The Path to Driverless Cars [CTA Insights]

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) counts among its members companies that are integral to all parts of the automotive supply chain: from chip companies, including Intel and Nvidia, to tier 1 subsystem suppliers, such as Visteon and Mobileye, to car manufacturers, including Ford, General Motors, Nissan, and Toyota. The aftermarket suppliers, such as Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine, and Voxx, have always been part of CTA, too. And more recently, disruptive mobility suppliers like Uber and Lyft have joined. CTA is fully engaged with these members to help speed the adoption of self-driving cars. CTA's recent consumer research, discussions with companies developing self-driving cars, and interactions with regulators who must bring about an orderly transition to driverless vehicles suggest there are three misconceptions that must be dispelled. These misconceptions are the following: (1) consumers do not want driverless cars; (2) there is a straight line from driver-assistance features today to fully self-driving cars in the future; and (3)fully self-driving cars need to be perfect.