Autonomous Vehicles: The bumpy road to self-driving cars

Companies like Waymo and Tesla are throwing the kitchen sink at autonomous vehicles. Every year from 2015 to 2021, Elon Musk predicted that we would have fully self-driving cars within 12 months. He’s been proven wrong over and over again.

With hundreds of billions of dollars being sunk into the technology, it’s a wonder to some that we are still using steering wheels and gear shifts to get us from A to B. Off our highways, however, the story is a little different. On farms and in mines, on railways and in the skies, many vehicles are now almost completely autonomous. So why can’t we make the leap onto the open road?

In Episode 5 of Mike & Amit Talk Tech, Professor Mike Wade explains why we’re in an “autonomous driving winter”, while AI authority Amit Joshi, tells us why the last stage of self-driving development will require a lot more investment.

Authors

Michael R. Wade

TONOMUS Professor of Strategy and Digital

Michael R Wade is TONOMUS Professor of Strategy and Digital at IMD and Director of the TONOMUS Global Center for Digital and AI Transformation. He directs a number of open programs such as Leading Digital and AI Transformation, Digital Transformation for Boards, Leading Digital Execution, Digital Transformation Sprint, Digital Transformation in Practice, Business Creativity and Innovation Sprint. He has written 10 books, hundreds of articles, and hosted popular management podcasts including Mike & Amit Talk Tech. In 2021, he was inducted into the Swiss Digital Shapers Hall of Fame.

Amit M. Joshi

Professor of AI, Analytics and Marketing Strategy at IMD

Amit Joshi is Professor of AI, Analytics, and Marketing Strategy at IMD and Program Director of the AI Strategy and Implementation program, Generative AI for Business Sprint, and the Business Analytics for Leaders course. He specializes in helping organizations use artificial intelligence and develop their big data, analytics, and AI capabilities. An award-winning professor and researcher, he has extensive experience of AI and analytics-driven transformations in industries such as banking, fintech, retail, automotive, telecoms, and pharma.