McKinsey & Company's Automotive Future Isn't For Me - by Bruce Hotchkiss
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Will it be the future you want?
 Bruce Hotchkiss |
Special Correspondent Western Bureau
THE AUTO CHANNEL
On the evening of January 15, 2025, the Western Automotive Journalists had McKinsey's Ali Rivsi as a guest speaker. Although he was a good speaker, and I have no doubt much of what he presented will come to pass, for me the future is a big no.
I'm going to simplify his view - cars will be (and some are now) entertainment modules. And they will track your every move.
Now don't get me wrong, I am no Luddite. I don't hate new technology. Tech should enhance the driving experience, make you safer, and make the vehicles cleaner and more efficient.
I admit that I am old. I'll be 76 soon. The more technology that is crammed into modern cars the less I use, or am able to use. Take all those buttons - PLEASE! I do not need glasses to drive but I sure do need them to see what the hell the button controls. That is not good for paying attention.
You could say "get out of the way Grandpa" but there are literally millions of us, and let's not forget that you will be old sometime, too.
According to the crystal ball, we're all going to be in self-driving cars soon, so what's the problem Gramps? Just sit down, strap in, and take a nap. The problem sonny, is that there are already too many cars on the road. I know, I know, autonomous cars will solve traffic congestion. Really? Ten thousand cars are ten thousand cars whether a human drives them or a computer.
You want to ease the congestion? Work on autonomous mass transit. The only people who should be commuting in a single vehicle are tradespeople who need to cart around a ton of stuff for their job. The rest of you get on the bus or train, relax, or do whatever you've been doing in your car when you should have been paying attention.
Another thing Ali talked about was how your car will get to know you, know your routines, and anticipate them. I can hear it know - Your car (let's call it Hal) says to you as soon as you get in it in the morning "Dave shall we go to Starbucks?" If you say "Yes" Hal will order your latte so it will be ready when you get there. The part that should really worry you though is that all your info may be accessible by the proverbial "Big Brother."
It wasn't that long ago that some states tested a program where they accessed an onboard computer to perform a smog check remotely. I think Oregon had a pilot program that used taxicabs. Many new cars have the capability to transmit information back to the automaker. Anyone with a new car knows that the automaker downloads updates into your car's computer remotely. Just recently Tesla provided information on where the Las Vegas Cybertruck bomber had been - they simply tracked where the car had been recharged. They freely (and without a search warrant) provided this info to the authorities. They also remotely unlocked the car.
It isn't a stretch to imagine a time when the automaker accesses your car to determine if you are entitled to warranty repairs. "Sorry but you didn't follow the maintenance schedule," or "It looks like you were racing your car."
Even more troubling is the thought that your private information could be shared with your health care provider, insurance company, or the government. Is this the future you want?
The stuff that worries me the most is everything that takes your attention away from the task at hand - driving. I've driven some cars that track eye movement and alert me to inattention. I strive for 100% attention on driving but so many cars require me to take my eyes off the road to adjust this or that. Yes, it gets easier the more time I spend in any given car but the tiny buttons make it extremely difficult.
I also have driven my share of new cars where the tech just didn't work the way it should. I've had two cars that slammed on the brakes because they took a dark section of the road as an obstacle.
Tech by itself doesn't worry me. We live in a time when a car can put out 1,000 hp, run super clean, and return decent economy. This is all due to technology. What we do not need is technology to turn cars into your den or office. And we do not need 100% autonomous vehicles.