Ann Arbor Spark Foundation

04/16/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/16/2026 09:09

SXSW Mobility in review

Like AI, mobility innovation was infused throughout sessions, activations, and real-world deployments, including Waymo rides and autonomous delivery bots. Two themes stood out.

Space tech is critical infrastructure for modern communications, data gathering, national security, and AI.
The opportunity is rich for space technologies that are manufacturable, include off-the-shelf components, and are attractive for both government and commercial use cases.

And the SDV is evolving into an AI-defined, cloud-connected platform.
Across demos and sessions, vehicle innovation focused heavily on the rider experience-comfort, safety, autonomy enablement, and the idea of the vehicle as a seamless "fourth place."

Some did better than others.

Rivian's Electric Roadhouse offered passenger rides on a course with steep hills, sharp turns, uneven ground, and angled wedges. The ride demonstrated the vehicle's handling in rugged off-road conditions. Back at Rivian's basecamp, baristas prepared lattes powered directly by the R2 between conference sessions-a clever demonstration of the vehicle as an adventurer's fourth place.

Valeo's Tech Drive-In showcased a panoramic heads-up display that tracks driver gaze and delivers safety alerts. Their novel gaming system integrates live vehicle sensor data to reduce passenger motion sickness. These production-ready innovations are entering the Chinese market this year.

The Sony/Honda Afeela session leaned heavily into creator partnerships and entertainment features, including speakers that project sound effects outside the vehicle. (Think pew-pew! and zooooom! and a teenager's favorite beat.) They announced that vehicles were entering production and would ship to California later this year. Does anyone really want our neighborhood roads to sound like a carnival?

Days after SXSW, the Afeela project was terminated due to "shifting market demand". While the EV adoption slowdown may be a factor, the Afeela vehicle platform seemed (to me) to be full of innovative features without a clear value proposition.

With protected left turns and slow speeds, Austin is a great place for a Waymo. Especially during SXSW, roads are chaotic, with cars, pedestrians, scooters, pedicabs, and bikes moving in all directions. The ride was smooth, comfortable, and relaxing.

Fun moment: cyclist coming down the center of a 2-lane city street. My Waymo vehicle assessed, cranked the wheel and backed up several feet to give a wider berth to the cyclist. It was surprising, but not scary, and cool.

The car did find it challenging to find pick up and drop off locations. In both cases, the pick up and drop off locations changed several times and the vehicle stopped blocks away from my requested spot. The app's static map was confusing and the vehicle was tough to spot. While not a seamless door-to-door experience, as an abled person, riding in a Waymo is a fun way to get around Austin.

You can read a full summary of our team's SXSW takeaways here, and check out some more cool photos we brought back from SXSW below.

SXSW 2026 Mobility Photo Gallery

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Ann Arbor Spark Foundation published this content on April 16, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on April 16, 2026 at 15:09 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]