Autonomous Vehicles: Avoiding Obstacles and Responsibility

Autonomous Vehicles: Avoiding Obstacles and Responsibility
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-27-2020 at 6:00 am

Autonomous Vehicles Avoiding Obstacles and Responsibility

The headline screams off of the page and challenges all that we know about the fatal crash in Tempe, Ariz., that took the life of Elaine Herzberg two and a half years ago. “Backup Driver of Autonomous Uber SUV Charged with Negligent Homicide in Arizona.”

How could the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) associate itself… Read More


The Cloud Changes Connected Cars

The Cloud Changes Connected Cars
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-13-2020 at 8:00 am

The Cloud Changes Connected Cars

Rare is the auto maker today that views connectivity as an option when designing a car. Connectivity is essential even if it is not yet universally available.

Strategy Analytics interviewed a selection of automotive executives in connection with a white paper prepared for Ericsson to explore this proposition. (“Connected Read More


Uber: Dara’s Distracted Driving

Uber: Dara’s Distracted Driving
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-16-2020 at 6:00 am

Uber Dara Distracted Driving

Uber has taken a highly profitable business and turned it into a very unprofitable and dangerous one with the help of the pandemic. With guile, innovation, and theft, Uber founder and pitchman, Travis Kalanick, spun up the ride hailing wonder into a global transportation leader built upon rapid growth and a bare knuckle approach… Read More


Super Outraged over Uber Data Sharing

Super Outraged over Uber Data Sharing
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-09-2020 at 10:00 am

Super Outraged over Uber Data Sharing

Reuters reports that Uber has quietly launched a service to give public health officials quick access to data on drivers and riders presumed to have come into contact with someone infected with COVID-19. Now Uber, one of the primary vectors spreading the disease with hundreds of thousands of masked drivers worldwide guiding shared

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Cars and COVID-19 Uncertainty

Cars and COVID-19 Uncertainty
by Roger C. Lanctot on 07-26-2020 at 6:00 am

Cars and COVID 19 Uncertainty

A funny thing happens when you let car makers make cars and car dealers sell cars – people start buying cars. With the U.S. economy at least partially re-opening nationwide car buyers have returned to the market and, finding a limited supply of new cars and disappointing incentives, have turned, in part, to used cars. This … Read More


COVID-19: Through the Rearview Mirror

COVID-19: Through the Rearview Mirror
by Roger C. Lanctot on 07-02-2020 at 10:00 am

COVID 19 Through the Rearview Mirror

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the business of reporting news into a funhouse mirror where reality is distorted, up is down, and hopes for improving health and marketplace conditions are simultaneously raised and dashed on a daily basis. The latest news-driven whiplash moment arrived this morning care of the Detroit Free Press

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Uber: Pariah to Paragon

Uber: Pariah to Paragon
by Roger C. Lanctot on 06-21-2020 at 8:00 am

Uber Pariah to Paragon

For years, the lords of Lyft and Uber have declaimed their intention to vanquish car ownership and displace public transportation. It really was as simple and as blunt as that. For sure there would be collateral damage including rental car companies and taxi operators and millions of under-compensated drivers – but the bottom

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Cruise Controlling Its Destiny

Cruise Controlling Its Destiny
by Roger C. Lanctot on 06-18-2020 at 6:00 am

Cruise Controlling Its Destiny

The Information tells us that General Motors’ Cruise Automation self-driving car unit has acquired automotive radar maker Astyx. The move can be seen as a simple defensive move to preserve access to valuable radar technology along the path to realizing Cruise’s vision of a robotaxi infused future.

There are a variety

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COVID-19: The Fate of the Fearless

COVID-19: The Fate of the Fearless
by Roger C. Lanctot on 06-14-2020 at 7:00 am

COVID 19 The Fate of the Fearless

As I listened last Friday to Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein interview Scott Corwin, managing partner and “Future of Mobility” practice leader at Deloitte Consulting, regarding potential COVID-19 recovery scenarios for the mobility industry I realized that the vast analytical powers of Deloitte had met

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Google Coming to Your Car

Google Coming to Your Car
by Roger C. Lanctot on 06-07-2020 at 6:00 am

Google Coming to Your Car SemiWiki

Casual observers of the automobile industry are quick to compare connected cars to “smartphones on wheels.” It’s a simple way of looking at things that makes some sense now that half of all cars produced in the world are made with a built-in cellular modem…or two. It belies the complexity of connecting… Read More