Waymo Madness in SF! Why robotaxis clogged the streets | E2227
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.2 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2025
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Caldera + Lab - http://calderalab.com/TWIST
Crusoe Cloud - https://crusoe.ai/build
Uber - http://uber.com/twist
Today’s show:
Why did a power outage in the Bay Area cause Waymos to pile up on city streets?
Jason was actually in San Francisco to take in the spectacle of Waymos blocking traffic. But why did this happen? And can we look forward to a day when automated cars are more graceful and coordinated than ballet dancers performing “Swan Lake”? We’re asking the tough (and also culturally erudite) questions!
PLUS self-driving cars are coming to London, Coinbase’s buying spree continues, another entrant in our nearly-complete Gamma Pitch Deck Competition, AND why Jason predicts that Google is going to buy UBER!
You won’t want to miss this holiday TWiST!
Timestamps:
(00:00) It’s a holiday TWiST! Jason’s calling in from vacay in Lake Tahoe.
(03:11) Jason was in SF for the great Waymo power outage!
(06:06) Why Jason says one day Waymos will be better coordinated than dancers in “Swan Lake”
(07:33) We predicted Starlink coming to every Tesla nearly 3 years ago!
(09:05) Caldera + Lab: Whether you’re starting fresh or upgrading your routine, Caldera Lab makes skincare simple and effective. Head to http://calderalab.com/TWIST and use TWIST at checkout for 20% off your first order.
(11:29) Jason calls what Tesla’s Optimus team is planning “otherworldly”
(14:39) Why Jason thinks we’re all going to live in an “Opt-In Truman Show” someday soon
(18:52) Baidu, Lyft, and Uber bring self-driving cars to London… they don’t have them already?!
(20:49) Crusoe Cloud: Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit https://crusoe.ai/build to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.
(24:02) When do we get to 50% of all rides being done by autonomous vehicles… and how many robotaxis will that take?
(27:50) Why Jason thinks Google is going to buy… UBER?!
(31:12) Uber AI Solutions: Your trusted partner to get AI to work in the real world. Book a demo with them TODAY at http://uber.com/twist
(32:30) Will it eventually come down to which car can drive a mile for the cheapest?
(35:08) Coinbase picks up The Clearing Company, which makes frameworks for prediction markets
(39:50) How much did the biggest AI models improve this year?
(44:09) Who’s going to actually buy Warner Bros? We’re checking the Polymarket.
(47:06) GAMMA PITCH w/ Jonathan Sherman of Lumix Ads
(51:00) Why Jason says Jonathan’s pitch is a 9.5 out of 10
(52:50) What Jason looks for in a founder: “a big audacious vision”
(54:18) How Lumix (safely) collects users’ “mobile ad ID” on the go to identify them
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Thank you to our partners:
(09:05) Caldera + Lab: Whether you’re starting fresh or upgrading your routine, Caldera Lab makes skincare simple and effective. Head to http://calderalab.com/TWIST and use TWIST at checkout for 20% off your first order.
(20:49) Crusoe Cloud: Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit https://crusoe.ai/build to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.
(31:12) Uber AI Solutions: Your trusted partner to get AI to work in the real world. Book a demo with them TODAY at http://uber.com/twist
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is, I don't think exactly what Waymo was promising the world. And as I was going to Sax's holiday party, there were Waymo's all over the place. It was nuts. Yeah. So the power went out in San Francisco at about 1 p.m. on Saturday for about 130,000 customers, Jason, the power goes out sometimes. Not a big deal if you're just sitting in your apartment, light a candle, you'll survive. But it turns out if you are a Waymo, self-driving car, |
| 0:24.8 | and you don't have traffic lights anymore, well, Jason, I'll show you what happens. We have Waymos |
| 0:30.2 | literally just stopped in intersections. They are blocking traffic. There were like four of them, |
| 0:35.3 | five of them, it looks like, in that one intersection, |
| 0:38.0 | in three different lanes, the parking lane on the right, the middle lane, and the left lane, |
| 0:42.8 | and then there's one in the intersection past the crosswalk. These are the edge cases that will be |
| 0:47.7 | quickly solved. You can be sure that there's an emergency meeting going on of what do we do when |
| 0:53.8 | This Week in Startups is brought to you by Uber AI Solutions. There's an emergency meeting going on of what do we do when? |
| 0:58.2 | This week in startups is brought to you by Uber AI Solutions. |
| 1:00.5 | Bad data equals bad AI. |
| 1:04.0 | Your AI is only as good as the data it learns from. |
| 1:04.5 | Uber. |
| 1:05.6 | That's right. |
| 1:12.2 | Uber AI Solutions now works with enterprises around the world to source, label, evaluate, and scale real world, high quality data for every industry everywhere so that you can focus on building |
| 1:18.0 | the next big thing. High quality data equals smarter and faster AI. Uber.com slash twist. |
| 1:24.4 | Crusoe Cloud. Cruso is the AI factory company, reliable infrastructure and expert support. |
| 1:30.7 | Visit cruso. |
| 1:31.5 | com to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today. |
| 1:36.5 | And Caldera Lab. |
| 1:38.5 | Whether you're starting fresh or upgrading your routine, Caldera Lab makes skin care simple |
| 1:43.1 | and effective. |
| 1:44.1 | Head to calderaLab makes skincare simple and effective. |
... |
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