Arizona (and Ed staying smugly cool in Oregon), a conversation about cars and air conditioning leads the gang...
#285: Dr Matt Markel of Spartan Radar
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With Alex off on a secret mobility mission, Kirsten and Ed sit down with Matt Markel of the up-and-coming sensing startup Spartan Radar. The ensuing d...
#284: A Midsummer News Discussion
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There's been a whole lot of news since the gang last gathered to discuss the latest in mobility tech, so this week's episode is jam packed with topics...
#283: Roadtrippin' In An Electric Lightship
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lightship co-founders Toby Kraus and Ben Parker join part of our Autonocast crew to talk RVs and road trippin', EVs and how their experiences at Tesla...
#282: Romain Clement of Teleo
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After visiting Teleo's headquarters, Alex Roy insisted co-founder and CEO Romain Clement come on the show. And our conversation, which covers the high...
#281: NACS To The Future
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With Ed's take on the future of Tesla's North American Charging Standard from the last discussion episode aging extremely poorly, the gang reopens the...
#280: AV Wars and EV Peace
14 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
San Francisco is ground zero for a lot of the conflicts between the tech sector and society at large, and increasingly that conflict is centering on A...
#279 Ali Javidan of Range Energy
06 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Trucking has emerged as one of the most interesting and important areas for electrification, and Google/Tesla/Zoox veteran (and all-round car nut) Ali...
#278: EV Affordability, Sleeping at 60 MPH and Other Modern Mobility Issues
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With the Shanghai auto show underway, Alex, Kirsten and Ed get together to discuss the latest developments and couldn't help but notice some contrasts...
#277: Matt Teske of Chargeway
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The transition to electric vehicles isn't simply a matter of technology, education and communication are critical aspects of developing new markets fo...
#276: Sad By Southwest (and Beyond)
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ed, Kirsten and Alex recently attended the South By Southwest festival, and though the event itself is recovering nicely from the pandemic, the tech s...
#275 The state of AV trucks with Don Burnette of Kodiak Robotics
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Don Burnette comes back to The Autonocast to give the gang an update on autonomous trucking, the broader AV industry and where his startup fits in.
#274 Up, up and away with Cyrus Sigari of UP Partners
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The gang chats with Cyrus Sigari, whose VC firm Up Partners recently released its first Moving World Report that dissects the macro and micro trends i...
#273 Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua on changing how we talk about automated driving
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mobileye founder, president and CEO Amnon Shashua has proposed a new way to describe automated driving. Alex, Ed and Kirsten dig into the topic and ma...
#272: Kelly Funkhouser on Consumer Reports Active Driving Assistance Ranking
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Consumer Reports vehicle technology maven and friend of the show Kelly Funkhouser returns to discuss CR's new rankings for active driver assistance sy...
#271: CES Meets Science Fiction
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For CES this year, Ed decided to do something a little different, and invited two science fiction authors to check out the show, attend the infamous A...
#270: Jan Becker of Apex AI
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The story of automated driving often starts with the DARPA Challenges of 2004-07, but for Jan Becker the story starts well before then. On this week's...
#269: CES mobility nirvana or bust
13 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The gang makes its annual trek to Las Vegas to check out and experience all of the mobility wonders at CES 2023. Does it impress? Blow our minds? Find...
#268: Francesca Favarò on Waymo's Human Fatigue Risk Managment Framework
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How has emerging driving automation technology been developed and tested on public roads with such a relatively strong safety record? As Waymo's Franc...
#267: The News From La La Land
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The crew was just back together for a week of car shows and conferences in Los Angeles, where they witnessed and discussed the very latest in mobility...
#266: It's the end of the self-driving car as we know it, and I feel fine
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The gang is back to discuss some big changes in the AV world. Argo AI has shut down and Alex Roy is now adjusting back to life out of the corporate la...
#265: Lawyers on Demand with Jazz Hampton of TurnSignl
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ever been pulled over by police and wish you had a dashcam and a lawyer in the passenger seat? Ever been in a car crash and wondered what to do? Meet ...
#264: Paris Marx on Silicon Valley's Road To Nowhere
12 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Paris Marx is the host of the popular tech-critical podcast Tech Won't Save Us, and the author of a new book called Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Vall...
#263: There Are No Accidents with Jessie Singer
23 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jessie Singer's new book There Are No Accidents has made a big splash in the road safety community and far beyond, by interrogating a word that makes ...
#262: Home On The Range
12 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ed's latest essay in the New York Times, calling into question the big batteries that have made EVs so popular among American consumers (who can affor...
#261: The Ranty (Mostly) Tesla Discussion Episode
26 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes you just need to let it out and rant a bit, and this week Alex, Kirsten and Ed are each feeling the need to screed. Unsurprisingly a lot of ...
#260: The Non-Tesla Discussion Episode
19 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The gang is back with another classic discussion episode, riffing on the latest and most important news from the mobility technology space. There's ju...
#259: Stefan Seltz-Axmacher of Polymath and Josh Hartung of Sygnal
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With the AV sector entering another round of turmoil, we are joined by two founders who lost their startups during previous periods of turmoil but hav...
#258: Nat Beuse of Aurora on "The S Word"
29 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Safety is one of the words that comes up most often in discussions about autonomous vehicles, but not many people really understand what the word even...
#257: Sam Anthony
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Anthony made his first appearance on The Autonocast in 2018, when we discussed his pedestrian intent/prediction startup Perceptive Automata in epi...
#256: Bibhrajit Halder of SafeAI
12 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Bibhrajit Halder has been a part of the autonomous driving technology space since the days of the DARPA Challenges, working on Caterpillar's early aut...
#255: NHTSA's New Crash Data and the Challenge of Automated Driving Regulation
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The gang is back together, and finally has the time to discuss NHTSA's release of ADAS and ADS crash data. We discuss the data, what it does and doesn...
#254: Gary Marcus
22 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With the internet abuzz over the firing of a Google engineer who came to believe that a company chatbot is sentient, AI expert and deep learning skept...
#253: Avinash Rugoobur of Arrival
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Arrival is a fascinating company on the brink of putting its bold vision of "microfactory"-made vans, busses and ridehailing vehicles into production....