About this episode

Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss the competitive landscape of autonomous vehicles, focusing on WeRide, Waymo, and the implications for the freight industry.

This week on Autonomy Markets , Grayson Brulte and Walter Piecyk discuss WeRide trying to catch up to Waymo globally, Waymo preparing to deploy Chinese-made robotaxis in Texas and the CEO of FedEx Freight's open embracement of autonomous trucking. As WeRide and Uber continue to expand throughout Europe and the Middle East together, Waymo continues to work towards deploying the Chinese-made Zeekr robotaxis now called the Ojai, with data suggesting they are now in Texas, in a politically risky move. FedEx Freight CEO John Smith declared autonomous trucks ready for prime time, a signal Grayson reads alongside Amazon entering the freight business and Uber selling down another stake in Aurora. With Amazon running one of the most sophisticated freight networks in the world and FedEx now a standalone public company, the pressure on Uber Freight is building. Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Walt Uber's continued European push by partnering with Autobrains on a Munich robotaxi service pending regulatory approval, and Saudi Arabia's PIF-backed Humain partnered with NVIDIA to deploy robotaxis in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Episode Chapters 00:00 SpaceX IPO 3:53 WeRide and Uber…

People in this episode

Host: Grayson Brulte

Guest: Walter Piecyk

Topics covered

• autonomous vehicles
• robotaxis
• business expansion
• freight industry
• technology
• global competition

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: WeRide, Waymo, FedEx Freight, Uber, Amazon, Aurora, Autobrains, NVIDIA

Products: Zeekr, Ojai

Places: Texas, Europe, Middle East, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

More episodes of The Road to Autonomy

• Episode 416 | Autonomy Markets: Robotaxis Get the Hype, Autonomous Trucks May Get the Profits · June 13, 2026 · 30 min
• Episode 415 | Autonomy Signals: Tesla Bets Big on Las Vegas as Waymo Buys Apple’s Proving Grounds · June 11, 2026 · 57 min
• Episode 414 | Hertz Isn't Just a Rental Car Company Anymore · June 9, 2026 · 38 min
• Episode 412 | Autonomy Signals: Uber's Europe Strategy, FedEx Freight Flips the Script, Undersea Autonomy Accelerates · June 4, 2026 · 1h 10m
• Episode 411 | From Tracking Terrorists to Tracking Trucks: How a Former CIA Officer Built the Ground Truth Layer · June 2, 2026 · 46 min

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