Deep Dive: Sebastian Thrun on Waymo’s Early Days

More from The Moonshot Podcast All episodes →

1. 

   S1 · E16 · 5 Sep 2025 · 1 hr 7 min

   Deep Dive: David Guerena on the Future of Agriculture

   In the sixth installment of our Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive series, X’s Captain of Moonshots, Astro Teller, discusses plant breeding and the future of agriculture with Agricultural Scientist, David Guerena. David works with The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) — a partner of Mineral, X’s moonshot for computational agriculture. They discuss plant breeding, the challenges facing smallholder farmers around the world, and how the tools Mineral developed are helping plant breeders grow more resilient crops. For more on Mineral’s impact on agriculture, check out Episode 4 of The…

2. 

   S1 · E15 · 22 Aug 2025 · 58 min

   Deep Dive: Jeff Dean on Google Brain’s Early Days

   In the fifth installment of our Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive video interview series, X’s Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller sits down with Google DeepMind’s Chief Scientist Jeff Dean for a conversation about the origin of Jeff’s pioneering work scaling neural networks. They discuss the first time AI captured Jeff’s imagination, the earliest Google Brain framework, the team’s stratospheric advancements in image recognition and speech-to-text, how AI is evolving, and more. For more on X’s AI moonshots, check out Jeff on Episode 3 of The Moonshot Podcast, “Machines That Think”:…

3. 

   S1 · E14 · 8 Aug 2025 · 51 min

   The Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive: Andrew Ng on Deep Learning and Google Brain

   In the fourth installment of our Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive video interview series, X’s Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller sits down with Andrew Ng, the founder of Google Brain and DeepLearning.AI, for a conversation about the history of neural network research and how Andrew’s pioneering ideas led to some of the biggest breakthroughs in modern-day AI. Hear about the origins of Google’s deep learning work, how Andrew’s teenage frustrations led him to pursue a career in machine learning and automation, and the work that led up to Google Brain’s infamous “cat video” paper. For more on X’s AI…

4. 

   S1 · E13 · 24 Jul 2025 · 42 min

   Deep Dive: Catie Cuan on Dancing and Living With Robots

   In the third installment of our Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive video interview series, X’s Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller sits down with Dr. Catie Cuan, robot choreographer and former artist in residence at Everyday Robots, for a conversation about how dance can be used to build beautiful and useful robots that people want to be around. Watch the video to hear how Catie and the Everyday Robots team transformed robotic motion into music, what it feels like when she’s dancing with a robot and why she’s “hyper-optimistic” about the future of robotics. For more, check out Catie on Episode 5 of…

5. 

   S1 · E12 · 11 Jul 2025 · 51 min

   Deep Dive: André Prager on Prototyping at Wing

   In the second installment of our Moonshot Podcast Deep Dive video interview series, X’s Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller sits down with André Prager, former Chief Engineer at Wing, for a conversation about the early days of Wing and how the team solved some of their toughest engineering challenges to develop simple, lightweight, inexpensive delivery drones that are now being used every day across three continents. Watch the video to hear the story of André’s earliest inventions as a teenager, the surprising discovery that led the Wing team to rethink the drones’ sound, why engineering often…

6. 

   S1 · E10 · 12 May 2025 · 1 hr 1 min

   Prototyping The Future, live from SXSW 2025

   Astro joins an all-star cast of inventors, futurists and creatives for a live conversation about radical innovation on-stage at SXSW 2025. These pioneers and problem-solvers pull together the threads of our series, revealing how imagination and prototyping can come together to tackle global challenges like transportation, energy, food security and human health. Recorded in front of a live audience in Austin, Texas, this special episode explores how creativity, curiosity, and a maker's spirit have the power to transform bold ideas into reality. Hosted by Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots,…

7. 

   S1 · E9 · 5 May 2025 · 46 min

   Supersenses

   What if, rather than making you distracted, your smart device helped you be more present? In this episode, we revisit the early days of Google Glass: a bold Moonshot that opened up new ways of seeing and being in the world. We go behind the scenes with the designers and engineers who shaped it – and hear how their insights helped inspire IyO, a next-generation audio wearable designed to integrate our digital and physical lives while also liberating us from screens. From skydiving, to the real-life “babel fish”, this is a story about the power of invention, the importance of timing, and how…

8. 

   S1 · E8 · 28 Apr 2025 · 41 min

   Powering Up

   Energy might just be the ultimate moonshot – because if we can make it affordable, abundant and dependable long-term, it could improve life for all 8.2 billion people on Earth. In this episode, we follow two bold projects from X: Blixt, a fusion Moonshot that took a high-risk bet on a decades-old scientific mystery, and Tapestry, a new set of AI powered tools that are helping grid operators manage the world’s largest machine. From lightning bolts and frozen hydrogen, to mapping the electricity networks of entire countries, this is a story about risk, reward, and the invisible systems we all…

9. 

   S1 · E7 · 21 Apr 2025 · 39 min

   Fires, Floods and Future-Proofing

   Natural disasters will keep coming — but what if we could stay one step ahead? That’s the mission of Bellwether, a moonshot working to build a “crystal ball” for the natural world. Their team is uniting the talents and expertise of firefighters and physicians to turn messy geospatial data into real-time forecasts for fire, flood and beyond, helping communities prepare for the unpredictable. We also meet the inventors behind 280 Earth, a project that uses waste heat from data centres to pull CO₂ from the air and produce clean water in the process. This is a story about resilience —…

10. 

    S1 · E6 · 14 Apr 2025 · 54 min

    Trash to Treasure

    What if waste wasn’t the end of the story – but the start of something new? In this episode of The Moonshot Podcast, we explore Delta, a Moonshot to help feed the millions of Americans facing food insecurity, and X’s Moonshot for Circularity which is working to design waste systems that are more resilient, more adaptable, and more intelligent from the outset. This isn’t just about cleaning up – it’s about building a world where nothing useful gets thrown away. Hosted by Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, The Moonshot Podcast goes behind the scenes with the engineers and inventors using…