Earlier today, News.com.au reported that Ola Kallenius Daimler chair and Mercedes head of cars spoke to journalists, telling them the company is shifting its approach away from self-driving cars. [Read: Nearly 90% of Americans don’t trust self-driving cars] In the near future the German marque will focus on electric platforms and autonomous trucks. According to Kallenius, self-driving trucks represent the most attractive business opportunity at the moment. True self-driving cars in the public domain are still a long way off, and subject to market pressures of whether customers will actually pay a premium for the technology. Mercedes-Benz and its sister company Freightliner reportedly believe that transport fleets and haulage firms are more likely to invest in the nascent technology than consumers.
The right bet?
Self-driving cars have been having a bit of a hard time in the press recently. A recent survey by the American Automobile Association (AAA) found that most Americans don’t actually trust the technology. In a recent interview with Reason, talking about Level 5 fully autonomous self-driving vehicles, founder of open source self-driving platform Comma.ai George Hotz said: “It’s a scam… No one’s close.” He added that full self-driving taxis are still at least a decade away. Perhaps Mercedes’ move to focus on EVs alongside autonomous trucks is all in the name of closing the gap on Tesla. A recent tear down of a Model 3 found its tech is about six years ahead of the competition.
