On this episode of Venture Stories, Erik is joined by two exciting guests: Qasar Younis (@qasar), co-founder of Applied Intuition, and Alexandr Wang (@alexandr_wang), CEO of Scale.

Both Qasar and Alex are creating software that is transforming the way autonomous vehicles are being developed. The three of them have an expansive conversation about where autonomous technology is at today and how the technology and industry might evolve in the future. Throughout the conversation the founders peel back the curtain on the autonomous vehicle development process and put forth are a number of ideas about autonomous technology that run counter to the prevailing narrative in the media today.

They begin by talking about some of the specific ways that software is transforming the auto industry and in what ways the tools the founders are building are being used in the development of autonomous technology. Erik asks about the pros and cons of being a horizontal company vs. a vertical company in the space, and Qasar and Alex discuss the extent to which existing car manufacturers have modularized the parts that go into traditional vehicles and why this trend will continue with autonomous technology.

Qasar and Alex point out that the key question now is not if, but when, autonomous technology will be deployed at mass scale, and say that even three years ago it was unclear whether it was going to happen at all. They compare the industry as it exists now to the early days of the iPhone and say that like the iPhone app explosion, self-driving cars will be only one application that emerges on top of autonomous technology, which will itself be a much bigger market than the smartphone market.

Qasar and Alex both agree that robo-taxis are overly focused on by the media and that other applications of autonomous technology such as in trucking, last-mile delivery and warehouses will arrive sooner and will be both much larger and more consequential than robo-taxis. Alex says that he believes autonomous vehicle technology will be only one part of a broader “robot revolution” in society.

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Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

The Present and Future of Autonomous Vehicles with Qasar Younis and Alexandr Wang

Village Global Podcast