Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/493405
ogy gap with new products that will appeal to their customers. For decades, the Big Three automotive manufacturers were the global technology and thought leaders. When people wondered what their lives would be like in 10 or 20 years, they looked to GM, Ford or Chrysler to paint that picture for them. Today, automotive manufacturers appear to have lost that edge, thanks to firmly entrenched bureaucracies with corporate mindsets that value conservative designs over innovation, and decades of crippling non-research and development business costs like pensions and healthcare. An automotive manufacturer today makes a big deal about a new car model being equipped with its own Wi-Fi network, and you can picture a tech company like Google patting it on the head and saying, "Aw! Isn't that cute!" Companies like Google and Apple see traditional car makers as stagnant and increasingly out of touch. Even worse, many of their customers – particularly young people – feel the same way. 2. Tech companies understand the rapidly changing consumer concept of what cars and transportation should be today. The automotive industry's concept of developing, marketing and selling cars was G o to any trucking industry meeting today and listen to the dialogue. Sooner or later, somebody will grum- ble about technology. You'll hear lots of complaints about e-logs, exhaust treatment systems, electronic control modules and a whole host of other sys- tems. A lot of people don't like chang- ing technology being forced on them, and they don't like paying for it when they're not sure they need it. But the changes you're seeing as a fleet manager today are nothing compared to the challenges you'll face soon. Why do I think that? Let's go back to the automotive industry, where highly visible clues support the notion that totally new players such as Google and Apple are about to enter that market. Then you've got a technological jug- gernaut like Tesla, which is looking to totally change the way cars and houses are powered. Let's not forget about Amazon, which is looking for new hyper-efficient ways to get packages to consumers. Given the fact that the major au- tomotive manufacturers have had a virtual death grip on this industry and its technology for more than a cen- tury, this is massive news. But why are dedicated technology companies like Google and Apple suddenly interested in automobiles? The answer, I think, is threefold. 1. They perceive a lack of innovation and feel they can exploit that technol- 24 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | APRIL 2015 PRODUCT REVIEWS, OEM & SUPPLIER NEWS AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT TRENDS BY JACK ROBERTS It could come sooner than you think Radical shift in trucking on the horizon? NEW PRODUCTS: Tech companies perceive a lack of innovation and feel they can exploit that gap. CHANGING CONCEPT: Consumers have different expectations about cars and transportation. TOMORROW'S ISSUES: Consider cutting-edge tech- nologies, business models, fuels and telematics. Tech companies un- derstand that young people today have different concepts of what transporta- tion should be and how it should work.