Car Sharing Prophets and Losses

Car Sharing Prophets and Losses
by Roger C. Lanctot on 02-15-2019 at 12:00 pm

Industry analysts are fond of painting terrifying pictures of catastrophic market changes resulting from disruptive technologies or business models. Nowhere is this more evident, of late, than in the automotive industry where everything from artificial intelligence to automated driving is expected to upend current thinking… Read More


Connected Cars High Tech Low Demand

Connected Cars High Tech Low Demand
by Roger C. Lanctot on 11-04-2018 at 6:01 am

The latest reliability report from Consumer Reports which dumped on domestics and rained glory upon Asian imports highlighted a conundrum facing car makers. The more effort car makers put into innovation, the greater the risk of consumer confusion, system failure and lousy reliability scores.

The picture is even worse if one… 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


Automotive Mega-trends, Safety and Requirements Management

Automotive Mega-trends, Safety and Requirements Management
by Daniel Payne on 01-30-2018 at 12:00 pm

I come from a car-centric family where my father actually bought and sold over 300 vehicles in his lifetime, so automotive mega-trends pique my interest. A new conference called Semiconductors ISO 26262 held it’s first annual event last month, meeting in Munich with guest speakers from some impressive companies like: … Read More


Ford Seeks Own Path to Car Sharing and IoT

Ford Seeks Own Path to Car Sharing and IoT
by Roger C. Lanctot on 11-10-2016 at 4:00 pm

It’s hard to be a thought leader around the future of transportation when the entire market seems to be moving in one of three directions simultaneously: either ride hailing (Uber, Lyft), car sharing (Zipcar, Car2go) or automated driving (Google, Tesla). If you’re Ford Motor Company and you care about whether you are adding to … Read More


Car Sharing Contradictions

Car Sharing Contradictions
by Roger C. Lanctot on 08-07-2016 at 8:00 pm

  • Automotive News tells us that GM’s Julia Steyn, head of Maven, is thrilled with the early performance of this captive car sharing initiative, in comments yesterday in Traverse City, Mich.
  • Tesla Motor’s Elon Musk anticipates limitless demand resulting from car sharing and automated driving, speaking on the company’s Q2 earnings
Read More

Car Sharing, Ride Hailing on Collision Course

Car Sharing, Ride Hailing on Collision Course
by Roger C. Lanctot on 07-10-2016 at 4:00 pm

Do car makers know what they are getting themselves into with car sharing? Car companies are lacing up their skates and venturing out on the thin ice of car sharing. General Motors’ Maven, with fledgling efforts in New York City and Ann Arbor, Mich., is the latest incarnation of this movement. The movement is pervasive and growing… Read More


GM in the Middle of Mobility Muddle

GM in the Middle of Mobility Muddle
by Roger C. Lanctot on 03-25-2016 at 4:00 pm

General Motors has made a flurry of announcements around its Maven mobility brand for car sharing and its investment in Lyft. The latest news, first reported by re/code, is that Lyft and Maven will be rolling out a short-term rental program for Lyft drivers to use Chevy Equinoxes in Chicago later this month. The program is called … Read More


What the FBI is Saying about Connected Cars

What the FBI is Saying about Connected Cars
by Roger C. Lanctot on 03-24-2016 at 4:00 pm

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation, put out a written public service announcement (PSA) last week detailing the agency’s concerns regarding automotive cybersecurity and its recommendations for the driving and vehicle owning public. The PSA followed… Read More