Waymo Needs Another OEM and Q4 Might Be Too Late
From Autonomy Markets by Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk
April 4, 2026 · 47 min · Season 1 · Episode 82
About this episode
Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo's expansion, the need for an OEM partner, and Baidu's issues in China.
This week on Autonomy Markets , Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss Waymo expanding service to the San Antonio Airport, the company's need for another OEM partner and Baidu's mishap in China. With Waymo opening service at the San Antonio Airport complete with curbside drop offs and a short walk to the designated rideshare pickup area, the conversation evolves into a deeper discussion about airport politics and robotaxis. Which brings us to Waymo and their current vehicle fleet. Does Waymo have enough vehicles to continue to scale at the pace they are scaling? Or do they need an additional OEM partner? Or will an 800 volt charging architecture solve their vehicle supply issue? Walt says Waymo needs more vehicles, while Grayson predicts that Waymo will announce an additional OEM partner by the end of the year and give the market more details on their relationship with Toyota. Over in China, Baidu's Apollo Go suffered a major mishap with vehicles stopping, causing crashes and trapping passengers for up to two hours in their robotaxis, raising questions about the current state of Chinese autonomous driving technology. Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Walt discuss WeRide…
People in this episode
Hosts: Grayson Brulte, Walter Piecyk
Topics covered
- Waymo expansion
- OEM partnership
- autonomous vehicles
- Baidu mishap
- robotaxis
- airport politics
Keywords
- Waymo
- OEM partner
- Baidu
- robotaxis
- autonomous driving
- San Antonio Airport
- charging architecture
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Waymo, Baidu, Toyota, WeRide, Uber, Grab
Places: San Antonio Airport, China, Dubai, Singapore
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