The Virus of Car Ownership

The Virus of Car Ownership
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-23-2016 at 4:00 pm

What if we all looked at driving as less of a right and more of an addiction, a disability, or a disease to be avoided, cured or overcome? What if driving were seen as a menace to society draining lives, money and time from the economy? What would our public policy priorities become in this new context?

Sweden isn’t waiting to find… Read More


Apple, Google Go Home

Apple, Google Go Home
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-13-2016 at 12:00 pm

For some marketers the operative mantra is go big or go home. It looks like Apple and Google are both taking a harder look at the automotive industry and have decided to go home.

The media is rife with reports of Apple hemorrhaging automotive engineers while senior executives on Google’s automated driving team have been skipping… Read More


Zero Tolerance = Vision Zero

Zero Tolerance = Vision Zero
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-13-2016 at 7:00 am

Just returning from Sweden where the highway fatality rate is a marvel of modern transportation policy. Long before Sweden adopted a Vision Zero approach to reducing highway fatalities the country set itself apart from most others with a 0.02 blood alcohol limit for drivers. There is no question that this has contributed significantly… Read More


How Rapidly the Robots Will Rise

How Rapidly the Robots Will Rise
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-11-2016 at 12:00 pm

“For car buyers, an end to the days of dickering?” reads the headline across the center of the front page of the Washington Post this morning. No, it’s not an article about new tools to make car buying easier. It’s a story about electric vehicle maker, Tesla Motor’s impact on car retailing.

The article… Read More


How to Save 10,000 Lives

How to Save 10,000 Lives
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-05-2016 at 4:00 pm

It’s Labor Day weekend in the U.S. and the National Safety Council (NSC) has forecast that approximately 400 deaths will occur on the nation’s highways. This death toll is about on par with past Labor Day weekends, with no big increase or reduction anticipated.

This routine slaughter is greeted by most observers with a yawn, but … Read More


Time for U.S. Fatality Reduction Targets

Time for U.S. Fatality Reduction Targets
by Roger C. Lanctot on 09-01-2016 at 12:00 pm

Almost exactly a year ago I wrote a blog implicating the insurance industry in the high level of highway fatalities in the U.S. As part of that blog (“The Insurance Industry Has Blood on Its Hands”) I suggested that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ought to look into developing a fatality-reduction… Read More


Millennial Tyranny in the Connected Car

Millennial Tyranny in the Connected Car
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-30-2016 at 12:00 pm

Nielsen’s latest AutoTECHCAST study once again introduces confusion to the connected car debate, but it’s understandable and relates to a demographic gradient around technology. Young people are aware of an interested in so-called “brought-in” technologies, while the majority of (older) people… Read More


Keep It Simple, Allstate

Keep It Simple, Allstate
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-28-2016 at 4:00 pm

A report in the Wall Street Journal last week dives into the insurance industry’s quandary over the anticipated onset of self-driving cars that might significantly and negatively impact the volume of claims and, ultimately, mitigate the need for car insurance altogether. The report is simultaneously a source of alarm and relief… Read More


GM Trumps Ford

GM Trumps Ford
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-26-2016 at 7:00 am

I strongly recommend giving a listen to John McElroy’s panel discussion podcast featuring Julia Steyn (pictured on the right, above), vice president of urban mobility and Maven for General Motors along with John Voelcker of Green Car Reports and Rebecca Lindland of Kelley Blue Book. Steyn offered up a mountain of substance regarding… Read More


Tesla: After the Crash

Tesla: After the Crash
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-24-2016 at 7:00 am

The funny thing about pitching new cars to the general public these days is that no one really wants to think about ever getting into a crash. There was a time when General Motors counted on OnStar as a deciding factor in selling cars because of its post-crash prophylaxis of automatically summoning assistance.

A couple decades of … Read More