WAYMO, DATA CENTERS, AND PROCUREMENT’S STRANGE FUTURE In this off-the-cuff episode, Sarah and Dr. Elouise take Dual Source Discourse on the road—literally—by recording from inside a Waymo robotaxi after speaking at a Connect House event in San Francisco. They reflect on Sarah’s first self-driving car experience, the convenience of a driverless ride, and the quirks of Waymo’s customization, from leg room to music controls. Along the way, they recap their live discussion on the AI data center revolution, including consumption-based pricing, data centers in space, edge AI, and the possibility of distributed data centers in homes. The conversation also wanders into future podcast topics, analog tech making a comeback, procurement in the news, dog rescue logistics, and the joy of not having to make small talk after a long event. Key Points: • Waymo as a New Ride Experience: Sarah and Dr. Elouise discuss the comfort, quiet, customization, and occasional weirdness of riding in a self-driving car. • AI Data Centers Are Getting Stranger: The hosts recap their live Connect House conversation around data centers in space, data centers in homes, edge devices, and the uncertainty around massive infrastructure builds. • Pricing Models Are Shifting: They discuss the move from subscription-based pricing to token-based or consumption-based pricing, and how companies may struggle to understand their true AI costs. • Future Topics Are Everywhere: The episode previews upcoming discussions on drones, analog tech, SaaS economy updates, procurement in the news, climate, and the logistics of dog rescue. ✨Highlights✨ 00:00 Sarah and Dr. Elouise introduce the “out of the box” Waymo episode after Connect House 02:10 Sarah reflects on her first Waymo experience and the appeal of not talking to a driver 04:30 The hosts compare Waymo comfort, leg room, music, and customization to Uber and Lyft 07:15 Recap of the Connect House live podcast on the AI data center revolution 09:10 Discussion of subscription-based pricing, token-based pricing, and consumption-based AI costs 11:30 Data centers in space, “Pigs in Space,” and data centers in personal garages 14:00 Edge AI, local hosting, phones, wearables, and the future of massive data center builds 17:45 Inside the Waymo: seat controls, temperature, support button, LiDAR visuals, and no driver 22:20 Dr. Elouise shares her motivational audio routine and “pattern interrupt” for focus 26:40 Future episode ideas: drones, analog tech, Nokia brick phones, pagers, procurement news, and dog rescue logistics Please make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and, as always, submit questions and topics suggestions for future podcasts here: https://shorturl.at/PbNi6 Follow us on YouTube for episode video recordings: https://rb.gy/t5hbw8 Hosts: Sarah Scudder and Dr. Elouise Epstein Producer: Sabrina Mougin Key Words: Sarah Scudder, Dr. Elouise Epstein, Dual Source Discourse, Waymo robotaxi experience, self-driving car podcast, autonomous vehicles, Connect House procurement event, AI data center revolution, data centers in space, data centers in homes, SPAN data centers, edge AI, local hosting versus cloud, consumption-based pricing, token-based pricing, subscription-based pricing, GitHub pricing model, AI infrastructure costs, procurement and AI, Chief Clubhouse San Francisco, Japantown San Francisco, YouTube Music in Waymo, LiDAR, Zoox, Uber and Lyft alternatives, future of transportation, analog technology comeback, Nokia brick phones, pagers, SaaS economy update, procurement in the news, dog rescue logistics, Heather Foch, procurement community events, women executive groups, AI and edge devices