Who Will Build the Next Great Car Company?
The entire automotive industry is in the midst of a radical transformation that is reshaping the very definition of what it means to be a car company. There is hype, hope, fear, and insecurity—and at the center of it all is the self-driving car. Thanks to cheap sensors, powerful machine-learning technology, and a kick in the butt from the likes of Google GOOGL -0.10% and Tesla Motors TSLA -1.22% , driverless vehicles are becoming a sooner-than-you-think reality. General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen, Fiat-Chrysler, BMW, and just about every other auto company are wading—some cautiously and some with big, headline-grabbing moves—into territory that executives in Detroit and elsewhere not long ago considered a science-fiction fantasy.
Everything changed in March, when GM spent $1 billion on a tiny self-driving startup called Cruise Automation. For months tech companies, startups, and automakers circled one another, unsure of whether and how to partner. In an industry moving this quickly it’s hard to know if a friendly partner will turn into a competitor. It happened when Google’s venture capital arm invested $258 million in Uber in 2013; now the ride-hailing company is poised to directly compete against its investor with its self-driving project.
But the hesitancy ended after GM’s deal. In May, Toyota struck a partnership with Uber, Volkswagen invested $300 million in ride-hailing company Gett, Apple poured $1 billion into China’s Didi Chuxing, and Google partnered with Fiat Chrysler to outfit 100 Pacifica minivans with self-driving technology. All in the span of one month.
fortune.com
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