1 00:00:00,760 --> 00:00:12,720 Speaker 1: Look at the podcast playground. Taking a Walk with Buzz Night. Hi, 2 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,240 Speaker 1: this is Buzznight, the host of the Taking a Walk 3 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: podcast series. We are in Leesburg, Virginia, beautiful Leesburg, Virginia 4 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: for this episode of Taking a Walk, and today the 5 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: topic is going to be autonomous vehicles. We've been hearing 6 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: about autonomous driving for a long time. I think the 7 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: first time I heard about it was in twenty fourteen 8 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:39,319 Speaker 1: or thirteen, and I was like, get out of here, 9 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: this isn't going to happen. So you will, by the 10 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: end of this episode understand really where autonomous driving is 11 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: and where it's headed, and directly from standpoint of regular consumers, 12 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: also from commercial vehicles as well, because there are some differences. 13 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: And for that we're going to turn to our friend 14 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:07,320 Speaker 1: from the NPD Group, executive director and market forecaster and 15 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 1: man extraordinaire around town, Ben Arnold. Hello, Ben, Hey, Buzz Harry. 16 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 1: It's nice to have you here in Leesburg, Virginia on 17 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 1: a beautiful day. It's awesome to be here. Great to 18 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: see you. So there's a lot of information flying around 19 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: about autonomous driving, where it's headed, you know, some of 20 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: the pitfalls that maybe it faces. The difference between commercial 21 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: and consumer. Can you tell us where it's at right 22 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:42,039 Speaker 1: now well as you can see, or we're sitting on 23 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: a road here. Cars that have autonomous features like Tesla 24 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: are on our roadways right now. And the way that 25 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: we look at the autonomous question how the feature is 26 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: coming to more vehicles, we look at different levels of autonomy. 27 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:09,239 Speaker 1: The level five autonomous vehicle is fully self driving, doesn't 28 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: need to be confined to any location. It's you know, 29 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: basically a computer and a robot on its own. But 30 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: in many of the vehicles that we own today, if 31 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: you bought a car in the last year or two, 32 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: you may find that your car has certain autonomous features. 33 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: Sensors that will keep your vehicle between the lines on 34 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: the road, computer vision that will keep your car far 35 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:43,360 Speaker 1: enough away from the car in front of it, you know, 36 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: accident detection. There's so many sensors in cars now that 37 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: even though many of us don't have fully self driving vehicles, 38 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: we have features that come close to the cars being 39 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: self driving. I recently took a very long road trip 40 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: with my family to Florida and discovered when I put 41 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: on the cruise control, my car was suddenly conscious that 42 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: it was turning in line with the road based on 43 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: the lanes. It was keeping us far enough away from 44 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:24,800 Speaker 1: the car in front of us that we felt safe. 45 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:28,920 Speaker 1: You know, that's kind of an upbuild of traditional cruise control. 46 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: And I even felt comfortable enough to take my hands 47 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: off the steering wheel once or twice. So even though 48 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: many of us don't own autonomous vehicles, we have some 49 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 1: of the features that begin to get us close to 50 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: that sort of future of a self driving car. I've 51 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: seen and my self witnessed and others that I've spoken 52 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 1: to about this where they have cars that have some features, 53 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: but they seem a little bit inconsistent in terms of 54 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: their senses or the you know, sense swords detecting the 55 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: emergency environment on the road. Am I right in seeing that? Absolutely? 56 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 1: And there are probably some standards for certain sensors and vehicles. 57 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: I'm not aware of any industry standards that say, uh, 58 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: you know, vehicle has to be this many feet away 59 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: or has to notify you of a obstacle in the 60 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:39,479 Speaker 1: roadway with you know, in a certain number of seconds. 61 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:42,559 Speaker 1: So I think that there is a level of maybe 62 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: standardization that needs to happen. Certainly, you look at the news, 63 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 1: and you see that there's a big debate around you know, 64 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: self driving, especially with you know, companies like Tesla that 65 00:04:55,279 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: are pushing into that future very aggressively. So I do 66 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: think that we're in this period of innovation where we're 67 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: trying some things out and we're trying to understand how 68 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:15,919 Speaker 1: they're playing out on the roads, and as there continue 69 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:21,159 Speaker 1: to be tests on closed roadways, and as consumers give feedback, 70 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,360 Speaker 1: and of course all these vehicles are connected, so there's 71 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:27,360 Speaker 1: a tremendous amount of data that the car makers are receiving. 72 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: As we continue to go through this process, I think 73 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: we'll get to this future where we're more comfortable with 74 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: fully self driving vehicles that they perform better. But I 75 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: do think it's a process that we're going to have 76 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:47,600 Speaker 1: to go through now. It's a process that has very 77 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:50,679 Speaker 1: high stakes. Right there, we're talking about safety and people's 78 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,160 Speaker 1: lives and the roadway, so you know, the stakes are 79 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: pretty high. But I think, as we see in other 80 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:03,039 Speaker 1: areas of innovation, it's a process and when things come out, 81 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: especially in technology, they're not always perfect. And to me, 82 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: this is just an extension of kind of the story 83 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 1: that we see in tech and is there a broad 84 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: difference on the experience between what consumers deal with and 85 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 1: what commercial consumers deal with. Absolutely. Uh. You know, many 86 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 1: commercial users of self driving vehicles, they're after a specific purpose. 87 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: So you can look at like Weymo, which is which 88 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: was a startup within Google and became a self driving 89 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: taxi service. You know, they've certainly got different indicators that 90 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:55,720 Speaker 1: they're looking for in terms of leveraging self driving, right 91 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: being able to hail the car from a remote location 92 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: and have it come to you. You know, that's not 93 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: something that we typically think about in our you know, 94 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: personal passenger cars. Another example, and a company that shows 95 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 1: off at ce S seems like every year is John Deere. 96 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: They have an autonomous I don't know, I guess you 97 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: call it a tractor. It's gigantic, it's like the size 98 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: of three you know, semi trucks. But that is a 99 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: you know, an autonomous tractor. And that focus is you know, 100 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: certainly on working on you know, fields and crops. So 101 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: they have computer vision utilized in a different way, being 102 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: able to understand what's in the ground, what to pull, 103 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: what's ready to pull, what needs to be you know, 104 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: what needs to stay in and you know, how do 105 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: you sort of process the crop that you're that you're pulling. 106 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: So I think as we get into more enterprise or 107 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: commercial usage use cases, you know, we see, you know, 108 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: some of the differences in what different companies are are 109 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: using the autonomous features for well, lastly, Ben I was 110 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: in a car an uber that was a Tesla, and 111 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: the driver was not comfortable, actually fearful of playing with 112 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:29,760 Speaker 1: some of the autonomous features in the car, which I 113 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:34,679 Speaker 1: think speaks to the challenge of educating consumers. What's your 114 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: thought on that, there's there's a comfort level that we 115 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 1: all have in cars. And again, if you read some 116 00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:50,079 Speaker 1: of the news around some of these tests with self 117 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:55,680 Speaker 1: driving cars, there's been some some incidents, some accidents, and 118 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: so that could you know, make somebody a little more 119 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:03,960 Speaker 1: nervous about using the autonomous features. You know. One thing 120 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: that I think about a lot as I'm driving is 121 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: that I'm I'm in control of this vehicle and when 122 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: there's something in the roadway, I'm the one that swerves. 123 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:18,679 Speaker 1: And I've been doing that for thirty years, however long 124 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: I've been driving. That's what I'm used to. When I 125 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:25,079 Speaker 1: took this drive to Florida and I found out that 126 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:29,640 Speaker 1: I had these autonomous features in my car, I gave 127 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:31,960 Speaker 1: up a little bit of that control, right I put 128 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: on the cruise control. The car is, you know, curving 129 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: with the roadway. It's slowing down when we get closer 130 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 1: to a car in front of us. That's not me 131 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: doing it, that's the that's the computer in the car 132 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 1: doing it. And I think that there's a I don't 133 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: know if there's you know, some uncomfortableness with that, but 134 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: it's a process, right of allowing the technology to take over. 135 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:02,560 Speaker 1: And I think we're all and on different parts of 136 00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:07,240 Speaker 1: that spectrum right now. But as these things get tested, 137 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: as they become more prevalent, maybe you go to a 138 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: New York city and you hail an uber and there 139 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 1: isn't a driver. It's you know, it's a robot drive. 140 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:21,040 Speaker 1: It's an autonomous vehicle, but it's driving at a slow 141 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 1: enough pace and you know, stopping when people come in 142 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 1: the roadway that maybe that's a first experience that can 143 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,600 Speaker 1: get people a little more comfortable with this idea of 144 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 1: self driving vehicles. So I think it's a really it's 145 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:39,200 Speaker 1: a process that we go through as consumers. Innovation is 146 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:44,199 Speaker 1: rarely perfect, it's rarely neat and tidy. Oftentimes it takes 147 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 1: longer than we think it should. There are challenges that 148 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: maybe we don't foresee, and I think we're just living 149 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: in that process right now. And as more manufacturers turn 150 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: on autonomous few features, and as more people will use them, 151 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: I think we'll get to a point where the average 152 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:11,640 Speaker 1: driver is more comfortable with these features and sitting in 153 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: the driver's seat but allowing the computer to take over 154 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:20,080 Speaker 1: certain elements of that driving experience. It's exciting. Well, I'm 155 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:24,000 Speaker 1: always come into these conversations with you a little confused, 156 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 1: and then I'm always filled with more clarity, for sure. 157 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:30,120 Speaker 1: But then I'm sure I'll have more questions. I'll say 158 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:32,719 Speaker 1: the questions Ben until I run into you at the 159 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:39,199 Speaker 1: Consumer Electronics Show in January twenty twenty three in Las Vegas. Absolutely, 160 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: it's not far away, that's right, all right, Ben, thanks 161 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:45,600 Speaker 1: a lot for being on all right, thank you. Taking 162 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:50,559 Speaker 1: a Walk with Buzznight is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, 163 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:53,199 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.