#371: Will Your Kids Ever Drive? Waymo, Uber and the Robotaxi Endgame

In this episode of The Autonocast, Alex Roy, Ed Niedermeyer, and Kirsten Korosec debate the latest wave of autonomous vehicle optimism, sparked by Uber President and COO Andrew Macdonald’s prediction that his young children may never need driver’s licenses. The crew compares today’s robotaxi boom with the AV hype cycle of 2015–2016—and examines what has genuinely changed now that companies like Waymo are operating commercial driverless services at meaningful scale.

Alex also puts Waymo’s expanding Phoenix service to a very practical test: could a robotaxi eventually handle the chaos of the school drop-off line? The discussion explores the surprisingly difficult edge cases involved in transporting children autonomously, from human hand gestures and school personnel to pickup placards, freeway access, unaccompanied minors, and the limitations of both Waymo and Tesla FSD.

Then the conversation turns to the increasingly important relationship between Uber and Waymo. Does Waymo really need Uber’s enormous ride-hailing marketplace? Or does Uber need Waymo more, at least until partners including AVride, Zoox, Wayve, Pony.ai, Lucid, and Nuro can deliver truly driverless service at scale? The hosts explore whether Uber could ultimately become the Expedia of autonomous transportation, aggregating competing robotaxi brands based on price, ETA, vehicle type, and availability.

Finally, the crew tackles the future of human driving and car culture. From Monterey Car Week and Ferrari to manual transmissions, Porsche 928s, and the rise of AI, the hosts ask whether driving will eventually become a niche hobby—or whether the desire for control, agency, and physical experiences will ensure human-driven cars survive well into the autonomous age.