Welcome to the Ride AI newsletter: your weekly digest of news and intelligence at the intersection of technology and transportation.

The first-ever Ride AI conference happened last Wednesday at NeueHouse in Hollywood, and wow, what a time it was! The conversations were wide ranging, the drinks were free flowing, and the insights were deep and nuanced. Not only were we treated to inside looks at what was happening across the autonomous driving, ridehailing, and trucking industries in the US, we also learned about what it takes for autonomous systems to handle driving in dense European cities and how consumer expectations are rapidly evolving in China. Additional highlights include a breakdown of why autonomous drifting matters (hint: it’s really about safety), and what it takes to do an autonomous cannonball run. Thank you to everyone who came and participated.

I had a fantastic time being on the “Explosion in the East” panel alongside fellow speakers Helen Pan, the U.S. General Manager for Apollo Go, Zion Maffeo, Deputy General Counsel for Pony.ai, and Sophie Schmidt, the Founder and Publisher of Rest of World. Our panel highlighted the advancements China is making on their domestic robotaxi services, and I was able to share my firsthand experience with Chinese robotaxi hailing services, including my current global tier list.

Notably, we launched the Ride AI Landscape, an all-in-one business database for understanding the constantly evolving intersection of AI and mobility. Add your company here.

If you missed the event, don’t worry; all the talks will be on YouTube soon. We’ve already posted the first two: a pair of interviews with Ed Niedermeyer and the CEOs of Mobileye and Toyota Research Institute about their leadership and lessons from the cutting-edge of the AV sector.

And of course, you can also look forward to the next Ride AI summit, coming soon…

Now, Here’s What’s Happening

WeRide and Uber become the first to bring robotaxis to Dubai. In a press release, the two companies announced a partnership with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority to bring WeRide’s robotaxis to the city on the Uber platform. Similar to WeRide’s own robotaxi service in Guangzhou, the vehicles will have safety drivers for now, although according to WeRide, they will be fully driverless later this year.

This isn’t WeRide and Uber’s first collaboration in the UAE. In 2024, the two companies jointly launched a robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi. This move seems like a natural expansion for the partnership, and I can foresee the pair moving quickly to launch in more cities in the UAE.

Waymo’s first Tokyo depot has been discovered, along with an accompanying spyshot. It’s located on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, next to a Family Mart, in what was previously a carshare parking lot (now closed to the public) owned by Orix CarShare. It seems the Jaguar i-Paces are still under wraps (heh), but in the leaked photo, we can see a technician and his vehicle in the lot as well, possibly working on something related to the chargers.

I had the privilege of taking a road trip in Japan this January, and while the countryside surrounding Tokyo is easy enough to navigate, driving in the city itself is a different matter entirely. The narrow streets teeming with life, the opaque parking requirements, and the complete lack of pull-over space in the alleys make the city a paradise for pedestrians. However, it also makes it a nightmare for cars. Taxis have traditionally gotten by thanks to highly skilled drivers who know all the etiquette and strategies required to operate in the narrow streets, but teaching a computer the same lessons will be very challenging. I’m curious to see how Waymo does it.

Waymo clarifies there are “no plans” to use the in-car cameras for targeted ads, after security researcher Jane Manchun Wong uncovered an unreleased page in Waymo’s privacy policy containing opt-out options for personal information usage last week. The page included new privacy preferences, such as options to opt out of the sale and sharing of personal information, as well as the use of interior camera data for training generative AI.

Responding to the scoop, a Waymo spokesperson said in an email to The Verge that the screenshot contained placeholder text that “doesn’t accurately reflect the feature’s purpose.”

This isn’t the first time Jane has unearthed a secret feature of the Waymo app. She previously uncovered a tool that allows riders to “tip.” However, the tipping was actually a donation towards charity, not a tip for the robo-driver.

In Other News…

• Ares SPAC in talks to merge with autonomous trucking startup Kodiak Robotics
• Waymo avoids crazy high speed crash
• Tesla Europe posts video of supervised FSD driving in Amsterdam. Regulatory approval pending.
• Autonomous vehicles are now a marketing challenge

Alright, that’s it from me… until next week!

And a big thank you to all our 2025 sponsors, without whom none of this would have been possible. Mobileye is a global leader in self-driving technology and advanced driver assistance systems, pioneering automotive safety innovation and shaping the future of mobility. Waymo is the world’s first autonomous ride-hailing service. Gridwise Analytics transforms anonymized data from over 1.5 milion gig workers into actionable insights, enabling investment firms, gig-mobility companies, retailers, and AV fleets to make strategic decisions with confidence. Toyota Research Institute conducts research to amplify human ability, focusing on making our lives safer and more sustainable through advances in energy and materials, human-centered AI, human interactive driving, large behavior models, and robotics. Torc Robotics is celebrating 20 years of experience in pioneering safety-critical, self-driving solutions and offers a complete self-driving vehicle software solution for long-haul autonomous trucks. Aon is in the business of better decisions. Michigan Central is a destination for advancing technologies and programs that address barriers to mobility in all its forms. Aurora is a leader in autonomous trucking, delivering the benefits of self-driving technology to make transportation safer, more reliable, and more efficient. Bot Auto is an L4 autonomous trucking company, operating its own fleet and offering TaaS to freight customers. Nuro is an autonomous driving technology company building the world’s most scalable AI driver. Simulytic is empowering insurers to underwrite autonomous vehicle risk. MOIA is building a future for mobility that’s safe, autonomous, and driven by cities and their people. Zoox is a purpose-built robotaxi that gives the world a better way to ride. Wayve is pioneering Embodied AI technology for the automotive industry.

If you have any question, please get in touch.

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