Autonomous Cars Reality is Stranger than Fiction

Autonomous Cars Reality is Stranger than Fiction
by Roger C. Lanctot on 05-10-2020 at 10:00 am

Autonomous Cars Reality is Stranger than Fiction

For tech-sensitive viewers of streaming content it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid the appearance of autonomous vehicles in serialized television programs. Amazon’s “Upload” and HBO’s “Westworld” are two such examples.

Described as a comedy (with elements of a thriller) “Upload” makes gratuitous use of autonomous… Read More


COVID-19 Cars as an Essential Service

COVID-19 Cars as an Essential Service
by Roger C. Lanctot on 04-26-2020 at 10:00 am

COVID 19 Cars as an Essential Service

The Automotive News reported Friday that updated guidance from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Iinfrastructure Security Agency had identified cars as an essential service. AN reported: “The new guidelines include “workers critical to the manufacturing, distribution, sales,

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The Great 2020 Mobility Rethink

The Great 2020 Mobility Rethink
by Roger C. Lanctot on 04-03-2020 at 10:00 am

The Great 2020 Mobility Rethink

General Motors’ announced shut down of the Maven car sharing service was hardly a surprise, especially coming in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. By the time of its demise, Maven was only operating in four or five cities, down from a high of 17. The venture was doomed from the start, and its departure is a cautionary tale for

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COVID-19 and Chinese Automotive Innovation

COVID-19 and Chinese Automotive Innovation
by Roger C. Lanctot on 04-01-2020 at 10:00 am

COVID19 and Chinese Automotive Innovation

It’s a shame that the U.S. president and his administration have chosen to criticize and attack China for its poor management of the novel coronavirus crisis. It is rapidly becoming evident that China now knows more than any other country how to effectively confront the pathogen and bring it to its knees.

Rather than reaching

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Shut Uber Down Now

Shut Uber Down Now
by Roger C. Lanctot on 03-29-2020 at 12:00 pm

Shut Uber Down Now

By now it is pretty clear that everywhere outside of China and South Korea human beings are doing a lousy job of “social distancing,” locking down, and sheltering in place. This is unfortunate because experts agree that only a complete lockdown will stop COVID-19 from infecting millions, continuing to kill thousands,

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Tesla’s 2019 Turning Point

Tesla’s 2019 Turning Point
by Roger C. Lanctot on 03-29-2020 at 10:00 am

Tesla’s 2019 Turning Point

2019 will be remembered as the year the automotive industry decided to right-size its autonomous vehicle ambitions. Multiple auto makers tempered their vaunted claims for delivering fully autonomous cars within a few years and Daimler Chairman of the Board Ola Kälenius declared in December that the pursuit of autonomous “robotaxis”

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The End of Mobility as We Know It

The End of Mobility as We Know It
by Roger C. Lanctot on 03-22-2020 at 8:00 am

The End of Mobility as We Know It

The hideous reality of the coronavirus has exposed the hideous realities of the mobility industry with sobering implications for all. At its core, mobility is about moving people in the safest, most efficient, and cost effective ways and suddenly citizens around the world are being told to stop moving and stop congregating.… Read More


Technology Tyranny and the End of Radio

Technology Tyranny and the End of Radio
by Roger C. Lanctot on 03-07-2020 at 10:00 am

Technology Tyranny and the End of Radio

As technology consumers we make tradeoffs.

We let Google peer into our online activity and email communications and we even accept annoying advertisements tied to our browsing activity in order to access free email and browing. We tolerate smartphones with diminishing performance from Apple – even after Apple admits that the

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Huawei Sends Unmistakable Message

Huawei Sends Unmistakable Message
by Roger C. Lanctot on 02-19-2020 at 10:00 am

Huawei Sends Unmistakable Message

A funny thing happened on the way to Barcelona for the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) event scheduled for this week. The event organizer – the GSMA – exhibitors and attendees were forced to come to terms with the risk of contracting and spreading the coronavirus – COVID 19.

Several large European, South Korean, and U.S.

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Savings Tip the Balance to EVs

Savings Tip the Balance to EVs
by Roger C. Lanctot on 02-13-2020 at 10:00 am

Savings Tip the Balance to EVs

In a rare and perhaps unfortunate moment of candor, Cruise Automation CEO Dan Ammann wrote, in his blog post describing the emergence of Cruise (a subsidiary of General Motors) that conventional internal combustion engine vehicles “break down relatively easily. And if they make it 150,000 miles, well, lucky you.”

Ammann goes… Read More