Driverless Cars and Driverless Strategy
New technologies require risk takers. It needs people and companies that formulate an innovative idea and then act on it. One of the biggest enemies of innovation is fear. Fear of failure. Fear of losing money. Sometimes the fear can be justified such as fear of putting people in harm’s way. And, some fear is good. It makes the innovator take a comprehensive look at all possible outcomes.
As the technology grows for autonomous vehicles, some states and cities in the US are embracing it and some, well, not so much. According to the website, americaninno.com/chicago, the city of Chicago has held back getting into driverless cars because of perceived dangers. Alderman in the Windy City have even considered banning the vehicles. The fears? Public safety, loss of jobs such as delivery and taxi drivers and that someone “crazy” like Doc Brown in “Back to the Future” might wreak havoc in the streets of Chicago.
When cooler heads prevail, embracing new technology is necessary in any enterprise. Stagnation will leave your company behind the competition and alienating employees who will think their employer has no vision.
So, if fear is holding a company back, how can you combat that fear? Here are three ways:
- Don’t let the fear mongers rule the day. All Chicago has to do is look at other cities and see how they are integrating autonomous vehicles to understand how to make public safety a priority. Make the resistance back up their claims with facts and research.
- Be ready with your own facts, research and benchmarking. There is a good chance that you are not the first company launching the idea. See what the leaders in your field are doing and learn from it.
- Test and prototype with a sound strategy. Your testing should be well thought out with metrics that help you move forward and make educated decisions on next steps. At a good point in the prototyping process, invite the fear mongers to the testing.
Fear makes a person, company or a city blind to the potential of new technology. Chicago alderman are overlooking the long list of benefits driverless vehicles will bring to the city. Innovation doesn’t mean that you proceed without caution. It will even include some failure. Doc Brown will attest to that. But if the risk outweighs the reward, live with the fear and you’ll be in the, well, the passenger’s seat in this case.
Photo by Adrian Williams on Unsplash
