The alpha, twice a week
That was 4 min.
Get the best new moments in your inbox every Wednesday and Saturday. It's free.
Check your inbox
We sent a link to your address. Click it to finish signing up. Not there in a minute? Look in spam.
or
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · 4 min · Sep 30, 2026
Autonomous cars could make commutes and city layouts less restrictive
Kai Yu predicts coordinated self-driving cars could raise road efficiency tenfold and reduce commute stress. He argues that cars as moving homes could make location less important.
Kai Yu is founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics.
Nicolai Tangen, Host · CEO, Norges Bank Investment Management
About this segment
Kai Yu predicts coordinated self-driving cars could raise road efficiency tenfold and reduce commute stress. He argues that cars as moving homes could make location less important.
From “Horizon Robotics CEO: Car Chips, Mind-Off Driving and China's Speed | Podcast | In Good Company”, Sep 30, 2026. Watch the full episode
Thanks. We'll look at and fix what's off.
“And so I think the efficiency of the traffic will be, you know, 10 times more improved, right?”
Takeaways
- Yu predicts traffic efficiency could improve tenfold.
- Cars could become moving homes and reduce distance anxiety.
- Automation could give commuters time back for other pursuits.
In this episode
Full episode- 14:16Kai Yu’s roadmap to hands-off and mind-off driving4:58
- 11:47Long automotive cycles create a high barrier to entry2:43
- 31:21Car suppliers may have an edge in the robotics race4:52
- 7:13Horizon chose to enable carmakers instead of building cars2:17
- 9:15China launched more than 580 car models in six months2:48
- 24:41China's supplier network speeds up automotive innovation2:10
- 26:35Horizon can partner with European chipmakers in complementary niches2:51
37:18Autonomous cars could make commutes and city layouts less restrictive4:17
Transcript
Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.
- 37:28
together. So what is a city going to look like in 10 to 20 years time? You know, I'm a huge fan of the Asian Greek culture and history. And, you know, in July, I've been to Athens again, you know, I've been there many times. It was a very golden age, you know, where people really enjoy free thinking, free, you know, exchange of ideas. And there's, you know, so many, you know, inspiring philosophers, you know, and make huge impact for the human civilization, right?
- 38:09
And they are free of labor work, right? and so I think civilization is so much related to the freedom of human and then if we have all the robots to do all the tedious and sometimes dangerous work and then we can have more time like you and me right now chatting, exchange ideas sometimes hanging around for other things and more time for entertainment, more time for research more time for arts and I think even more time for outing that would be great you know if you look at today the traffic jam in Beijing and Shanghai if you ever come to China it's terrible it's very often like a one way commute from home to office you're stuck in the traffic for almost like two hours and then you waste your two hours of your life doing nothing because you need 100% you know focus steering the wheel and then
- 39:21
are you the master of the car no in that situation you are a slave of the car you know because you don't have choice you know the essence of robotics is give the freedom give the choice back to the human and the human can make a choice you know to do something or not doing something what's the town going to look like physically what's the city going to look like physically I mean, you know, at that time, even today, China, I think, the housing, like Beijing housing price, you know, from school district to school.
- 40:00
school district from, like, region to region are quite different, right? Maybe in 10 years, a housing price won't be so much different because, you know, essentially every car is like a moving house. And then you have much more freedom, and you don't have such kind of anxiety about distance. And so I think, I don't know. The city will be very different, drastically different. And also traffic, you know.
- 40:33
Today, I think all the people are kind of like competing, fighting for, you know, the lanes and the traffic, the parking lots. And if everything, you know, self-driving, and then all the efficiency of the roads will be much more, because all the cars are coordinated rather than competing against each other. And so I think the efficiency of the traffic will be, you know, 10 times more improved, right?
- 41:08
And then the environment will be much nicer, you know, and much less noise and much less stress and much less anxiety you know i think the city will be much better take me back one second to