Autonomous Driving; Nuro, Lucid, Nvidia, Uber — Dave Ferguson: Co-Founder & President @ Nuro | E2173

Today’s show: Jason and Alex are joined by Nuro’s Dave Ferguson to unpack the Lucid–Uber–Nuro deal aiming to launch fully driverless Gravity SUVs on Uber by 2026. They dig into why off-the-shelf sensors and Nvidia’s Thor chip drive costs down, how mapping 150 cities improves safety, and why lidar still matters for night and edge cases. Plus: lessons from Cruise’s collapse, how regulators think about safety multiples, and why autonomy could finally make rides cheaper than owning a car. Timestamps: (00:00) Show intro… (06:23) Uber x Lucid x Nuro: why this 2026 robotaxi deal matters (09:57) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist (11:13) What the self-driving “cost stack” really looks like in 2025 (14:08) Road-mapping at scale: Nuro’s 150-city data collection push (15:38) Can AVs handle snow & rain? Weather rollout and Uber Black positioning (20:05) Northwest Registered Agent - Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.... today! (21:07) Show Continues… (24:24) Probabilistic vs. deterministic driving models — and the DARPA roots (30:08) Stripe Startups - Stripe Startups offers early-stage, venture-backed startups access to Stripe fee credits and more. Apply today on http://www.stripe.com/startups (31:08) Show Continues… (35:38) Post-Cruise reality check: transparency, regulators & trust * Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com/ Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp * Follow Lon: X: https://x.com/lons Follow Alex: X: https://x.com/alex LinkedIn:   / alexwilhelm   Follow Jason: X:   / jason   LinkedIn:   / jasoncalacanis   Thank you to our partners: (09:57) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist (20:05) Northwest Registered Agent - Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.... today! (30:08) Stripe Startups - Stripe Startups offers early-stage, venture-backed startups access to Stripe fee credits and more. Apply today on https://www.stripe.com/startups. All rights for the video shared and linked below belong to the original copyright holder, and we are using the footage under the principle of fair use. Listen here: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ULQ0ew... Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes315114957/t... More from us: Twitter:   / twistartups   Instagram:   / thisweekinstartups   Official site: https://thisweekinstartups.com Subscribe to our YouTube to watch all full episodes:    / @startups   Subscribe to TWiST Clips for all the best moments:    / @twistclips   #startups #entrepreneurship #investing #angelinvesting #tech #news #business