Right now, carmakers all over the world are facing a sink or swim challenge as they fight to stay at the forefront of transport innovation. Last week, we told you about Tesla’s fancy new electric trucks and how CEO, Elon Musk, thinks it’s nearly game over for diesel engine vehicles. And today, we’re telling you about General Motors’ recent announcement that it’s planning to launch driverless vehicles for a ride-hailing service that could compete with Uber and Lyft.
Evolving with technology and innovation
Automotive manufacturers are hedging their bets that they, like other industries, need to evolve with technology and innovation if they want a serious chance at survival into the future. And let’s face it, with society’s increasing awareness of the environmental impacts of fuel burning and the rise of alternatives – it’s a pretty safe bet. Not to mention the ongoing threat of digital disruption. But exactly how they carve their path towards a successful future is a big question yet to be answered.
To compete, or not to compete?
With its first vehicles expected to hit the streets as early as 2019, GM hopes its new driverless electric vehicles will catapult the brand into an enviable position. After all, it will have battery powered cars, they will be fully-automated, and most importantly, they will have two lucrative avenues to explore. GM hasn’t yet revealed whether they’ll create a brand-new and more innovative ride-hailing service of their own, or partner with the likes of Uber and Lyft to supply them with their own automated fleet.
Yes – the commercial logic stacks up, but it turns out this is an incredibly aggressive race within the industry. While GM is playing its cards close to its chest, Volvo has also revealed more definitive plans to provide Uber with up to 24,000 driverless cars – also expected to appear on US streets in 2019. Meanwhile, Google’s Waymo, German carmaker Daimler, and Ford are also developing self-driving cars for use by ride-sharing services.
Exactly how safe is this strategy?
Aside from the cutthroat competition, there are other uncertainties around this expensive and untested strategy. Such as, will ride-share passengers feel comfortable handing over control to a computer? Will driverless cars be entirely safe in all environments and weather conditions? What are the legal implications in an accident? Is GPS mapping technology accurate enough to find the cheapest and fastest route? The list really could go on.
It’s arguable that heavily investing in a strategy that revolves around driverless ride-sharing vehicles is, quite frankly, jumping the gun. In fact, they could be (aggressively) chasing a red herring here. But we can certainly see why this is happening – they’ve been courted by the explosive success of the ride-sharing industry and want a piece of the action!
When it comes to more realistic endeavours to secure a future within vehicle manufacturing, perhaps GM (and others) have missed a few steps. While nearly all Australians are still driving petrol vehicles, electric vehicle enthusiasts are frustrated at their high costs and lack of charging stations to make them viable. So, perhaps they should be concentrating their efforts on getting more (manual) electric vehicles into the hands of the mass market first.