"No one has ever washed a rented car" - Larry Summers
Last week, I wrote mostly on jobs losses and half-life periods, enterprise collaboration and VR, and how Tesla is disrupting the auto industry. Then, later in the week, I read an article about theApril fool’s joke of autonomous cycle for kids. What struck me the most was that quite a few people shared it on social media assuming it was real. That’s how close we are to self-driving vehicles. Then during the week, I stumbled on more news on autonomous vehicles.
The after-market autonomous car company Comma.ai, founded by George Hotz, got backed by A16z with $3.1 million. During the same week, a group of 6 autonomous trucks drove through European highways in a test for self-driving preparedness. In the same period, Tesla clocked 325,000+ bookings for Model 3, the largest ever automotive sale ($14 billion) ever in history. The car, of course, can transition to self-driving/auto-pilot modes through over the air (OTA) software updates. The Tesla news indicates two things – 1) the plane at which a sale is executed has changed 2) Car ownership is here and may stay.
Autonomous works on level grounds. What about the terrains?
Self-driving vehicles work almost everywhere now. Farms, mines, battlefields etc. John Deere driverless tractors plow farm lands today. In fact, agriculture is one area where autonomous tech is rapidly finding acceptance. But what is lacking is autonomous vehicles in highly dynamic terrains such as in deserts.
Enough about the land. What about the air?
But, we missed three important aerial vehicles that is a major part of this circle. Rockets, Planes and Drones. Of these, drones made the most news last week. The US federal aviation authority (FAA) increased the height regulation and created performance based rules for urban drones. This helps in 2 ways – 1) the height regulation enables more drones over commercial applications 2) performance based rules helps some better capable drones to do delivery.
Beyond drones, autonomous solar planes are also coming. The independence of aerial transport from pilots is happening along with cars. But for now, I personally prefer a couple of talented pilots. But forget planes and drones, rockets are the first ones to be autonomous, because they can now land back on earth.
Without crashing. Last week, SpaceX landed Falcon 6 successfully on a drone ship. This is huge. A science and tech breakthrough that fuels the growth of reusable rockets and more affordable space discovery. Detach and return of rockets is big but adjusting a drone ship on water for the rocket to land is massive. I've covered automotives majorly in the last few weeks. I'm going to give them a break and look at a different market, one that everyone has an opinion - Fashion! and technology of course.
The sense of touch exists, albeit smaller, for human-robot physical interactions. Which means if you touch an AI robot at inappropriate places, it will know what you’re up to!
This Vijay Mallya’s interview from 1998, in which he says he likes to live his life but not yet anywhere near bankruptcy. Cool as a cucumber. But rotting because cucumber made some bad financial bets.
News @Arcluster
Arcluster is significantly invested in the research of autonomous technology markets. The recently published agricultural drones and commercial drones report are part of a strong line-up of research reports covering autonomous vehicle technologies, some of which are part of our 2016 research agenda. Watch the news space to see the launch of these studies. For the latest news from the company, follow us on Twitter here, LinkedIn here and Like us on Facebook here.
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Arun manages market research and consulting at Arcluster. an innovation design and market consulting company that does research and consulting on micro emerging markets and sustainable solutions.
