Transcript 0:00 [on hold music] Yes, absolutely. First of all, nothing is ever going to be the same again. So this is not some little hiccup or a blip on the radar screen. 0:10 This is a major generational shift in how we view transportation. [upbeat music] Welcome back to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. 0:27 Hello, listeners, and welcome back to The Peggy Smedley Show. My next guest has a powerful voice in the definition of future trends in automotive safety, powertrain, and information system. 0:40 He draws more than thirty years experience in the technology industry as an analyst, journalist, and consultant. 0:46 Please welcome Roger Lanctot, director of Automotive Connected Mobility, Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics. Roger, welcome to the show. Wow, Peggy, that was a mouthful, but thank you very much. 1:01 [chuckles] I know we're all talking all over the place. Nobody's in their traditional places and-- but you having a massive, wonderful career, you know, thirty years of experience. You've done a lot of things. 1:13 And today we're gonna try to get people back into the groove of trying to get a little normalcy in their lives. And I know it's a little bit hard. 1:21 We're still trying to figure out-- I mean, every time you turn on the news right now, you're a little overwhelmed. But we, we kinda try to have to figure out how we're gonna get back to doing some business. 1:31 So let's talk about a little bit of business, if we can, Roger. Sure. 1:34 You know, if we talk about wireless and the wireless space right now, and we-- le-let's specifically talk about how wireless connections are gonna make cars safer because right now everybody's so engulfed in what's going on with the COVID situation. 1:50 But, you know, we do have to go to places, we do have to kinda think about things, and we have to think about the future. 1:57 And, and I, I wanna think about those positive things that are moving in the right direction, the way we were before all this hit us. 2:05 So, uh, the automotive industry has had a long, uh, relationship with getting connected, getting wireless connections, and that goes back to OnStar, as you know. Uh, that was over twenty years ago, believe it or not. 2:16 And, uh, at that time, w-the industry had a killer app. It was, uh, if you get into a, a crash or-- of, of some kind, your car will call for help. I mean, it's a fabulous value proposition. 2:28 But then the smartphone came along, and all of a sudden people said, "Well, gee, maybe I don't need that connection in my car," because, A, nobody thinks they're gonna g-they're going to have a crash, and B, they think they're going to be conscious, uh, afterwards if they do have one. 2:41 So what's going to change now, we're entering a new phase. So the, the current phase we're in the process of leaving is we, we don't have a killer application for the connection in the car. 2:52 Uh, we think we can do everything with our phone. Uh, of course, don't tell that to a, a Tesla owner because they're getting new content and new capabilities added to their car wirelessly all the time. 3:03 But in the world of 5G, which is coming down the pike, and even C-V2X, cars will be able to talk to each other and avoid those crashes and collisions. 3:13 And it will have a-- will be able to have a much safer driving experience, and, uh, that, that's the sort of big opportunity a-ahead. 3:23 So if you hear things, you know, and, and I was in a car accident head-on, and, and I have to tell you that OnStar moment that I had was an amazing moment because it did exactly that you just described. 3:34 I was very glad I had OnStar 'cause it alerted and did what it was supposed to. 3:38 And when you think about that today, and we say we want that killer app, and we say 5G is coming, people are now talking, are we gonna have delays? You know, is that 5G experience in cars going to be there? 3:50 And, you know, we need to care about 5G. 5G is going to change a lot for us in the sense that, you know, the edge, you know, cl-edge computing with 5G is gonna make a difference. 4:02 Talk to me about that because I think we really need to be thinking about how the importance of that is in our cars. I have good news for your listeners. 4:12 This, [chuckles] uh, crazy crisis we're in the middle of will have no impact on when 5G arrives in the market in new cars. 4:20 Now, what it's going to deliver is not only a, a collision avoidance proposition, but also faster delivery of information to the vehicle. So whether it's, uh, edge, uh, uh... 4:32 Well, you're going to have some kind of edge capability in the car for au-semi-autonomous driving, but also edge capability on the network to get contextual information to drivers in real time about traffic conditions, weather, road conditions, maybe there's construction, things of that nature. 4:49 Uh, and then we will get into the kind of sillier stuff, maybe some marketing, uh, propositions, maybe some in-vehicle commerce. I mean, th-this will happen. 5:00 Uh, it's not as high a priority for me 'cause I'm, I'm all about, you know, safety and saving lives. 5:05 However, uh, it will be a more delightful experience in the car, uh, I think, because it'll be a much more reliable connection, uh, and there'll be much more information coming to the vehicle, and the vehicle will be designed to take advantage of that, uh, incoming information, whether it's, uh, just, uh, content for a-amusement and diversion, not distraction [chuckles] while you're driving, uh, but hopefully and primarily sa- you know, safety information. 5:34 So when we look at all of this, you know, whether we're talking wireless or whether we're talking autonomous vehicles, are we getting to see because there, there is that yin and the yang, you know. 5:44 When things happen, we have crises, it sometimes propels innovation forward. Are we going to see that? Because some people, like I just said, are saying, "Oh, it's not gonna happen." But I'm of the other belief. 5:55 I believe when things happen, when there's a crisis in the world, we-- it, it puts, uh, you know, the, the pedal to the metal. You know, we, we push forward faster because we know we have to develop. 6:07 Are we at that stage, whether it be, you know, whether we saw wireless connections that enable autonomous vehicles or whether we see, uh, autonomous vehicles in our driveway? 6:17 Are we gonna see a lot more development maybe a little bit faster because we need things that are going to save lives faster?So yes, absolutely. First of all, nothing is ever going to be the same again. 6:30 So this is not some little hiccup or a blip on the, on the radar screen. This is a, this is a major generational shift, uh, in how we view transportation. 6:40 Uh, we're going to have public transportation organizations fighting to get people back onto buses, trams, and trolleys. 6:47 Uh, so I anticipate more fare-free transportation like they've done in Luxembourg, where all public transportation is basically free, and we may have to go that route in many American cities to get people back into transport-- public transportation. 7:01 Now, in cars, people are going to have a heightened expectation of the ability of the vehicle to either clean itself or certify that it is clean. 7:10 So there's technologies like ultraviolet radiation and, uh, of course just basic manual cleaning that are going to be applied and are being applied today. 7:20 Uh, I just wrote a, a, a blog this morning about what Didi Chuxing put in place thirty, um, uh, thirty days ago in China, the ride-hailing company that's sort of the Chinese Uber, although much bigger. 7:32 And what they have done is, uh, introduced for their drivers, which of course as you know are itinerant, they're not employees of the company per se, uh, partitions, uh, that they can install in their vehicles because who is going to want to be in a taxi or a ride-hailing vehicle without some kind of a divider between them and the driver going forward? 7:52 So partitions are going to come back, uh, even though some taxi, uh, uh, industry participants removed them, uh, in order to be more competitive with the Ubers and Lyfts of the world. 8:04 Uh, and also Geely, um, a couple months ago announced their plans to introduce N95 filters, uh, for filtering the air in their, in their vehicles. Of course, uh, I think Tesla has a, a biowea-pon, uh, 8:19 uh, uh, anti, uh, treatment in their cars for filtering the air in cars. It's, it's a little understood area in the industry. 8:26 Absolutely, the air inside your car is being filtered, uh, and we're going to be filtering it at a, at a different level. So expectations are changing, and cars will be changing along with it. 8:37 Things will never be the same. And when we look at all this, it's gonna be the distance, you know, we're, we're-- the distance of how the vehicles are, whether we're on a bus or trolley, whatever. 8:47 We're-- And, and we look at planes. We made them tighter. That's all gonna change, the way our distancing with each other. I mean, there's so much that's going to change. 8:56 So you get into it and you share a ride, whatever that might be, that's all gonna change as well, the way we look at things in the future. 9:02 Well, I have to tell you, Roger Lanctot, director of Automotive Connected Mobility Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics, you've got to come back. 9:10 We don't spend enough time in the air together, so I hope you will. Where can our listeners go to learn more about what you guys are doing in your blog? 9:17 Uh, strategyanalytics.com, and you can find me, uh, on Twitter at RogerMud with one D. Roger, thank you so much. Stay safe, stay healthy, and we hope to talk to you soon. Okay. Thank you, Peggy. 9:31 All right, listeners, that's all the time we have for this show today. As you know, we broadcast live every Tuesday at twelve PM Central. Check out our website, connectedworld.com. 9:40 We put up some new articles today, new blogs, all kinds of great content up there, so I go-- I hope you'll go up there and check it out. Check out any past archives of the show at thepeggysmedleyshow.com. 9:51 And most importantly, you know what I want you to do, I want you to tweet at me at ConnectedWMag or go up to LinkedIn and post up things up there 'cause that's what we want. All right. 9:59 This is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. I want you to stay safe. Remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. Have an awesome week. 10:13 [outro music]
