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Self-Driving Vehicles: From Prototypes to Commercial SuccessTechnology Briefing |
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Transcript
From
real estate and jobs to insurance and law enforcement, no digital application
will have more far-reaching consequences than self-driving cars and trucks.
These
changes may take 15-to-20 years to fully play themselves out. But they are
almost inevitable.
Notably,
this list doesn't even consider the enormous economic implications of
self-driving commercial vehicles, like over-the-road freight carriers or local
service and delivery vehicles.
As
with most game-changing technologies, self-driving automobiles have ridden a
psychological roller-coaster, as hype has met reality. When we started tracking
this technology many years ago, the Trends editors
identified three major hurdles that needed to be overcome: technical performance,
consumer acceptance, and regulatory hurdles.
Now,
after more than a decade of serious development, the technical barriers are
coming down rapidly. Consider just one prominent example.
General
Motors showed off its Cruise AV in January 2019 And, in March, it announced plans
to put these self-driving cars, devoid of steering wheels and pedals into
production in 2019 The car, also known as the Cruise Autonomous Vehicle, is based on the Chevrolet Bolt EV and
production will take place at GM's Orion Township plant in Michigan, the same
plant where the Bolt EV is produced.
GM
plans to start a commercial service for the vehicles next year, where the
public would be able to hail a ride via an app.
The
roof-mounted modules that contain most of the hardware required for automated
driving, including lidar, radar, and cameras, will be produced at GM's
Brownstown plant. The plant, which is also located in Michigan, is where GM
currently produces batteries and will also produce fuel cell stacks beginning in 2020.
GM
President Dan Ammann said, "We're continuing to make great progress on our plan
to commercialize [the Cruise AV] in 2019 Our Orion and Brownstown teams have
proven experience in building high-quality self-driving test vehicles and
battery packs, so they are well-prepared to produce the Cruise AV."
Regulatory
Barriers
On
the regulatory front, GM is still waiting on federal approval for use of the
Cruise AV on public streets, which is much harder than for other self-driving
cars because of the lack of a steering wheel and pedals. The Cruise prototypes have circumvented this issue because
they still have steering wheels and pedals.
The automaker will also need to
receive approval at the state level; the current list of states with
regulations that would allow the Cruise AV include Colorado, Georgia, Michigan,
Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Should
all go according to plan, the cars will join a ride-sharing fleet either
operated by GM or a partner such as Lyft. GM, last August, announced its own
ride-sharing service called Cruise Anywhere that so far has only been used by
employees at Cruise Automation, the self-driving car development company acquired by GM in 2016 for roughly $1 billion.
Waymo,
the self-driving division of tech giant Alphabet, says it plans to start its
own self-driving service very soon in Phoenix, Arizona. The company fits its self-driving system to
Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans and is testing the technology in 25 cities
across the United States.
Both
GM and Waymo's self-driving cars have Level 4 capability, which means they are restricted to areas
with extensive map data and are also incapable of handling certain weather
conditions, such as heavy snow. The final goal for GM and Waymo is a Level 5
car, which can handle any situation that a human driver is capable of handling.
Meanwhile,
it looks like UBER is ready to jump on the Waymo bandwagon. Uber CEO Dara
Khosrowshahi recently said, we "welcome Waymo to put cars in our network."
Alluding to an incident in April where one of Uber's self-driving cars was
involved in a fatal crash with a pedestrian, he said, "When we get back on the
[self-driving] road, we have to be absolutely satisfied we're getting back on
the road in the safest manner possible."
Consumer
acceptance
It
also appears that the consumer acceptance barrier for self-driving cars is
rapidly falling. A survey titled, The Road to Autonomous Vehicles - 2018, found that 70 percent of Americans expect that autonomous,
self-driving vehicles will be commonplace in America within the next 15 years.
When asked to identify benefits that automated vehicles will bring, 51 percent
of all respondents identified increased mobility for non-drivers, such as the
elderly or people with disabilities, as the single most important benefit.
Meanwhile, 41 percent of all respondents including 49 percent of millennials
cited reduced accidents and increased safety. 23 percent of all respondents
including 33 percent of millennials also cited improved safety for pedestrians
and bicyclists. Most were apparently unaware of the big cost savings.
The
bottom line is that self-driving cars and trucks are no longer a matter of "if," but merely "when." Our challenge as consumers, investors and managers is
to be among the winners in this fast-changing game.
Given
this trend, we offer the following forecasts for your consideration.
First,
beginning in 2019 and 2020, companies will invest serious money
in the ramp-up and roll-out of self-driving car services. Apple and Intel have enormous financial
resources ready and able to support their self-driving entries, when and if
they are ready to commercialize. Alphabet is also prepared to tap its huge reserves
to make Waymo a success. And, General Motors' self-driving car business just
received a huge vote of confidence from the SoftBank Vision Fund.
The fund,
considered the world's biggest tech investor, will inject $2.25 billion into GM
Cruise in return for a 19.6 percent stake. An initial payment of $900 million
will be made this year with the remainder to be paid out when GM Cruise's
self-driving cars are ready for commercial deployment, scheduled for 2019.
As part of the deal, GM will also invest an additional $1.1
billion in GM Cruise. SoftBank investment adviser Michael Ronen said, "The GM
Cruise approach of "a fully integrated hardware and software stack" gives it a
unique competitive advantage." And given Tesla's production problems, GM's
manufacturing expertise is also a big plus.
Second,
by 2021, self-driving automobiles will reach the "tipping point" where over 50%
of U.S. consumers are willing to use the service. According to The Road to Autonomous Vehicles - 2018 survey, 59 percent of Americans still
believe autonomous vehicles are not as safe as vehicles operated by people and
55 percent would not be willing to ride in an autonomous vehicle, today.
However, the ability of a person to assume control of the vehicle, would
reportedly convince 60 percent of Americans to ride in a self-driving vehicle.
That may indicate that Level 4 autonomous vehicles with steering wheels and
pedals would win over a majority of consumers. And,
Third,
in addition to regular consumer transportation, by 2025, commercial business
models will also benefit from self-driving technology. For instance, consider the implications of
offering customers fully autonomous rides to and from your business. According
to experts, the move could have big implications not only for
businesses but for cities, public transportation systems and car owners.
Or consider the benefits of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles.
Also, "There's an infinite number of new advertising modes that become
possible," says Hod Lipson, a Columbia University engineering professor
and author of the book "Driverless: Intelligent Cars
and the Road Ahead."
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