Autonomous Vehicles Are Ready to Disrupt Society, Business--and You

Brian Kenny: At the 1939 World's Fair in New York City General Motors unveiled Futurama, an exhibit spanning an entire acre that featured a model of what US roadways would look like 20 years into the future. Networks of streamlined motorways wound through a landscape of half a million buildings, a million trees, and 50,000 miniature cars traveling on a 14-lane, multi-speed highway. It struck a chord at a time when the country was just beginning to grapple with traffic congestion. In what might have been the boldest prediction of all, Futurama depicted a future where self-driving cars would communicate directly with the road moving passengers safely and swiftly to their destination. It seemed like science fiction, but by 1958 GM made this concept a reality with one of the first full-sized self-driving vehicles. Today on Cold Call, we're doubling down to look at two cases that each look at the future for autonomous vehicles. I'm your host, Brian Kenny, and you're listening to Cold Call, recorded in Klarman Hall Studio at Harvard Business School. Joining me in studio today is Professor Bill Kerr to discuss his case entitled, Autonomous Vehicles: The Rubber Hits the Road... but When? Also in studio is Professor Elie Ofek to discuss his case entitled, Autonomous Vehicles: Smooth or Bumpy Ride Ahead? Brian Kenny: It's great to have both of you here. I found out about Bill's case first and reached out to him to do that. Elie, you and I were going to do a completely different case, but somebody brought to my attention that you had also written a case on autonomous vehicles. The two cases are really complementary, and I think this will be a really rich discussion about a topic that is certainly something that's been in the headlines a lot, and I think it's one of these things... I know, speaking for me personally, I can't wait to get into a car and just open up my newspaper and let the car take me where I'm going. For people who are listening to this while they're driving in their cars, keep your hands on the wheel.