Waymo Takes the World While Tesla Takes the NHTSA Test

<p>This week on <a href="https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomy-markets/">Autonomy Markets</a>, <a href="https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/grayson-brulte/">Grayson Brulte</a> and <a href="https://x.com/WaltLightShed">Walter Piecyk</a> discuss Waymo’s expansion to Tokyo and Singapore, NHTSA’s ongoing audit of Tesla’s Cybercab in Austin and Bolt’s plan to deploy up to 25,000 Lucid robotaxis in Europe.</p><p>Today, <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/tesla/">Tesla</a> has roughly 40 Cybercabs operating in Austin, and Grayson believes Tesla is respectfully holding at its home market while NHTSA completes a fact-finding audit. If Tesla passes, it is free to deploy in any state that permits fully autonomous operations. Walt expects the process to wrap by year-end, and Grayson reads Administrator Morrison’s Pittsburgh speech on updating outdated federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) as a signal that a pathway is opening.</p><p>As <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/waymo//">Waymo</a> continues their global expansion, Grayson predicts Singapore will be an IONIQ 5 market and Tokyo a Toyota market, with the vehicle constraint that has defined <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/waymo/">Waymo</a> now dissipating, and he reads the Allianz partnership as the insurance piece falling into place for <a href="https://www.roadtoautonomy.com/waymo-grand-european-ambitions/">Waymo’s grand European expansion</a>.</p><p>In Las Vegas, riders can now go anywhere in the ODD, and in Nashville, The Road to Autonomy Special Field correspondent <a href="https://x.com/DavidMoss">David Moss</a> got banned from the Lyft app playing autonomy roulette.</p><p><a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/may-mobility/">May Mobility</a> announced a SPAC with $10 million of 2025 revenue and a $270,000 bill of materials, and <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomous-driving-licensing/wayve/">Wayve</a> hired Waymo’s former CFO, which Grayson views as a signal Wayve may be eyeing the public markets.</p><p>On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, Grayson and Walt analyzed Einride’s deployment in Germany, <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/pony-ai/">Pony AI</a>, Uber and Verne’s driver-out launch in Zagreb on a 13.67-mile fixed loop. Spain issued its first SAE Level 4 permit to WeRide and Uber, with Grayson predicting a Waymo expansion to Madrid by Q2 of next year. In Singapore, Grab is expanding their <a href="ht