Barrel's strategy advisors is a global top management consulting firm focusing exclusively on

automobile. Barrows with US headquarters in Metro Detroit provides comprehensive consulting services to OEMs, suppliers, investors, and new mobility companies.

Learn more at barrels.com. That's B-E-R-Y-L-S-C-C-C-C-C-C-O-G-T-E-R-Y-L-S-T-C-T-E-E-R-Y-L-S-T-T-E-E-R-Y-L-S-T-T-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-E-L-S dot com. Hi everybody. Welcome to Shift, a podcast about mobility. I'm Pete Bigelow, your host.

I'm pleased to be joined on the podcast today by Aurora Vice President of Service

Delivery Kendra Phillips. But first, I want to note that this is our final episode of

2022. And in reflecting back on the past year, I've got to say that self-driving technology is undoubtedly

in a slump.

Argo AI shuttered its doors, layoffs have hit companies like

Motional and Nuro.

There's been two high-profile crashes this year

that renewed questions about safety. All of this collectively has called him to question

the viability of this whole industry. I had a chance to catch up with Chris Ermson,

founder and CEO of Aurora, last week at Automotive News Congress in Detroit.

And I asked him straight up if he thought commercializing autonomous vehicles on public roads at meaningful

scale was still a viable goal.

I wanted to share you with you what he had to say. Here's Chris.

No, we're just totally screwed. No, like I actually look at where we are today and I honestly couldn't be more excited that what we see

is what plays out of the natural progression of any in every industry.

And I've been saying this for six, seven years

that we were going to see consolidation,

much like the automotive industry

that at the beginning of the 1900s,

...