I recently participated in an on-stage discussion about the state of autonomous mobility at the Ride AI Summit in Los Angeles. During the event, I engaged in several conversations with other participants about the robotaxi customer experience. The essence of these discussions reaffirmed what I’ve long maintained—customer experience, rather than just vehicle technology, will determine the winners in the next phase of mobility.
The automotive industry’s path to new mobility has been slow and full of challenges, many created by the automakers themselves, that will not disappear in the new year or even the near future. Many of these challenges emerged in the last couple of years, while the impact of others that existed longer was only recently understood and appreciated. Geopolitics, tariffs, new regulations, labor unrest, increasing competition from Chinese automakers, and decreasing sales, including in China, make up the list.
The road to new mobility will not be a straight line. The twists and turns we encounter and will continue to encounter, will come as the result of economics, business models, industrial policy, politics, national security, but also culture. Mobility is impacted by at least three cultures: the automakers’, the dealers’, and the customers’.
Automakers are facing a complex dilemma relating to software-defined new energy vehicles. Should they proceed with aggressively investing and developing software-defined vehicles while facing a slowdown in demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), or continue developing Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and hybrid vehicles (including plug-in hybrids) that are based on existing architectures and practices?
Another CES is behind us. The automotive and mobility extravaganza of years past was replaced this year by an AI…