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What podcasters are saying about Robotics & autonomous vehicles
Summary
In the past 30 days, 21 speakers on 16 finance podcasts discussed Robotics & autonomous vehicles in 30 views. Chorus has followed Robotics & autonomous vehicles since October 12, 2026.
Who talks about it most
- Dan Chiolan · 5
- Connor Love · 2
- Jack Altman · 2
- Ethan Mollick · 2
- Ken Griffin · 2
- Eric Schmidt · 2
- Ivy Zelman · 1
- Ev Randle · 1
- Craig Fuller · 1
- Brett Rentmeester · 1
The latest views
Newest first. Every quote is checked against the episode's transcript.
Connor Love · Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
AI cannot turn a wrench yet, but physical-world AI will eventually arrive, and it needs deep process knowledge.
Connor argues AI will be a strong tool in the physical world, but it cannot do physical tasks like turning a wrench yet. He says that is still far off, although robotic models and autonomy are getting closer. Physical-world success therefore requires a deep understanding of what a process looks like, and how to physically manipulate or change it. A shiny AI product alone won't do it. He later says AI will eventually be able to turn a wrench, enabled by the subsystems that defense supply chains are building.
“AI will be a phenomenal tool that can be used in the physical world. The reality is AI cannot turn a wrench yet. It will at some point, but we're far off that”at 13:38
a16z Podcast: The Startups Rebuilding American Industry | The AD50 ·
Connor Love · Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
Defense-grade actuators, motors and valves will make a US robotics wave viable and reduce reliance on China.
Connor notes that the US has few humanoid or robotics systems today. The subsystems needed for military systems, such as actuators, motors, valves and switches, are the same ones future robots will need. Building them to quality and cost standards makes other markets viable. He says a robotics company buying components today has roughly a 99% chance that most of its purchases come from China. Building these subsystems domestically would therefore reduce reliance on Chinese factories, which he calls net good for the industrial base.
“when you think about the subsystems that go into some of our military systems, it's the exact same subsystems that are gonna go into the future robotic systems. It's the actuators, like it's the motors, it's the valves and switches”at 29:28
a16z Podcast: The Startups Rebuilding American Industry | The AD50 ·
Ivy Zelman · Zelman & Associates (a Walker & Dunlop company)
Homebuilder AI and robotics adoption is limited to small pilots; nothing significant moves the needle yet.
Builders are investing in AI through smaller startups and in supply-chain improvements, but nothing significant has yet moved the needle. D.R. Horton is testing a robotics framing system with a Toronto company, which she calls one-off. Homebuilding is an archaic, fragmented trades process with many interlocking pieces, so she expects adoption to take a long time.
“all of the companies have been investing in AI through probably smaller startups, different opportunities to bring in robotics or improvements with AI via supply chain, but nothing significant enough as of right now”at 24:34
Wealthion: Housing Weakness is spreading to luxury buyers | Ivy Zelman ·
Jack Altman · Benchmark
Robotics will work and become common, so investors can bet ahead of it even though it is not working yet.
Robots cannot yet do much of what a human can, and no one has one at home. Jack still believes they will arrive, pointing to the early signs of autonomy in Tesla vehicles and to demos at robotics startups. He concludes that this is the kind of trend investors can bet on ahead of time. No date is given.
“I think we all believe robotics will work... But I think we all believe we'll have one.”at 23:09
Uncapped with Jack Altman: Benchmark Breakfast #1 | Jack and Ev ·
Ev Randle · Benchmark
Robotics faces slow, costly data feedback loops, so physical AI needs Manhattan-Project-scale effort.
Ev says robots are expensive to deploy and maintain, and there is no large customer base that can press a button to generate data. Unlike ChatGPT, which reached 100 million users in months through a website, robotics feedback is slow. Labs got the internet as a one-time data subsidy for LLMs, while physical domains lack that and need a wide diversity of data. He cites Brendan Foody at Mercor for this framing. He concludes physical AI won't happen overnight and will need investment on the scale of the Manhattan Project.
“robots are expensive. They're expensive to deploy, expensive to maintain. There isn't a big customer base that can press a button.”at 51:10
Uncapped with Jack Altman: Benchmark Breakfast #1 | Jack and Ev ·
Jack Altman · Benchmark
Good AI robotics could be bigger than all digital AI so far, if it actually works.
Jack argues the physical world is where AI makes life better: housing, longevity, health, food and transport. He sees robotics and bio as the two areas where the labs are talking about the technology, building teams around it and buying large amounts of data, which he takes as a sign it is coming. He has not seen the labs be wrong when they say something is coming, though timing is hard, as self-driving showed. Ev says Jack has recently invested in robotics, so Jack has a stake in this space.
“But if you imagine what's really possible with good AI robotics, it's probably bigger than all the digital stuff so far, if it actually works.”at 53:38
Uncapped with Jack Altman: Benchmark Breakfast #1 | Jack and Ev ·
Ethan Mollick · Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
General-purpose AI models are good at robotics, so practical robots may emerge within five years.
Mollick points to the fact that general-purpose models are quite good at robotics as a sign that physical AI could arrive soon. He says that in the next five years robots may finally emerge and reshape the physical world. He hedges that this depends on how one feels about robots and that it is speculative. Without robots doing work, he expects the built environment and city streets to change little.
“Do practical robots exist in this world? ... general purpose models actually are quite good at robotics. So maybe in the next five years, we finally see robots emerge.”at 30:19
Big Technology Podcast: This AI Expert Argues We're Underestimating AI's Productivity Impact — With Ethan Mollick ·
Ethan Mollick · Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
LLMs may finally unlock general-purpose robotics, though he is not an expert and cannot confirm it.
Mollick says his view on robotics has shifted over the last few months. Six or seven months ago, robotics experts he spoke to were skeptical, and humanoid robots still do not indicate progress. He now thinks LLMs may unlock robotics. He cites early demos from Astra and especially Argonne doing generalized robotics work with a camera and a robot. He says this might be the moment things start to take off, but he is not expert enough to know whether it is real.
“I'm starting to think they might be right. ... we've seen some really interesting early demos of Astra and especially Argonne being able to do generalized robotics work with a camera and robot.”at 49:35
Big Technology Podcast: This AI Expert Argues We're Underestimating AI's Productivity Impact — With Ethan Mollick ·
Dan Chiolan · Prof G Media
Autonomous vehicles can make driving much safer, since human error causes about 94% of crashes.
Chiolan makes the safety case for AVs. About 40,000 Americans die in car crashes each year, and the global toll is over a million, and car crashes are the leading killer of people aged 5 to 29. He says 94% of crashes are due to human error, so the danger comes from drivers, not cars or roads. He argues AVs can make something Americans do every day far safer.
“ninety four percent of car crashes are due to human error. So really driving isn't dangerous because cars are dangerous or roads are dangerous. It's because humans are dangerous.”at 20:36
Prof G Markets: Why Steve Eisman Isn't Buying Anthropic's IPO ·
Dan Chiolan · Prof G Media
China leads on AV manufacturing cost, but the US leads commercialization; the race plays out abroad.
Chiolan says China leads in manufacturing, because it can build electric and autonomous vehicles at a much lower cost than any American company. The US leads in commercialization, since no Chinese company does as many paid rides as Waymo. He expects the two countries not to allow each other's AV companies into their home markets. The contest will therefore play out in the Middle East and Europe. There, countries have mostly chosen Chinese companies so far, and American firms have not expanded internationally, which he attributes partly to a focus on the domestic market.
“I think where China is really winning is in manufacturing because they have the ability to manufacture electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles at a cost that's much lower than than any American company.”at 25:01
Prof G Markets: Why Steve Eisman Isn't Buying Anthropic's IPO ·
Dan Chiolan · Prof G Media
Fragmented state-by-state AV rules and souring public opinion will keep the political battle going.
Chiolan says there is no federal framework for AVs. Each company must lobby every state to test, run driverless service and expand, which creates a messy, drawn-out process. This has produced a large lobbying battle between unions and robotaxi companies, and Waymo has sharply increased its federal lobbying. He also argues AVs are not insulated from the backlash against AI and data centers. Gallup found that the share of Americans who think AVs improve road safety fell by 12 points, from about 52% in 2018, even though AVs have become much safer.
“it's currently very fragmented, and that's because it's all happening at the state level. There's really been no federal framework or action sort of passed by the federal government.”at 26:53
Prof G Markets: Why Steve Eisman Isn't Buying Anthropic's IPO ·
Dan Chiolan · Prof G Media
US lidar makers should win, since about 95% of car lidar is made in China and is a security risk.
Chiolan describes a picks-and-shovels play. About 95% of passenger-car lidar sensors, the expensive sensors used by Waymo, Zoox and most AV makers, are made in China. He says that is a national-security risk, and Chinese-made sensors are already banned for military use. Congressional bills would also ban them for civilian use. If those bills pass, US companies would have a large opportunity to manufacture the sensors. He considers lidar makers the first opportunity in AVs.
“I think the first opportunity here are gonna be companies that make LiDAR sensors... currently, 95% of passenger car LiDAR sensors, which are in these autonomous vehicles, are made in China.”at 29:29
Prof G Markets: Why Steve Eisman Isn't Buying Anthropic's IPO ·
Dan Chiolan · Prof G Media
Autonomous trucking could be very lucrative, since driver pay is about 44% of trucking's marginal costs.
Chiolan argues trucking is a large opportunity for autonomy. About 44% of trucking's marginal costs come from driver pay and benefits. If AV technology can automate that cost, the savings would be large. He mentions Aurora, which is testing self-driving trucks on American roads, and Tesla's Semi, which he says will eventually have full self-driving capability but does not yet.
“the last winner is gonna be the trucking industry. Because if you look at trucking, about 44% of trucking's marginal costs come from driver compensation and benefits.”at 30:56
Prof G Markets: Why Steve Eisman Isn't Buying Anthropic's IPO ·
Craig Fuller · FreightWaves
Self-driving trucks are still eight to ten years from ubiquity, though adoption will eventually happen.
Asked whether the driver shortage would be met by self-driving trucks, Craig says they will eventually arrive but are still eight to ten years away from ubiquity. He expects the trucking industry to keep dealing with labor constraints through one or two administrations in the meantime.
“It will be eventually, but we're still eight to ten years out before we have ubiquity on self driving [trucks].”at 45:50
Thoughtful Money: "No Signs Of The A.I. Party Slowing Down" | Craig Fuller ·
Brett Rentmeester · WindRock Wealth Management
Autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots will be everywhere within five years, a key innovation driver.
He says innovation is at a major inflection point that goes beyond AI. In the next five years, autonomous vehicles will be everywhere and humanoid robots will arrive, along with more activity in the orbital economy. He treats these as real positive drivers that offset the risks from debt and institutional decline, and says his firm invests in innovation on that basis.
“And in the next five years, we'll see autonomous vehicles everywhere. We'll see humanoid robots.”at 19:41
Harry Stebbings · 20VC
Robotics application layer is too early; Stebbings avoids the timing risk and prefers robotics datasets and infrastructure.
Stebbings says he does not like robotics investments because the field is far from where it needs to be and timing matters. He sees the infrastructure and datasets behind robotics as interesting. He sees application-layer companies such as robot cleaners and robot builders as too early. He calls humanoid robots obviously far off.
“I think we are so far from where we need to be, and I do think that timing is important.”at 50:27
20VC: 20VC: Why Robotics Will be 100x Bigger than Coding Agents | Inference Will Be a $10TRN Market: What No One Sees | Why Software Investors are F***** Today with Naveen Rao, Unconventional ·
Naveen Rao · Unconventional AI
Robotics will be about 100x larger than agentic coding because physical-world problem solving is barely tapped.
Industrial robots today are rote; they execute trained tasks without solving problems dynamically. Future robots will diagnose and fix problems in the physical world, such as replacing a broken part, and the cost of that work will fall greatly though not to zero. Rao expects working prototypes for some tasks in 2-3 years and a market emerging in 5-7 years. He argues the physical-world market will therefore dwarf the virtual software market. He says he invests in companies building robot models and expects them to sell end-to-end devices.
“So I actually think robotics is gonna be a 100 times larger than agentic [coding].”at 53:01
20VC: 20VC: Why Robotics Will be 100x Bigger than Coding Agents | Inference Will Be a $10TRN Market: What No One Sees | Why Software Investors are F***** Today with Naveen Rao, Unconventional ·
Celine Woo · Lazard Asset Management
Automation drives productivity gains across technology waves; robotics is a subset of automation.
Woo says automation is what drives productivity gains for customers. Looking at history, different technologies drove productivity in different eras: steam engines, electricity, then transistors, the internet and now AI. Robotics is a subset of automation technologies, so Lazard looks for the best companies worldwide that deliver productivity gains.
“at the heart of our investment philosophy is automation, is what is really critical to drive the productivity gains for the customers... right now that is AI. I mean, at the end of the day, robotics is actually a subset of the automation technologies.”at 19:08
Marc Andreessen · Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
AI tools can reverse engineer and reprogram nearly any hardware, opening home automation and hardware to software people.
Andreessen describes a new open-source tool called REA (reverse engineer anything) that points an AI model at a device and produces its source code. He says basically any hardware can now be taken over and reprogrammed, using a thermostat as the example. He argues home automation has been a nightmare for customers and that an AI agent could take over all the hardware in a home. He also says anyone who understands software can now do many things that were historically hard in hardware, which has long been risky for companies.
“And the same thing is true for basically anything, like basically any form of hardware can now be taken over and reprogrammed with it with this stuff.”at 34:54
a16z Podcast: The Frontier Ideas a16z Wants to Fund | Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz & Chris Dixon ·
Jordi Visser · Visser Labs
Humanoid robots will be disruptive in about three years, once AI reasoning is solved.
Visser says the only thing holding humanoid robots back has been intelligence, specifically the ability of their brains to reason. Multimodal models and solving hard math problems have now reached that point, so embodied AI will start to affect cars and the physical economy. He says the market has only seen the coding side of AI so far, and the physical side is coming now, about three years out.
“I say three years from now because that is around the time that humanoids will be having a disruptive effect as well, so all we're dealing with now is the coding side of things.”at 35:06
The Julia La Roche Show: #423 Jordi Visser: Why the AI Bears Are Wrong — and the One Asset He’d Bet On Right Now ·
Tobias Carlisle · Acquirers Funds / The Acquirers Podcast
Humanoid robots are getting close, though they are not in homes yet and cost is unclear.
Carlisle points to robot Olympics and a robot fighting league as evidence humanoid robots are advancing quickly. He notes they are not yet in the home and that the cost of one is unknown, but he judges them 'close'. This comes from observed demonstrations rather than hard data.
“It's getting close... they're not in the home yet, and who knows how much one of these things actually cost, but they're close.”at 43:56
Ken Griffin · Citadel
Reindustrialization needs robotics running factories, since Americans won't take factory jobs.
Griffin argues that most Americans do not want to work in factories making apparel, so reindustrialization will not come from a traditional labor-based approach. He says the country should embrace robotics with robots running its factories, which would secure greater independence on items important to national interest. He cites Carnegie Mellon's leadership in robotics as the reason for his recent $3 billion gift to the university.
“what we should really be doing is embracing robotics.”at 28:51
Bloomberg Talks: Citadel CEO Ken Griffin Talks AI Bubble, US Midterm Elections & France Protests ·
Ken Griffin · Citadel
Pittsburgh is in a robotics-led second industrial revolution, with 100 robotics firms near Carnegie Mellon.
Griffin says Pittsburgh is undergoing a second industrial revolution led by robotics. He cites about 100 robotics companies around the Carnegie Mellon campus. He argues CMU leads the world in robotics, computer science, AI and cybersecurity, which is why its Miami campus will help accelerate that city's growth.
“Pittsburgh's undergoing a second industrial revolution. This one led by robotics. There's a 100 companies in the field of robotics around Carnegie Mellon University's campus.”at 46:55
Bloomberg Talks: Citadel CEO Ken Griffin Talks AI Bubble, US Midterm Elections & France Protests ·
Jesper Koll · Monex Group
Japan is well placed in physical AI because its manufacturers own the IP to turn AI into real-world machines.
Japan is not in the AI race, but it is very much in the game of physical AI, which turns virtual intelligence into the real world. Japanese manufacturers have the engineering capability and the intellectual property. With the yen weaker, they are also very competitive in global markets, and this is where Japan should be a key beneficiary.
“Japan is very much in the game of physical AI, actually translating virtual intelligence into the analog world, into the real world.”at 5:57
Top Traders Unplugged: GM108: Maybe Japan Is Finally Changing for Real ft. Jesper Koll ·
Eric Schmidt · Relativity Space
Robots are lagging software, but agents plus robots could eventually replace whole human workflows.
Schmidt argues that most human business activity, from designing a car to servicing it, can be broken into a chain of agents. Combining those agents with robots would allow replacing that human workflow. He notes that robots are not advancing as quickly as software, so this is a longer-term prospect.
“And if you combine it with robots, which are not occurring as quickly as the software, you could imagine replacing that human workflow by agents plus robots.”at 12:51
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Eric Schmidt: The Age of Agents, Superintelligence, and Why Europe Is Falling Behind ·
Eric Schmidt · Relativity Space
Robotic superintelligence is clearly coming, and machines will drive cars and fly planes better than humans.
Schmidt says there is clearly going to be a robotic superintelligence. He defines superintelligence as doing things humans can never do, such as better visioning and better reasoning. His examples are driving cars and flying airplanes better than people. He presents this as a direct consequence of the broader superintelligence trend he expects in the next few years.
“There's clearly going to be a robotic superintelligence... Superintelligence means it does things that humans can... Will never be able to do. Better visioning, better reasoning, drive the car better, drive the airplane better.”at 42:27
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Eric Schmidt: The Age of Agents, Superintelligence, and Why Europe Is Falling Behind ·
Brian Nowak · Morgan Stanley
AI is becoming physical; robots and drones will reshape defense, warehousing, delivery and farming within 2-5 years.
Physical AI is already showing up across industries: drones and new defense mechanisms, warehouses, delivery, and the future of farming. Humanoids and home robots are a longer-term story. He argues that over the next two, three and five years, many physical and robotic AI implementations will significantly change how businesses operate.
“AI is going to get physical through new types of robots that impact the entire globe. We're seeing in multiple industries already.”at 9:01
Thoughts on the Market (Morgan Stanley): AI’s Next Winners: Signals From Private Markets ·
Sundar Pichai · Alphabet / Google
Google's world-model research is state of the art for embodied reasoning, which supports robotics.
Pichai argues world models are key enabling blocks for intelligence because they let models understand physics and simulate the world in high fidelity. He says that across applications, robotics is an example: Google's embodied reasoning benchmarks are state of the art, and he says the model literally topped many of them. He says this comes from Google's experience building world models, and that the company wants to be at the frontier of all approaches, including the LLM path.
“If you look at, you know, embodied reasoning benchmarks, [Argon] is state of the art, right? I think it literally sowed on many of these benchmarks.”at 15:06
Big Technology Podcast: Google CEO Sundar Pichai: AI’s Infinite Possibilities, Compute Scarcity Dilemmas, Future AI Products ·
Andreas Steno · Steno Research
Humanoid robots are years away because they need far more real-world training data; he doubts progress this cycle.
For AI to work in real-life tasks such as cleaning, it needs huge numbers of recordings. Autonomous vehicles are the one large real-world dataset, and humanoid robots lack that data, so capability is probably years away. Steno fully believes the trend about seven years ahead, but doubts enough progress will come this cycle. For that reason he has tilted his robotics portfolio towards autonomous miles, where recordings already exist.
“I fully believe in this trend, say, seven years ahead. But the question is whether we we will get enough progress in some of these cases related to humanoid robots already this cycle. I doubt it because we need all of these recordings first.”at 16:31
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Charles Lemonides · ValueWorks LLC
Driverless tech will be a commodity, so Waymo is no unique threat to rideshare incumbents.
Driverless vehicles will be ubiquitous, and automakers such as Tesla, Rivian and GM will sell cars that Uber and Lyft can buy and deploy. Self-driving technology will be a commodity, so Waymo has no special edge. A rideshare company with a user base can offer driverless rides as an option in its app. Incumbents already have customer relationships, and it is hard to see why riders would add another app just because a ride is driverless. Only if Waymo were the sole provider would it be a real threat. He conceded that sourcing riders is the hard part, and that the rideshare companies have that advantage.
“If Waymo were the only company to have a driverless vehicle, then yeah, it would be a threat. But driverless vehicles are going to be ubiquitous.”at 24:29
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