Ford says Apple and Google are 'welcome' to join automotive arena
Ford is glad to see Apple and Google join the automotive world with their exploration of self-driving vehicles, an executive said in a newly-published video interview.
"We welcome others joining. We welcome the activity that's in the space. We think it's exciting. It's actually change that we are embracing," said Don Butler, Ford's executive director for Connected Vehicles and Serivces, in an exchange with TrustedReviews. "So I think Apple can do it. I think Google can do it."
Butler suggested that the most likely scenario for the industry is a range of partnerships with companies offering specific skill sets that others lack.
That comment is presumably a reference to the fact that while Apple and Google may be better at software than Ford, they lack experience in designing vehicles, and don't have the mass manufacturing infrastructure for anything they'd like to build.
Rumors have claimed that Ford is partnering with Google on a self-driving car, possibly with the goal of setting up a completely automated ridesharing service. Such a service might be app-based like Uber or Lyft, but would eliminate the greatest business expense, which is paying human drivers a reasonable wage.
Apple's exact interests are nebulous, but the company is thought to be aiming at shipping an electric car for sale sometime in 2019 or 2020. The first model may or may not be self-driving, in fact, though Apple is at least believed to be working on the technology.
"We welcome others joining. We welcome the activity that's in the space. We think it's exciting. It's actually change that we are embracing," said Don Butler, Ford's executive director for Connected Vehicles and Serivces, in an exchange with TrustedReviews. "So I think Apple can do it. I think Google can do it."
Butler suggested that the most likely scenario for the industry is a range of partnerships with companies offering specific skill sets that others lack.
That comment is presumably a reference to the fact that while Apple and Google may be better at software than Ford, they lack experience in designing vehicles, and don't have the mass manufacturing infrastructure for anything they'd like to build.
Rumors have claimed that Ford is partnering with Google on a self-driving car, possibly with the goal of setting up a completely automated ridesharing service. Such a service might be app-based like Uber or Lyft, but would eliminate the greatest business expense, which is paying human drivers a reasonable wage.
Apple's exact interests are nebulous, but the company is thought to be aiming at shipping an electric car for sale sometime in 2019 or 2020. The first model may or may not be self-driving, in fact, though Apple is at least believed to be working on the technology.
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incidentally, AAPL stock is getting killed again today. I have a large buy waiting at $82, which the stock absolutely may hit soon at this rate. It's as if the company was going out of business with the stock performance... Has Sog committed suicide yet?
It looks like the biggest car companies are recognizing that Americans are taking a lesser interest in driving and car ownership with recent discussions and investments with ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. In fact after investing in Lyft very recently GM announced today that it was buying the remnants of Sidecar, yet another ride-sharing service. The noise in the room is whispers that Uber has something major in the works.
Staying at your parents gives you access to their car (potentially) and more money than in the past when you had to rent
(rent wasn't that cheap in the inflation ridden 1980s)
Gas is cheaper if you account for inflation than in the 1970s or 1980s.
Cars last a lot longer than and are not proportionally more expensive than in the 1970s and 1980s.
I'd say they're actually cheaper if you consider the abysmal quality of used cars in the 1970s and 1980s.
Student loans that I would see as a barrier... Maybe... (especially if their not paying rent at their parents)
Considering students these days routinely pay high price for their cell phone bill and other things they wouldn't have spent money in the past
I think it's clear it is just changing priorities and interests.
If by "deadbeat" (sic) you mean studying longer, having lot more debt because of it and then working for potentially less money on average (part of a 30 year trend) for the same level of work (not everyone works in stem fields), and then being dead tired... I guess so...