I don’t know who will win the autonomous driving race. Waymo is ahead now, but Arthur Saginian (Aug. 6 letter) could be right — that Tesla has the better technology and will ultimately triumph by offering more than a taxi service. Imagine telling your Tesla to drive you from Santa Clarita to Las Vegas. You could practice your blackjack skills using the Tesla screen on the way.
I’m not an engineer, so I’ll defer to Mr. Saginian on the tech, but I am a capitalist, and I know this much: If there’s money to be made, there will be competition. Right now, the major players are Waymo, Amazon and Tesla.
The autonomous vehicle race reminds me of the 19th-century railroad wars — dramatized in HBO’s “The Gilded Age” — or perhaps the 1986 movie Highlander: “In the end, there can be only one.”
A clarification: Waymo is a subsidiary of Alphabet, Google’s parent company — not a Chinese company. It does, however, partner with Zeekr, a Chinese automaker, so China plays an important role, but does not legally “own” Waymo. Technology is borderless; for example, Waze, the popular navigation app, was invented in Israel.
Since writing my May 18 letter, I’ve changed my mind about going 100% electric. Like most Americans, I drive fewer than 40 miles a day, so my “charging anxiety” was overblown. But that also means the big market for autonomous driving may not be road trips, but everyday local travel. If so, being a taxi service that offers convenience and safety at the best price may be enough to win the autonomous race.
Philip Wasserman
Stevenson Ranch
