Part 2/12:
The episode begins with a discussion about what constitutes a "hard reset." Traditionally, cars are designed around the idea of a driver with a steering wheel and a front-facing orientation. However, Zoox challenged this paradigm, approaching vehicle design from scratch with the goal of optimizing for autonomous operation rather than retrofitting existing models.
This led to a key distinction: vehicles versus cars. While the colloquial term remains "car," Zoox emphasizes that their innovations are better categorized as vehicles—purpose-built for autonomy, capable of complex maneuvers like crab steering, bi-directionality, and sliding motions, without the constraints of traditional front or rear orientation.