Meet me in Los Angeles for the Ride AI Summit on April 2

Are you an AV industry insider? Get your Early Access ticket today for $500.

The hype around self-driving vehicles reached a fever pitch in the late 2010s. Multiple companies announced plans to produce cars with no steering wheels by 2021. 

When that didn’t happen, conventional wisdom swung hard in the opposite direction. The early 2020s were a period of brutal consolidation, with a number of self-driving projects getting shut down. In 2022, Bloomberg’s Max Chafkin declared that self-driving cars were “going nowhere.”

But some companies kept plugging away at the problem, and over the last 18 months we’ve started to see green shoots.

In May 2023, Waymo announced it was providing 10,000 rides to paying customers every week. Yesterday, Waymo said it was doing 150,000 paid trips weekly. Waymo has released data showing that its driverless vehicles crash significantly less often than comparable human drivers.

And so the pendulum of conventional wisdom has started to swing back in a positive direction. But industry discussions today are far more grounded than they were a decade ago. People are becoming more optimistic about the industry’s long-term prospects, but they’re also more conscious of the significant challenges that remain.

In the spring, the company behind the popular Micromobility conference is holding a summit for leaders in the AV industry. The one-day event, called Ride AI, will be in Los Angeles on April 2, 2025. They asked me to help organize the speaker lineup alongside Ed Niedermeyer, co-host of the excellent Autonocast podcast.

Too often, discussions about self-driving get stuck at 10,000 feet, with too much talk about trolley problems or how cities might eventually be redesigned for self-driving cars. This will not be that kind of event.

Instead, on-stage conversations will focus on the practical problems autonomous vehicle companies face as they invent and scale self-driving technology. You can expect to hear from executives at leading AV companies as well as the founders of startups building the next generation of autonomous technology.

Between sessions, industry leaders will have a chance to compare notes and build relationships that will help them take their businesses to the next level.

Starting today, “Early Access” tickets are available for $500. The price will rise significantly as we get closer to the event, so don’t wait. The event will be limited to a small, exclusive group. If you apply now you’ll get the best price and maximize your chances of getting a spot.

We’re also looking for a few speakers for the event. We’re particularly interested in hearing from founders and technologists about their experience deploying autonomous technology in the real world. This could be a chance to get your startup in front of a highly influential audience. If you’re interested in speaking, please click here.

I hope to see you in Los Angeles on April 2!