Autonomy Insiders

About Autonomy Insiders

Autonomy Insiders is the weekly podcast for people who need a clear view of autonomous driving, not recycled takes. Each episode features interviews with leaders across the autonomy ecosystem: robotaxi operators, OEMs, platform players, regulators, and investors. We go deep on Europe and China, markets that are often under-covered, and we always connect back to the US so you can compare playbooks. We talk about what changes outcomes: deployment constraints, unit economics, partnership strategy, safety cases, regulation, and the real work of scaling fleets and operations. You will hear what leaders are optimizing for, where they are stuck, and what they think is coming next. If you follow autonomous vehicles, this is built for you.

Publisher

Daniel Abreu Marques

Category

news · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

8 Mar 2026

Latest episode

7 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

31 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Oct 2026

   Inside Germany's Autonomous Driving Law: The Hurdle Nobody Has Cleared

   Germany wrote the world's first legal framework for driverless commercial service in 2021. Five years later, no operator holds a regular Level 4 approval. Why? Till Stegemann is a lawyer at Rödl in Berlin. He advises cities, transport operators and companies on autonomous mobility. He is a co-author of the German Federal Ministry of Transport's handbook "Autonomous Driving in Public Transport", a practical guide for cities and transit operators on bringing driverless vehicles into public transport. In this episode, Till walks through the German process step by step. Which permit, from which authority, in which order, and what has to be in the file. We cover the vehicle approval from the KBA, why the functional safety concept is where applications stall, what the technical supervisor may and may not do, and how EU and UN rules change the picture. We close with Till's verdict on why Germany has the law but not the market, and what cities and operators should do first. Chapters 00:00 Intro: Germany's legal head start 01:37 The architecture: StVG, AFGBV and the SAE levels 09:01 Permit 1: Vehicle approval from the KBA 18:20 Permit 2: Operating area approval and the Berlin real-world test 24:12 The technical supervisor and the vehicle holder 29:22 Passenger transport permit and liability 32:30 EU type approval and the new UN regulation 37:48 Why Germany is not the first market 40:44 Advice for cities and operators Links My Newsletter with weekly AV Industry Analysis: https://avmarketstrategist.substack.com/ (https://avmarketstrategist.substack.com/) Handbook "Autonomous Driving in Public Transport" (German Federal Ministry of Transport): https://www.bmv.de/SharedDocs/DE/Anlage/K/autonomes-fahren-oeffentlicher-verkehr.pdf?__blob=publicationFile (https://www.bmv.de/SharedDocs/DE/Anlage/K/autonomes-fahren-oeffentlicher-verkehr.pdf?__blob=publicationFile) Till Stegemann on LinkedIn: here (https://www.linkedin.com/in/till-stegemann-364692198/)

2. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Grab's Autonomous Vehicle Playbook for Singapore and Southeast Asia | Dominic Ong, GM Autonomous

   Southeast Asia should be the last place AV's arrive. Dense, improvised traffic, monsoon rain and some of the cheapest driver labor in any middle-income region. Yet in April 2026, Punggol in northeast Singapore became the first residential neighborhood in Southeast Asia with a public autonomous passenger service. In this episode of Autonomy Insiders, Daniel Abreu Marques talks with Dominic Ong, General Manager Autonomous at Grab, who runs that program with WeRide and Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA). We cover: → Why Grab's case for autonomous vehicles is about reliability, not driver cost → How Grab's hybrid model dispatches robotaxis and human drivers on one network → How Grab, WeRide and LTA split the work in Singapore → Why vehicle uptime now matters more than miles per critical intervention → What breaks an AV stack in Southeast Asia: vehicle costs in Singapore, monsoon rain, motorcycles and right-hand drive → Delivery robots, and why Grab takes equity in AV partners like WeRide, Momenta and Vay → How Grab views Waymo's planned entry into Singapore Chapters 00:00 Why Southeast Asia is the hardest robotaxi market 00:55 Grab and the GM Autonomous mandate 04:57 What autonomy actually solves for Grab 08:45 The hybrid model: robotaxis and human drivers on one network 14:02 Punggol: how Grab, WeRide and LTA split the work 19:02 From fixed-route shuttle to robotaxi ride-hailing 21:56 The metrics Grab actually watches 25:43 What breaks an AV stack in Southeast Asia 30:31 Autonomous delivery and robotics 33:48 Equity stakes, AV partners and Vay 42:01 Waymo enters Singapore 44:05 Who owns the fleet at scale About the guest Dominic Ong is General Manager Autonomous at Grab. He has worked on autonomous vehicles for more than a decade, first at Singapore's Economic Development Board and for the past ten years at Grab. Newsletter: The AV Market Strategist (https://avmarketstrategist.substack.com/) Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-abreu-marques-) #robotaxi #Grab #autonomousvehicles

3. 

   23 Sept 2026

   The UK's Autonomous Vehicle Permit Process Explained

   London's first robotaxi service runs on the Uber app with a safety driver still behind the wheel. Here is every step a company must clear before the UK lets it take the driver out. Tym Syrytczyk co-founded the Institute for Driverless Transport (IFDT), an independent UK research body, and writes Self-Driving Insights. His recent piece on getting permission to run a robotaxi service in London is the plain-English explainer. This episode walks through it in order. The law comes first. Two Acts separate supervised rides from driverless ones. The 2018 Act set out insurance and liability, and the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 builds the permanent framework, due to be complete by 2027. The Department for Transport formally grants the permit. The DVSA runs most of the process, the VCA assesses the vehicle and its software, and Transport for London holds local consent. Next is the route a company actually takes. Waymo, Wayve and Apollo Go test in London without any trial permit, guided only by a non-statutory code of practice. Wayve and Uber carry passengers today on three ordinary private hire licences, so legally the service is no different from a standard Uber ride. Taking the driver out needs an automated passenger services (APS) permit and a safety case. Then it gets political. TfL has six weeks to respond to a proposed service, and if it stays silent, that counts as consent. Applications opened in May, but TfL says it has received none for London, and it has not published any consent guidance. Daniel Abreu Marques asks Tym why nobody has applied yet, whether TfL could delay driverless services almost indefinitely, and how much time operators should really add to their plans. It ends with Tym's on-the-record prediction for London's first driverless permit: which operator, how many cars, and which part of the city. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - London's first robotaxi service still has a driver 1:13 - Why a newsletter wasn't enough: founding IFDT 5:11 - Why permits matter as much as the software 7:14 - Supervised vs. driverless under UK law 8:23 - Two laws: the 2018 and 2024 Acts 10:42 - Who does what: DfT, DVSA, VCA and TfL 13:27 - What fast-tracking the pilot scheme changed 15:39 - Testing in London without a trial permit 18:06 - What goes into a safety case, and who reads it 20:15 - The vehicle special order 22:52 - How Wayve and Uber carry passengers today 26:44 - Uber operates, Wayve drives: why the split matters 28:11 - The APS permit, and why DVSA issues it, not TfL 31:11 - Remote assistance and the legal meaning of self-driving 33:41 - Operational design domain vs. permit area 36:13 - From application to permit, and TfL's six-week clock 39:45 - Why TfL has received zero applications 41:37 - No consent guidance: the practical effect 43:56 - DfT vs. TfL: real tension or working as designed? 45:17 - Prediction: London's first driverless permit LINKS Tym's Substack: https://substack.com/@tympj (https://substack.com/@tympj) The AV Market Strategist (my newsletter) - https://avmarketstrategist.substack.com (https://avmarketstrategist.substack.com) #Robotaxi #AutonomousDriving #London #TransportPolicy #AutonomyInsiders

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