Autonomous Vehicle Technology ‘Peace Dividend’
Forbes has a very interesting article describing the "peace dividend" concept. The peace dividend was first established during the smartphone wars which drove significant technologies in mobile computing capability. Cameras, GPS, batteries, sensors, microprocessors,...
Tesla: Game, Set, Match?
Elon Musk once described Tesla's lead over the competition in developing self-driving cars during an interview using the tennis analogy of "game, set, match." My interpretation was that Musk believes Tesla's development was so far ahead of everyone that no other...
Amazon Joins the Autonomous Party
Recently I wrote that TaaS development seemed to be a three-horse race between GM, Tesla, and Waymo. Now it seems Amazon also has entered the autonomous vehicle race, if not for TaaS business reasons, then surely for reducing one of the company’s largest expenses: its...
GM Cruise and Tesla Get Some Competition
In January, GM announced its Cruise Origin as a vehicle that's designed to be shared, autonomous and electric. Origin is the General Motors vehicle to be used primarily in transportation-as-a-service business solutions. Not to be left behind, today, Waymo and Volvo...
Fire Those With Gas in their Blood
Elon Musk has been quoted that he doesn’t believe traditional automakers will beat Tesla in the development of autonomous electric vehicles because the solution is mostly a software problem. He believes traditional auto is not very good at software. In a recent Clean...
Can Both EV and AV Investments Survive?
GM’s Cruise autonomous driving subsidiary announced yesterday it’s laying off 8 percent of it’s full-time employees. During this time of COVID-19, many analysts believe companies like GM cannot continue to invest in both electric vehicle development and autonomous...
GM is a Fast Horse
The title of this post was motivated by a financial piece about GM in Seeking Alpha written by Aaron Butler. In the article, Butler describes GM as "the fastest horse in the auto race." In addition to GM's financial performance versus competitors during COVID-19,...
Infatuation with Tesla. Why Not GM?
An intriguing article in Automotive News (subscription required) today, suggests that Wall Street adores Tesla, which is obvious given the company's $150 billion market capitalization (five times higher than General Motors). The article also suggests Tesla's EV and AV...
COVID-19 Will Drive Usage of Mobility Solutions Lower
That’s the result of an IBM survey of 25,000 adults in the U.S. More than half of the respondents who use ride sharing app services said they will use these services less or stop completely. Seventeen percent say they will use their personal vehicle more, with many...
General Motors EV and AV Investments Won’t be Reduced
GM posted a small profit during Q1 which is surprising given the heavy losses announced by the other 2 Detroit automakers in Q1. According to AutoNews, GM’s CFO is saying the pandemic will not impact the company’s work on their electric and autonomous vehicles. The...