Glydways builds automated guideway transit networks: dedicated lanes for small, autonomous electric vehicles that move on-demand, 24/7, without fixed schedules. The company's Glydways Flow Networks claim a throughput of 10,000 people per hour per lane - five times that of traditional transit - at roughly 90% lower capital cost. The attack surface here is substantial and non-trivial: a fleet of autonomous vehicles operating on dedicated infrastructure, coordinating real-time dispatch across an entire urban corridor, with passenger safety and system availability as hard constraints.
The threat model spans OT and IT simultaneously. Autonomous vehicle control systems, guideway sensors, vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, dispatch and routing software, and the cloud platform tying it all together - each layer presents distinct security challenges. Compromise of vehicle autonomy or fleet coordination could mean physical harm or systemic gridlock; breaches of dispatch systems or passenger data carry their own legal and reputational exposure. Founded in 2016, Glydways has raised $170 million through Series C to move from concept to deployment, with pilot and planning efforts underway in South San Francisco, Atlanta, Contra Costa County, San Jose, Abu Dhabi, and New York City.
The core technical domains - autonomous vehicles, electric powertrains, automated guideway transit, and on-demand mobility systems - demand engineers who understand embedded security, network architecture at the edge, and the regulatory frameworks governing public transit infrastructure. This is not a SaaS play; it is physical infrastructure where the stakes are measured in public trust and bodily safety, and where security has to be engineered into the guideway, the vehicle, and the cloud as a unified system.
