{"id":112232,"date":"2017-09-05T10:06:08","date_gmt":"2017-09-05T14:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/?p=112232"},"modified":"2017-09-05T07:06:49","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T11:06:49","slug":"why-driverless-cars-are-here-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/2017\/09\/why-driverless-cars-are-here-to-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Driverless Cars Are Here to Stay"},"content":{"rendered":"
September 5, 2017<\/div>
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By WallStreetDaily.com<\/u><\/a> \"Why<\/p>\n

\"LouisYou know I\u2019m bullish on driverless cars.<\/p>\n

Driverless cars are the ultimate disrupter.<\/p>\n

Heck, Ford executives now make regular trips to Silicon Valley to meet with executives running startups a millionth Ford\u2019s size.<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t that say everything?<\/p>\n

Last week, Domino\u2019s began testing pizza deliveries in a driverless Ford Fusion.<\/p>

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\u201cA Ford engineer will be at the wheel, but the front windows have been blacked out so customers won\u2019t interact with the driver,\u201d reports The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

The investment appeal of driverless cars is unquestionable, right?<\/p>\n

Yet when my publisher\u2019s 80-year-old father recently challenged my bullish thesis on driverless cars, I felt obligated to share it with everyone.<\/p>\n

Mr. Williams was very short and articulate, saying\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are driverless cars any different than the Segway? Because the Segway was supposed to change the world, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Below, I\u2019ll list the five reasons why Segway failed, and tell you why driverless cars are very different.<\/p>\n

Reason #1: Segway Expectations Were Too High<\/h2>\n

\"JonathanAh, the Segway.<\/p>\n

It was hyped as the world\u2019s first motorized, battery-powered self-balancing scooter when it launched in 1999.<\/p>\n

But fewer inventions have fallen harder on their proverbial face\u2026<\/p>\n

Back in 2001, Segway creator Dean Kamen boldly claimed that 50,000 of these units would be sold in their first year on the market.<\/p>\n

Forbes<\/i> reported that in the six years that followed that boast, the company sold just 30,000 units \u2014 in total.<\/p>\n

Ouch!<\/p>\n

But world domination was always going to be tough for Segway when a single device cost a whopping $5,000 when it launched.<\/p>\n

Not to mention it weighed 80 pounds, ran for 11 miles on a single charge and hit a top speed of 10 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

Reason #2: A Solution to Nothing<\/h2>\n

Devices like smartphones provided a solution to a problem that we didn\u2019t even know we had.<\/p>\n

Same goes for cars that drive themselves.<\/p>\n

But unlike smartphones and driverless cars, the world never needed<\/i> Segway.<\/p>\n

Actually, forget need\u2026<\/p>\n

Segway sales proved that the world didn\u2019t even want <\/i>Segway.<\/p>\n

After initially predicting the device would change the world, the late, great Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that the Segway flat-out \u201csucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the guy who created the billion-dollar need<\/i> for smartphones says your product sucks, you may want rethink everything.<\/p>\n

Clearly, reality didn\u2019t match the hype \u2014 which ultimately doomed the scooter to commercial failure.<\/p>\n

Reason #3: No Target Market<\/h2>\n

\"MartinEntering my senior citizen years, I am looking forward to driverless cars.<\/p>\n

When my mediocre driving becomes truly lousy, as my father\u2019s did after his eyesight went, driverless cars will mean I won\u2019t be trapped at home or begging for rides.<\/p>\n

As long as I can figure out the damn technology (a big ask!) I will be fully mobile.<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t say the same for the Segway.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019re too unsteady to walk long distances, you won\u2019t be nimble enough to master a Segway. You\u2019ll just fall off.<\/p>\n

So the one target market that might <\/i>have worked for Segway was a total bust.<\/p>\n

Now, another big use would have been airports, with their sometimes vast distances. But those are too crowded. You\u2019d just mow people down.<\/p>\n

Reason #4: More Toy Than True Innovation<\/h2>\n

Segway was not a true innovation. It did not change anything about the way we do things.<\/p>\n

Even if it had been widely adopted, little about our lives would have changed.<\/p>\n

It was simply an interesting gadget, equivalent to a new model of a food processor.<\/p>\n

In spite of huge marketing hype, Segway was just a fun toy. And it was about as useful as Marty McFly\u2019s hoverboard \u2014 and less fun.<\/p>\n

It therefore failed to gain traction.<\/p>\n

Reason #5: Regulatory Disaster<\/h2>\n

\"LouisSkateboards. Bicycles. Golf carts. Even Rollerblades. Existing regulations contemplated the use of all of them on sidewalks and roads.<\/p>\n

But nobody had a clue about Segways or how to incorporate them. The mode of transportation didn\u2019t fit into any neat, pre-existing categories. And the company did little to nothing to inform and guide regulatory bodies.<\/p>\n

The result? Countries responded in knee-jerk fashion to ban it, instead of working to expand regulations to accommodate it.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, driverless cars won\u2019t fall victim to the same fate. Regulatory approval has been a key focus for all the early movers. And it\u2019s working.<\/p>\n

Case in point: The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on a measure this week<\/strong><\/a> that would speed up deployment in two major ways:<\/p>\n

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  1. By granting automakers exemptions to put 25,000\u2013100,000 vehicles per year on the road without meeting existing safety standards. Instead of pre-approval, they would submit ongoing safety reports.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    1. By barring states from blocking driverless cars. The federal mandate would supersede any state efforts and roll back regulations in some states like California that are considered to be too restrictive.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \u201cSelf-driving vehicles stand to make our transportation system safer and more efficient,\u201d said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.<\/p>\n

      The Segway held no such promise, which is why authorities weren\u2019t proactive about regulating them, even in the absence of the company\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n

      But when it comes to driverless cars, the government\u2019s going all in on helping, not hindering, the technology. Or as McCarthy said, \u201cAdvancing this technology to road-ready requires government policy that encourages continued testing and development.\u201d<\/p>\n

      If you\u2019re not positioning your portfolio to profit from the ultimate disruption, what are you waiting for?<\/p>\n

      We alerted True Alpha<\/i> subscribers to driverless car chipmaker Mobileye months before Intel\u2019s $15 billion buyout offer hit. And we\u2019ve singled out three more small caps levered to the trend that could easily be scooped up at any moment. To find out their identity today, sign up for a risk-free trial here<\/a><\/b>.<\/p>\n

      Ahead of the tape,<\/p>\n

      Louis Basenese
      \nChief Investment Strategist, Wall Street Daily<\/em><\/p>\n

      The post Why Driverless Cars Are Here to Stay<\/a> appeared first on Wall Street Daily<\/a>.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      By WallStreetDaily.com You know I\u2019m bullish on driverless cars. Driverless cars are the ultimate disrupter. Heck, Ford executives now make regular trips to Silicon Valley to meet with executives running startups a millionth Ford\u2019s size. Doesn\u2019t that say everything? Last week, Domino\u2019s began testing pizza deliveries in a driverless Ford Fusion. \u201cA Ford engineer will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112232"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112245,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112232\/revisions\/112245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}