Disrupt 2026 Session Tackles Scaling AI Prototypes Into Production
Disrupt 2026 brings MBRYONICS, Bedrock Robotics and Foxglove founders to San Francisco to explain how AI prototypes become reliable products customers trust.
Summary
AI has made impressive prototypes easier to build, but production introduces manufacturing, infrastructure, reliability, safety and daily operating demands outside controlled labs. On September 15, Disrupt 2026 detailed “From Prototype to Production: Can It Scale in Reality?”, a Real World AI Stage session covering space communications, autonomous vehicles and autonomous construction equipment. The event runs October 13 to 15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, with more than 10,000 founders, investors and operators attending over 250 sessions. Passes offer savings of up to $200 before prices rise September 25, while exhibit-table bookings close September 18.
MBRYONICS co-founder and CEO John Mackey will explain how the specialized photonics spinout expanded high-volume manufacturing while supporting next-generation space networks with space-based optical communications. Bedrock Robotics co-founder Boris Sofman, formerly a leader in autonomous trucking and core technologies at Waymo, will discuss production safety and reliability after Waymo’s fully driverless vehicles surpassed 100 million driverless miles. Foxglove co-founder Adrian Macneil, previously Cruise’s infrastructure engineering leader, will examine the data platform and surrounding systems needed to operate autonomous vehicles at scale. The cross-industry session offers no universal blueprint, instead comparing how three founders moved complex technology toward production-ready deployment customers can trust.
Positives
- Waymo’s fully driverless vehicles surpassed 100 million driverless miles, giving Boris Sofman experience with autonomy operating beyond controlled tests.
- John Mackey expanded MBRYONICS’ high-volume manufacturing while developing optical communications infrastructure for next-generation space networks.
- Adrian Macneil built Cruise’s data platform for autonomous vehicles at scale before co-founding Foxglove.
- More than 10,000 founders, investors and operators can compare production lessons across over 250 Disrupt 2026 sessions.
- Up to $200 in pass savings remains available before prices increase on September 25.
Risks & concerns
- Production exposes optical hardware, autonomous vehicles and autonomous construction equipment to reliability, manufacturing, infrastructure and daily operating demands absent from controlled labs.
- Autonomous systems must deliver consistent, safe performance outside controlled testing, where failures directly affect everyday deployment.
- No single scaling blueprint applies across space communications, autonomous vehicles and autonomous construction equipment.
- September 18 is the final day to book an exhibit table, limiting the remaining preparation window.
- September 25 brings higher pass prices when the discount of up to $200 expires.