The Robot Report Podcast
00:07:45 · Mike Oitzman, Ali Kashani, Steve Crowe
[00:07:45] S1: And then I asked Ali where Serve is on their roadmap, because one of the things I was impressed with my conversation earlier in the year with Ali is that they are on a roadmap to deliver 2,000 robots by the end of the year. And so this was his response. [00:08:00] S2: We you know, we shared this during our earnings recently. We are on track. We are doing quite well. I think the last number we shared was 400 robots in the first half of the year. And by the end of the year, we are still projecting 2,000 robots, which was what we had shared in the past. So it's scaling very, very rapidly right now. [00:08:22] S0: Yeah. Interesting stuff. Serve also, they've made another acquisition. Was it last month? I think they acquired an another company, Vayu Robotics, that's working on foundation model. So they're they're making some serious moves here, Mike. [00:08:33] S1: Yeah. Well, don't forget, Serves a public company. So, you know, you can participate in their their future if you want to. So, yeah, it's... I think they're they're making waves here, and certainly, they're they're still planning to deliver 2,000 robots by the end of the year. So I think that's a significant goal for any robot. We talk about large fleets. Right?
00:08:33 · Mike Oitzman, Steve Crowe
[00:08:33] S1: Yeah. Well, don't forget, Serves a public company. So, you know, you can participate in their their future if you want to. So, yeah, it's... I think they're they're making waves here, and certainly, they're they're still planning to deliver 2,000 robots by the end of the year. So I think that's a significant goal for any robot. We talk about large fleets. Right? [00:08:55] S0: Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Cool stuff there. And thanks to Ali for for joining the show. Moving forward here, this is a very interesting story in my mind, and we're going to let you take this one as you have some experience riding in a Zoox Robotaxi. You took a trip, I think it was around CES earlier this year. So January of this year, you got to ride around the Las Vegas Strip in one of Zoox's very unique robotaxis. But now the general public, Mike, is going to get a chance to ride around the strip in a Zoox Robotaxi. It's finally Zoox has, announced that it's launched its Robotaxi service to the public on and around the Las Vegas Strip. This is what, ten years in the making, something like that. The rides are free for the moment. I can't imagine it's going to stay that way. Keep in mind, this is Zoox is owned by Amazon. But again, this has been in the works for quite some time. They're going have all sorts of stops along the way if you want to go to, you know, some of the casinos and resorts and, other things that people do in Las Vegas. But your thoughts on this as again, you you wrote in one not that long ago.
00:10:01 · Mike Oitzman, Steve Crowe, Eugene Demetri
[00:10:01] S1: Yeah. And actually, we... You embedded the the video in the actual story that we published this week. And I think the key thing about the Zoox Robotaxi is that there's no steering wheel. It's not a normal vehicle. It's a completely custom configuration. You've got two benches. It'll sit four people. So I think it'll be a great I had a great experience. And, you know, I was by myself, but I couldn't imagine it'd be really fun to jump into this shuttle, so to speak, with with a bunch of friends. Right? Or a couple... Two couples for riding around the the Las Vegas area because it's totally comfortable. You get to face each other. You can continue conversation. It's just gonna make transportation, you know, that much quicker. And I think it totally fits the whole vibe of Las Vegas. Right? If you're you're you're just enthralled with everything else that's going on, They step into the ride, get off at your next stop, and I think it's gonna, you know, revolutionize sort of this this autonomous transportation. You know, it's probably equivalent to jumping on the monorail kind of thing, except it's a private, you know, vehicle for you taking exactly where you wanna go point to point. [00:11:13] S0: Is it is it... How private is it? Because I remember this is very similar. The design of it anyway reminds me of the Origin Robotaxi from Cruise, which, [00:11:21] S3: you
00:11:21 · Eugene Demetri, Steve Crowe, Mike Oitzman
[00:11:21] S3: you [00:11:22] S0: know, Cruise is now defunct. Right? But is it just for, you know, parties like you were just mentioning or could it, you know, let's say you and I get picked up and then somebody else joins along the way. It's not that, right? [00:11:36] S1: Well, yeah, right. I think the original service is... The initial service is going to be, you know, you got the whole taxi to yourself. If you get in as by yourself, one person, it's just you. They could set it up for ride sharing, you know, in the future. That's certainly something that they'll... They could do. As you sit in your seat each individual has access to the sound for their seat, you know, and can control, know, the air conditioning, the heat, whatever for their specific seat. So there's four individual controls, you know, for each of the four seats. So, you know, it's... You could essentially sit there and work, you know, like taking the train. So, you know, once they get to longer experience drive experiences, you could actually probably get some work done in this Robotaxi. Pull out your laptop, you've got you know chance to stretch your legs out unlike maybe the back of a you know Uber or something like that. And so you could turn off all the sound, be perfectly quiet, you could put on some soothing music or whatever the experience is. You know, so I think that's again the future of transportation.
00:12:46 · Steve Crowe, Mike Oitzman
[00:12:46] S0: Yeah, it's interesting because Uber... The reason I bring that up, Uber recently came out a few months ago at this point, but they recently came out with their route share program, which is basically what I was just saying, right? So if multiple people are taking the same route, maybe going to the same location or locations on the same route, you can now share, that in Uber via their route share. And a lot of people were kind of making fun of it, like, they just invented buses Yeah. Right? They're revolutionizing how people move around. But I think that, I don't know, it's interesting because one of the benefits of a Waymo, let's say, is the privacy that you get. Right. At least, you know, it's... There's not another person in there with you. Whereas these Zoox vehicles, the Cruise Origin, when that was in development, you know, that opens it up to different parties, you know, being in the same vehicle, which I just wonder, you know, how does that affect the attractiveness of taking a Robotaxi ride around? Maybe it maybe it's just me, you know, but I always thought that that was one of the big benefits of a Robotaxi is just having some peace and quiet, but... [00:13:53] S1: Peace and quiet with a talkative driver? Come on. [00:13:56] S0: Yeah. I guess, you know, privacy is not... You know, there's obviously cameras and stuff within these Robotaxis. Right? So the the... Your privacy is is not completely there. But...
00:13:56 · Steve Crowe, Mike Oitzman
[00:13:56] S0: Yeah. I guess, you know, privacy is not... You know, there's obviously cameras and stuff within these Robotaxis. Right? So the the... Your privacy is is not completely there. But... [00:14:06] S1: But I think like everything else, there'll be a marketplace, so there'll be a different cost if you want to share the ride. So again, if you want the privacy, you can pay for the privacy. If you want a cheaper ride, you want to share, maybe, I don't know, you like to talk to people. [00:14:19] S0: Yeah. It's interesting. I know I've shared this story on the podcast before. You know, this was years ago, man. I'm trying to think of what year it was. Geez. It's probably ten years ago. Eugene and I actually took a Robotexi ride around San Francisco, but we went on one of the highways. And then we also drove around the Strip. [00:14:39] S1: San Francisco, you mean Vegas? You said...