Snapshot · This Week in Tech (Audio)
Waymo paused all highway operations and reduced services in multiple cities after incidents including robotaxis driving into floodwaters and failing to recognize school buses.
Where this was said
At 2:32:05 · chapter starts 2:29:35
Leo Laporte wraps the show with individual plugs for each guest: garyrivlin.com for Gary Rivlin's AI Valley and future projects; citationneeded.news for Molly White's newsletter, podcast, and upcoming Citizens United episode; wheelbearings.media for Sam Abuelsamid's car podcast. Sam gets one final plug for Operation Frodo on Animal Rescue Rigs. Leo gives the full TWiT listener guide — the show streams 2-5 PM Pacific every Sunday on YouTube, Twitch, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Kick; audio and video downloads at twit.tv; Club TWiT at twit.tv/clubtwit for ad-free feeds and member Discord. He closes with the show's 21-year-old sign-off: 'Another TWiT is in the can.' A post-roll Mint Mobile sponsorship ad featuring Ryan Reynolds' voice follows.
Waymo robotaxis drove into floodwaters with passengers, got stuck circling roundabouts endlessly, and failed to recognize school buses. The company has paused all highway operations while it tries to diagnose problems in an AI-based system where the behavior is fundamentally harder to debug than the old rules-based approach. Sam Abuelsamid says nobody is making money on robotaxis yet — and won't be for years.
Morgan Stanley projects that 30% of the U.S. rideshare industry will be served by autonomous vehicles by 2032.
Ferrari's first EV, the Luce, costs $640,000 and carries design input from Jony Ive's firm LoveFrom. Sam Abuelsamid's verdict: the interior is genuinely interesting, but the exterior could belong to any premium brand — it just doesn't look like a Ferrari. Many suspect this is essentially what Jony Ive wanted Apple's canceled Project Titan car to look like.
Ferrari's first EV, the Luce, designed with help from Jony Ive, carries a starting price of approximately $640,000.
Sam Abuelsamid's Operation Frodo charity drive transports rescue beagles from Nebraska to the Pacific Northwest, where demand for the breed far outstrips supply. This year's drive uses an all-electric vehicle fleet — Cadillac Escalade IQ, Lucid Gravity, Hyundai Ioniq 9, and Kia EV9 — covering 2,700 miles with free charging from EVgo at Pilot Flying J stations.
Sam Abuelsamid's Operation Frodo dog rescue has transported 88 dogs from Nebraska to the Pacific Northwest over four years, this year using an all-electric vehicle fleet.
Ad-based monetization works well for game apps where users spend extended time in-session, as seen with Grid and Wordle.
Tool-focused apps like PuffCount are poor candidates for ad monetization because users don't stay in-session long enough.
A hard paywall is a screen that blocks all app features unless the user pays or starts a free trial — it cannot be dismissed.
Mobile apps are primarily monetized through either ads (best for games) or in-app purchases/subscriptions (best for tools).
According to the episode, YouTube outperforms every other social platform for building trust and driving SaaS conversions.
Vasco stated that the majority of his app's user base came directly from his YouTube channel.
SEO Bot features a 'Boost My Domain Rating' button that routes users directly to Listing Bot, an example of in-product cross-selling.
The founder's entire product portfolio is AI-related, making it easier to package products attractively for directories.
The founder attached their SaaS demo to the trending debate about whether AI coding is actually good enough to build a full SaaS product.
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