The competition is who and they're doing what???

[joe.pistell]

"what idiot would want a phone in their car?"
...said Dr Axelrod, my 1st Cell Phone Sale in 1985
I closed him with a killer WIFM.
If any product has a WIFM, they'll buy it. Will human assisted, self-driving cars have WIFMs that'll appeal to drivers? If so, that'll pave the way for fully robotic self-driving cars that'll have 100x more WIFMs.
*What's In It For Me?

 

[joe.pistell]

Disruption, seen thru the users eye, by decade.

1980's: A phone was in your house.
1990's: A phone was in your house and in your car
2000's: A phone was in your house and your pocket
2010's: You have a computer in your pocket that you can make calls on.
2015's: What's a house phone?

Parallels to today?

Today's cars are like a phone in your home (been around for generations)
Self-driving cars are like upgrading to a cellular phone in your car (it changed everything)
Robotic Self-driving cars are a smart phone is to a landline. (the same, but, two completely different UX's... and a LOT more money too!)

How long will it take? Not sure. It took 5 years for Apple's iPhone to kill BlackBerry. If I were to bet on it, I'd see today's product engineering wizards and the billions$$ to be made and all the players aiming at the same target... I'm taking the under bet.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Borrowing from our friends at DrivingSales: NHTSA Determines That Google’s Self-Driving Systems Qualify As Drivers. It looks like another big hurdle was cleared.

 

[joe.pistell]

Gulp...
View attachment 2774
Self driving research infograph from Barclays.

Robotic Self-driving cars are like a smart phone is to a landline.

 

[joe.pistell]

I recall just 2 yrs ago Alex Snyder got laughed at by some 'c-suite players' when in his presentation, he spoke of self-driving cars.
Now, the only thing left to debate is... when....

 

[craigh]

Borrowing from our friends at DrivingSales: NHTSA Determines That Google’s Self-Driving Systems Qualify As Drivers. It looks like another big hurdle was cleared.

I've been mulling this one over and wondering if this is what Google wanted.

As soon as they determine that Google is the driver, they also determine that Google is liable for everything that happens.

For example, if I put a Tesla in "self drive" mode and it crashes, I believe the driver is still at fault for that.

If the Google car crashes, Google is liable because the driver is their software. This will make accident investigations very interesting when other people start colliding with Google cars, etc.

Will have to stand by and see how this plays out...

 

[Alex Snyder]

Craig - Please allow me to educate you about your Southern neighbor. America = he with the biggest wallet does what he wants. You need not know any more about us.

The combined wallets of tech companies and automotive manufacturers lobbying for the same thing is quite the force.

 

[craigh]

Craig - Please allow me to educate you about your Southern neighbor. America = he with the biggest wallet does what he wants. You need not know any more about us.

The combined wallets of tech companies and automotive manufacturers lobbying for the same thing is quite the force.

Oh, I couldn't agree more. I'm just curious to watch it play out, because currently that's what they have to lobby for, but who is going to end up holding the responsibility? Insurance companies are already complaining that their formulas won't work if accidents are reduced drastically too. So many angles to watch unfold. I'm quite excited about it, despite the fact that I have no interest in a driverless car. I just need a lobbyist to help me make sure they stay out of the fast lane.

 

[Alexander Lau]

Well, you asked and yes I do know.

When I worked at Carnegie Mellon University, back in the early 2000's they were all over this in terms of innovation.

CMU's Robotic Institute had or has a program with GM (http://gm.web.cmu.edu, http://rtml.ece.cmu.edu/Shuster/, etc.)



Uber just gutted them as well for their own driver-less car.
http://www.theverge.com/transportat...ber-self-driving-cars-carnegie-mellon-poached
"They took all the guys that were working on vehicle autonomy — basically whole groups, whole teams of developers, commercialization specialists, all the guys that find grants and who were bringing the intellectual property," recalls a person who was there during the departures. "These guys, they took everybody."

Money talks; shit walks.

 

[Alexander Lau]

Disruption, seen thru the users eye, by decade.
1980's: A phone was in your house.
1990's: A phone was in your house and in your car
2000's: A phone was in your house and your pocket
2010's: You have a computer in your pocket that you can make calls on.
2015's: What's a house phone?
Parallels to today?
Today's cars are like a phone in your home (been around for generations)
Self-driving cars are like upgrading to a cellular phone in your car (it changed everything)
Robotic Self-driving cars are a smart phone is to a landline. (the same, but, two completely different UX's... and a LOT more money too!)
How long will it take? Not sure. It took 5 years for Apple's iPhone to kill BlackBerry. If I were to bet on it, I'd see today's product engineering wizards and the billions$$ to be made and all the players aiming at the same target... I'm taking the under bet.

HA!