Autonomy is no longer a moonshot—it’s a market
0Autonomy is no longer a moonshot—it’s a market. And increasingly, it’s a battlefield.
Recorded live at the 2025 American Dynamism Summit, this discussion features a16z General Partner Erin Price-Wright sitting down with Qasar Younis (cofounder & CEO, Applied Intuition) and Jason Brown (Head of Government Business, Applied Intuition) to explore how vehicle intelligence and autonomy are reshaping defense, industry, and the future of transportation. They cover:
Why the next decade is about deploying autonomy, not debating it
The convergence of commercial and military autonomy stacks
How to retrofit 100-year-old defense platforms with cutting-edge AI
Why dual-use companies can—and must—set the benchmark
What it takes to win the software-defined arms race
From self-driving ride-hail in San Francisco to autonomous naval vessels, the future isn’t just autonomous—it’s already in production.
Follow everyone:
Erin Price-Wright - https://x.com/espricewright
Qasar Younis - https://x.com/qasar
Jason Brown - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmbro/
Timestamps:
00:00: Introduction
00:40: Founder Intros
01:18: The History of Applied Intuition
03:30: Productionization and Proliferation of Autonomy
07:55: Will The Future of Autonomous Vehicles Look Like Waymo or Tesla?
10:58: Autonomy In Defense
12:30: Supporting Retrofits and Legacy Systems
13:26: Driving Force Behind Applied Intuition
15:39: Beginnings of DOD Engagement and Commercial Benchmarks
20:49: Features That Benefit Commercial and Defense Customers
21:45: Navigating Technical and Product Requirements
24:08: Hiring Practices (Commercial vs Government.)
26:10: Improvements In How The DOD Procures Technology
30:34: Partnerships vs Direct Relationships
33:18: The ChatGPT Moment For Autonomy
36:06: How Close Are We To Autonomy Being Ubiquitous?
38:49: The Future of Autonomy, Mission-Driven Engineers