Waymo, Tesla And The Battle For Autonomy In Austin

Godspeed Godspeed

4 days ago

4 MIN READ

Waymo expanded its autonomous service area in Austin, taking a clear lead over Tesla. Tesla’s much-publicized robotaxi zone turned social into a frenzy as its oddly contoured-shaped service area got memed into oblivion.

Here’s the map for reference:

Today – Waymo serves approximately 90 square miles with more than 100 autonomous vehicles. Tesla covers only 42 sq. miles with 20-50 Model Ys in its fleet.

Folks – it’s early. The Autonomy age has only just begun.

Waymo and Tesla are neck and neck, jockeying for position in what’s shaping up to be the defining tech race of the decade.

Expect rapid change, bold claims, and no shortage of fireworks as each battles to own the space.

ICYMI: This week’s ETF of the Week was Global X’s Autonomous and Electric Vehicle ETF $DRIV.

Uber Goes All In On Autonomy

Uber is well aware of autonomy. It’s not sitting on the sidelines. It’s investing hundreds of millions to vertically integrate a fleet of its own.

The company partnered with Lucid and Nuro to deploy 20,000+ robotaxis over six years. The first fleet is expected to launch in a major US city next year infusing Lucid’s EV tech, Nuro’s Level 4 autonomy and Uber’s ride-hailing network.

Uber understands the autonomous tidal wave is coming.

In addition to its Lucid x Nuro deal – the company teamed up with Baidu to deploy robotaxis throughout Asia and the Middle East. Similar to its collaboration with Lucid x Nuro – Uber and Baidu seek to vertically integrate the tech stack from the car to the AI to the app.

Buckle up folks, the autonomous tech battle has begun.

Autonomy Moves To The Kitchen…

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick isn’t done reimagining what movement and convenience looks like. While Uber leans into autonomy in transportation, Kalanick sees the next frontier in food: fully automated ghost kitchens, run by robots, serving custom meals at scale.

The logic is an evolution from his idea with Uber: eliminate inefficiency, delight the end users, and make once-premium convenience accessible to all.

Automated kitchens reduce labor costs from 30% to 7-10% while enhancing quality and precision. This isn’t about replacing restaurants, but about expanding what’s possible – turning real estate, robotics, and logistics into an “internet food court,” so anyone can get anything anytime anywhere.

Kalanick failed to confirm or deny any significant deals with Pony.ai, but hinted at “inbound” interest that something big might be brewing. He shared these insights during his appearance on last week’s episode of the All-In Podcast.

The Case For $10T

It’s a bull market in risk assets and the party is just getting started.

You may have heard that Bitcoin recently ticked an all-time high. So did the total crypto market cap.

Today, the crypto market sits at $4T. Who’s to say it can’t fly to $10T?

Louis Sykes and JC Parets discussed the opportunities they see and how they plan to profit from this next leg higher. Watch the replay here.

Netflix Leans Into AI Content Creation

Netflix continues to crush earnings estimates. Q2 revenue grew +16% YoY. Operating margin was 34%, up 7 points YoY.

Behind the numbers: Netflix is leveraging AI not just in back-end operations, but in content creation itself. The platform made waves this quarter using generative AI to speed up visual effects and bring blockbuster-quality scenes to more projects, like the Argentine series “El Eternauta.” Executives say AI is already helping creators work faster and smarter – raising the bar for what’s possible.

This is day 1 for high-quality, AI generated content. Imagine what’s to come in the next 12 months…

Read Netflix’s official press release here.

Perplexity Hits $18B Valuation

Perplexity just notched an $18 billion valuation after a fresh $100M round, up from $14B just months ago.

The momentum keeps accelerating: Perplexity’s annualized revenue run-rate soared to $150M, up more than 4x YoY.

What’s the secret? Relentless focus on product. The company’s AI search engine keeps winning market share, and the new Comet browser redefines what AI can do.

As a Comet user, I can say, it’s fast, intuitive and genuinely feels like the future.

Bottom line — our relationship with technology is changing. AI is rewriting the rules, and Perplexity is reshaping our reality.