The Economist (April 8)
Most cities now waste a tremendous amount of space providing parking for cars that aren’t moving 95% of the time. This could change. “When autonomous cars that are allowed to move with nobody inside them become widespread, demand for private cars could fall sharply. Starting in the morning, one car could take a child to school, a city worker to his office, a student to her lecture, party people to a club, and a security guard to his night shift, all more cheaply than taxis. Cars that now sit idle could become much more active, which would drastically change parking needs.”
The Economist (February 18)
We are approaching a tipping point. The automotive dominance of internal combustion engines (ICE) looks increasingly limited. Electric cars are “set for rapid forward thrust. Improving technology and tightening regulations on emissions from ICEs is about to propel electric vehicles (EVs) from a niche to the mainstream.” But the transition “from petrol power to volts will be a tough one for carmakers to navigate.”
Tags: Auto, Cars, Combustion, Dominance, Electric, Emissions, Engines, EVs, Mainstream, Regulation, Technology, Tipping point, Transition
Wall Street Journal (January 7)
“Does Donald Trump understand business?” He might know real estate and branding, “but the President-elect’s Twitter assaults on auto companies make us wonder if he understands cross-border supply chains, relative business costs, regulatory mandates, or anything else about building and selling modern cars and trucks.”
Tags: Automakers, Branding, Business, Cars, Costs, Cross-border supply chains, Real estate, Regulatory mandates, Trucks, Trump, Twitter
The Economist (January 7)
“Voice has the power to transform computing, by providing a natural means of interaction…. Being able to talk to computers abolishes the need for the abstraction of a ‘user interface’ at all. Just as mobile phones were more than existing phones without wires, and cars were more than carriages without horses, so computers without screens and keyboards have the potential to be more useful, powerful and ubiquitous than people can imagine today.”
Tags: Cars, Computers, Computing, Horses, Interaction, Interface, Keyboards, Mobile phones, Voice
The Economist (September 3)
“An epic struggle looms. It will transform daily life as profoundly as cars did in the 20th century: reinventing transport and reshaping cities, while also dramatically reducing road deaths and pollution.” Across several industries companies have grasped “the transformative potential of electric, self-driving cars, summoned on demand.” With Uber poised to lead this race, “technology firms including Apple, Google and Tesla are investing heavily in autonomous vehicles; from Ford to Volvo, incumbent carmakers are racing to catch up.”
Tags: Apple, Autonomous vehicles, Carmakers, Cars, Cities, Daily life, Electric, Ford, Google, Pollution, Reinventing, Roads, Self-driving, Struggle, Tesla, Transformative potential, Transport, Uber, Volvo
Institutional Investor (May 23)
Autonomous driving (AD) will transform society and it could prove the best (or worst) of times for insurers. Nobody really knows. “Futurologists assert that the safety advances and insurance industry disruption caused by AD technology will be unlike any since the advent of automobiles in the late 19th century. According to KPMG, over the next 25 years, there will be an 80 percent decline in accident frequency.”
Tags: Accidents, Advances, Automobile, Autonomous driving, Cars, Disruption, Futurologists, Insurance, Insurers, KPMG, Safety, Society, Technology
Financial Times (January 14)
“Decades of anaemic wage increases, lower job security and lacklustre consumption” have undermined a generation of Japanese who are now coming to age. Dismal economic factors have “stripped away” their incentives “to leave home, buy cars, marry, have children, take risks and generally grow up.”
Tags: Anaemic, Cars, Children, Consumption, Dismal, Incentives, Japan, Job security, Marriage, Risks, Wages
Chicago Tribune (October 5)
“Computer software now governs virtually every aspect of our lives, from cars to kitchen appliances…. But computer software can deceive us, and this was the disturbing message from the recent Volkswagen scandal, where the German carmaker fitted millions of cars with software that could outsmart emission-control testing.” This new era demands “a code of ethics, a Hippocratic oath, for our computer engineers and the software they create.”
Tags: Appliances, Cars, Computer engineers, Emissions, Ethics, Scandal, Software, Volkswagen
Wall Street Journal (October 1)
The peak car theory that millennials no longer want cars cars “may seem plausible given recent history: tepid new-car sales, fewer miles driven per capita and shrinking gasoline use. In reality, it’s poppycock.” This temporary phenomenon merely “reflected a lack of jobs and money.” Today, that’s changing. “The forecasts of peak car look to be about as accurate as those of peak oil.”
The Economist (September 5)
“From Guangzhou to Brussels to Chicago, cities are shifting their attention from keeping cars moving to making it easier to walk, cycle and play on their streets. Some central roads are being converted into pedestrian promenades, others flanked with cycle lanes. Speed limits are being slashed.” Over 700 cities have bike-share programs and more than 100 cities “close some roads to cars on weekends.” These and other efforts are making cities “nicer—and healthier—to live in.”
Tags: Bike-share, Brussels, Cars, Chicago, Cycle lanes, Guangzhou, Pedestrians, Speed limits
