Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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What does it take to reinvent entire industries, over and over again?

This week on Grit, Sebastian Thrun, the “godfather” of self-driving cars and massive open online courses, reflects on a career pushing the boundaries of technology across mobility, education, and AI.

With Joubin Mirzadegan, he shares why he believes autonomous driving could become the biggest lifesaving technology in history, and how a wake-up call led him to found Udacity to truly democratize higher education.

Guest: Sebastian Thrun, CEO of Stealth Startup, founder of Google X and Udacity

Connect with Sebastian Thrun
X: https://x.com/sebastianthrun
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sebastian-thrun-59a0b273

Connect with Joubin
X: https://x.com/Joubinmir
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com​

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins: kleinerperkins.com

00:00:00 Opening
00:00:56 Sebastian Thrun
00:09:38 Self-Driving Cars
00:18:26 The DARPA Grand Challenge
00:24:01 The Evolution of Waymo
00:37:24 Kitty Hawk
00:42:44 Balancing Multiple Projects
00:53:37 The Future of Agent AI
00:58:00 Building a Resilient Team
01:12:12 Grit