The Center
for Automotive Research (CAR)'s annual Management Briefing
Seminars opened yesterday in Traverse City, Michigan. The
afternoon sessions included a robust discussion of "Connected
and Automated Vehicles – The Future is Now
(Almost)." This title reflected the ambivalence and
widely varying viewpoints of how close fully autonomous vehicles
are to becoming a reality, with predictions ranging from one year
to 15 years. As someone who is closely tracking developments
in this area, this was a head scratching moment that made me ask
myself: Why are the trees not growing to the sky anymore?
The panelists included moderator Richard Wallace, Director of
Transportation Systems, CAR; Kevin Kerrigan, Director of the State
of Michigan's Automotive Office; Kirk Steudle, Director of the
Michigan Department of Transportation; Brian Daugherty, CTO of the
Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, Andreas Busse,
Senior Architect of Driver Assistance Systems, Electronics
