Autonomous Transportation

From my colleague Jon LeSage:

Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo division is preparing to launch the first-ever commercial autonomous vehicle service in early December,  according to a source familiar with the plans. It will be run under its own brand and compete directly with mobility companies like Uber and Lyft…………..  AutoMobility LA will be taking place Nov. 26-29, 2018, in Los Angeles, featuring speakers and workshops on the latest in autonomy, connectivity, electrification, the sharing economy, and more. It’s the prelude to the 2018 LA Auto Show, which runs from Nov. 30-Dec. 9 at the LA Convention Center. More than 60 debut vehicles are scheduled to be released.

Wow, this is really happening.

Autonomous will cut back on gasoline and diesel consumption to some degree, but don’t we all wish that, instead of replacing the driver, they had replaced the fuel?

Understandably, tech innovation is based on ROI, which is why venture capital is so attuned to industries that require modest investments like phone apps, as opposed to cleantech.  Yet this is somewhat like fiddling while Rome burns; we have a relatively short period of time to mitigate the vast damage we’re doing to our environment before it’s too late.