What We Learned This Week

New Autonomous Taxi: Tesla’s long-awaited autonomous robotaxi service officially launched this past weekend in Austin, Texas. While the rollout is still limited (operating only in a specific geofenced area with observation drivers in the passenger seat), it’s a meaningful milestone. The company has long positioned driverless robotaxis as a transformative leap in both its product roadmap and the broader transportation landscape. The ultimate vision: a future where your car can operate autonomously as a revenue-generating taxi while you’re not using it, fundamentally shifting how people think about car ownership.

The early feedback from riders has been generally positive, and the launch went off without any major issues. But given Tesla’s polarizing status, every misstep will be amplified, especially in comparison to Waymo, which has been running its service for years. That said, it’s important to understand the difference in approach. Waymo uses highly specialized vehicles with expensive sensor arrays, costing well over $200,000 per car - great for performance, but hard to scale. Tesla, on the other hand, is attempting to solve full autonomy using the same vehicles and hardware it sells to everyday consumers, relying on massive data collection and neural network training to make the cars learn how to drive themselves. It’s a far more ambitious (and riskier) strategy, and yes, there will be failures along the way. But if it works, it could change everything.

Autonomous Taxis in More Places: Waymo didn’t let Tesla take all the spotlight this week. On Tuesday, the company announced it’s launching its autonomous taxi service in Atlanta via the Uber app, immediately expanding both its own footprint and its partnership with Uber. The relationship began with a launch in Austin several months ago, notably beating Tesla to market in its own backyard, and adds to Waymo’s existing operations in California. Uber, for its part, abandoned its in-house self-driving efforts years ago after a fatal crash dealt a serious reputational blow. Partnering with Waymo allows it to stay involved in autonomy without taking on the full development risk.

The Atlanta launch will begin with a 65-square-mile service area, excluding highways and the airport, and will use Waymo’s fleet of Jaguar I-PACE SUVs equipped with advanced radar and lidar systems. The company has plans to expand next into D.C. and Miami. Strategically, this is a smart hedge for Uber - attaching itself to autonomy’s upside without being left behind by it. Investors seemed to agree, sending the stock up 8% on the news. There’s still uncertainty around how much of Uber’s long-term future will rely on autonomy, but for now, they’ve managed to stay in the conversation, and on the right side of it.

Small Towns Getting Prime 1-Day: Amazon is expanding its fastest delivery network in a big way. The company announced plans to bring same- and next-day delivery to over 4,000 smaller cities, towns, and rural areas across the U.S. by the end of the year, part of a broader $4 billion investment in small-town infrastructure through 2026. Speed has become Amazon’s defining edge. It’s no longer just the place to find the cheapest item; it’s where people go when they want something on their doorstep immediately.

What Amazon has managed to build over the past decade is nothing short of transformational. In regions where its logistics network is fully deployed, anything less than one-day delivery now feels like a letdown. That standard has reset customer expectations across the board. And Amazon isn’t backing off. In fact, it’s doubling down as competition heats up from Walmart, Temu, Shein, and even TikTok Shop. While others lean into price, Amazon is going all-in on convenience. Combine that with their unmatched product breadth, and the moat keeps widening.