The Last 50 Ft

Autolane
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The Last 50 Feet where the physical world catches up to the hype. We cover what actually happens when autonomous vehicles, robots, and AI-powered logistics hit the pavement — at grocery stores, retail properties, QSR drive-throughs, and the last hundred feet of every delivery. No lab demos. The infrastructure, the deals, the operators making it real. Brought to you by Autolane — the platform coordinating autonomous vehicles and robotics on private property, one zone at a time.

  1. 4d ago

    Ep #24 I Chef Paul Iglesias, From Dominos Delivery To Michelin Recognition In Oakland

    Oakland chef and owner Paul Iglesias (Parche, Jaji) discusses the future of intentional hospitality, the realities of running modern restaurants, and his culturally rooted menu design. Paul walks us through industry pressures like rising labor costs and delivery margins while showing how Oakland's energy, influences his concepts. He also shares insights into menu design as cultural translation, the storytelling power of small plates, and what it takes to keep full-service dining sustainable.

  2. Oct 15

    Ep #23I Alex Norman, The First Fifty Feet of Drone Delivery with Matternet

    Most people picture drone delivery as the flight. Alex Norman, COO of Matternet, says the hardest part happens before takeoff, when an order has to get from the kitchen into the drone. Alex went from aerospace engineering in Austria and big aircraft at Airbus to one of the earliest drone delivery companies. Matternet started out flying medical samples between hospitals in Switzerland. It now operates in the US, Switzerland and the UK, and works with partners like UPS. Food is quickly becoming its biggest source of volume.

  3. Oct 7

    Ep #22I Chef Nelson German, From Nightclub Dreams to Culinary Triumphs

    What started as a joke about opening a nightclub turned into a career in the kitchen. Chef Nelson German, the chef behind alaMar and Sobre Mesa in Oakland and Meski in San Francisco, joins The Last 50 Ft to talk about the night at the Copacabana that sent him to culinary school, how Top Chef Season 18 reconnected him with his roots, and the Afro-Latino flavors that define his restaurants. We get into opening Sobre Mesa just ten days before the pandemic shut everything down, partnering with World Central Kitchen to feed laid-off hospitality workers, and why his team is everything. Nelson also shares his new book, Caribbean Cocktails, and what it takes to get great food from his kitchen to your door.

  4. Sep 25

    Ep #21 I Hamei Hamedi, From Restaurant Owner With Mini Donkeys, to Autonomous Delivery

    Before Autolane, Hamei spent 15 years in hospitality and ran his own restaurant. In this episode he talks about what delivery apps did to restaurant margins, how COVID changed what customers expect, and why autonomous delivery gives operators, big and small, control of the last 50 feet again. He also covers why people skills still matter most, the time autonomy frees up for operators, and advice for owners weighing new tech. Plus celebrity visits, favorite shift meals, and why a cold burrito can ruin the experience.

  5. Sep 16

    Ep #20 I David Richer, CEO of Orbital Kitchens: Sold 70,000 Chicken Wings in Six Hours. One Bad Payment Made Him Build His Own Delivery Fleet

    David Richer, founder of Orbital Kitchens, joined Ben and Cam this week. While most pandemic-era ghost kitchens collapsed, Richer's flagship Union Square location in New York does a reported $30 million a year out of a single kitchen, and his in-house fleet delivers at more than double the industry's rate. He gets into the missed payment that forced him to build that fleet overnight, what he thinks everyone else got wrong about scaling a virtual brand too fast, and the bowl-building robot already running in one of his kitchens. 🏁 goautolane.com I orbitalkitchens.com

  6. Sep 10

    Ep #19 I Garrett McCurrach, Founder of Pipedream Labs: Why Your Next Delivery Comes From Underground

    Garrett McCurrach, founder of Pipedream Labs, joins the show to talk about the underground pipe network he's building to move food and packages straight to the curb, no roads required. We get into how the system actually works, what it took to get real pipes running under drive-thrus in Texas and Georgia, and what property operators stand to gain once the last 50 feet moves below ground. If you've ever wondered what's happening beneath the sidewalk, this one's for you.

  7. Aug 26

    Ep #18I Van Tucker From CMG And Ai Wrangler, How a Cowboy Entrepreneur Built AI Tools From The Frontier

    Van Tucker has spent over two decades at the intersection of technology, creativity, and commerce. He's helped brands like Nike and Disney and is currently head of AI at CMG. He is helping businesses adopt AI through his venture, AI Wrangler. In this episode, Van traces his path from building his first website in middle school (to promote BMX biking) to creating a locker ecosystem with Harbor Lockers. He worked to bring locker networks to U.S. cities to help emerging business. Van also shares how AI Wrangler started as a joke on Linkedin and turned into a real business after people kept asking how he was actually using AI. Tune in for a conversation about entrepreneurship, reinventing yourself, and where AI is headed next. 🏁 goautolane.com https://vantucker.com

  8. Jul 30

    Ep #17 | Angell Tsang, Co-Founder of Tso Chinese: Customers Over Clicks, Eliminating Spreadsheets, and Going Live After Skepticism

    Angell Tsang is the Co-Founder and Chief AI Officer of Tso Chinese Takeout and Delivery, Autolane's first autonomous delivery partner in Austin. He is also the reason this episode has an unusual number of accidental puns. Angell did not start in restaurants. He started in software QA, ran engineering teams across startups, and in 2016 was eating dinner at his friend Min's restaurant when Min said he had a dumb idea. That idea became Tso Chinese, a delivery first Chinese food brand built from scratch in a converted pizza restaurant in Austin's Cherrywood neighborhood. No sit down dining. Just code they wrote themselves, a scratch kitchen, and a very bright wrapped delivery car that people still remember today. Ten years later Tso has five locations across Austin, investors including the former co-CEO of Whole Foods, the former CEO of Wendy's, and the founder of Bonobos, and a partnership with Autolane that Angell never saw coming. He walked past Autolane's Tesla at ShopTalk in March. He thought autonomous delivery was five years away. He moved on. Then Cam followed up. Then a Slack channel happened. Then they went live and the rest is history. This episode covers how Tso built their own restaurant operating system because Shopify does not ship Chinese food on demand. Why W2 drivers never stole their food but 1099 contractors have a statistic that is higher than zero percent. Why the Tesla will never eat your pot stickers...yet? What happens to Chinese American cuisine when the 65 plus generation of mom and pop owners retires over the next decade. And why Angell's entire philosophy as Chief AI Officer comes down to three words: customers over clicks. Oh and he named all his AI agents with Tso puns. TSophie. TSora. TSolomon. 🏁 goautolane.com | tsochinese.com

    Ep #17 | Angell Tsang, Co-Founder of Tso Chinese: Customers Over Clicks, Eliminating Spreadsheets, and Going Live After Skepticism
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About

The Last 50 Feet where the physical world catches up to the hype. We cover what actually happens when autonomous vehicles, robots, and AI-powered logistics hit the pavement — at grocery stores, retail properties, QSR drive-throughs, and the last hundred feet of every delivery. No lab demos. The infrastructure, the deals, the operators making it real. Brought to you by Autolane — the platform coordinating autonomous vehicles and robotics on private property, one zone at a time.

Information

  • Creator
    Autolane
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    25
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Autolane
  • Show Website
    The Last 50 Ft