Michigan, and Feds?, Betting on Slow Road to Driverless Future

The Economic Development Administration, a federal agency, is giving $247,000 for the Michigan autonomous vehicle testing ground project, called the Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Development Center, according to a Bloomberg Business article. Why is the federal government spending this small amount of money on an enterprise and a technology field that is already attracting tons of private dollars, not to mention yen and euros? Why is the government perhaps hoping that Michigan automakers are the winners in the autonomous vehicle sweepstakes?

The automakers are comfortable with DC lobbying, something that their union counterparts are no doubt in favor of as well. Much of the Michigan economy depends on keeping car companies there, something the state congressional delegation presumably strongly supports.

But this is not only about where federal dollars go, and roughly $250,000 is chicken feed for a project like this. This is about who wins in how fully autonomous vehicles come to the market and when. Detroit and the state of Michigan are banking on a slow roll out of autonomous features rather than Google and Uber's revolutionary approach of going for the end game, the fully driverless vehicle. Detroit and foreign traditional car manufacturers are betting that people want to remain at the steering wheel and pay some attention to the road.

Clearly this is a middle-aged crowd. Anyone under 35 has his or her eyes glued to the smartphone. Detroit is risking a lot on its bet. 

Silicon Valley's movers and shakers are pretty confident the story will turn out differently. Indeed Google is already planning small demonstration projects, such as one that would help non-driving seniors to get around.

Lobbying and Policy Bedfellows

Detroit and Silicon Valley are partnering, at least as far as lobbying and policy development in DC goes. And at least for now. The auto makers, the Intelligent Car Coalition, and the Information Technology Industry Council, among others, have teamed up to create the Smart Transportation Innovation Coalition. So far, there's nothing on the coalition website, which seems to be a WordPress blog. There's enough money in these pockets that they can afford a nice webpage if the coalition is actually a partnership.