Does your CEO have AI psychosis? Aaron Levie thinks most of them do. | Equity Podcast
TL;DR
This episode dives into Waymo's cost-cutting sixth-generation 'OhHigh' robotaxi and its rocky path to profitability, while covering major funding rounds for 'anti-Amazon' fulfillment startup Stored ($250M) and AI infrastructure plays including Snowflake's $6B AWS chip deal and Open Router's $113M Series B.
🚕 Waymo’s Next-Generation Robotaxi 4 insights
The OhHigh vehicle debuts
Waymo unveiled its sixth-generation robotaxi, nicknamed 'OhHigh' (OJ AI), built on a Chinese minivan platform to replace the expensive Jaguar I-PACE fleet and reduce manufacturing costs.
Rider-focused design upgrades
The vehicle features gondola-style doors that part cleanly without trapping hands, a flat floor, spacious headroom, and a friendly, rounded aesthetic reminiscent of Google's original Firefly prototype.
Selective rollout amid recalls
Launching first to select riders in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco before expanding to Denver, the rollout coincides with company-wide service pauses due to flooding-related recalls affecting even this new generation.
Profitability questions loom
While the cheaper vehicle aims to improve unit economics, hosts questioned whether this gets Waymo to break-even before needing another funding round or a SpaceX-style IPO.
📦 E-Commerce Logistics Wars 2 insights
Stored raises $250M as 'anti-Amazon'
The Atlanta-based fulfillment startup founded by Georgia Tech alumni in 2015 raised $250M at a $3B valuation ($775M total), positioning itself as an alternative that lets merchants retain customer relationships.
The speed expectation challenge
While Stored offers Amazon-like logistics without the platform lock-in, it faces the hurdle of replicating Amazon's same-day or same-hour delivery infrastructure that has trained consumer expectations.
☁️ AI Infrastructure & Cloud Strategy 3 insights
Snowflake's $6B AWS commitment
Snowflake signed a massive deal for AWS's Trainium chips to diversify away from Nvidia GPUs, reflecting growing demand for CPUs optimized for AI agent workloads.
Open Router's $113M gateway play
Alphabet's Capital G led the Series B for Open Router, an 'AI gateway' enabling companies to route prompts across multiple models (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) to avoid vendor lock-in and optimize costs.
The picks-and-shovels thesis
Open Router represents a pure 'picks and shovels' bet on AI infrastructure uncertainty, though hosts questioned its long-term defensibility once the model landscape consolidates.
Bottom Line
As the AI infrastructure market diversifies beyond Nvidia dominance and robotaxis inch toward economic viability, startups are betting that 'anti-big-tech' positioning—in everything from cloud routing to fulfillment—can overcome the scale advantages of incumbents like Amazon and Waymo's parent Alphabet.
More from TechCrunch
View all
Everyone from OpenAI to SpaceX is building their own chips | Equity Podcast
Major tech companies from OpenAI to SpaceX are developing custom AI chips to reduce costs and dependence on Nvidia, while the industry grapples with memory shortages and pivots toward 'neocloud' compute rental models amid skepticism about futuristic orbital data centers.
Is the US government's Anthropic ban accidentally helping the brand? | Equity Podcast
The US government banned Anthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models citing national security concerns, but the conflict may paradoxically boost the company's brand as both technologically superior and resistant to political pressure, while the UK announced sweeping social media restrictions for teenagers.
NEA’s Tiffany Luck says enterprises are still figuring out their AI ROI | Equity Podcast
NEA partner Tiffany Luck explains that while consumer AI approaches 'magic moments' with personal agents capable of managing mental load, enterprises are struggling to measure ROI amid runaway token spend, as the industry anticipates major IPOs from OpenAI and Anthropic that will test the sustainability of AI unit economics.
SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI’s hot IPO summer | Equity Podcast
As SpaceX prepares for its historic IPO, the company has pivoted to leasing excess AI compute capacity to Google and Anthropic for nearly $1 billion monthly combined, while Waymo acquired Apple's abandoned Arizona proving ground for $220 million to expand autonomous vehicle testing infrastructure.