One definite example is the deployment of a nationwide network of electric vehicle chargers. It’s a good example of the role of the government: we don’t need to invent a new electric vehicle charger. The private sector has come up with a lot of versions of it. We don’t even need to deploy electric vehicle chargers ourselves single-handedly in a network that’s owned and operated by the government.
NP: I want to talk about charging infrastructure. You run Electrify America — that’s a Volkswagen project that came out of the Dieselgate settlement with California. Do you want to run Electrify America? When you have to do that because of a settlement related to a scandal, there’s a part of me that suspects that you’re doing it begrudgingly. There’s another part of me that thinks of this as a huge opportunity to own the major charging network in America.
At some point in time, we’re going to have to do something to produce more electricity to support all these needs. I’m hearing that in California there is some recommendation to use the grid at certain hours and things like that because there’s not enough to support the electric cars on the road already. So that’s a big challenge. And it has to be solved between, I would say, now and 2023, 2024.
I will say, though, that Ford has the opportunity on the commercial side to do what Tesla’s done on the retail side, because we’re 40 percent of that industry, and we absolutely intend for the charging experience for our commercial customers to be a Ford experience that’s going to be unique. And we know these customers very well, and they have very different charging experiences and requirements.
We’re up to millions of connected vehicles now. I think at Ford we’re a trusted brand, frankly, more than a lot of technology companies, if you look at the surveys. We’re going to have to commit to the resources to support these vehicles that we’re launching now for decades to come. NP: Ford and Volkswagen are obviously gigantic car companies. They’re good at things like alloy wheels and leather seats and all the other things that go into making cars. They make cars. You don’t make cars. What is the Argo product? Where does it begin and end?The product is really, at its core, a whole lot of software that runs on some pretty specialized hardware, that connects to a car in a safe way.
NP: What is the balance between letting Google own what has become a primary user experience in the car and what you want to design?Well, it’s a customer benefit. If we promise to have a voice recognition that works, if we promise to have a navigation that actually knows that new restaurant around the block that opened a week ago, [customers] want to know the opening times when they put it into the navi. That is what we never can do on our own.
elon where?
SO ANOTHER WORDS NOTHING WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED !!!
It’s not what I was hoping for. I thought they were all talking to each other in one single interview.., it’s just clips from individual interviews. Was very disappointed
-No cars in cities -Better public transportation -Better Last Mile Vehicles - Pedestrians above all -More green spaces, parks -Proper bike infrastructure If something HAS to be autonomous, make it the train systems.
We just need fast trains. Walkable cities.