The Future, Google Cars & More...

I love history, I love auto racing and I love envisioning the future. Understanding history, I think, is essential to imagining what's going to happen next. A lot of things are going to happen to our driving (or should I say "automobile interfacing") experiences as a result of GPS and In-Vehicle Information (IVI). Google is perhaps the most interesting company going right now and one of the logical extensions of their brand is smack dab in the middle of the automotive market.

When I was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway I attempted to introduce "Emerging Technology" as a logical extension of that brand because of the track's history as a platform for proving in auto tech. I hosted a meeting of some pretty powerful people, one a genius from Google named Alec Proudfoot who was among the company's first employees. Along with Paul Mitchell, the CEO of Indiana's Energy Systems Network; Chelsea Sexton, EV Evangelist of "Who Killed the Electric Car" fame; Dallara USA CEO Stefano DePonti and a host of other pretty damn smart people we pulled together a three-day workshop on the Speedway grounds with the objective of creating a high-level design of an electric car that would lap the Speedway at over 200 MPH. That was 2011 and well before the advent of Formula E. You can say I failed as a leader to muster any real support internally.
Back to the bigger picture. One question is will individual transportation diverge so sharply from motorsport that any attempt by the latter to be "relevant" can only yield something so drab - because the concept of someone driving a car will be forgotten - that it simply won't be compelling? Is motorsport the next horse racing sport? It's also possible that on the road a contra, niche market will emerge either for reconditioned vintage cars or specialist machines that actually allow a person to drive as opposed to ride while the "platform" takes you wherever you want to go and records everything you do on the way. That said, there are a lot of good things that can emerge from networked, self-driving cars, not the least of which is reducing the number of road accidents. I am observing, not protesting. I am also asserting that you need to participate to have any hope of being relevant.
All of this also raises political questions, and infrastructure leaps to mind. Certainly in America the simple act of repairing potholes and bridges is an intense debate let alone some of the other considerations such as retrofitting roads and highways with energy restorative technology systems. Oh, there is so much fun ahead...