The Driverless Digest

Phoenix has lived with Waymos longer than any U.S. city. Here’s what its mayor learned f-st.co/DYQ376w

Uber Is Quietly Winning the AV Rideshare Setup If 2025 was the proof point that consumers will actually take autonomous rides at scale, 2026 is starting to look like the year the strategic map gets redrawn. For the last few years the AV debate has mostly been framed around who has the best self-driving technology. That still matters of course. But increasingly that is the wrong question for investors. The more important question now is: who is best positioned to turn AV supply into a scaled rideshare network? That is a different question entirely. To level set: this is no longer just about the best AV stack @Waymo is the only player that has really crossed from demo to scaled commercial reality. The company said in February it was already doing more than 400,000 paid rides per week across its operating markets, and it raised another $1.6 billion while laying groundwork for expansion into more cities. Its new Arizona manufacturing facility with $MGA is designed to produce “tens of thousands” of autonomous vehicles per year at full capacity. That is the most real robotaxi business in the U.S. by a mile. But the leap from “best AV operator today” to “winner of AV rideshare economics” is not automatic. Because scaled rideshare is not just a software problem. It is a supply problem, a dispatch problem, a maintenance problem, a financing problem, and maybe most importantly a utilization problem. That is where $Uber's setup starts to look much more interesting than the market gives it credit for. Uber is not trying to win autonomy. It is trying to win the network. Uber’s strategy now looks pretty clear: let others build the autonomous brain, while Uber becomes the default marketplace, demand layer, and utilization optimizer. That may end up being the smarter economic position. A lot of commentary around AV tends to sloppily bundle “partnerships” together as if they are equal. They are not, some partnerships are real supply, some are geographic options, but Uber increasingly has both.

Scoop from me: Travis Kalanick is in the early stages of starting a new AI and robotics company. Unclear whether related to CloudKitchens, which has an R&D team working on robotics. theinformation.com/briefings/kala…

Come join me Tuesday at GTC!

@hsu_steve This is cool 👏! We featured your post/ride in a recent edition of our newsletter. thedriverlessdigest.com/p/cocos-new-de…

Ride with Pony AI autonomous taxi. Very smooth ride - might be better than Waymo.

This clip is from The Driverless Digest podcast episode with Ming Maa, Co-Founder and CEO of Moove AV, a global fleet provider for autonomous vehicles, and Waymo’s current fleet partner in Phoenix, Miami and London. You can find the full episode here 👉 thedriverlessdigest.com/p/av-fleet-man…

Fleet Operations: The Hidden Moat in AV Fleets | Ming Maa, Co-Founder and CEO of Moove AV

I don't think the people in Waymo will ever ride it again.

NEWS: Today, Lucid introduced Lunar, a purpose built two-seat robotaxi concept based on their new Midsize platform. • Target driving efficiency: 5.5 to 6.0 mi/kWh • Passenger legroom: 42+ inches • 40% lower operating costs $/mile • Charging speed: 200+ miles added per 15 min of charging

Good reporting here from @KelseyTuoc in @TheArgumentMag about why Waymo remains stuck in regulatory limbo in D.C., unable to provide passenger service. She even got a set of proposed options @DDOTDC floated for @MayorBowser, but nothing has yet been done: theargumentmag.com/p/red-states-g…

I've ridden in Waymo and Pony robotaxis. Both are really amazing. We got a look at the latest Pony cars today.

Americans can take AV rides in 10+ major cities – but not DC. @MayorBowser's admin won't finalize AV regulations until consultants write a taxpayer-funded report that is 4 years late. Great write-up from @KelseyTuoc on DC's report-brained governance. theargumentmag.com/p/red-states-g…

Don’t miss Nuro co-founder & co-CEO @dfergusonnz’s talk on the “Technical Foundations for a Universal Autonomy Platform” at @NVIDIAGTC 2026 next week! Tuesday, 3/17 at 3 pm. Add it to your schedule: nvidia.com/gtc/session-ca… #SelfDriving #AutonomousVehicles #PhysicalAI #NVIDIA #GTC2026

Sundar is now incentivized for Waymo to do well with a portion of his pay tied to its success. This is a great sign for the company, it's clear Google believes Waymo is more than just an 'other bet' now. I also expect we'll see deeper integration between Waymo and Google products, like an in-vehicle Gemini assistant and more this year sherwood.news/tech/alphabet-…

Sundar gets massive payouts specifically tied to the success of Waymo.

Today, Axiom Trust Company is launching publicly with $11.8M in funding led by @lightspeedvp, with participation from @WischoffVC, Runa Capital, SNR, @immad, Primetime Partners, and @thefintechfund. Trust administration is the last undigitized layer of financial infrastructure. The industry still operates on PDFs, email chains, and institutional memory. $2.5 trillion in wealth flows through trusts and estates every year — and that number is only growing. Axiom Trust is the infrastructure layer for the Great Wealth Transfer. Full story in today's @axios article from @ShenLucinda. Link below. @arfrank @jmover @seisler1 Katherine Zhang @NWischoff @dropalltables @mfanfant Abby Levy @peter @anothercohen @NikMilanovic @victoriatr @aaronlarue @hoomanradfar @Sikes_ @dhatkoff @TheRideshareGuy @nickabouzeid @jenny_colgate @dbkahn @NealMintz1 @ai_luce @robbiefigs

Dot is coming to California! We build Dot, our autonomous delivery robot, in Fremont — and now we have the green light to deliver there. A big milestone for California innovation: designed here, built here, delivering here. Stay tuned! about.doordash.com/en-us/news/doo…

This clip is from The Driverless Digest podcast episode with Ming Maa, Co-Founder and CEO of Moove AV, a global fleet provider for autonomous vehicles, and Waymo’s current fleet partner in Phoenix, Miami and London. You can find the full episode here 👉 thedriverlessdigest.com/p/av-fleet-man…

Safety Is Non-Negotiable for Robotaxis | Ming Maa, Co-Founder and CEO of Moove AV

This clip is from The Driverless Digest podcast episode with Ming Maa, Co-Founder and CEO of Moove AV, a global fleet provider for autonomous vehicles, and Waymo’s current fleet partner in Phoenix, Miami and London. You can find the full episode here 👉 thedriverlessdigest.com/p/av-fleet-man…

Why Waymo Partnered With Moove for Autonomous Vehicles | Ming Maa, Co-Founder and CEO of Moove AV