Urban Autonomy in America: What’s Real & What’s Next (Curbivore 2026)

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and Substack. Transcripts are also available by clicking on the “transcripts” button in the top right corner of this post.

Join panelists at the just concluded Curbivore conference as they discuss how autonomy has progressed over the last few years, the challenges the industry still faces, and what it will take to accelerate progress as AV services begin to scale. This panel featured Pat Tsen (Deputy Executive Director, California Public Utilities Commission), Phillip Pierce (City Policy Lead, Zoox), Jon Miller (Chief Business Officer, Nexar), Ashwini Anburajan (CEO, Obi), and Aaron Park (Chief Business Development Officer, Robotis), and was moderated by Alan Ohnsman (Senior Editor, Forbes).

The conversation explores how AV deployments are evolving in real-world environments, including Zoox’s current rollout and safety approach, the regulatory and operational hurdles that remain, and how agencies like the CPUC are handling approvals and data reporting. It also covers early pricing dynamics and consumer perception, how companies like Nexar support AV safety as services scale, the growing role of autonomous robotics and emerging use cases, and how industry players can better align to standardize testing, improve edge case readiness, and support safe, scalable growth.

Curbivore 2026 brought together leaders across autonomy, delivery, and mobility in downtown Los Angeles for a full day of panels, firesides, exhibitions, and street food, focused on the ideas shaping the future of the curb and cities. You can check out the highlights clip here to get a feel for the event, and we’ve curated recordings of the panels, firesides, and speeches here. Also check out hundreds of our event photos here.

We’re bringing that same energy to our next Urban Autonomy Summit in Detroit on June 9. After that, we’ll be in Austin this fall and back in San Francisco in the winter for our next series of AV summits.

Chapters

(00:00) Introduction, and overview

(06:25) Zoox’s current AV deployment position and the challenges so far

(08:51) Steps to a more harmonized system of approval for robotaxis (Federal and state), and the CPUC’s place in this system

(12:40) How the CPUC handles data reporting for AV companies in the testing phase, and what qualifies as an autonomous vehicle deployment

(14:40) Early pricing trends, and customer perception insights in current robotaxi deployments

(21:30) Zoox’s approach to safety and how they handle edge cases

(24:20) How Nexar supports AV companies and their safety cases as services begin to scale

(30:40) How the autonomous robotics market is developing and how their use cases are evolving.

(34:58) Standardizing AV testing and validation, and how to better prepare for edge cases

(42:30) Consumer perception of AVs/pricing and how it has evolved

(46:20) Projections for the future of autonomy

- Harry

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thedriverlessdigest.com