Bloomberg Businessweek reported last week that "Driverless Cars Are Closer Than They Appear." All the big Detroit car manufacturers are now on board with the need to develop driverless capability. "If GM stays with its current car-selling model, it'll go out of business. "Yup, we're done," says an executive." What's pushed them into the new model? Free market competition.
Detroit considers Google's self-driving project a "very serious competitive threat." Tesla's Model S already offers an autopilot option. So (as can happen in any industry) the most "disruptive" innovation is coming from outsiders. It happened not in the entrenched car industry, but in the center of America's technology industry in Silicon Valley CA.
GM knows a lot about making traditional cars, but it's a very big stretch for them to catch up to Google and Tesla in this way. Their first market offering of a driverless feature won't come til 2017, when Cadillac will introduce what they call "Super Cruise." Even then, it will only operate on highways.
Tomorrow's post - Silicon Valley has a certain disdain for Detroit. Watch Google's car program technical director do a TED talk.
(cont'd tomorrow)
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