The Robotaxi Reality Check You Won't Get From an Investor Deck

<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 their Texas Field Work where they rode in Cybercab, Waymo, Avride, May Mobility robotaxis, Kodiak and Aurora autonomous trucks, and inspected depots across Austin and Dallas.</p><p>Grayson’s verdict on <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/tesla/">Tesla’s</a> Cybercab is simple. Once you go Cybercab, you don’t go back. In Austin, wait times averaged two to five minutes across dozens of rides, and from a software perspective Grayson found no material difference between Cybercab and the Model Y Robotaxi in terms of performance.</p><p>In Austin, Grayson counted roighly 200 to 300 vehicles at <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/avride/">Avride’s</a> upfitting facility, a presence he believes the market is overlooking, and views Hyundai as a quiet winner of the robotaxi buildout with the IONIQ 5 powering Waymo, Avride and Motional. The <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/zoox/">Zoox</a> depot in Dallas was under construction with no visible charging infrastructure, and Grayson estimates it is 12 to 18 months from being operational.</p><p>Both Walt and Grayson rode in a <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomous-trucking/kodiak/">Kodiak</a> autonomous truck and Walt noted clear improvement ahead of Kodiak’s driver-out target on the Dallas to Houston lane by year-end. Additionally, Walt rode in an unsupervised <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomous-trucking/aurora/">Aurora</a> autonomous truck at their Investor Day.</p><p>On the Foreign Autonomy Desk, <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/baidu-apollo/">Baidu</a> is ramping supervised robotaxi testing in London with Lyft, Mercedes-Benz signed a licensing deal with <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/autonomous-driving-licensing/wayve/">Wayve</a>, and <a href="https://indices.roadtoautonomy.com/robotaxi/tensor-auto/">Tensor Auto</a> is preparing to deploy robotaxis with Volt Premium Taxi in Bulgaria.</p><p><br></p><p>Episode Chapters </p><p>0:00 Once You Go Cybercab, You Don&#39;t Go Back </p><p>03:56 Robotaxi in Dallas </p><p>09:01 Cybercab Wait Times, Pickups and Routing in Austin </p><p>12:10 Austin Robotaxi Depots </p><p>13:45 Avride&#39;s Austin Depot </p><p>16:02 Zoox&#39;s