Michael Dunne, CEO and founder of advisory firm Dunne Insights, details how Chinese automotive startups like BYD asserted dominance over Detroit’s legacy carmakers. He explores Ford CEO Jim Farley’s effusive praise of Chinese automakers during the recent Aspen Ideas Festival and the difficulty legacy automakers have in keeping pace with clean-sheet tech startups. Finally, Dunne discusses a workaround that American consumers might utilize in purchasing Chinese EVs and avoiding high tariffs – buyi...
Jul 06, 2025•45 min
Jeremy Bird, executive vice president of driver experience at Lyft, explains how the company is working with Mobileye , May Mobility and others to launch robotaxis in the near term. He explores the complementary and competitive aspects of relationships between ride-hailing networks and self-driving tech providers, and the pricing differences between human-driven and automated rides. Further, Bird addresses how Lyft’s human drivers feel about their jobs in an environment when self-driving technol...
Jun 29, 2025•39 min
Kathleen Rizk, senior director in J.D. Power’s global automotive practice, and Lisa Boor, senior manager in the firm’s mobility benchmarking unit, address consumer confusion in the realm of driver-assist systems. They detail their latest consumer surveys, which reveal motorists do not find many driver-assist features useful and are unsure if these systems benefit safety or convenience. Rizk and Boor explore what that means for automakers, which have invested billions developing automated driving...
Jun 22, 2025•41 min
From his time inside a robotaxi startup, Alex Roy knows what it really takes to build a business around self-driving technology. The venture-capital partner, business advisor, podcast host and founder of the Human Driving Association examines Tesla’s pending robotaxi launch in Austin, Texas, and discusses whether robotaxis can become a profitable business. He further discusses the capability of Tesla’s “ Full Self Driving ” software, considers Waymo’s head start and details the four companies he...
Jun 15, 2025•50 min
The founder and co-director of MIT’s Advanced Vehicle Technology Consortium, Bryan Reimer, says the auto industry has been distracted by the allure of highly automated driving and should place short-term focus on developing smarter collaborations between motorists and machines. Reimer further explores the nuances involved in distracted driving discussions and the business models associated with fully autonomous driving. Finally, as the Advanced Vehicle Technology Consortium marks its 10th annive...
Jun 08, 2025•50 min
Bob Lee, the North American president of LG Energy Solution, details how the ongoing tariff turmoil has both helped and hindered the company’s long-term planning efforts. He details how the company’s decision to invest in a variety of battery chemistries, produced at eight different North American factories, has brought a growing number of interested customers, despite a more tepid electric vehicle market. Further, he discusses what happens next now that LG has bought General Motors’ stake in a ...
Jun 01, 2025•37 min
Steven Jenkins, vice president of technology strategy at Magna Electronics, discusses how partnerships with the likes of Nvidia spur progress and sophistication in driver-assistance systems. Further, he explains how suppliers remain central in the commercialization of vehicles while working with tech companies and traditional automakers. Finally, he offers firsthand observations on China’s automated-driving future , and shares thoughts on how Western carmakers can keep pace....
May 25, 2025•44 min
Grayson Brulte, founder and CEO of The Road to Autonomy, discusses recent developments in autonomous driving, including Sterling Anderson’s departure from Aurora for a new job at General Motors . Brulte details Aurora’s driverless launch and a short-seller report that has since detoured the self-driving truck startup. He further surveys Waymo’s progress , sizes up Tesla as a potential robotaxi rival and — finally — ponders a doomsday scenario for the city of Detroit....
May 18, 2025•38 min
The executive vice president and chief technology officer at Oshkosh Corp. details the company’s efforts to infuse automated driving technology into work vehicles with niche applications . Those applications range from airport baggage trolleys to garbage trucks — and even autonomous garbage cans that bring themselves to and from the curb. Iyengar explains the compelling business propositions behind those products. Further, she outlines Oshkosh’s defense business and discusses the state of the co...
May 11, 2025•48 min
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence principal analyst Bryan Bille assesses policy changes in the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term that affect critical mineral developments, batteries and the electric vehicle supply chain. Amid tariffs and a geopolitical rivalry with China as the backdrop, Bille compares and contrasts Trump’s plans to develop domestic mining and processing options with those of former President Joe Biden . Further, Bille details new seabed mining developments and...
May 04, 2025•36 min
McKinsey’s partners Philipp Kampshoff and Patrick Hertzke break down results from the consulting firm’s annual global consumer pulse survey . They detail improvement in owner experiences with electric vehicles in the U.S. and the reasons driver-assist systems will likely become a “clear differentiator” with consumers in the years ahead.
Apr 27, 2025•31 min
Fischer, vice president of commercial and operations, discusses the tech startup’s new partnership with Nissan , which is Wayve’s first public tie-up with a global automaker. She details how Wayve’s end-to-end AI models help drive the company’s ability to rapidly scale, deliver on its global aspirations and forge an “AV 2.0″ era. Further, she discusses the allure of Level 3 automation and talks about what it’s like to transition from a traditional auto supplier to a tech startup....
Apr 20, 2025•39 min
On this week’s podcast, the chief technology officer and director of Woven by Toyota details the latest developments at Woven City, the company’s technology and mobility test bed located at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan. He discusses Woven’s ongoing work with the Arene operating system and its role in accelerating the maturity of software-defined vehicles. Further, Absmeier explains Woven’s self-driving strategy and how it fits within the broader Toyota ecosystem.
Apr 13, 2025•46 min
The author of “ Are We There Yet?: The American Automobile, Past, Present And Driverless” examines the effectiveness of efforts to improve road safety with automated-driving technology. In a wide-ranging discussion, he further discusses the appeal of Kei trucks , General Motors’ 1 939 Futurama exhibit , Peak Auto, and the virtues of tech-free road trips....
Apr 06, 2025•42 min
Self-driving tech company Aurora Innovation plans to launch commercial service with its driverless trucks in April. In this episode, Nat Beuse, Aurora’s head of safety, and Gerardo Interiano, senior vice president of government relations, preview the launch and delve into the details of how the company prepared to safely deploy trucks with no humans aboard on public roads in Texas....
Mar 30, 2025•36 min
This week’s Shift podcast features multiple interviews regarding news developments shared at Nvidia’s GTC , a prominent conference for developers sharing their latest artificial intelligence innovations. In this episode: Nvidia automotive Vice President Ali Kani discusses the company’s new partnership with General Motors and delves deeper into the tech giant’s long-term automotive strategy. Wayve CEO Alex Kendall takes us for a spin around San Jose, shows us firsthand how an end-to-end learning ...
Mar 23, 2025•24 min
Following a driverless ride around Ann Arbor, Mich., Edwin Olson, the CEO and co-founder of Toyota-backed May Mobility , sits down for a discussion on the company’s plans for new deployments and the company’s work with Lyft. Further, Olson explains how May Mobility’s business model differs from those of its competitors, who actually owns self-driving vehicles, and how the startup quietly emerged as one of the few remaining alternates to robotaxi front-runner Waymo ....
Mar 16, 2025•47 min
Adam Rodriguez, executive director of product and advanced driver-assistance systems at General Motors, shares the latest updates to the company’s Super Cruise feature. Further, he details how GM is integrating software from Cruise, the company’s abandoned robotaxi subsidiary, into blueprints for someday offering personally owned autonomous vehicles.
Mar 09, 2025•42 min
The senior vice president and general manager of automotive business at computing tech firm Arm underscores the importance of software-defined vehicles to the automotive future. Further, she explains how carmakers can keep up with the frenetic pace of industry innovation.
Mar 02, 2025•42 min
The founder and managing director of consulting firm Sino Auto Insights discusses BYD’s new “God’s Eye” automated driving system and how it ratchets up competition with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature. Further, Le underscores the significance of BYD surpassing 4 million vehicles sold in 2024 and China’s broader automotive ascendance.
Feb 23, 2025•41 min
The Waabi co-founder and CEO of the autonomous-trucking startup discusses a new partnership with Volvo Autonomous Solutions. Further, she details the generative AI advances at the heart of the company’s end-to-end AI stack and approach to developing “AV 2.0.”
Feb 16, 2025•40 min
Self-driving trucks are expected to make substantial progress in 2025. Here, the Kodiak Robotics CEO and founder takes stock of the burgeoning industry while detailing how his company readied for driverless deployment with partner Atlas Energy in the Permian Basin area of Texas.
Feb 09, 2025•42 min
The General Motors senior vice president of software and service engineering details efforts to build a software-oriented culture, explains why the company eschewed Apple CarPlay and examines similarities between Apple and GM’s product-first focus.
Feb 02, 2025•37 min
Nuro COO Andrew Chapin and Vice President of Engineering Tilo Schwarz explain the company’s pivot from developing bespoke delivery bots toward licensing automated driving tech to carmakers and others. Further, they detail testing efforts on private and public roads.
Jan 26, 2025•42 min
The executive director of the Coalition for Reimagined Mobility, part of the Securing America’s Future Energy think tank, breaks down new Commerce Department rules that keep Chinese and Russian software and hardware out of the connected-vehicle supply chain.Further, he discusses the state of America’s competitiveness with China in commercializing new transportation technology at meaningful scale.
Jan 19, 2025•37 min
From Las Vegas, BCG analyst Augustin Wegscheider provides an overview of auto-tech trends at CES. Then Mobileye chief technology officer Shai Shalev-Shwartz details the company’s plans for evolving its driver-assist features into fully autonomous vehicles.
Jan 12, 2025•35 min
Ahead of CES, the CEO of DARPA-backed startup details artificial-intelligence advances that prioritize energy efficiency and eliminate memory bottlenecks. Further, he explains the impact of such gains in vehicle computing architecture and the ability to add new AI features.
Jan 05, 2025•31 min
The CEO of the Consumer Technology Association spotlights transportation technology headlines from the upcoming CES show in Las Vegas. Further, he offers candid thoughts on growing trade tensions and what it will take for American companies to survive and thrive amid global uncertainty.
Dec 22, 2024•48 min
The vice president at consulting firm Gartner, Inc. analyses General Motors’ decision to abandon robotaxi development and pivot its Cruise subsidiary toward personally owned vehicles. Further, he discusses the steep challenges legacy automakers like GM face in sustaining big technology bets.
Dec 15, 2024•42 min
Mobility strategist Selika Josiah Talbott and Michigan chief mobility officer Justine Johnson detail the prospect of a ‘mobility czar’ overseeing policy for autonomous and electric vehicles. Further, they discuss the role states can play in fostering innovation amid a changing federal landscape.
Dec 08, 2024•42 min
