Inside the Infrastructure of AV Fleet Operations with Ming Maa, CEO of Moove

What does it take to keep a fleet of driverless vehicles running 24/7? Much of the autonomous vehicle conversation focuses on the technology inside the car. But once AV begin operating at scale, an entirely different set of challenges emerges: Where do they charge? Who cleans and maintains them? How do operators manage hundreds of vehicles across multiple facilities? Where does the electricity come from? And what must cities do to prepare? In this episode of Mobility Forum, Jinhua Zhao speaks with Ming Ma, co-founder and CEO of Moove AV, which operates Waymo fleet in Phoenix, Miami, and Las Vegas. Ming takes us behind the scenes of autonomous mobility—from charging, maintenance, sensor cleaning, parking, and fleet orchestration to power constraints, workforce needs, weather, deadheading, and the economics of operating robotaxis at scale. The autonomous vehicle itself may account for only 30–40% of its total five-year cost of operation. The remaining 60–70% comes from the operational ecosystem around it. The conversation also explores what this transition means for cities. Power availability, zoning, parking, pickup and drop-off design, and coordination with AV operators could increasingly determine how quickly and how effectively autonomous mobility scales. The autonomous vehicle may drive itself. But the system around it does not operate itself.