Musk the Magician and Data Monetizer

Musk the Magician and Data Monetizer
by Roger C. Lanctot on 10-19-2018 at 7:00 am

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk pulled a rabbit out of his hat last month making thousands of cars vanish and converting reports of production and delivery hell into market leadership for premium sedan deliveries. Following SEC legal action and a podcast where he appeared to be drinking scotch and smoking marijuana and after surrendering… Read More


OnStar Missing the Florence Boat

OnStar Missing the Florence Boat
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-13-2018 at 12:00 pm

Here we go again. A hurricane is closing in on the U.S. East Coast and General Motors’ OnStar connected car team – now part of something called Global Connected Consumer Experience – is AWOL.

While mandatory evacuations have been ordered and two-way highway connections to the coast have been switched to single… Read More


Are We Over Uber? Bring on the Bots

Are We Over Uber? Bring on the Bots
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-12-2018 at 12:00 pm

From sexual harassment, to surveilling regulators, to Uber drivers and taxi drivers committing suicide (because they can’t make a living) the pervasive creepiness of Uber continues to spread while the means of corraling this societal phenomenon creeps steadily forward like sclerotic mid-town traffic. The latest chapter… Read More


Florida Sends Mixed Autonomous Message

Florida Sends Mixed Autonomous Message
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-12-2018 at 7:00 am

Florida is poised to surpass California and Arizona as the leader in autonomous driving development thanks to an aggressive legislative agenda that began in 2012 and direct engagement with autonomous car developers. The state has good reasons for fostering automated driving given that it is the second largest state in the U.S.… Read More


Tesla Leap of Faith (or the Adoration of Elon Musk)

Tesla Leap of Faith (or the Adoration of Elon Musk)
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-08-2018 at 7:00 am

The Reverend Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, held forth to his flock on yesterday’s earnings call. Musk described at length his efforts to lead the company out of production hell. The lengthy session highlighted the challenges facing the company, which posted its greatest quarterly loss ever, and was emblematic of the typical … Read More


Our Autonomous Moonshot

Our Autonomous Moonshot
by Roger C. Lanctot on 06-17-2018 at 7:00 am

Keynoting the TU-Automotive event in Novi, Mich., last week on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy I took the occasion to note the lofty visions to which Robert and his brother, President John F. Kennedy, aspired. We face our own challenges in the automotive industry today, with an annual global… Read More


Michelin Moving On: Deep Diving on Autonomous Driving

Michelin Moving On: Deep Diving on Autonomous Driving
by Roger C. Lanctot on 06-10-2018 at 12:00 pm

When it comes to autonomous mobility – things are changing awfully fast. A “deep dive” workshop at Michelin’s Movin’ On 2018 event in Montreal (concluding today) dug into the issue revealing hopes and anxieties shared by executives culled from a wide range of industry constituencies. The overall sense… Read More


What Mary Meeker Missed

What Mary Meeker Missed
by Roger C. Lanctot on 06-01-2018 at 12:00 pm

It must be a measure of the dim view taken of the automotive industry by Silicon Valley types that of the 294 slides in Mary Meeker’s annual Trends presentation delivered at this year’s Code Conference less than 10 of those slides refer to transportation. The Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner even managed to avoid… Read More


Dear Toyota

Dear Toyota
by Roger C. Lanctot on 05-27-2018 at 7:00 am

Toyota Motor North America CEO James Lentz got a letter from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week recognizing Toyota’s announced plan to deploy Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology on Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold in the U.S. beginning with MY21. The extraordinary letter notes that… Read More


Don’t Balkanize Automotive Safety

Don’t Balkanize Automotive Safety
by Roger C. Lanctot on 05-13-2018 at 7:00 am

The Wall Street Journal reported, last week, that auto makers are lining up on opposite sides of the talking cars debate. Some car makers – General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen – are pushing Wi-Fi-based dedicated short range communication technology (DSRC) while others – Ford, Audi and BMW – are emphasizing 5G for the same application.… Read More