Will Google and Apple take over the automotive industry?

With the fifth-generation network being rolled out in the next year, numerous technologies grab the opportunity to make use of this real-time connectivity grid and so is autonomous driving. A car will be able to communicate with other cars and its surroundings (smart homes and cities) and it is assumed that traffic lights, road lanes and signs will be redundant in matter of time. This is due to the fact that human error is being replaced by the advanced systems of the car using sensors and AI amongst others. The goal is to eventually make the infrastructure sector safer more efficient and more sustainable place by for example, decreasing accidents and traffic jams

Where the automotive industry used to focus on selling physical products, there is a transition visible from basic cars to smart vehicles and services. Advanced technologies are being implemented and traditional car manufacturers do not have the capability of providing these software systems. This means possibilities for technology companies to enter the industry and start exploiting their services arise. It is already visible with Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto being implemented in the entertainment screens of modern cars. Various collaborations derive from this as Amazon is testing with Toyota for autonomous delivering purposes and BMW has revealed the i8 concept at CES 2016 in collaboration with Intel.

With the above advantages considered, there is not really much to complain about autonomous driving, yet Uber claims that fully autonomous vehicles will not be going on the road in short term. Last Tuesday, the company brought out that after several testing days, there will be a driver present in the car to take over if needed for the time being. The testing took place in Dallas where Uber will most probably launch their first fully self-driving cars when the time is right. According to Austin Geidt, head of Uber’s autonomous vehicle department, Dallas offers good testing conditions, having a modern infrastructure and unique traffic patterns.

Of course, there are also assumptions on downsides of autonomous driving. Questions regarding ownership versus sharing economy, responsibility, faulty technology and safety regulations are constantly being discussed. Unfortunately, as with a lot of technologies that have not been implemented yet, these remain guesses with very few facts.

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Prince, A. (2019). Unbelievable Benefits And Drawbacks Of The Self-Driving Car. [online] Lifehack. Available at: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/unbelievable-benefits-and-drawbacks-the-self-driving-car.html [Accessed 18 Sep. 2019].