The race is on to change how we drive and own vehicles, learn what execs from Renault, Waymo, and more think.

Insights: Disruption in the Auto Industry

[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: We wanted to give you a sense of what it felt like to actually be in a Waymo that was moving around the streets of Phoenix with absolutely no human in the driver's seat. [MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 2: Driving by itself. SPEAKER 3: There's no driver, daddy. SPEAKER 2: Are you serious? SPEAKER 4: That is nice. SPEAKER 5: It's pretty crazy. It's like there's a ghost at the steering wheel. I feel like royalty being paraded around in this thing. SPEAKER 1: So it took six years to get one done. It took another two years to get three people riding simultaneously. It took another year to get 100 cars up and running simultaneously in Phoenix. That was 2018. And it's taken us really this next year and a half or so. The second half of 2019 was the time where we were confident enough to on a daily basis put our riders into these cars, enjoying this experience. We really got four different business lines that we work in right now. The first is ride-hailing. So it's very similar to what you'd experienced with Uber or Lyft or Didi where you hail a car with your Waymo app. And it comes to pick you up and drives wherever you want to go in our service area. Right now in Phoenix, this Waymo One, which you're talking about, serves an area larger than the city of San Francisco. It's a very substantially sized area in the southeast corner of Phoenix. And in that area, you can drive anywhere you want to from point A to point B using the Waymo app. We also have three other business lines. One of them is urban delivery. So using those same vehicles that we're employing in Phoenix to move goods from point A to point B. We also have long distance trucking, which is a very interesting business and a rather obvious application of the Waymo driver to heavy trucks to move lots of goods from point A to point B, primarily on highways. And then, of course, our automaker partners are very interested in deploying our technology in some sort of personally use application. So we're working with them on a way to sort of unlock that potential. So you've got about 1,500 now monthly active users who are using the service on a regular basis. Many of them use it every day to get to and from work and do whatever errands or things they might have to do in the Phoenix area. SPEAKER 6: So these people are living the full on Jetsons experience. They are summoning a robot car to come and get them and take them. SPEAKER 1: It's awesome. Yeah. And it's happening in southeast Phoenix right now. SPEAKER 6: Right now, you can go on your Lyft app to request one. SPEAKER 1: That's right. SPEAKER 6: I ask you when you're going to be expanding them outside of the Phoenix area. And when you do, will you also be able to do it through Lyft? SPEAKER 1: Yes. So right now we have a pilot with Lyft where you can hail a Waymo through the Lyft app. That's terrific. That so far is only available in Phoenix. We're considering moving that into other cities. And we'll also be moving, of course, the Waymo One service to other cities. And one place that you might imagine we would launch is California. But the Waymo driver needs to learn how to handle bad weather. So I was mentioning to Leon we were storm-chasing earlier this year. We sent a couple of cars to Miami during the hurricanes. We have a whole fleet of cars, 10 or 15 cars, maybe more in Michigan right now. And we enjoy lots of the Michigan weather. And we go up to the upper peninsula to make sure that we have lots of experience in snow and ice. But that comes later for us, right? We wanted to play safely. There are so many markets that we can deliver our service where the weather is great most of the time. That's where we should launch first and then move into more challenging weather conditions later. We believe very strongly that there's so much great infrastructure in cities for public transportation right now. But we are just not using it well enough. And one of the problems is sometimes it's hard for us humans to get to that existing public transportation. And so we've already engaged in discussions with cities about using the Waymo driver to help solve that problem. We can help move people from where they work or live to existing public transportation infrastructure hubs. We can do that very well. We can also deploy the Waymo driver in service of existing public transportation utilities, like buses. There's no reason why Waymo couldn't drive a bus and do a very good job at that. [INTERPOSING VOICES] resoundingly yes. SPEAKER 6: OK, resoundingly yes. But it doesn't sound like it's on the near-term game plan. You have other things on that your working on next month. SPEAKER 1: Our primary focus is really in service of all of these things. So like in many cases, I think, in this space, we run a little bit ahead of ourselves. And we imagine all of the applications. But if you don't have a driver that works, you don't have anything. And so Waymo focus has appropriately, I think, been on making the world's most experienced driver. Once we have that, it's fairly easy and mechanical to apply it to a car, to a truck, to a van, to a bus. 

Insights: Waymo CEO Presents Self-Driving Car Technology

Uncategorized

They've using real-world and simulated driving conditions.

Waymo CEO Presents Self-Driving Car Technology

They've developed the software using real-world and simulated driving conditions. (January 2020)

way wanted to give you a sense of what it felt like to actually be in a way, Mo that was moving around the streets of Phoenix with absolutely no human in the driver's seat. Well, I feel like royalty being paraded around this thing. So it took six years to get one done. It took another two years to get three people writing simultaneously. It took another year to get 100 cars up and running simultaneously in Phoenix. That was 2018 and it's taken us really this next year and 1/2 or so. The second half of 2019 was the time where we were confident enough to, on a daily basis, put our writers into these cars. Enjoying this experience really got four different business lines that work in right now. Right now. The first is ride hailing so service very similar to what you'd experience with uber or lift or D d, where you hail a car with your Waymo app and it comes to pick you up and drives you wherever you wanna go. In our service area. Right now in Phoenix, this way, no one which you're talking about, um, serves an area larger than the city of San Francisco. It's a very substantially sized area in the southeast corner of Phoenix, and in that area you can drive anywhere you want to from point A to point B using the way Moab. We also have three other business lines. One of them is urban delivery. So using those same vehicles that were employing in Phoenix to move goods from Point A to Point B, we also have long distance trucking, which is a very interesting business and rather out obvious application of the way move driver too heavy trucks to move lots of goods from point A to point B, primarily on highways on. And then, of course, our automaker partners are very interested in deploying our technology in some sort of personal use application. So we're working with them on the way up to sort of unlock that potential about 50 1500 now monthly active users. We're using the service on a regular basis. Many of them use it every day to get to and from work and do whatever errands or thinks they might have to do in the Phoenix area. So these people are living the full on Jetson's experience. They are summoning a robot car to come get them and take this. Awesome. Yeah, it's happening in southeast Phoenix right now. Right now. You can hail. You can help. You can go on your list. App to Rio to request one. That's right. I ask you when you're gonna be expanding them outside of the Phoenix area. And when you do, will you also be able to do it through lift? Yes. So right now we have a pilot with lift where you can hail away Mo through the lift out. That's terrific. That so far is only available in Phoenix. We're considering moving that into other cities on. We'll also be moving, of course, the way no one service to other cities and 11 place that you might imagine we would launch is California. But the way my driver needs to learn how to handle bad weather. So I was mentioning to Leon, we're storm chasing earlier this year, we send a couple of cars to Miami during the Hurricanes, and we son, um, we have a whole fleet of cars, 10 or 15 cars, maybe more, in Michigan right now. And we enjoy lots of the Michigan weathers and we go up to the opera penninsula to make sure that we have lots of experience in snow and ice. But that comes later for us, right? We want to deploy safely. There are so many markets that we can deliver our service where the weather is great most of the time. That's where we should launch first and then move into more challenging weather conditions later. We believe very strongly that there's so much great infrastructure in cities for public transportation right now, but we are just not using it well enough, and one of the problems is sometimes it's hard for us humans to get to that existing public transportation. And so we've already engaged in discussions with cities about using the way my driver to help solve that problem. We can help move people from where they work or live to existing public transportation infrastructure hubs. We can do that very well. We can also deploy the way my driver in service of existing public transportation utilities, like buses. There's no reason why Rameau couldn't drive a bus and do a very good job of that. There's no reason why resoundingly Yes. Okay, resulting yes, but it doesn't sound like it's on the near term game plan. You have other things on the you're working on. Our primary focus is, is really It's in service of all of these things. So, like in many cases, I think in this space we run a little bit ahead of ourselves and we imagine all the applications. But if you don't have a driver that works, you don't have anything. And so Waymo focus has appropriately, I think, Ben on making the world's most experienced driver. Once we have that, it's fairly easy and mechanical to apply it to a car, to a truck to a van, two of us.

[MUSIC PLAYING] - We've been talking a lot here over the last 48 hours about climate challenges and decarbonizing the economy. Renault, of course, was out there way early with the electric vehicle. I mean, I remember interviewing Carlos Ghosn a decade ago when he predicted, I don't know, what were the numbers? 10% of all cars would be electric vehicles by now. - Yes. - And so what happened? I mean, was it a mistake to be out in electric vehicles so early? - Well, it was clearly not a mistake, because what we see today is that electric is the future. We strongly believe that the future is electric, connected, autonomous, and shared, so he was right. Maybe, right a little too early, but he was right nevertheless. And today, we benefit from this early move. Renault and the alliance has been pioneer in electric vehicles. Renault, last year, had a 22% market share in Europe in electric vehicle. And if you look at the alliance, the alliance has more than 700 cars on the road, which are pure electric. - Do you make money on those cars? - We start to make money on those cars. Some money. - Well, I mean, you either make money or you don't make money. - No. Some of these cars. If I look at our utility vehicles, we make money. If I look at Zoi in France, in Germany, we make money. It's not globally positive yet, but we're very close to it. - So in your strategy review, you won't pull back your commitment to electric. - No. On the contrary. Just like any other carmaker, we're fully bullish on electric vehicle. We think it's the future. It's clean. It's silent. It can be very used for car sharing. So it's really the future. - What has to happen to make it both popular and profitable? - For the profitable part, it's very easy, you need volume as always. You need volume, you need skill, you need progress in the battery technology. This is just normal stuff I would say in the car industry, skill and additional technology. Now, in order for that to be possible, we need to convince customers, because it's easy to push, but you nevertheless need to have customer. Unfortunately, in the car industry, you have to sell vehicles. And to sell vehicles, we need customers. And customers are starting to believe in electric vehicle. Once you've tested it, you can't get away from it. For the Zoi customers, 95% of the Zoi customers say they would never go back to anything else but electric vehicles. So it's amazing. But then you need to progress on the autonomy of the car. Today, you have to obstacle, I would say, to electric vehicles. The first one is the autonomy. People are afraid to get out of power in their cars. So they need to be reassured on that. What do we need for that? We need three things. We need better battery. I mean, higher range in terms of battery. We need charging station, and for that, we need the help of the States and some public authorities. And we need faster charging, which is also something that we're working on. - Autonomous shared electric. You're doing all three. - And connected. Yes. - And you think the public's ready to make all three transitions at once? - Well, yeah. This is going to take time. Electric is already here. Connected is coming here. Shared is starting. Shared mobility, in 2015, you had 4% of miles, which were shared. Survey tell us that by 2030, 25% of miles will be shared. SPEAKER 2: Actually, that much shared bigger than electric. SPEAKER 1: No, because what we believe in Renault is that this shared mobility should be electric. SPEAKER 2: It should be electric. SPEAKER 1: And then in the future, then you have autonomous. But autonomous is going to take a little more time. We're working on it. We're partnering with Waymo on that front. And we strongly believe that in the future, you will have what we call robo-vehicles or driverless vehicles. AUDIENCE: Have you considered subscription models for your business? SPEAKER 2: Interesting. SPEAKER 1: Yes. We are making also some tests, thanks notably to RCI, which is our captive bank. For those who don't know, we have a captive bank which has 50 billion euro of assets. And we're making some tests about subscription model where you can pay a subscription fee and then you can have various cars along the year, depending on your needs. AUDIENCE: How many car companies can survive with 90% fewer cars sold? SPEAKER 1: I don't agree was this survey for the very good reason. First, some people will always need a car. If you're down in the middle of nowhere in France, in Morocco, in anywhere, I don't believe you're going to have shared autonomous vehicles at that stage. That's the first point. And the second, when you use those autonomous vehicle-- actually, that's very funny because we had that discussion was the CEO of Waymo last week. I mean, you are going to be using these cars so much that the lifespan of the car, instead of being seven years, is going to be two to three years. And then, OK, you're going to need less cars but you need to renew them more often. So yes, there might be an impact on the car industry, but not as massive as what survey used to say a few years ago. And by the way, I think they're also changing their mind on that. [THEME MUSIC] 

Insights: How Renault Is Navigating Disruption In The Auto Industry

Renault wants to provide sustainable mobility to the world.

How Renault Is Navigating Disruption In The Auto Industry

Groupe Renault has one mission: to provide sustainable mobility to the world. (November 2019)

We've been talking a lot of your over the last 48 hours about climate challenges and di carbon izing the economy where no, of course, was out there way early with the electric vehicle. I mean, I remember interviewing Carlos going a decade ago when he predicted, I don't know what what were the numbers? 10% of all cars would be electric vehicles by now. And so what happened? I mean was Was it a mistake to be out in electric vehicles so early? Well, it was clearly not a mistake, because what we see today is that electric is the future. We strongly believe that the future is electric connected, but no more. Sorry and shared. So he was right. Maybe right oil too early. But he was right nevertheless, and today we benefit from this early move. Ronel and the Alliance has been pioneer in electric vehicle. Reynold last year had a 22% market share in Europe in electric vehicle. And if you look at the alliance and the alliance has more than 700 cars on the road which are pure electric, do you make money on those cars? We start to make money on those cars way sort of either make money or, you know something. Some of these cars. If I look at our utility vehicles, we make money. If I look at you in France and Germany Winnick money. It's not globally positive yet, but we're very close to it. So in your strategy review, you won't pull back your commitment to hello on the country. Just like any other car maker were fully bullish on E electric vehicle. We think it's the future. It's clean. It's silence. It can be very usually used for car sharing. So it's it's really the future. You know what, what has to happen to make it both popular and profitable. Yeah, For the profitable parts, it's It's very easy. You need volume. As always, use volume. You need scale. You need progress in the battery technology. This is just normal staff. I would stay in the car industry scale and additional technology. Now it's in order for that to be possible. We need to convince customers because it's easy to push, but you nevertheless, to have customers. Unfortunately, in the car industry, you have to sell vehicles and to sell vehicles. We need customers and customers are starting to believe in electric vehicle. Once tested it you you can't get away from it. For the Zoe customers, 95% of the DUI customers say they would never go back to anything else with electric vehicles. It's amazing, but then you need to progress on the autonomy of the car today. What is you have to obstacle? I would say to electric vehicles. The 1st 1 is the autonomy. People are afraid to get out of power in their cars, so they need to be reassured on that. What do we need for that? We need three things we need. We need better battery. I mean higher wrench. In terms of battery, we need charging stations. And for that we need the help of of the states and some public authorities. And we need factor charging, which is also something that we're working on. Autonomous, shared electric. You're doing all three of them and connected. And you think, Oh, you think the public's ready to make all three transitions at once? Well, yeah. This is gonna take time. Electric is already here. Connected is coming here. Shared is starting on the shared mobility into 15 You had 4% of miles which were shared. Survey tell us that by 2030 24 25% of Maya will be shared. That actually that might shared bigger than electric? No, because what we believe in Reno is that this much shared mobility should be electric, should be work. And then and then in the future, then you have enormous. But it's gonna take a little more time. We're working on it. We're partnering with Ueno on that front. And we strongly believe that in the future you will have what we call robo vehicle or driver less vehicles. Have you considered subscription models for your business? Interesting. Yes, we're making also some tests, thanks notably to Air Sea I, which is our bank captive bank. We have Ah, for those who don't know, we have ah, captive bank, which is 50 billion euro of active. And we're making some tests about question model where you can pay a Christian. She and then you can have various cars along the year, depending on your needs. How many car companies conserve? I've with 90% fewer cars sold. I don't I don't agree with this survey for the very good reason. First, some people will always need a car. If you're down in the middle of nowhere in France, in miracle, in anywhere, I don't believe you gonna have shared autonomous vehicle at that stage. That the first point and the second when you use those autonomous vehicle. Actually, that's very funny, because we had that discussion with the off way more last week. I mean, you are gonna be using these cars so much that the life span in the car, instead of being seven years, is going to be 2 to 3 years and then okay, you're gonna need less cars, but, you know, you need to renew them more often. So, yes, there might be a new impact on the car industry, but not as massive as what serving used to say, a few usable. And by the way, I think they're also changing their mind on that

 CLAY CHANDLER: You're the only new electric vehicle that enables not only being charged by the grid but also distributing power back into the grid as well. And why is that, and why is that important? FREEMAN SHEN: Well, exactly we announced with a big cooperation, with State Grid China, it's a technology we derived called V2G, vehicle to grid. If you're looking the grid companies not only in China globally, they're always struggling with how much they're going to invest and how to balance the peak season and the lowest season every day, and you don't do the peek because he's going to waste a lot of your money, but you don't do the low because it means people cannot get electricity the way they need it. In their mindset, which is exactly to what we were thinking two years ago when we started the project, if you have millions to put motor vehicle on the roll you will naturally helping them to balance you know when we need the power we can take it from the grid, when the grid was needed a power we can use the vehicle feedback the electricity back to the grid. With the mechanism to motivate the user willing to do so. CLAY CHANDLER: So does that help bring prices down in some way for consumers? FREEMAN SHEN: Definitely, I think that it's not only dramatically reduced the cost of using the electric vehicle helping the grid company to reduce the capital investment significantly, but also that if you drive more there might be a chance you make some money out of that. CLAY CHANDLER: That's kind of a cool model. FREEMAN SHEN: Yes. Exactly. So it is not only a transportation tool, it is again, it is an actually vehicle, and then it is smart terminal, it is also a Paul band helping the user had a different way to have a better experience but also there's a mechanism of how we're to motivate. CLAY CHANDLER: And tell us how 5G is a factor in all that. FREEMAN SHEN: We're so exciting on that, we're working on this project and two years ago we hope we can become one of the first technology start-up company can launch a 5G car on the road. You know the 4G it's like you're driving on the high speed interstate highway, and then 2G it's like you're driving a country road. But 5G is like you're driving an airplane, people talking about speed, people talking about if you're using the mobile phone, PC, computer you have a better user experience, but remember this only improve your user experience. The 5G application in the car is that and it's at that and like leaf it is a safety issue. So because when you do a 5G car you want to use a 5G technology to improve the autonomy drive. If you don't have 5G the car either is it's not safe to drive. So it's a bad and live issues, it is safety issues, it's not only improved user experience. So that's why I think the 5G application in other industry, other product it's fine, it make you feel better, but in our industry it is make you more safe, may you survive if you to go-- really want to go to this autonomy drive vehicles. If you don't have 5G you just cannot make it. CLAY CHANDLER: Does it make it easier for you to have upgrades for the software of the vehicle? FREEMAN SHEN: Definitely. When you're doing the smart vehicle what we are working on it's always struggling, you know where you're going to put this competing power either local, on the cloud and then you need a strong connection between them. Obviously the 5G provide a better speed, 100 times faster a much lower delay, probably 100 times better. The delay will make the experience of the autonomy drive very different, safety issue, and then the bandwidth is much better. So those features 5G can provide will make the autonomous drive vehicle, will make the-- we call the smart copy in a safer way and much more better customer experience. 

Insights: How 5G Will Power Self-Driving Technology

How 5G Will Power Self-Driving Technology

A long-term auto executive shares his perspective on how 5G will make self-driving cars safer. (November 2019)

the way, you're the only of new electric vehicle that enables not only being charged by the grid but also distributing power back into the grid. A cz Well, why is that and why is that important? Exactly? We announced with the cooperation with the state on a great China. It's a technology with Coby to G vehicle to greet if you're looking the think the great Cos not only in China globally they always struggling with how much they're going to be met and how to balance the pick season and the low season every day. And you don't do the pick because he's gonna waste a lot of money. But you don't do the low because it means people cannot get an attorney where they need it in their mind set, which exactly to what we thinking two years ago, when we started project. If you have millions of motor vehicle on the role, you will, naturally helping them to balance. You know, when we went, uh, when we need the power and take it from the great when the great was needed, a power we can use the vehicle back to the electricity back to greet with the mechanism. Thio motivate the user willing to do so. Does that help bring prices down in some way for consumers? Hope definitely. I think that it's not only dramatically reduced a cost, using the vehicle, helping the great company to reduce the capital investments difficulty but also that, uh, if you drive more, they might be a chance. You make some money out of that? Wow, that's that's kind of a cool model. Yes, exactly. So it is. It is not only a transportation tool, it is again director vehicle and that it is marked, um, you know, it is also Paul Van helping the user had a different way to have a bad experience. Also, that can it help you to motivate and tell us how how five G is a factor and all that were so exciting on there were working on this project two years ago. We hope we can become one of the first ah technology start company can launch a five car on the road. You know, the the 40. It's like you're driving on the high speed interstate highway and then to defeat like a charming country road five feet, like a private airplane. You know people talking about speed, people talking about using the mobile phone PC computer. You have a president user experience. But remember this only in popular use experience. The five applications in the car that and it's a debt and, like leave idiots safety issues. So because when you do a five car, you wantto use the technology to improve the economy drive. If you don't have five G, the car, it's not safe. Drop that and leave issues its safety issues. It's not only improved our use experience, so that's why I think the the party application in other industrial product. It's fine. It make you feel better. But, you know, industry, it is make you more safe. May you'll survive if you want to go. Really want to go to hell Apartment drive vehicles. If you don't have five G, you just cannot make it. Doesn't make it easier for you to, uh, you know, have upgrades for the software of definitely that anyone. When you're doing the, uh, smart vehicle, what we are walking on, it's always struggling. You know where you're going to put this company in power in the local, on the crowd and you need a strong connection between them. You know, obviously, the five D provide a better speed 100 times faster. Ah, much lower delay. Probably 100 times better. The delay will Will will make the experience off the economy drive very different safety issue, right. And then the brand with its much better. So those features five she can provide will make the apartment drive vehicle will make the call. Um, the smart copy, you know, a safer way and much more better customer experience.

[MUSIC PLAYING] MICHAL LEV-RAM: We like to talk about inflection points in the tech industry. And we've been talking about transportation for a while and the many different ways that it is being disrupted. What and when is the inflection point in transportation from your points of view? Ken? KEN WASHINGTON: Well, I think it's a great question because we all kind of feel it. And so my view is, we've hit the inflection already. Now, we're riding the next S curve. It's just a question of how long will that S curve evolve until it plateaus and we're ready for the next one. But we are clearly on the next automotive S curve. You know that Ford is 116-year-old company. And I would say for the first you know 110 of those 116 years, not a lot changed. It was a sophisticated, complex machine that required a lot of complex manufacturing, and design, and care, and testing, and validation. But over the last six years, three things have really happened that have put us on this new S curve of innovation. The first is connectivity. Everything changes when you connect devices to the internet, to David's point. And cars are no different. So when you connect cars to the internet, the experience changes. You can update them over the air. You can pipe new entertainment to the vehicle. You can do diagnostics and prognostics on the equipment to change the experience of how you actually maintain the vehicle. How you sell the vehicle can change. So connectivity changed everything, and it's going to continue to change everything in automotive. The second big thing that happened is automation. So autonomy-- and I say automation because I don't want to leave the audience with the impression that this is only about level 4 autonomous vehicles, although that's a huge part of our strategy as well as it is in the other companies. But automation in the automotive industry is happening in lots of places, including consumer vehicles that we sell that have automation that help you drive and help keep you safe-- automatic braking, lane centering, highway assist, blind spot monitoring. That's only going to get better with advanced sensing and advanced compute. And then the third thing that's happened that's revolutionized-- to put automotive industry that's put us on this new S curve is electrification. So the fact that batteries have come down in price. There's a worldwide now, with a few unfortunate exceptions, acceptance of the fact that we have to address climate change. And we have to unlock the mystery of how to build, and design, and sell better electric vehicles that are profitable. That last bit of mystery is going to really rocket ship us into this next S curve. So I think we're already on it. Cars aren't the only mode of mobility that is the solution in cities. And we definitely believe that. And you know, we as a company are strong believer that the solution in cities has to involve a new design. It has to involve a new design using multiple modes of mobility. And cities, why should the experience of being mobile and getting around in an urban environment be any different than the revolution that's happened in other parts of our lives? You know, digital has come into our homes. They're smart. And so cities should be the same way. And you're starting to see a lot of energy and a lot of effort to invest in redesigning city streets, putting intelligent streetlights in place, making parking garages smart, enabling the parking lanes to be used for multiple purposes. And if we think about the design of those future environments, we should be designing our vehicles, our cars, our scooters, our public transportation systems to all interoperate in a smart and intelligent way. MICHAL LEV-RAM: Where are you seeing these changes? Because at least in the US, I haven't been to many cities that look very different from the way they looked 10 years ago. AICHA EVANS: Well, I think we're going to have to earn it. I mean, a lot of us are citizens. And we know that there's not some big pool of money that's going to come in and change these cities to whatever it is, and then we provide transportation. What I love about the approach that Zoox is taking is that, by having this vehicle-- and experience is extremely important. We don't call it a car because it isn't a car. It doesn't have a steering wheel. And it feels like you're walking into a living room. It's very practical in terms of pooling. You have two doors that just slide out on either side of the vehicle. And you can step in, as opposed to climbing on top of each other. It's electric. And it's designed to run all day long so that when you're not using it, somebody else is using it as opposed to being idle and depreciating 96% of the time. So I think by launching now, in a contained way-- this is not going to be one of those that all of a sudden you see 20,000 scooters in Paris, yeah. SPEAKER: Well, you might. AICHA EVANS: No. I think it'll take a-- it'll be a little bit more gradual. KEN WASHINGTON: I think it's really important for us to be very clear that this-- the adoption rate of fully autonomous ride services for either packages or people is going to be gradual. And it's going to happen region by region. So the leading AV players have all selected the regions they want to go to first. And it's very explicit. You know, in the case of Ford, we have said very explicitly we're going to do an initial AV ride service in Miami and then in Washington, DC. And we're going to name a third city later on. And so that's just three cities. So there are hundreds of cities in this country. And there are other countries that have the same need for new mobility solutions. So the adoption is going to be gradual, which is why I really don't think it's helpful for us to over index the conversation on level 4 autonomy in urban environments. You have to talk about the broader revolution around transportation, which includes micro mobility. It includes making our consumer-bought vehicles safer and better experiences with advanced driver assist technologies like highway assist and level 3 autonomy. And it includes things like scooters and integrating scooters in with other mobility solutions. So all of it comes together as a systems play. That's, I think, our responsibility as innovators in this space. [MUSIC PLAYING] 

Insights: How Technology Is Transforming Transportation

Technology Is Transforming Transportation

From cars to planes to scooters. (July 2019)

way like to talk about inflection points in the tech industry, and we've been talking about transportation for a while and the many different ways that it is being disrupted. What and when is the inflection point in transportation? From your point of view, you can. Why do you give a great question? Because we all kind of feel it. And I thought, My view is we've hit the inflection already. Now we're writing the next skirt. It's just a question of how long will that Esseker evolve until it plateaus and we're ready for the next one but were clearly on the next automotive. That's curve. You know, that Ford of the 116 year old company. And I would say for the first you know, 110 of those 116 years Not a lot changed, You know, the sophisticated, complex machine that required a lot of complex manufacturing and design and care and and testing invalidation. Um, but over the last six years, three things have really happened that it put us on this new s curve of innovation. The first is connectivity. Everything changes when you connect devices to the Internet to David's point and cars are no different. So you connect our Internet. The experience changes. You can update them over the air. You can pipe new entertainment to the vehicle. You can do diagnostics and prognostic on the equipment to change the change. The experience of how you actually maintain the vehicle, how you sell the vehicle can change. So connectivity changed changed everything, and it's going to continue to change everything in automotive. The second big thing that happened is automation, so autonomy and I say automation because I don't want to leave the audience with the impression that this is only about level for autonomous vehicles, although that's a huge part of our strategy as well as it is, you know, other companies. But automation in the automotive industry is happening in lots of places, including consumer vehicles that we sell that have automation that helped you drive and help keep you safe. Automatic braking lane centering highway, blind spot monitoring. That's only going to get better with advanced sensing an advanced computer and then the third thing that happened, it's revolutionized to put automotive industry that put us on the new S curve is electrification. So the fact that batteries have come down in price. There's a worldwide now with a few unfortunate exceptions acceptance of the fact that we have to address climate change. And we have to unlock the mystery of how to build and design and sell better that your vehicles that are profitable. That last bit of of mystery. It's gonna really rocket ship is into this next semester. So I think we're already on it. Cars aren't the only motive ability, that is the solution in cities. And, you know, we definitely believe that. And I I am. You know, we as a company are strong believer that that the solution and cities have to involve a new design involving new design using multiple modem ability and cities. You know, Why should I? Why should the experience of being mobile and getting around in an urban environment be any different than the revolution that happened in other parts of our lives digitally have come into our homes? They're smart, and so city should be the same way, and you're starting to see a lot of energy and a lot of effort to invest in redesigning city streets, putting intelligence streetlight in place, making parking garages smart, enabling three parking lanes to be used for multiple purposes. And if we think about the design of those future environments, we should be designing our vehicles, our cars, our scooters, our public transportation systems toe all inter operate in a smart Where are you seeing these changes? Because at least in the U. S. I haven't been too many cities that look very different from the way they look 10 years ago. Well, I think we're gonna have to earn it. I mean, all of a lot of us citizens, we know that there's not some big full of money that's gonna come in and change these cities to whatever it is. And then we provide transportation. When I love about the approach that Luke is taken is taking is that by having this vehicle and experience is extremely important, we don't call it a car because it is in the car. It doesn't have a steering wheel. It feels like you're walking into a living room. It's very practical in terms of pulling. You have two doors that just slide out on either side of the vehicle and you can step in as opposed to climbing on top of each other. It's electric and designed to run all day long so that when you're not using it, somebody else is using it, as opposed to being idle and depreciating 96% of the time. So I think by by launching now in a contained way, this is not gonna be one of those that all of a sudden and you see 20,000 scooters in Paris Yeah, no, I think it'll take. It'll be a little bit more gradual. I think it's really important for us to, um, be very clear that this adoption rate of fully autonomous rights service is for the packages or people is going to be gradual and, um and it's going to happen region by region. So the leading A V players have all selected the regions they want to go to first, and it's very explicit, you know, case of Ford, we have said very explicitly, we're going to do an initial A V right service in Miami and then in Washington, D. C. And we're gonna name 1/3 city later, later, later on. So that's just three cities. So there are hundreds of cities in this country and their other countries that have the same need for new mobility solutions. So the adoption is going to be gradual, which is why I really don't think it's helpful for us to over index the conversation on level for autonomy in urban environment. You have to talk about the broader revolution around transportation, which includes micro mobility. It includes making our consumer bought vehicles safer and better experiences with advanced drivers. Technologies like, you know, highway assist on Level three autonomy. And it includes things like you know, scooters and integrating scooters in with with other mobility solutions. So all of it comes together as a systems play that I think our responsibility is innovators in this space.

[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: There are a lot of electric cars on the way. What makes Byton different? SPEAKER 2: Well, If you ask, does it really make sense to come up as a next company building and selling electric cars? And the clear answer is no. But there's another story behind Byton. There are technologies coming up like connectivity and artificial intelligence, which will make cars smart. And this will not only change the product but change the business model. So the car will eventually become a smart device. If you want, you create a platform to make business with your customers, sell digital services, and eventually become a provider of shared mobility. And this is a route of Byton, because for traditional companies, it might be very difficult to change a business model. They can change products but not so easy a business model. And Byton is built around this new business models. SPEAKER 1: Could you elaborate on that a little bit? Because that has a lot of implications. It's a platform for delivering services of all kinds, like what? SPEAKER 2: So first of all, it starts with the car. The product is still a car. If you look from outside, it's a beautiful premium car. We compete with BMW, Mercedes, and Audi. If you step inside, you will see big screens. A lot of variability. You can rotate to seats. A lot of space. A tablet in the middle of the steering wheel high, speed connectivity. So everything you are used to have from a smart device. There there's a lot of digital services we will offer, so this is about mobility. This can be very different things like entertainment, like work, like health. Basically, a platform where we create outside suppliers. And the next step and this-- because today, cars are used between 3% and 5% of the time. So companies sell a lot of cars. They are not used. They are standing around, and they create a burden for societies. In the future, there is no alternative to shared mobility, so the number of cars will be reduced. They will be used in a higher percentage of time. And the real business will be selling mobility but not cars. And in 10 years from now, this will be more than 50% of the revenue of Byton. 

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Byton thinks the future isn't about selling cars. 

How Byton is Disrupting the Auto Industry

Think of Byton's electric vehicles as the conduit for connected mobility services like health monitoring apps, says CEO Carsten Breitfeld. (December 2018)

There are a lot of electric cars on the way. What makes biting different doesn't really make sense to come up with the next company Building and selling electric cars on the cancer is no. But there's another story behind Buyten, their technologies coming up like connectivity and artificial intelligence, which will make tough smart. And they're not only changed the product but change the business model so the carver eventually become a smarty wise. If you want to make you create a platform to make business with your customer, sell digital service's and eventually become a provide off chef mobility. This is by this route off Buyten, because for traditional cos it might be very difficult to change a business model that can change products but not so easy as business model. And biting is built around this new kind of businessman. Could you elaborate on that a little bit? Because that has a lot of implications. It's a platform for delivering service's of all kinds, like what? The prison of all it stops with car. Still, the product is still a currently look from outside. It's a beautiful premium car, but compete with BMW, Mercedes and Audi. If you step inside, you will see big screen a lot of viability. You can rotate to see a lot of space tablet in the middle of the steering wheel, high speed connectivity. So everything you are used to happen from a smarty wise there's a lot of digital service is we will offer. So this is about mobility. This can be very different. Things like entertainment, like word like health. Basically platform every 38 outside to the players and the next step. And it's because, you know, today cars are used between three and 5% of the time, so companies sell a lot off cars. They're not used, they are standing around and they create a burden for society in the future. There's no alternative to being to share mobility. So the number of cars we were reduced. They will be used in a higher percentage off time, and the real business would be selling mobility but not cast. And 10 years from now, this would be more than 50% off the revenue of fight

 [MUSIC PLAYING] ATIF RAFIQ: We've actually said that by 2025, we want 50% of the cars that we move, the cars that we make, to be available to get subscriptions. So we've been out there very publicly. The subscription is basically trying to make a car work like a phone. So if you said, hey, you know, I love the iPhone. I'm in, and every two years, just give me a new one. I don't want to have to think about, "do I own this thing?" What's the residual value? Is the asset depreciating? You know, how do I get rid of it, then I get a fair price? Just make a new one show up because I want to-- I just want to stay current. So that's why we're kind of really bullish on this idea of subscription, really taking that kind of question marks out for the customer, if that makes sense. And by the way, I think that that really blurs the model between ownership and sharing if you will. And I'm-- we can talk a little bit more about that. But let me come to the question you actually asked around, the "what do you do inside the car?" So two weeks ago, we had an event where we basically showed the interior of a car, where the car was driving itself. So the question was, what do you do inside the car? And we made-- we have come up with a design that makes the car more like a living room or a bedroom, quite frankly. So you have a bed. You can sleep. You have a fridge, and you have a place where you can be entertained or be productive, for example, with your work. RACHEL BHATTACHARYA: When we think about this, I mean, we look at what happens when you do share a vehicle. Right? So a lot of studies out there, but if you think roughly 10 cars taken off the road for each one that's shared. So that's a big part of it. And then as we think about-- and we were talking offline earlier just partnering with the city. Right? So you don't want to think of this as coming in and asking for forgiveness. It's more of a come in, and partner, and think about, "can we amplify transit?" Can we understand where some of the other city constituents might need as an example, charging infrastructure? And can we think about working with them on how do we amplify some of that with bringing as, an example, you know EVs in a high mileage application, where we can guarantee some demand for that and help derisk risk some of those business models ahead of time. So that public goods like electrical infrastructure, can come a little bit faster than they otherwise would. And so for us it's as much about that, again, that ecosystem view that we all talk about of approaching this more holistically as a systems integrator, which is I think what our OEMs are used to doing, as opposed to coming in with one piece of this little system and trying to just quote that. Right? So it's much more of that ecosystem play. JEN WIECZNER: There's some concern that, you know, if cars become too comfortable, and you don't actually need to have your hands on the steering wheel-- you could be asleep in the car for example-- that it's going to increase traffic because people won't be taking public transportation. They'll just be riding around. Sunny, I know you're working with cities to explore of different types. Can you talk about if that happens, what the implications are for traffic or how you solve that? SUNNY MADRA: Yeah, so you know, one of the things that we're trying to do with our transportation mobility cloud is basically, bring all different modes of transportation. So that one, from a city perspective, they can leverage the data that comes out of it to basically help understand how to route around those kind of things and also, provide rules and some guidelines in the vehicles. So you know, you think about the future where there's autonomous vehicles. It makes sense for a vehicle to potentially take a certain route if it has a passenger in it, but take a different route if it's empty. Right? And how does it reposition itself? So there's a lot of work that has to happen, not only with vehicles, but then integrating that with other modes. We were talking about that earlier, right? It may be efficient for you to drive or take your vehicle, you know, in the-- lying in your bed from your house to the train station, and then get on the train as Rahm said. Take the train in, and then get on a scooter or a bike for that last mile to your office. So I think you have to think of mobility across multiple modes in the future. We're starting to see that, especially with this urbanization happening, because we're not going to really be able make more roads. We're going to have to get more efficient and bring other modes into the cities. [INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC]

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Discussing ride-sharing and ride subscriptions.

The Auto Industry Is Driving Itself Into the Future

Discussing ride-sharing, ride subscriptions, and autonomous vehicles with auto titans at Fortune’s Brainstorm Reinvent conference. (September 2018)

2025 1 50% of the cars that we moved the cars that we make to be available the subscription. So we've been out there very publicly. The subscription is basically trying to make a car work like a phone. So if he said, Hey, you know I love the iPhone in and every two years just give me a new one I don't want to have to think about, you know, Do I own this thing with the residual value? Is that appreciating? How do I get rid of it? You know, they get a fair price. Just make a new one show up because I want I just want to stay current. So that's why we're kind of really bullish on this idea of subscription. Really. Taking that kind of question marks out for the customer. If that makes sense. And by the way, I think that that really blurs the model between ownership hearing, if you will, we can talk. We can talk a little bit more about that, but let me come to the question you actually asked around the you know what you do inside a car. Two weeks ago, Way had an event where we basically showed the interior of a car where the car was driving itself. So the question was, What do you do inside the car? And we made We have come up with a design that make the car more like a living room or a bedroom, Quite frankly. So. You have a bad you can sleep. You have you have afraid and you have a place where you could be entertained or be productive on, for example, with your work. When we think about this and we look at what happens when you do share a vehicle, right? So a lot of studies out there. But if you think roughly 10 cars taken off the road for each one that shared, so that's a big part of it. And then, as we think about when we were talking offline earlier, just partnering with a city, right? So you don't want to think of this as coming in and, you know, asking for forgiveness. It's more of a come in and partner and think about. Can we amplify transit? Can we understand where some of the other city constituents might need is an example charging infrastructure and can we think about working with him on How do we amplify some of that with bringing as an example? You know, evey is in a high mileage application where weaken guarantee on demand for that unhealthy risk some of those business models ahead of time so that public goods, like electrical infrastructure, can come a little bit faster than they otherwise would. And so for us, it's as much about that again, an ecosystem view that we all talk about of approaching this more holistically as a systems integrator, which is, I think, what our Liam are used to doing as opposed to coming in with you. No one piece of this little system and trying to just go with that. It's much more of that ecosystem play. There's some concern that, you know cars become too comfortable and you don't actually need to have your hands on the steering wheel. You could be asleep in the car, for example, that it's going thio increase traffic because you know people won't be taking public transportation will just be riding around. Sonny. I know you're working with cities to explore different can you talk about, You know, if that happens, what what the implications are for traffic or how you felt that. Yeah, so you know, one of things that we're trying to do with our transportation mobility cloud is basically bring all different modes of transportation so that no one from a city perspective, they can leverage the data that comes out of it to basically help understand how to route around those kind of things and also provide rules and guidelines. The vehicles, you know, you think about a future where there's autonomous vehicles. It makes sense for a vehicle to potentially take a certain route if it has a passenger in it to take a different route, if it's empty right, and how does it reposition itself? So there's a lot of work that has to happen not only with vehicles, but then integrating that with other modes. We were talking about that earlier, right? It may be efficient for you to drive or take your vehicle lying in your bed, too, from your house to the train station and then get on the train. As Ron said, Take the train in and then get on a scooter or a bike for that last mile to your office so I think you have to think of, you know, mobility across multiple modes in the future. We're starting to see that, especially with urbanization happening because we're not gonna really make more roads. We're gonna have to get more efficient and bring other modes and into the city.

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Aurora Innovation wants to lead the self-driving industry.

The Best Minds in Autonomous Vehicles Created This Startup

Aurora Innovation wants to lead the self-driving industry in sensors, software, and data services. (January 2018)

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They've developed the software using real-world and simulated driving conditions. (January 2020)

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