Brad Ideas

Robocars & More

Waymo also just announced they are doing 150,000 rides/week. This internal research projects shows off some interesting abilities of LLMs and a different approach.

Waymo just closed a $5.6B funding round. Some of that will be used to grow the fleet, but is there a way to grow fleets with debt rather than equity finanancing?

Robotaxis have different charging needs than regular cars. Will they want Tesla's new promised wireless charging, or is battery swap made for them>

Ok, No, the Republicans certain take first blame for not standing up to Trump when he took over their party. They have been cowards. But because of that failure, it fell to the Democrats to do what it takes to stop him returning to the White House, and the election remains a dead heat, which it shouldn't be, and only they could have stopped that. I hope they don't fail, but it shouldn't even be close.

How do all the robotaxi contenders compare with Waymo the leader? See it all in one graphic

Tesla has said their Oct 10 "We Robot" day will be one for the history books. But they are very far from having a working robotaxi you can bet your life on. So just what can they show off to live up to the hype? I've collected various speculations on what they might show off at Warner Brothers, in hopes of not disappointing.

Read it at Forbes.com in Since Tesla has no Robotaxi, just what will they show on Robotaxi day?

The electric car revolution is well underway, but soon we ll also see the rise of the electric RV. There's a lot you can do to make trailers better

Waymo might seek a backup if their planned Zeekr receives 100% tariffs from the White House, but probably not the Ioniq 5

Nuro was going to make a large fleet of custom delivery robots. Now it will licence its self-driving software stack to vehicles of all types, including passenger cars

The lastest Waymo safety data throws down a gauntlet in front of other companies to publish similar data, and helps regulators measure risk.

I made this graphic because I find the information collected in it striking. How did Trump get control of the GOP when every single former VP or Presidential nominee living or recently deceased (except Palin) opposes him?

The oldest rail line in the western U.S. has gone electric, but data released suggest the old one used more fuel than giving each rider a Hummer. How can that be solved?

A short term partnership will help both companies learn. But the question of a long-term partnership is much more complex.

Waymo says it's new 6th generation driver has significantly reduced cost. A robotaxi can end up cheaper than a regular car. Here's a list what it doesn't need.

To my various Republican and conservative friends, it's time to talk about Donald Trump. In particular it's time for hard thinking on whether, for the sake of the GOP and conservatism, it's past time to cut him loose. Not for any of the arguments made by your leftie friends, but because it's the right thing for you. It's also time to leave the sinking ship.

Tesla doesn't have robotaxi software yet, and it's done almost nothing on robotaxi logistics. But it might be able to launch early with a cheaper, greener Uber style ride.

In the young Olympic event of "speed climbing," Sam Watson (USA) set two new world records, breaking his own previous world record. For that, he got the Bronze medal. The reason he did relates to some concepts I have been mulling over about what makes a good spectator event. The Olympics are the rare time when a whole bunch of sports that are generally relatively obscure become big-audience, big-advertising events. Spectator sports are sports as entertainment, but they are also still athletic.

Making a working self-driving car is hard, but there's a ton more to do to open a robotaxi service area. Here's an outline of the surprisingly long list of things.