Uber or Tesla? What an automotive future looks like.

I want to talk about cars. More specifically, the future of them and how an industry that’s been around for over 200 years can be disrupted just when technology was advanced enough to do so.

When we talk disruption, no industry is facing it with such commercial reality much like the auto industry. When most thought it would stop at safety and bluetooth speakers, car manufacturers are beginning to realise that the opportunities they missed were gigantic and catching up now see them forever take second place.

Tesla is doing this right now. And they’re doing it like Apple did. The analogy that comes to mind is when the iPhone just blew the existing mobile marketplace away. Sure, Nokia had the features and the market share, but it was the pivot the mobile industry needed to become the most personal device we own.

The auto market is shifting in the same way, with key changes affecting markets and past legacies.

Who’s driving cars tomorrow (either people we don’t know via Uber, or no human at all!), how they run (the end of fossil fuels), and what we can do to make them work for us (software updates over-the-air).

This is a hardware world getting software shakeup like we’ve seen before.

The question is, with the U.S. dominating the software talent and innovation, is this the second rise of the American auto industry, or are the American’s competing to create a market where car ownership is irrelevant?

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Some reading:

Autonomy, sharing-economies, and connectivity. The future of auto transportation from TechCrunch http://j.mp/1N2PMcz

BMW: “All models electric within decade” — http://j.mp/1N2PYZc

Tesla’s new Model S P85D is so good it broke Consumer Reports’ rating system. This is a car manufacturer, with no auto legacy, beating the Germans and Japanese at their own game http://j.mp/1N2Q2sa

And, “A year after selling my car and going full Uber, I crunched the numbers. Guess what I found.” http://j.mp/1N2Q7Mp (I must admit, if it rains even slightly, I’m hitting that uber app)